Like it or not, change is inevitable.
I’m afraid you’re not going to like my answer.
I get this question periodically about almost every major online service. Google, Hotmail/Outlook.com, Yahoo!, and others all go through periodic major updates, and some set of existing users get upset. When this post originally appeared some years ago, Google had just changed the layout of the Gmail interface.
Almost every site online or software we use goes through periodic changes. When they make a major update, it’s going to upset some of its user base. It’s a cost of doing business.
And that, really, is what it all comes down to: services and software you use are businesses in a highly competitive environment.
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Changing things that aren't broken
Google and other major services regularly update their platforms to stay competitive. While this might frustrate you, going back to older versions is typically not an option because of costs and complexity. Change is inevitable in technology. It is driven by competition, user needs, and evolving features. Accepting it as best you can will make your life easier.
Keeping the old version
I’ll get to why things change in a moment, but I want to address the hope of getting the old version back first.
System updates for online services are almost always one-way. There is no option to keep or revert to the old version. In the few cases where I’ve seen it, it’s been only a temporary measure that eventually goes away.
Why? It’s simple: maintaining the old version and the new version simultaneously is extremely costly, adds to the overall complexity of both, and ultimately can make both less reliable than simply focusing on one new version.
Keeping two versions of the same thing running makes little sense for a variety of reasons that boil down to cost and stability.
So, no; once an online service changes like this, there’s typically no going back.
Stagnation is death
Gmail is competing with Outlook.com and Yahoo Mail, and all three of them compete with a variety of free and paid email services available on the internet. As a result, all services continually offer new features and functionality to stay current and competitive or even one step ahead of the competition.
Here’s the thing that most find difficult to accept: they must change.
If they did not — if they simply picked a user interface and feature set and stuck with it forever — they would eventually lose their market as other systems continued to improve. The other services would bypass them by becoming “better” with new features and functionality.
That’s death for any business.
And make no mistake about it: the services that you use — even though they might be free to you — are businesses. If they cannot sustain themselves as a business, they will eventually go away.
Competition means that every service must change to keep up and stay in business.
Perhaps it really was broken
One of the common arguments is that “They didn’t need to change something because it wasn’t broken.”
It may not be broken in your eyes, but the system may be very broken for people who use it differently than you. Or it may be broken regarding new features, functionality, and services that this or other providers are implementing.
One thing that has always amazed me is the incredible variety of ways that people use the same software or service. Often, they’re used in ways that the designers never predicted. And even if they had, the nuances of exactly how the service gets used by the masses often expose flaws or opportunities to make things easier that no one had even considered.
There may be things that you never run into but others struggle with every day… things the designers decided they must fix.
Because it was broken.
“Everyone” doesn’t hate it
One of the common comments that accompany this complaint is that “Everyone hates it.”
No. Just … no.
Everyone doesn’t hate it.
The people making the most noise are certainly the people who hate it, but the people who like it, accept it, and move on are quietly going on about their business.
Sure, you’ll see people in the support groups and forums complaining about the change. But why would the people who like it even show up? Forums look like the world is one-sided and filled with haters. The 99% who accept or embrace the change are elsewhere getting stuff done.
Don’t let the echo chamber fool you into thinking your opinion is in the majority. It might be, but it’s more likely that it’s not even close.
Even if I’m wrong, change is inevitable
I’ll admit that everything I’ve said above relating to “why” is mostly conjecture and rationalization on my part. Based on my years of experience in both business and technology, my theories make sense to me, and I believe that they’re conjecture in the right direction.
But I could be wrong.
For all I know, there really is an evil plot to see who can annoy the most people. Seems an unlikely business model, but I know many people feel that’s exactly what’s happening.
But here’s the thing: change is coming whether or not we like it.
It’s a fundamental part of the growth of technology and society. Services like Gmail, Outlook.com (formerly Hotmail), Yahoo, and others are going to change every so often for whatever reason.
It’s not going to stop.So you and I are left with a choice.
- We can spend a lot of energy to resist it, be annoyed with it, or complain about it.
or
- We can gracefully, if perhaps begrudgingly, accept it as a simple inevitability or even something even to look forward to.
Me, I’ll take the second option.
I’m too …
Statements of the form, “I’m too old/busy/tired/computer-challenged/etc”, aren’t valid excuses for most people. They hide behind them.
I’m not saying that we must simply accept whatever the services feed us. If we don’t like what they’ve done to a sufficient degree, we have other options.
We can change services.
Don’t like what Google Mail is doing? Switch to Yahoo Mail or Outlook.com. Or start using a desktop email program to insulate you from the whims of Google’s designers.
But it all involves one constant: change. Regardless of what you change to, that service, too, will continue to change over time.
Change, like winter, is coming.
Do this
For some, change is hard. I get that. But no matter how you feel, change is inevitable. Better to realize that and accept it as much as you can. It’ll make for a much more pleasant experience.
I try to explain the changes we see so often. Subscribe to Confident Computing! Less frustration and more confidence, solutions, answers, and tips in your inbox every week.
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Very interesting post with a good perspective. A lot of people get hung up on their personal viewpoint and echo chambers.
I do think you might be a bit kind about the reasons for changes. There are two others that happen in a place like Google quite regularly:
– designers get bored of the way their product looks and feels, and want to change it to give themselves something new to do.
– developers want to change the technology to a new one, and of course everything gets changed along the way, without any special user need.
The best places don’t do this, or not often, but it’s definitely a factor (I’ve seen it where I work).
One program comes to mind: Libre (or Open) Office. They get the job done and has all the features of MS Office the average person needs, but compared to MS Office the interface is dull. I prefer the look of the more recent versions of MS Office. Libre Office looks and behaves much like ancient versions of MS Office and lacks the esthetics of the modern versions. Try using Libre Office for a while and tell me which you prefer. I have a feeling the vast majority would prefer Microsoft’s product. It’s much prettier and even more intuitive, but the functional differences are minimal.
I’ve been using LibreOffice for several years, essentially, since MS Office 10 went out of support. Personally, I prefer LibreOffice to MS Office. I’m accustomed to the UI, and I know how to find what I need. I can customize the appearance of the software as much as I need to, but I can’t say that about anything that comes from Microsoft, including MS Office. The truth is that we all have our preferences. We like what we like, and that’s O.K.
Ernie
“For all I know, there really is an evil plot to see who can annoy the most people.” It really feels that way sometimes, especially with Microsoft.
The MS Edge startup page is annoying as hell. So many people complain about the Microsoft ecosystem being rammed down our throats. I finally got fed up and changed it. This can make Edge palatable for those weary of MS bull crap. It might be a superstitious thing with me but I feel Edge is a bit faster than other browsers, less overhead than the others.
In Edge click the ellipse icon. (3 dots in the upper right of the window
Click Settings
Click “Start, home, and new tabs” in the left column. If the window is too narrow. click the hamburger ( 3 horizontal lines icon in the upper left of the window to get that menu.)
Under “When Microsoft Edge starts” Tick “Open these pages” and enter a URL. It can be copied and pasted from the browser address bar) or you can have it “Open tabs from the previous session”
You can click the “Customise your new tab page layout and content” under “New tab page” to set a walpape to replace the NS Start Page.
“Change”…is hard, but as stated by Roger L. Kirkham in an upper level business management class I was fortunate enough to attend we learned: “Things that don’t change stay the same or get worst.” It was hard to accept at first, but it is very, very true. Without “change” nothing ever get better or improves.
I just got a new Android cell phone to replace a previous Samsung model. The changes are painful. Now I have competing, dueling and redundant apps from Google, Samsung and Microsoft on the phone. They all scream “choose, me, choose me, I’ll make your life better”. And then there are those obnoxious and annoying “AI” stuff. So far I’ve spent a week trying to disable and kill crapware, pop-ups and ads. Yep, this surely is a more pleasant experience.
I have a fairly easy-going personality, so I take change as it comes. That works for me, for the most part, but when some service makes a change that I simply can’t live with, rather than griping about it, I start looking for a different/better alternative. There’s always more than one way to do almost anything. The trick is to put your energy into finding the way that works best for you, rather than griping about how much you dislike how what you’re using has changed. We must all always remember that service owners are entitled to change what they own in any manner they choose (It is theirs, after all), especially when that service is free to use. Your only choices are either to learn to use the changed service, or look for an alternative.
I hope what I write here isn’t offensive. It’s not intended that way. I’m simply trying to be direct, and tell the truth as I see it.
Ernie
This is absolutely the approach and mindset I wish more people would adopt.
I’ve learned to turn a negative into a positive. Whenever the latest update to Windows 11 comes out, if something was changed to “improve the experience” and I don’t care for it, I start digging for ways to roll back the behavior.
I found a forum that is managed by Windows Insiders and have found registry tweaks and group policy settings (I use Windows 11 Pro) that allow me to make Windows behave the way I want it to.
I’ve also learned along the way more about the registry, using the command prompt, Powershell, and Group policy. Microsoft still tends to add to Windows without removing too much.
On my computers, CoPilot is gone, along with Home and Gallery in the Navigation Pane in File Explorer. In File Explorer, when I right-click a folder or file the context menu opens and I can copy or move the folder or file to where I want without dragging to a new location.
I’m still using Outlook-Classic rather than the new Outlook. (Yes, that is how it appears on the start menu and task bar.)
As I said, a negative into a positive. I’m still learning.
A good example is Windows 11. Windows 10 works perfect. I can see minor changes but Windows 11 went way to far.