[cclements]

"You have an entire generation of what looks like cheap plastic toys with screens on them when we were promised a future with risk, innovation, the fantasies of Trek and Inspector Gadget laid out in front of us"

Er? Current Apple devices have a distinctly TNG Federation feel to them to me. Now borg on the other hand...

I got excited starting this article when he mentioned cyberpunk I thought he was going to make a much more interesting point than "I wish tech looked like what I think is cooler". Instead, I really would have enjoyed a discussion about what kind of things may be possible if we dropped the constraints of minimalism. Ideas about what amazing functionality and experiences technology could deliver for those whom don't mind their technology not being as invisible as possible and instead being more, well, large clunky cyberpunky. I would have enjoyed this specifically because with my limited imagination I can't think of a whole lot of additional /exciting/ functionality such an unbounding would enable.

[Bartweiss]

This article does feel like a missed opportunity. I hate the minimal design trend for a lot of reasons, but they aren't the ones listed.

I grimace every time another HN article explains that menus are evil, minimalism is great, and every product should do one thing well. Because in practice, that means downloading 50 apps where 10 would do. It means calendars that don't communicate with alarm clocks, because mobile apps are 'minimal' in an environment where cross-app integration is completely impossible. It means that because no one did my "one thing well", there isn't even a way to do that one thing poorly.

There's a missing discussion about power-user tools, and what non-minimal products should look like. There are places where we should embrace flexibility, and choose good design and clear menus over removing features. This wasn't that discussion.