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# Why aren't user interfaces more like cars ..
- URL: https://www.lorcandempsey.net/why-arent-user-interfaces-more-like-cars/
- Published: 2003-10-29T17:55:32.000Z
- Updated: 2003-10-29T17:55:32.000Z
- Author: Lorcan Dempsey
- Tags: UX

> Now what about user interface design? Every software application I own has a bespoke interface. No doubt this has a lot to do with differentiating oneself in tough markets, and I do like variety and novelty, but *come on*. These apps are needlessly different. Mozilla mail is nothing like The Bat!, which is nothing like Outlook. Yet they are essentially *identical tools* in the same way cars are essentially identical tools. The difference between car-makers and software-makers is that if software-makers made cars, they’d think they were doing a bang-up job by putting the brake above your head. Strangely, car-makers have found saner ways to compete with each other and enthrall customers.
> 
> \[[Bill de h�ra: The Uniform Interface](https://www.dehora.net/journal/archives/000310.html?ref=lorcandempsey.net)\]