Freedom from choice

I do not normally consider myself in the linking-madly-diverse-bits-of-information-to-come-up-with-some-startling-new-perception game. But this past week, truly, two completely separate blog postings have dealt with the idea of simplicity and a good user experience from two entirely different perspectives. John Gruber at Daring Fireball analyses why Apple’s iCal is so horrible that he never uses it. (Neither do I, except to check a date, if there’s nothing else to hand.) And Garr Reynolds has some posts on the liberating effect of freedom from freedom of choice, which takes as its jumping-off point Barry Schwartz’s Ted talk (which I really enjoyed and learned from when I watched it, way back when). And what they are both saying is that less choice can mean more happiness. Amen.