> in the end, what i object to wrt microsoft, centers more on their
> business, marketing, technology _practices_. but i don't think we
> need go down that path; it is entirely to exhausting and unproductive
> for us all.
In the end, what I object to wrt Microsoft centers more on the number of
hours I've lost to:
1. Getting the operating system to recognize that printers, modems,
and other hardware are actually there.
2. Uninstalling and reinstalling software that repeatedly crashes
itself, crashes the operating system, and/or erases critical files from
the hard drive.
3. Figuring out how to undo something the operating system and/or
software has done to my hard disk and/or floppy.
Example of #1: Half the time, Windows refuses to acknowledge that my
OfficeJet exists. I either have to reboot the machine, or reload the
printer drivers, or just downright pray. And even then, invoking a
deity doesn't always work.
Example of #2: PointCast stopped working sometime last week, and I still
can't figure out the fatal error it keeps giving me. Juno occasionally
stops working. Netscape Navigator stopped working a month ago. And
Microsoft Works? Well, sometimes it doesn't.
Example of #3: At some point, the operating system decided to nuke all
my Telnet settings, which means that every time I start up Telnet, I get
reverted back to this truly hilarious, inexplicable situation in which
the application pops up without a window. I then have to go through
several minutes of charades installing fonts and colors and window sizes
to make the application usable. It sucks.
So my beef is not with Microsoft's bad taste in product design. And
my beef is not with Microsoft's strangling competition in their business
and marketing practices. What boils my blood is how much of my time
they've wasted.
One should not have to spend so much of one's worktime endeavoring to
get one's productivity tools to work.
----
adam@cs.caltech.edu
The horror... the horror...
-- Joseph Conrad, _Heart of Darkness_