Hutber’s Law states that “improvement means deterioration”. Patrick Hutber is the much missed City Editor for The Sunday Telegraph in the 1970′s. His law was founded on his cynical observation that a stated improvement, mostly to be found in business, actually hides a deterioration.
I feel sure we’ve all been in receipt of a letter, most often from a utility company, that informs us of some wonderous improvement in their service, only to be attached to the loss of some other useful aspect of their service.
Another area where Hutber’s Law is to be found is in updates to computer software. I don’t want to sound too much like an old fogey, resistant to change, but I’m stumped to do what was simple in one version, yet is oh so complicated or impossible in a newer, or so-called improved version.
Hutber’s Law lives on.
You’ve obviously just ‘upgraded’ – I think that’s the word – your version of MS Office!
By: David Chesneau on June 25, 2012
at 10:16 am
David, you’re spot on. Upgraded to Microsoft Office 10, and also Adobe Photoshop Elements10. Both are now what is called Bloatware, just too many features. I’m coming to like Photoscape for photo editing, which is free. But, I’d love to have Elements2. Ah, well, must use F1 for help more I guess.
By: timdodds on June 26, 2012
at 9:49 pm