Years back, when I first starting writing software for Windows CE 1.0 (also known as Pegasus), I had firmly bought into the concept that the Handheld PC was going to be used as a "pc companion" and that applications written for it would need to be as close as possible (in both features and functionality) to their desktop counterparts.

Boy was I wrong. Here’s a screenshot of the most popular piece of software that I wrote when I was at BSQUARE:

Yup, that’s it. A single button. That one little button ended up getting bundled on several major OEM devices such as the Philips Nino, Casio Cassiopeia, etc.

While the majority of my time over the last few years has focused back on the desktop side of things, there’s a simple lesson that I keep in mind when developing software that has carried over from writing software for PDA’s. This rule can be applied regardless if you’re designing an API, crafting a user interface or working out how a user gets a task done in your software: Less IS more.

I’ve always found that the software that create the best ‘experience‘ usually have the same things in common: Provide a focused user interface that quickly enables me to ’solve a problem’. It’s not about how many options you have (or how rich the feature set it), but rather how easily I can get done what I opened the software for in the first place.

A beautiful example of "less is more" Photostory. All you do is open it up, drop some photos in, answer a few questions, and whamo - a compelling movie is made. Simple, effective and most importantly: powerful.