Refresh Is Sacred | Prime-WoW

Several Slashdot readers share a blog post: There are two kinds of client applications: The first kind has a “refresh” or “reload” button to make sure your app’s in sync with its server’s view of the world. The second kind is broken. Of late, I have to deal regularly with several apps, notably including an emailer and car-sharing service, that lack such a button. I can imagine why — a customer focused product manager said “Steve Jobs taught us that fewer controls are better and we should just take care of making sure we’re in sync with the cloud. So lose the button. Except for, it doesn’t work. Apparently nobody in the world is smart enough to arrange flawlessly reliable hands-off client/cloud synchronization. There are times when you just know that what you’re seeing on the screen is wrong and if the stupid app would just assume everything it knows is wrong and ask for a brain transplant from its server, things would be OK.