WAF

Gleaned from the Australian Media Center Community (link):

Wife Approval Factor (n.): Applicable to an object, especially an electronic device, that normally appeals only to men. Also refers to any features added to or modified in the object to make it acceptable to women. See also, Wife Acceptance Factor.

It’s clear that men are generally more interested in high-end electronic gadgetry than women. Further, this obsession with fancy digital doodads works well as long as a man remains single. But once he’s married or otherwise sharing living quarters with a significant female other, the electronic emblems of singlehood such as refrigerator-sized speakers and wall-covering home theater systems are doomed. Why? Because (so the theory goes) most women don’t want to live in a home dominated by over-the-top electronica. Their preferences run more towards things that are attractive, understated, and easy-to-use, and it is these characteristics that give devices a high score on the WAF scale.

That pretty much sums up my relationship with my Windows Media Center PCs, notebook, Windows Mobile SmartPhone, online communities, and my lovely wife. I’m on an eternal quest to improve the WAF of all my tech – and by proxy – myself.

– Greg