Marketing is the shock and awe campaign in the war for your dollars. The most powerful weapon in "their" arsenal is a list of features. That list helps the lowly consumer differentiate between the 101 hammers available from Home Depot and choose which iPod suits their "needs".

Everything has features now. There are no simple products anymore that serve a single function. Features have evolved from a simple advertising ploy to actually being what is sold. There is some sort of macabre competition to see how many "features" can be packed into a single device, piece of software, or automobile.

I don’t deny that many of them have useful functions, but simply adding more features is not necessarily an addition of value. For instance: I do not need fifteen cup holders in a Mini-van that seats seven. Most people aren’t very good at dual wielding beverages. However, even more than physical products software thrives on features.

Software with more features than useful elements does the same job as software that only has the same useful elements. The problem is that features often cost more whether you want them or not. I am not necessarily referring to price. Unnecessary features can cost you space (on your desktop), time (on your CPU), or simply brain power (learning the darn thing).

Google has had remarkable success because at the surface it is extremely simple and easy to use. While it has quite a few features packed under the hood, they don't need to be used or understood to fulfill the primary functions. The features are not intimidating and do not "clutter" the interface, but they are there for those who want them.

The argument can be made that features are simply "additions" to the primary purpose of the product. However, the marketing world promotes those features over the product because it is often not a question of buying the particular item, it is deciding which brand to buy (as in the case of hammers from Home Depot).

Next to the digital world, cell phones are the worst offenders. Despite the convenience factor, I do not want my entire life to be built around one Camera/Phone/MP3 Player/Organizer/Browser that has the tendency to break or get lost. Are all those feature really necessary? Has our information overload progressed to the point that every device must have multiple simultaneous functions?

I like simple and elegant solutions. Beating a problem to death with a bludgeon of features is effective, but not exactly the most efficient solution. That probably makes me the marketing world’s worst nightmare. I hope I'm not alone.