From: blockedofcourse@foo.invalid   
      
   On 1/27/2026 8:32 AM, Liz Tuddenham wrote:   
   > Don Y  wrote:   
   >   
   > [..]   
   >> [Still beats the hell out of the oven that wants you to dial the number   
   >> of HOURS you want, hit ENTER, dial the number of MINUTES, hit ENTER,   
   >> then select whether you want to turn the oven off, maintain temperature,   
   >> etc.  Again, a dweeb who thought a big knob and an ENTER button   
   >> could solve ALL UI issues!  (gotta wonder why there are other buttons   
   >> on the oven/stove given such a "universal" UI!)   
   >   
   > My microwave oven has a dial marked with two different sets of 'minutes'   
   > markings (in different colours and fonts to clearly distinguish them).   
   > One is the time in minutes during which microwaves are delivered to the   
   > food, the other is the time in miuntes it will take to actually deliver   
   > this energy when a lever is set to 'Defrost' and the magnetron is pulsed   
   > on and off.  The timer motor is connected to the magnetron circuit, so   
   > it runs only when energy is actually being delivered.   
   >   
   > It is simple to understand, simple to use, reliable and extremely cheap   
   > to make.  It also has real bell that goes 'ping!'.   
      
   Ours has independant settings for power level and time.   
      
   There are some specialty settings (like "defrost" which accepts   
   a *weight* of the item being defrosted).  Or, cooking settings   
   for different types of food (Sauce, Hot Beverages, Snacks, popcorn,   
   etc.)   
      
   We bought a microwave for mother-in-law ~40 years ago.  At the   
   time, the big choice was "numeric keypad" vs. "dial".  I   
   prefered the former because it was likely more reliable   
   (no moving parts) and much easier to clean.  But, the "dial"   
   was far more intuitive to her.   
      
   The scale was non-linear -- you could dial fine increments   
   of time for small durations (e.g., 10 second intervals up to   
   a minute or so) and coarser for longer periods (minutes).   
      
   The oven is a different beast with far more options:   
   - one or two independant ovens   
   - bake, broil, convection, dehydrate, etc.   
   - delay start   
   - two types of cleaning cycles (quick vs. thorough)   
   - "Sabbath" mode, "demand mode" (tie in with public utility   
   - time/date setting, wifi settings, etc.   
      
   I.e., you can see how there would be appeal for a "universal"   
   interface.  But, no one thought it through in terms of   
   actual use model.   
      
   Or, the different types of interactions that one COULD   
   experience.  E.g., if you are in the middle of setting   
    and the oven calls for attention -- perhaps   
   because a timer has expired -- the SINGLE UI gets confused   
   leaving you with "Power Off" as the only real way to get   
   to a known state (and then restart whatever was happening   
   at the time).   
      
   I can just see the engineer pitching how clever the   
   "universal interface" could address all of the needs   
   of the oven/user.  But, no one thinking about how   
   PRACTICAL those interactions would be.  Do you really   
   want to have to go through all these steps just to   
   turn the oven on??   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)