From: stephen@sprunk.org   
      
   On 30-Jun-14 05:00, rcp27g@gmail.com wrote:   
   > On Sunday, 29 June 2014 18:38:21 UTC+2, Stephen Sprunk  wrote:   
   >> On 29-Jun-14 08:10, bob wrote:   
   >>> Stephen Sprunk  wrote:   
   >>>> Digital phones can have lots of lines, limited only by the   
   >>>> number of buttons on the phone.  But more buttons still costs   
   >>>> more money; in most cases, the typical desk phone only has 2-3   
   >>>> line buttons, and only a receptionist's phone has more (one for   
   >>>> every user's extension).   
   >>>   
   >>> Surely a modern desk phone would have some sort of display and   
   >>> menu type system so that an arbitrary number of "lines" could be   
   >>> accessed?   
   >>   
   >> That's too complicated (and slow) for the average user.   
   >   
   > Certainly if it is a dirt cheap badly designed phone, but even the   
   > average nokia phone from 15 years ago had more functionality (eg   
   > integrated phone book and SMS), and ordinary people had no trouble   
   > figuring out how to use them.   
      
   I'm not aware of any mobile phone (Nokia or otherwise) with multiple   
   line support.   
      
   Yes, there are some functions you can bury in menus, but it simply   
   doesn't work for line selection.  My CPOE has tried, and it was   
   uniformly rejected by users.  They want physical buttons or, for   
   touchscreen models, a virtual button on the idle screen.   
      
   >> Touch displays make it a bit easier since you don't need a physical   
   >> key for each line, but you still need to burn screen real estate   
   >> for them, and the minimum size is constrained by the need to put   
   >> enough text on the "button" to identify the line, e.g. an extension   
   >> number or name.  In practice, the vast majority of users never need   
   >> more than one line anyway; even secretaries only use two or three.   
   >> That's about the limit of how many calls a typical user can   
   >> mentally keep track of anyway.   
   >>   
   >> The main exception is attendants, and they get special phones with   
   >> lots of lines and/or big screens--and training in how to use them.   
   >> A normal phone is expected to be usable with zero training, and   
   >> that limits how complicated the interface can be.   
   >   
   > If recent developments at my place of work are anything to go by, the   
   > days of the phone itself as a separate physical object are numbered.   
   > We are transitioning to a system where the "phone" is just a   
   > receiver/cradle that is a USB peripheral for a PC, and everything   
   > else is done in software.  Every PC has a generous (by phone   
   > standards) high resolution full colour display with keyboard/mouse   
   > interaction.   
      
   A certain PC software vendor is pushing that model, and my CPOE went   
   along with it for a while, but users pushed back far harder than   
   expected; we went back to promoting Ethernet-connected phones (we do   
   still have one USB-connected model that we don't advertise) and sales   
   are booming again--much to the dismay of said PC software vendor.   
      
   Attendants are an exception to pretty much every rule in the phone   
   industry, but they are a special case that represents (based on my   
   analysis of our sales volume) less than 1% of the total market.  You   
   have master that to win the other 99%, though; one unhappy attendant can   
   tank an entire PBX sale.   
      
   S   
      
   --   
   Stephen Sprunk         "God does not play dice."  --Albert Einstein   
   CCIE #3723         "God is an inveterate gambler, and He throws the   
   K5SSS        dice at every possible opportunity." --Stephen Hawking   
      
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