Simon Willison’s Weblog

I've noticed you have got an erroneous none UTF-8 Unicode character usage the in word couldn't.

Robert Wellock - 28th November 2003 11:05 - #

Not to mention that they've managed to remove the last three words from a book from 1986, which has been sitting untouched in my bookshelf for the last 15 years. Scary.

Fredrik Lundh - 28th November 2003 15:01 - #

I saw your latest MS grumble and couldn't stop myself replying:

1) The computer industry is thriving, and Microsoft should take a large part of the credit for that

2) Windows has bugs, like all software, but you can't deny: it works, it's convenient and most people use it. (therefore there's more likelihood of finding bugs, it's the law of averages)

3) Linux and Unix can rightfully dominate the server market, but I'm yet to see a Linux GUI that is as advanced, slick, tighly integrated with the operating system, and has had as much UI research as Windows XP.

4) Everyone hates a big corporation. It's just human nature!

Chris Beach - 28th November 2003 15:11 - #

I find it quite interesting that even on M'soft's page (first result from the google search in the post) they include an ellipsis (though wrongly: should be an ellipsis and then a period, for a total of four dots, since the ellided element ends the sentence) - which makes things even more odd: they no longer include the 'running Microsoft software' in their sentence, but can't, apparently, go so far as to end the sentence simply with a period, as though there were originally nothing more to the sentence.

The ellipsis, then, is the visible sign of the repressed/suppressed (in psychoanalytic terms) element: 'running Microsoft software.' And just as the repressed never truly goes away (it returns and is present in various symptoms: slips of the tongue, compulsive behaviors, ticks, et cetera), what is repressed here (in words) - the monopolistic practices and ideology that Microsoft stands accused and found guilty of - finds continual expression in their business practices.

Ah, the psychopathology of everyday life.....

david ryan - 28th November 2003 16:03 - #

The computer industry is thriving, and Microsoft should take a large part of the credit for that

Why?

jgraham - 28th November 2003 16:28 - #

Ironically, Microsoft's monopolistic nature has made the personal computer more accessible. Because most PCs have a Microsoft operating system, it is easier to teach people how to use computers. If there were dozens of different graphical user interfaces, it would be far more difficult to educate the masses in their use.

The consistent look and functionality across the entire range of Microsoft software makes it very easy to pick up one of their applications and learn how to use it. I'm old enough to remember when there was 30 ways of doing everything.

For the record, I use WinXP Pro on my Dell PC, but I prefer Mozilla Firebird over Internet Explorer. I also think it is sad that folks feel it is necessary to flame successful businessmen. Given half a chance, all of us would like to be in Bill Gates' fiscal position, but how many of us would want to be burdened with so much hatred?

Simon Jessey - 28th November 2003 16:42 - #

Hey Chris, thanks for stopping by. If you want an anti-Microsoft rant though you'd be better off checking out my rant about Windows on ATMs - this one's less of a rant and more of an observation that it's really interesting that Bill Gates' most famous quotation doesn't quite mean what most people think it means. You're right that Linux GUIs are years behind in terms of consistency when compared to Windows - a fact that has evolved from an interesting design decision in X-Windows. That's one of the reasons I'm currently saving up for a Mac :)

Simon Willison - 28th November 2003 16:47 - #

Microsoft rocks. You have no clue what you're talking about. I rock. So stop complaining already.

Bill Gates - 29th November 2003 06:27 - #

The winner writes history however they like! I think their market share is scary, but then again I am not doing anything to change it, are you?

Aaron Wall - 29th November 2003 23:27 - #

You bet I am :) I'm saving up for an Apple laptop, and I'm planning on switching my desktop activities over to Linux. With any luck I'll be completely Microsoft free in the not too distant future.

Simon Willison - 30th November 2003 00:37 - #

Chris,

"2) Windows has bugs, like all software, but you can't deny: it works, it's convenient and most people use it. (therefore there's more likelihood of finding bugs, it's the law of averages) "

Yes, granted. I think what many people object to more is the "covering fire" approach to software development that Joel Spolsky talks about. Even when Microsoft are streets ahead of the competition that they've virtually eliminated (do you think monopolies are a good idea, incidentally? I'd be interested to know) they still release software that hasn't been tested properly. Now maybe this is part of their economic model (money from patches, upgrades, security updates, security updates to fix holes the other security updates caused...), but maybe it's just sloppy because they're on top. Maybe they still don't realise they're on top? ;-)

Ask yourself, though, if it were a car and you bought it and realised that the indicators sometimes didn't work after you'd used the windscreen wipers, or that it only started if you remembered some complicated sequence of events because they hadn't tested all the eventualities, would you be happy at having to take it back to get a mechanic to sort those things out? And finding more and more and more and then after a year or so being told that you really shouldn't still be running that old wreck and should just buy a new car instead?

I use Microsoft products all the time at work and to be fair, the major bugs aren't as frequent as they used to be. XP has only crashed on me about once a month, as apposed to every day as '98 and '95 used to do. But for years they had virtually no competition in the desktop PC market and they still didn't seem to make the effort to product stable software. As you implied, Microsoft basically created the software market of today. Exactly how that market looks is I think what many people object to, more than their envy of Bill and all the multi-millionaires he has made along the way.

Meri - 30th November 2003 14:29 - #