10. Scalability

Example 1: E-mail

Until a few years ago, when you got 5-10 messages a day, E-mail was fun and useful. Today E-mail is a nightmare and useless. E-mail hasn't scaled up effectively.


Example 2: SASSE shared text editor.

This editor uses scrollbars to provide awareness of the other participant's location in the document. What about a SASSE for 3,4,5,,,,n users (e.g. for a large technical document). Scrollbars would cover half of his screen.


Example 3. Possibly workflow systems

Many systems break if there isn't a critical mass of users (e.g. Grouplens) or if there is more than a critical mass (e.g. E-mail). Filtering is NOT a satisfying solution for E-mail.

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