“Users don’t want to use your programs. They want to HAVE USED your programs. They want the benefit, not the process.”

I wrote an article about how some later versions of popular software get worse as time marches on and new versions are churned out for the sake of “keeping up with the Jones’s”. It is at http://www.jacobsm.com/techgripe.htm under the title “Why does software seem to get worse as time goes on?” Enjoy and keep up the good work!

Why does Word still honor the MDI paradigm, but ignore the Ctrl-Tab shortcut key, which is a Windows standard(What idiot thinks Ctrl-F6 is better?)? Why does Excel break that paradigm, launching a new window which adds another item to the Alt-Tab list? In later versions of browsers, one can choose whether to add a tab or a window. This kind of choice shows respect for the user. If you make cool new innovations, let me choose whether I prefer the new way or the one to which I’m accustomed. Don’t ram your “brilliant” ideas down my throat.

Why did File Manager (Windows 3.1) have a highlight across the entire list, and Windows Explorer doesn’t? Again, this is a feature available in Word, but not in the OS. Why did Paint, starting with XP, come with the printing defaults set to center the image in a two page printout? Since the keyboard shortcut keys to change this deranged default are: “Alt,F,U” I conclude the developers are giving us the bird in a passive-aggressive way. Why do my color printers require that I change the settings to print in only black and white EVERY TIME I use them? Seems to me they are trying to waste my printer ink money. That should be illegal, since it is petty theft of at least my time.

If Microsoft made autos, they would cost a few thousand dollars and get 300 mpg, but some mornings you would be unable to insert your ignition key in the usual place. A search would find it bolted to the spare tire, and you would have to pull out your tools and reinstall it on the dashboard. Even after you get going, say on a vacation drive, you better be careful how you turn off the motor when you stop for lunch or you’ll find yourself back at home with the first three hours driving wasted.

As an old friend calls this, “The triumph of marketing over engineering.” Microsoft is as arrogant as GM (who never even had a market research department until 1985!) and I for one was glad to see the EU stand up to them. If they played with respect for their rivals and their users, they might have spent those billions of dollars (which the EU fined them) on usability studies and testing, giving us a better toolset. I accept that they are a profit making enterprise, and I have no problem paying for tools I use. I just resent being forced into their beta testing department with no compensation.

Along with adding a virgin I would confiscate all the developers’ mice during their unit testing, forcing them to use only keyboard shortcuts, and give them all glasses which simulate middle aged vision. Then the larger font settings would work, finally.

Publish more of these.