So I’m all like BOC over my MBA (I like my MacBook Air). The MBA has a backlit keyboard. It’s great when you are using it in dark places. Sometimes I think the keyboard should be lit up it’s not. It has a light sensor that determines when the backlight it supposed to come on.

So right now I’m on a plane, it’s day, but dark enough in the plane that it seems the light should be on. Sometimes when people walk past, they make a shadow that causes the keyboard to glow again. So, my first thought was that there should be a setting for the sensitivity of that.

Apple should add a sensitivity threshold for the ambient light sensor.

If you agree with me you have not been paying attention! That is a terrible idea. I’ve been writing about simplicity and limitations… Why was add a feature the first thing that popped into my head? Luckily Steve’s got my back.

Because the Air is so sweet, the backlight fades in and out slowly so it it not a distraction when it comes on and off. There is no setting because that would add unnecessary complexity to the UI.

I don't need a setting for the light sensor, it works fine like it is.

My wife’s Dell machine has a light sensor, it decides that the screen always needs to be 50% bright when you boot it up. If you change the setting, it doesn’t remember next time. Now that feature could certainly work properly, it’s clearly just a little bug in the software. It is a bug in a layer of complexity that makes my experience with the Dell unpleasant. I would be happier if the screen could not be adjusted, then I could just bitch about the screen being dim.

Features are liabilities and assets at the same time