[Tfug] PDA non-usage

[George Cohn]

Bexley Hall wrote:
>
> Much of this can be blamed on poor designs.  (ever
> look at how telephone systems -- PBX's -- are
> programmed??  :< )  Usually, this is a consequence
> of trying to save money *somewhere*/somehow in the
> design (i.e. not wanting to add a separate button
> for some purpose).  But, often it is just a lack
> of *thinking* about how the device will be used,
> ABused, etc.
>

Having spent half of my life working with telecom equipment, I tend to 
agree.  For example, Nortel had a line of phones with 9 programmable 
keys.  They discontinued them and replaced them with a phone with 8 keys 
and a separate LED.

Typically one of the keys would be voice mail and would be programmed to 
flash when you had messages.  It also served a dual purpose of auto 
dialing into the voice mail server when pressed. OK, so the LED served 
the purpose of the indicator but now you either had to sacrifice another 
key or the user had to manually dial the vm server.

Another sore point and one that is alluded to in one of the Asterisk 
VOIP books is the arbitrary hard coding of forward no answer ring 
cycles.  In one particular Nortel PBX it is 3,4,6 or 10 ring cycles.  I 
can't tell you how many times I had a user ask if they could have 5 
rings before it went to voice mail.  Sorry, no can do, the manufacture 
didn't like that number.

George Cohn