After 40 years of humans serving computers, people are finally beginning to wake up and demand that the relationship be reversed: They want machines to become simpler, address human needs and help increase human productivity. That's as it should be. With computer technology maturing, it's high time, as we have repeatedly said in this column, for makers and users of computers to change their focus from machines to people.

But how do you make a machine simpler? With fewer controls? Not really. As you know from watches and other devices that have one mode-changing button and another to select functions within a mode, you can easily get lost in a confusion of modes and functions. Would machines be simpler if they had fewer capabilities? No! Imagine a car that can only do two things-go and turn right. This car can go anywhere, but you wouldn't prefer it to your own car, which has more capabilities. What is it that we really want when we ask that our computers be easier to use?