When my mom first got a microwave oven in the 1980s the UI I was aware of was being able to set a time and a power level.
Eventually microwaves got buttons to do specific tasks like "cook a potato", "cook frozen vegetables", etc. The strangest one is that many have a "microwave popcorn" button that bagged microwave popcorn says not to use on the package.
My feeling for a while was that this was all stupid, "I already know how to cook a potato" -- that this was a nightmare bicycle.
Turns out that those features work really well, the microwave has a gas sensor that can figure out how to cook a potato better than you can most of the time, in fact the best ones have a microphone which can tell the pops are a second or so apart and it's time to stop. I don't know how many people, like myself, think it is a lot of marketing bullshit, even though it's really an improvement.
May be better to look from other side - why manual transmission appear?
- For people, most natural way to drive was horse racing style - use whip or spur on to start or to run faster; draw rein to slower or to stop; pull right (left) to turn right (left).
Machines with automatic transmission use gas pedal to run faster, and brake pedal to slower, this behavior is more close to horse control than manual transmission.
Manual transmission appear on most machines, because it is simpler than automatic and cheaper, but automatic is more ergonomic (more natural).
Some machines are only automatic, usually for some reason. For example, some trucks have automatic transmission, because it have special safety measures, so one could not broke it if just accelerate to much. For passenger car, usually auto transmission is just for more comfort.
When my mom first got a microwave oven in the 1980s the UI I was aware of was being able to set a time and a power level.
Eventually microwaves got buttons to do specific tasks like "cook a potato", "cook frozen vegetables", etc. The strangest one is that many have a "microwave popcorn" button that bagged microwave popcorn says not to use on the package.
My feeling for a while was that this was all stupid, "I already know how to cook a potato" -- that this was a nightmare bicycle.
Turns out that those features work really well, the microwave has a gas sensor that can figure out how to cook a potato better than you can most of the time, in fact the best ones have a microphone which can tell the pops are a second or so apart and it's time to stop. I don't know how many people, like myself, think it is a lot of marketing bullshit, even though it's really an improvement.
Why does he think automatic transmissions had to be invented?
> Why automatic transmissions had to be invented?
To be honest, this is interest question.
May be better to look from other side - why manual transmission appear?
- For people, most natural way to drive was horse racing style - use whip or spur on to start or to run faster; draw rein to slower or to stop; pull right (left) to turn right (left).
Machines with automatic transmission use gas pedal to run faster, and brake pedal to slower, this behavior is more close to horse control than manual transmission.
Manual transmission appear on most machines, because it is simpler than automatic and cheaper, but automatic is more ergonomic (more natural).
Some machines are only automatic, usually for some reason. For example, some trucks have automatic transmission, because it have special safety measures, so one could not broke it if just accelerate to much. For passenger car, usually auto transmission is just for more comfort.