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The (Anti) Zen of Microsoft |
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 It befuddles me why people continue to use put up with Microsoft software. And I use the term software loosely. As a matter of fact I'm insulting all the halfway decent Windows apps out there by calling what Microsoft makes "software". I've known it for a long time, but I guess many people are still gluttons for punishment, or maybe somehow they still haven't realized there are alternatives. Whatever the case, I had a syncronous barrage of idiotic Microsofts moments today and I just had to vent about it.
First off, I had to update an Excel file and export it out as a Web page. The page looked fine in every browser except for (can you guess?) Microsoft's very own Internet Explorer 6. Let me reiterate: a Microsoft product doesn't properly display the output of one of their other products. Just bask in the irony of that statement.
Meanwhile, I had to launch IE for Mac to check out the aforementioned page. I rarely use the beast and have to wash my dirty hands after every use, so needless to say the homepage was the default, MSN.com. Guess what, folks? The homepage created by Microsoft doesn't load properly on Microsoft's own browser! Granted, it's the Mac client, and they've long since stopped development on it, but come on - this is the world's largest software company, with wads of cash to spare. You'd think they could have one guy maybe doing a little something called... oh I dunno... quality assurance? Ahhh ... still feeling the huge influx of irony.
And if that's not enough for you, how about this - we set up a password protected site for said Web page (using Apache's .htaccess) and it worked absolutely fine. Someone else tries to use it in IE 6 on Windows and has to enter the password 3 times, every time they load the page.
I know, know, It's Microsoft and these things happen. They've been happening for years now. But this sudden confluence of events has got me in a tizzy wondering why people still put up with it. Ah well, it's times like these when you can can sit back and relax in your wonderful Mac world of OS X. And in your panacea of aqua bliss you can reflect on a BBC article that mentions how the scribblings of Microsoft's founder reflect a man who is "struggling to concentrate" and "not a natural leader" and then you realize that all things are as they should be. |
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February 2 2005, 11:12 AM EDT, by
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Comments:
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| cAtraXx |
2/2/05, 12:23 PM EDT |
Welcome to the desert of broken software.
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| iKen |
2/2/05, 1:12 PM EDT |
I of course have seen this many times, and I feel your pain, but my most recent experiance is rather interesting.
with Microsofts recent focus on "security" (stop laughing) they have made some of the simplest tasks annoying and difficult. I work in a windows world, and we use a program built in house in access. Every morning I get a report automatically generated by access, and sent to me via e-mail. We have to use outlook. Ever since "upgrading" to office 2003 & SP2 when those reports get generated (6 per day) I now get a freindly annoying message that says something to the effect "Somethings trying to e-mail, it may be a virus! do you want to let it e-mail on your behalf?" with a simple yes-no button selection. The problem is the yes button is greyed out for 5 seconds each and every time that message comes up, to make sure you read the message. THERE IS NO WAY TO TURN THIS OFF!!!
The only thing I could do is install a program that has to be running to bypass that window. It is basically a hack, and it uses up my computers, already low, resources. Thanks Microsoft!!
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| cAtraXx |
2/2/05, 1:46 PM EDT |
The worse windows gets, the more users will drop it ... hopefully.
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| Jonathan |
2/2/05, 2:25 PM EDT |
Nah, you see Microsoft products must break and not work correctly. Otherwise lots of IT boneheads would be out of a job.
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| nhmacusr |
2/2/05, 2:42 PM EDT |
We'll have to see what happens. Apple isn't pushing their capability in that direction (I am referring to marketing efforts and such). With guys like Tom Yager over at info world helping, things are getting better. We'll have to see if Apple picks up the loose ball and runs with it.
Oracle porting their database to OS X server is another indication that this is waking up.
I think another area that will gain ground is grid computing. With xgrid built in to every Mac, a company will be able to utilize idle cycles. Again, we'll have to see if Apple attempts to capitalize in this area.
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2/2/05, 2:52 PM EDT |
Yeah, the comment about IT boneheads is true. Just like government workers, IT guys don't get paid to fix the problem -- they get paid to provide band-aids to it and then look like heroes/magicians for making Windows work. If they actually fixed the problem, that would require change, and the one thing that companies can't handle is...wait for it...change. At least change when it comes to their OS and their computers. The amount of lost minutes and hours and days spent trudging through Microsoft products could easily lead to an economic boom if it was spent on real work and not on making the OS work. But if we did that, the IT technocracy would be out on the streets, and they won't permit that.
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| SJH |
2/2/05, 3:06 PM EDT |
I'm going to time how much downtime I have because of my Windows PC at work tomorrow. I wouldn't be surprised if I could save an hour or so a day if I used a Mac at work instead of a PC.
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| dab2 |
2/3/05, 7:11 PM EDT |
Okay guys, as an IT guy and a Mac user, I am both offended and amused by the direction of this feedback page. The only offence I take is at the generalization that all IT guys live off of Windows. I encourage all of my clients to purchase and use Macs on a regular basis.
My largest client, for some ungodly reason, has created all of their contracts for the past seven years in Microsoft Publisher and this is a major setback to switching them over. Converting all of the contracts is a huge undertaking seeing as they are a company that rents out their facility and enters into close to three hundred contracts per year. But even with this hurdle, I am actively switching them over. Yes, yes, they could run Publisher in Virtual PC, but come on, you sick bastards! Publisher runs horribly on wintel systems, heaven forbid Virtual PC.
Real IT guys can survive and even thrive while attempting to wean our clients of their former, self-destructive habits and towards a more productive Mac life. You could almost call me an IT counselor.
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| DJLC |
2/5/05, 12:40 AM EDT |
iKen - I know what you mean. After "upgrading" to XP, then to SP2 I always get the stupid MS Security Center warning bubble from the thing beside the clock (taskbar?) "You might not have virus protection". And there's no [edited]naughty word[/edited] ing way to turn it off...
That might explain why the PC hasn't been turned on for 3 weeks...
And by the way, I don't have virus protection because spending money on a PC is a sin. That's why most company's money spending people probably go to hell (do I look like some grammar / word god to you!?).
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| Sidney Cammeresi |
2/7/05, 7:33 AM EDT |
While I don't argue with the original point that much Windows software sucks (in fact, I'm considering buying a PowerMac), one can turn off the warnings from Security Center via Control Panel, Security Center, then the link on the left saying `Change the way SC alerts me.'
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| DJLC |
2/9/05, 8:15 PM EDT |
They should add a "Blow up Microsoft Security Center" option.
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| Jeprey |
2/12/05, 9:39 PM EDT |
It's the age old problem... a company starts out with a good idea (an idea ripped off from another company in MS's case) and they market the idea. Pretty soon the company is so big and cumbersome that it can no longer function properly.
Microsoft is so mired in red tape by bureaucracy that the creative genius' that work for MS can't easily implement necessary changes. How tough can it be to write solid programs? People do it in their spare time after work for heavens sake. Microsoft has billions at their fingertips and all they can come up with is Internet Exploder? Hello?
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| JRN |
2/22/05, 3:47 AM EDT |
While I'd never consider using a Windows OS machine other than those (unfortunately) provided at our local library, I have to say that we Mac users haven't so much to brag about now days.
I mean that OS X has undergone over 20 upgrades since it's introduction and that many of those have created serious problems - a tremendous waste of time and imposed aggravation from a company which was once lauded for the elegance of it's software design.
Sadly, we're now reduced to saying, "in comparison to" with much less assurance and much more hesitance.
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