Someone just pointed out something that has bugged me for a while now. It’s the current trend in audio and video equipment to have a “standby” light. This is usually a little red LED next to the power button. It comes ON when you turn the equipment OFF, and goes OFF when you turn the thing ON!
Since the dawn of electrical/electronic devices, lights come ON when you turn the device ON. You see the light, you know it’s on. No light, it’s off. That is a given. It’s simple, obvious, elegant.
So who came up with this idea to do the opposite??? This really seemed to come into play with remote controls. I guess the concept is that the device is letting me know it’s on standby, ready for my remote control command. Stupid. I don’t need to know that. Unless I’ve unplugged the device, I don’t need the reassurance that it’s waiting for me to do something.
Can we start a petition or something?