Feature Creep and The Problem of Complex Software in Educational Settings

There is an interesting concept in the commercial software industry called "feature creep." The idea is that companies with a software product keep adding features to this product so that those who have already purchased the product will be willing to pay for an upgrade. While this may sound like a reasonable approach, as features are added to software programs, the programs can become more complicated or confusing. For experts, the advantages of added features may offset the demands of coping with additional features. However, for novices, new features are often of limited value and the increasing complexity creates such a steep learning that many give up.

Companies used to offer multiple products - a basic product and a high-end product. Adobe does this with Photoshop and Photo Elements. This also used to be the case with web authoring software. Macromedia Dreamweaver and Adobe GoLive are the high-end products. There used to be some less sophisticated products for the non-professional - e.g., Adobe Pagemill and Claris Homepage. Pagemill and Homepage are no longer on the market. I do not completely understand the decision to abandon the simpler products. Clearly there is less money to be made. Some claim that offering a functional, but less sophisticated product may also limit sales of the more commercially oriented product.

The business issues become a problem for educators wanting to locate simple and inexpensive tools for classroom use. A solution may be available in the form of open-source software.

Nvu (N-view) is an open source web authoring tool you should might consider. Nvu has been developed by Linspire, Inc. for Windows, Macintosh and Linux. Nvu is based on the open-source code made available through the Mozilla Composer project.

3/28/05