The Role of UX

[AJK]

Reading about how certain people feel about certain "tech", I was
wondering about the role of UX. Are we (UX practitioners) there to say
no to certain things or are we there to improve on it's UX.

E.g. Do we say "Don't use flash" or do we say "You can improve flash
by doing the following..."

There will always be new things that people kick against because, well
people like to feel safe so they keep using or doing the old things,
even though the new thing might improve their work or life tenfold. If
we stayed with the old, we would probably still have had DOS web
interfaces, because it gives you the content without any interference,
but the web is not just about info.

[Lynnsey]

It depends... there are some situations where a technology is clearly
inappropriate, e.g. multimedia on a low-end mobile device. Then you
need to put your foot down.

Generally I prefer to see whether the tech can add value (assessed
against the project objectives), and weigh that up against the costs
(time, effort, more complicated systems, etc). Sometimes the project
stakeholder is looking for a certain effect or benefit and you can
direct them towards a more suitable tech but often it's a case of "we
must have Flash or we've missed the boat!". In that case I think you
need to make sure it's used in the most appropriate way. If the
success of the project (in the business owner's eyes) depends on
having Flash, let them have it. Just make sure they do it responsibly.