Crypto and Ease of Use (Was: Re: "You aren't following)

[jamiel@sybase.com (Jamie Lawrence)]

>At 3:58 AM 11/29/94, Lucky Green wrote:

>Have you used premail?  It pretty much does all of that.
>People still aren't using premail, either because they can't figure out how
>to install it (doubtful, it's not hard to install), or because they don't
>have a need for it that's great enough to justify the (minimal) time
>neccesary to ftp it and install it, or wait the (sometimes more painful)
>time neccesary for the computer to encrypt and/or sign your outgoing
>messages.

I think there is still a difference between having functionality
available for some effort (ftping, installing, reading the instructions)
and having a menu item in Eudora. The difference is the same one
that makes Macintoshes more popular than Unix boxes for the people
out there who just want to get something done ("The Rest Of Us").

Full integration into mainstream products is nessessary before
Your Avarage Joe out there will bother to use the various tools
available.

This may be somewhere in between Tim's pusher/puller distinctions -
crypto-related technologies are compelling, but not enough to draw
people in without ease of use. "If you build it, they will come (but
only if it is pretty)."


-j

--
On the internet, no one knows you're a deity.
___________________________________________________________________
Jamie Lawrence                                  <jamiel@sybase.com>
Soon                           --------->       <foodie@netcom.com>