Never forget to user test

Install Office 2008 12.2.5 Update, originally uploaded by LanceWiggs.

Microsoft just keeps getting it wrong on usability.

Here what happened when I updated Microsoft Office on the Mac this evening with the latest fixes.

After running the update program (top, background), it downloaded and ran the updater itself (bottom). That program then popped up an error message telling me to close the first program.

Rather than making me feel as if I have done something wrong, Microsoft’s updater should have automatically closed the first program and got on with it.
Then I would not have been bothered to take a screen shot and write a blog post.
The moral of the story is to never forget to user test, whether you have millions of customers or just a few.