Stephen Fry's new column

I found this to be an interesting, not to mention very well written first column, by Stephen Fry in the Guardian. It's to be a technology column written only in his inimitable style. Here he talks about Apple, and the importance of design:

So you can guess that I certainly do think design is important. But it doesn't have to come from Apple. In fact, I wish to goodness it came from everywhere. I hope you'll believe I'm not an unthinking slave to Cupertino. Apple gets plenty of small things wrong, but one big thing it gets right: when you use a device every day, you cannot help, as a human being, but have an emotional relationship with it. It's true of cars and cookers, and it's true of computers. It's true of office blocks and houses, and it's true of mobiles and satnavs. A grey box is not good enough, clunky and ugly is not good enough. Sick building syndrome exists, and so does sick hand-held device syndrome. Fiddly buttons, blocky icons, sickeningly stupid nested menus - these are the enemy.

Good stuff.

via Daring Fireball