Reiterating...things are not necessarily designed with their use in mind, although the marketplace is much more of a patchwork quilt these days, with some lovely glaring exceptions to what is being discussed here. Anyone shopped at IKEA lately? And SOME electronics DO have excellent designs, and so do some other products as well. But all too often things are not designed well enough.

I remember reading a book back in the early 70s called "How Things Don't Work" that talked about this very phenomenon. One thing mentioned in the book that stuck out in my mind was the ubiquitous can opener. The more common ones failed to consider the can that they opened. They created two very sharp edges once their work was done. Another (superior design) opener actually rolled the sharp edge under to create two safer edges and a fited can top that could be replaced to cover the unused portion of the contents.

Never figured out why the good one never made a bigger splash in the marketplace. They are still available in some home speciality shoppes, but do not come close to dominating the sales figures. So much for the free market assuring that superior ideas and gadgets rise to the top.