After spending an hour on Sunday evening trying to download 50 images from the new digital camera I began to think that a new e word is needed. E-lite. What is the problem? Why is the technology still so complicated and what impact is that having on take up not just of e-services but of the internet in general?

According to a recent report from the Oxford Internet Institute, usage of the internet reached about 60% in the UK in 2003 and hasn’t moved much since then. I’ve not had a chance to read the report yet but my own inital thoughts are outlined below.

Langauge - this is one critical area. Number one issue: the language used to in the so called help files is usually incomprehensibe.

Complexity - what are the drivers that create this level of complexity? The interfaces that work are the simple ones, which is why Google has always been so popular.

Criminality - the good guys are forced to load anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-adware, firewalls and encrypt messages because of a very small technically malicious criminal elite.

Propriatary software - it can be stunning how unfriendly it can be to use some of this stuff

Open Source Software - ditto. For all that I theoretically support OSS I cannot pretend that it is any easier to understand or use than propriatary software. In fact in many cases it is harder to learn.

There really does need to be a user focused technical revolution (among other things).