iPhone apps raise the bar

The process of installing an application program has changed over time. It started simple, then became complex, then became complicated ("complicated" is worse than "complex"), and now it is simple again.

Installing an application DOS was simple: buy the application on floppy disks, create a directory, copy the files from the one or two floppy disks to that directory, possibly create a batch file, and you were done. The batch file usually used a CD command to change to the directory and then ran the program. Advanced users created batch files to CD back to a common directory when done.

Later DOS programs came with their own install batch files, and sometimes install executable programs. Put in the first disk, type "INSTALL", and away it went! When finished, you could run the program (usually with a batch file that the install program made). But you still had to buy the application on floppy disks, still run the install program, and still interpret the UI.

Microsoft made things consistent in Windows, first by standardizing the name of the install program to "SETUP" and later by standardizing the target location to "C:\Program Files". And during the Windows era, applications grew and moved from floppy disks to CD-ROMs, and later to DVD-ROMs. (But the notion was the same: buy the media, insert, run SETUP, and possibly pick some options.)

The folks at Apple have raised the bar. Not only in the user experience for the application, but the experience of buying an application.

First, with the iTunes store, Apple has created a single place to distribute applications. This is one-stop shopping, with no problems in finding a specific web site for a specific application.

Second, Apple has reduced the steps of purchasing and installing an "app". You go to iTunes, pick your application, pay for it, and it is installed across the network. You don't need a CD. You don't need a system administrator. You don't need a standards committee. You don't have to think about directory names, license keys, or other distractions.

Third, Apple has made applications fun. Beyond the obvious fun apps such as "Labyrinth" and "Ocarina", the basic platform for iPhones, iPods, and Macintoshes encourages applications that please the user. (When where you last pleasantly surprised by a Microsoft application?)

Fourth, Apple has made "apps" small and inexpensive. The small apps can be had for one dollar, many for less than a McDonald's Happy Meal. (Big applications are still expensive.)

After using the Apple platform and "getting spoiled" by the ease at which one can install applications (and do other things like work), the Microsoft platform looks clunky. Microsoft products are big, expensive, install-with-questions beasts.

Microsoft's attempts to hide things from the user (such as with Windows Vista) is well-intentioned and the right direction, yet too many details poke through. The Linux distros (especially SuSE and Ubuntu) have done good jobs, but they also can use some improvement.

Apple has raised the bar, once again, for the user experience. The first question is: can Microsoft and Linux keep up? The second question (for developers) is: can you?