Andrew Park of Wired Magazine wrote a nice piece about the design philosophy of Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson of 37signals: The Brash Boys at 37signals Will Tell You: Keep it Simple, Stupid. Brash is an understatement.

I was quoted in the article because of my article arguing that simplicity is highly overrated: the tasks that we do require tools that match the requirements, and these add complexity. Moreover, we purchase on features, not on their absence, and so the successful business must always face this tradeoff: the very things that customers complain about afterwards are what caused them to [purchase the item in the first place.

Now, I have always admired 37signals. Nice website, intelligent articles. But I've tried their products and although they have admirable qualities, they have never quite met my needs: Close is not good enough. After reading the article, I understand why: the developers are arrogant and completely unsympathetic to the people who use their products.

Yes, they are arrogant -- and proud of it: "Arrogant is usually somethin