Shutting Down is Hard to Do

When Microsoft launched Windows 95 they used the Rolling Stones' "Start Me Up" as their theme song. But the buzz was not about "starting it up," but how to turn Windows 95 off. To this day, in order to shut down Windows, you click on the Start menu and select Shut Down. Start me up to shut me down, as they say. If that isn't counterintuitive, what is?

Microsoft took a lot of heat for that one, but if you ask me, Apple's iPod shut down philosophy is equally idiotic. And Apple is supposed to be the master of the elegant user interface!

To shut off an iPod what do you press? You press the Play/Pause button. Worse still, you've got to hold it down in place for a second or two. It makes Windows shut-down feel almost natural. Pressing "on" to "shut off" doesn't seem to bother anyone under 30, but my fingers long for a sensible off switch. What does the technology industry have against an off button? Maybe they just want to make it hard to leave?