Separating the sheep from the goats

In the book The Inmates are Running the Asylum, Alan Cooper explains how software is difficult to use because they have design flaws.  He says the graphical user interface does not match how users want to use the software.  However, the reason software is difficult to use is because it is crowded with too many unused features.

A garage full of junk, no matter how you organize it, is still full of junk.  Most software users only use a small amount of the available features.  The rest of the features are left untouched or not even known about.  In order for interfaces to be intuitive, the unnecessary features need to be stripped away.  It is easier to find a certain feature if searching through hundreds of other features isn't necessary.

Instead of trashing all of the less commonly used features, multiple interfaces could be developed.  One example is to have three separate interfaces.  One for only the basic features, another for users more accustomed to the software, and a third for only the most advanced users.  In this way, no functionality is lost and all types of uses can have an interface tailored to their needs.