Money Quote: Simplicity is the Ultimate Sophistication

The simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. What we meant by that was when you start looking for a problem and it seems really simple with all these simple solutions, you don't really understand the complexity of the problem. And your solutions are way too oversimplified, and they don't work. Then you get into the problem, and you see it's rally complicated. And you come up with all these convoluted solutions. That's sort of the middle, and that's where most people stop, and the solutions tend to work for awhile. But the really great person will keep on going and find, sort of, the key, underlying principle of them problem. And come up with a beautiful elegant solutions that works." -- Jony Ive, Apple (from The Perfect Thing: How the iPod Shuffles Commerce, Culture and Coolness by Steven Levy - a really good book. I think everyone at Microsoft should read it. It kind of makes you feel sad for Microsoft, this book makes Apple's amazingness seem easy. It would require a drastic sea change, but it seems like it would be possible if people had passion.)