Square wheels of innovation

I read a blog about blogging today (go figure), which discussed its pros and cons. One of the cons mentioned was the need to write regularly in order to keep readers interested and returning. Others I've talked to say it doesn't matter whether it's regular as long as it's consistent, so that people know when to return, whether daily, weekly or monthly. Well, I like the element of surprise, so my blogging strategy is "sporadic". 

Hopefully that isn't reinventing the wheel in such a square shape as elevator manufacturers have, with their new "buttonless" design.  New lifts popping up in corporate buildings (like the PriceWaterhouse Coopers building in downtown Auckland, which we visited today) have no floor or call buttons - you now enter the floor you wish to go to in a separate console and it tells you which lift to take (the cars are lettered). If you press the button with the Universal Access (wheelchair) Symbol, it embarrasses you by shouting the lift letter (hopeless if you are  blind because it doesn't say where it is). Once you're in the lift there are no floor buttons except to open and close the doors, which made me feel strangely like I had no arms. 

Obviously  designed for efficiency in car management, where the system really falls down is if you pick the wrong floor. You can't just push another floor - oh no, you have to get out, find the console, punch (yes, by now you're punching) the floor in, find the right lift,  wait for it and get back in.

It makes you wonder if the nods who design them actually use them. What do you think - do you like these nouvelle elevateurs - or, like me, are you thinking nothing was broken, so who decided to fix it?

While I'm grumbling about innovation that just makes life more difficult, how about the new Microsoft Office Fluent user interface? Fluent?! Luckily I don't use it because I use Apple, but I've had a couple of goes and it must be the most unintuitive UI I've seen for ages. Like the buttonless lift, it's innovation for the sake of it, as useful as a square wheel. What was wrong with menus, Microsoft?

Your thoughts? Come on people, talk to me!