I’ve been prompted by some discussions on Google+ about the recent design change to write this post.

First off, I don’t mind the change at all. Really it’s pretty similar to the iPad version, which is the spot I have most interacted with Google+. It’s not a big change for me.

More importantly, people hate change in something familiar. It doesn’t matter what it is, we get used to something one way and when it changes we don’t like it.

Poor Dishes

The last time we moved we spent a bunch of time reorganizing the dishes in to the cupboards in the most efficient way. We knew it was the best way to maximize our space, but there was an issue.

See in our last house we had the cups on the left side of the oven. So in the new place we always went to the left side of the oven to get the cups. After 6 months we still went to the left side of the oven to get cups. It was a change that was just not compatible with us, and we moved them to the left side of the stove again.

So we now have less room to put dishes, but it just ‘feels right’ based on our habits.

At Least We Tried

When it came to my dishes we actually tried to stick it out, knowing that putting the dishes where they were maximized the space in our small kitchen. We didn’t make the change the first day we tried it, or the first week, or the first month. We truly lived with it for months till we decided it wasn’t tenable.

Google+ changed yesterday, you haven’t even tried it. You are simply saying you don’t like something because it’s different than what it was. After a day you can’t say you removed your ingrained habits and given it a shot, all you can say is that you find it odd.

I have no problem with you saying that it’s weird and you have to learn the new interface, but telling me how terrible it is holds no weight. At least not for a few months or weeks, when we’ve actually had a chance to live with the product.