I say that all the time, watching these keynotes.
It's amazing how often the most simple, obvious way of doing something is overlooked. It's almost like there's a push in much of the industry to make things a bit more dense and complex, just to keep tech support and IT pros busy. Some companies almost seem to go out of their way to make a particular task or hobby a pain-in-the-butt. Or they put the cart before the horse and focus on a snazzy, "designed" interface or all the trimmings, as opposed to the actual use/function of the product in question. You design a smart, thoughtful and logical piece of software or hardware
first...then you work on "dressing it up" and giving it an attractive, eye-catching front-end or packaging. It's wild how many companies seem to take the reverse approach.
Apple excels at doing it the right way, no doubt. And it's my favorite thing about them. They release a new version of iLife, I watch the keynote and 5-10 tutorial videos on their site and next thing you know I'm in the thick of a project, slinging stuff around like I've done it for years. I've never read their manuals, and I've never had to pay $28.95 for a "how to use iMovie" book either.
It's wonderful, and they're very good at making that sort of stuff "for everyone". They've done it dozens of times over the years, with various products. It's what they'll be remembered for more than anything, IMO. Hardware styles and trends come and go, but through it all (even going back to the first iMovie in late 1999...holy crap, has it been that long?!), they've put this sort of thing into the hands of "regular people", but while still providing useful, expected (or even high-end, pro-like) features and capabilities.
Not many companies do it as well. Probably just a handful.
I don't think Microsoft is one of them. I just don't. And that's not gratuitous "Apple fan" bashing. We installed Office 2008 onto my Mom's new Mac mini, and just the installation process for it (compared to iLife '09, Print Shop and Quicken 2007...three completely different, unrelated companies), was a cumbersome, confusing pain. It asked you about 200 questions, stuff popped up to bug you, multiple windows and windows within a window you thought you'd already dismissed, etc. You kinda thought you were in Windows, frankly.
And then, of course, the Office 2008 "Service Pack" update (labeled as "critical" in the automatic updater) hangs upon installation, and gives you no feedback or "how to proceed" info whatsoever. You have to force quit the installer, and then you get a typical Microsoft error message with some WTF?! acronym that nobody outside the company probably understands.
I tried downloading it fresh from their site, and it does the same thing. The blue "barber shop" progress bar goes about 1/8th of an inch (barely into the install) and just sits there. Forever. None of the text around it changes to reflect the status or any sort of "be patient, installation is in progress" confirmation or gives you any sort of time estimate. You just sit there for 15-20 minutes and nothing happens.
And it repeated that on a second machine (there's a three-user install/serial key for Office 2008 student/home edition), so it wasn't a quirk related to my Mom's refurb mini (I thought it might've been at first).
So, in a nutshell: they make it harder than it has to be, but, beyond that, there's a super good chance it won't work in the end, after all the effort and wait. Perfect!
By all means, bring that to the retail stores! The lines at the Guru Pub (don't laugh...you know it's a strong possibility) will be out the door and twice around the mall).