John, you've got a fine command of language ...but nearly all of those are derived from gods or their children. Titan was an old school god, jovial refers to Jove or Zeus, martial is from Mars, Hercules was the son of Jove and the Muses were minor deities.
jmcaddell
· 2 months ago
Sorry, didn't read the directions carefully enough. Siren also comes to mind...
amcafee
· 2 months ago
I've amended the text of challenge to say "How many other English words can you come up with that are derived from the names of people in myths and legends who are neither gods nor the children of gods?," which was what I originally meant. So 'siren' doesn't work, 'cause it's not from a person's name. Other answers?
amcafee
· 2 months ago
Digiphile is exactly right. 'Odyssey' works, though, and is a fine response.
digiphile
· 2 months ago
Great post. Useful first principles for tech product design, whether software or hardware.
On your last count, no children of the gods or Googling? There's an Achilles heel... thinking back to Bullfinch & D'aulaires book of Greek myths.
5 for Friday: Narcissism. Sisyphean task. Chimera. Delphic. Labyrinth.
Mike Mitchell
· 2 months ago
Andy, you're right on target here. As a purveyor of browser-based software products, I fully subscribe (pun advised) to this paradigm as a way to build loyalty--which is almost but not quite the same as avoiding alienation. People will continue using products that are inferior--sometimes even FAR inferior--to avoid taking the time to learn something new, unless you make a change so radical that they're essentially forced to learn something new anyway.
The problem with not alienating your customer base with "upgrades", however, is that the market passes you by. New players can come on the scene with something much better, using the newest technology, right out of the gate, and unless you revolutionize your product, you'll be left in the dust. So, you're stuck with a conundrum--keep your customers dumb and happy, or give them something vastly better but risk losing them due to their realization that better things are possible.
Carl Frappaolo
· 2 months ago
narcissistic, herculean, echo, homeric
SamW
· 2 months ago
the hard part is remembering whether someone was a god or related to a god or now. I'm pretty confident about: arachnid, odyssey, nacissism, tantalize
less so about: echo
Jason C
· 2 months ago
Great principles, and they make sense in what is quickly becoming a standard process of continuous innovation in the Web/Mobile 2.0 environment. They even make sense in the analog world, as long as you aren't trying to introduce a paradigm-shifting product like, say, squeezable mayonnaise. I'm not sure I completely agree with your third point, though: "Don't Even Talk About It."
Maybe it's just me, but I like to know about improvements in the tools I use. I agree that you don't want to force users through a mandatory/self-congratulatory "What's New!" process, but some subtle highlights of the shiniest new tricks can actually enhance a user's experience. I don't want to discover new functionality by accident, especially if it fixes an annoying gap in the system (iPhone cut-n-paste is a great example of this). So yes, be subtle and allow me to opt in to the new features, but let me know that they exist!
Ivan
· 2 months ago
Sounds like just hide your changes and made things smooth^^
TheKitesurfCentre
· 2 months ago
nice idea, we have similar approach with our designs, keep its as simple as you can, less chance of user error
Jon
· 1 month ago
It is really important to make sure new technological devices are not too difficult to understand. I think that is why gmail is the best of both worlds, it has a lot of techy features but like you said, you can turn them off.
All Comments
Other answers?
'Odyssey' works, though, and is a fine response.
On your last count, no children of the gods or Googling? There's an Achilles heel... thinking back to Bullfinch & D'aulaires book of Greek myths.
5 for Friday: Narcissism. Sisyphean task. Chimera. Delphic. Labyrinth.
The problem with not alienating your customer base with "upgrades", however, is that the market passes you by. New players can come on the scene with something much better, using the newest technology, right out of the gate, and unless you revolutionize your product, you'll be left in the dust. So, you're stuck with a conundrum--keep your customers dumb and happy, or give them something vastly better but risk losing them due to their realization that better things are possible.
less so about: echo
Maybe it's just me, but I like to know about improvements in the tools I use. I agree that you don't want to force users through a mandatory/self-congratulatory "What's New!" process, but some subtle highlights of the shiniest new tricks can actually enhance a user's experience. I don't want to discover new functionality by accident, especially if it fixes an annoying gap in the system (iPhone cut-n-paste is a great example of this). So yes, be subtle and allow me to opt in to the new features, but let me know that they exist!