SILICON DREAMS THE INVISIBLE COMPUTER Why Good Products Can Fail, the Personal Computer Is So Complex, and Information Appliances Are the Solution By Donald A. Norman MIT Press 302pp $25 Donald Norman's goal is to make the computer fade from sight--and more power to him. Anyone who has had a PC crash repeatedly has dreamed of pitching the thing through a window. But in The Invisible Computer, a book intended more for people in the industry than for the average consumer, Norman isn't advocating a return to noncomputerized devices. Rather, he wants to surround us with simplified, single-purpose digital gadgets. Some of the gadgets, such as 3Com Corp.'s (COMS) PalmPilot, are already at hand. Still, Norman, who now works at Hewlett-Packard Co. (HWP) and formerly was in charge of Apple Computer Inc.'s (AAPL) research laboratories, imagines bigger things: an explosion of tiny machines that can link up through networks to constantly exchange data with one another. These devices could include weather displays that hang on the wall like a clock--or home medical advisers that monitor your body to send alerts to your physician. Sounds great--even if it's a tad like other people's musings. Norman, though, goes beyond daydreaming and gives an outline for how wishful thinking could become reality. He explains why the PC is so complicated, how the techno-zeitgeist makes it that way, and what new approach the computer industry should take. Quite simply, Norman says the computer industry is too caught up in new technology for its own sake. Rather than listening to the right customers, companies heed only the ones who already use their products. Those people have been the early adopters for whom part of the appeal is innovation itself. But computer technology has matured to a point where it can be used by a much broader audience. The trick is to reach the type of people who buy certain automobiles, washer-dryers, and televisions, and who prefer to operate them without knowing much about how they work. But the industry has addressed the mass market by making the PC even more complicated. Led by Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), companies have crammed more into PCs, trying to make them everything to everyone. The problem is exacerbated by an established business model that's based on continually adding features to get consumers to buy new stuff every year. Reaching the next group of consumers means changing that approach and development process, Norman writes. Rather than starting with technology and how to market it, the industry must understand how people work and play to find out what they want, he argues. That's a radical prescription. But Norman deals directly with business apprehensions by using a good old scare tactic--historical examples of companies, such as Edison Speaking Phonograph Co., that became obsolete by concentrating on technology rather than consumers. Norman argues that once the computer companies make his leap, they will see that consumers will want digital tools for specific tasks. Take the popular Swiss Army knife. People like the all-purpose tool, but they mostly use just the knives. It might be the same way with computers: The average consumer might prefer to skip the frills and just get the tools. BY HEATHER GREEN RELATED ITEMS PHOTO: Cover, ``The Invisible Computer'' BOOK EXCERPT: Chapter One of ``The Invisible Computer'' Return to top of story

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