In a former life, I used to do tech support for a major automobile manufacturer as they rolled out their all-in-one super tech gadget: an onboard computer that allowed the driver to control myriad parameters of the car, including the radio, climate, GPS navigation, service computers, and other things. Many of us on the project saw it as user-unfriendly, and possibly unsafe. I certainly saw it as a poor design from virutally all usability standpoints.

It’s refreshing to see that Jakob Nielsen, a noted usability consultant, agrees.