At one time it was John Gotti. He's been dethroned; maybe there's an opening. Honore de Balzac: "Behind every great fortune lies a great crime." Just ask the boys on Wall Street. The recent activities of Northern Trust Bank are one example: http://www.tmz.com/2009/02/24/northern-trust-bank-bailout/

LOL But,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,who's the man with all the money???????

I was debating whether to post, so I hope people don't think I'm beating it into the ground, but I can see wear some people might miss the real joke, here, though I'm sure NBL and Gizmodo got it. If you look close, here, the real joke is not how screwed up Microsoft is, or watching nerdy little Bill foam at the keyboard, it's in realizing MS probably got that way because it's own self-appointed "God" is so incredibly ignorant about how his own company and even his own software works. What were you doing all this time, Billy?!?

Some examples:
His title is "Windows Usability Systematic degradation flame" (at least he admits he's flaming). So, problems with your website equate to a complete sytematic degradation of Windows usability?

First, he goes to Windows download, which is the support part of the website - primarily for patches, developers kits, and such - and is mad because those things are not what he's looking for. And he finds most of what's there - patches and developer's kits - have confusing names. A real technical genius, that guy!

Then, he goes to Windows Update and is mad because it automatically recommends a bunch of patches he doesn't have, because, well that's a large part of what Windows Update is supposed to do! What's even more hilarious is complaining about this in 2003, while both of these web pages had been exactly that way since they were rolled out, Windows Download years before then. By the way, Billy, way to keep your own company's recommended "automatic update" feature turned on. And the fact he needs all those patches SCARES him. I don't know whether to say, "Now you know how the rest of us feel", or "See how scary it may get if you don't download them", or "You're just now finding out after 10 years that your software requires a lot of patching? What did you think was in those service packs, anyway?"

He downloads a bunch of Windows Update detecticon software and bitches: "Doesn't Windows update know some key to talk to Windows?" Yes, Bill, but there's something built right into IE called security features. He then gets mad because a 17 meg download (downloads?) takes 6 minutes to install. What did you think YOUR install routine took, 6 seconds? And he becomes surprised that a patch would require a reboot to register changes. You've never heard of that before, Your Highness? And it's at this point he FINALLY goes back and reads the instructions.

So then he decides to download WMP9 as a prerequisite for MovieMaker (he didn't have this latest innovation?) but can't figure out the difference between Open and Save. It's 2003 and he doesn't know the difference?!? After downloading WMP9, he goes to Add/Remove programs to see if MovieMaker is there? You're right, Bill, you didn't just forget why you were there, you forgot your own head. Of course, it isn't, but a bunch of "Autoupdate" software is there, and he can't seem to put 2 and 2 together and recognize all the Window Update detection "controls" he just downloaded. No, apparently he's still scared! He thinks they've messed up his add/remove programs list, which causes him to post, "Someone decided to trash the one part of Windows that was usable? The file system is no longer usable. The registry is not usable. This program listing was one sane place but now it is all crapped up." Not useable, of course, means "Billy DOS" can't understand it. "What an absolute mess. Moviemaker is just not there at all." Which may be because you actually never downloaded it.

So, after Billy Boy's "Adventures in MS Wonderland", he sends this out of touch memo. Practically all of the things he complains about had been MS standard operating procedure from the day, many years before in some cases, they were implemented. It reminds me of Bill Cosby making fun of himself after making a particularly naive comment, "Charlie Smart, 14 IQ, gonna come in upright and discover the world!" (To be fair, MS did improve some of this, possibly because of B.G.'s suggestions.) He later tells a reporter, "There's not a day that I don't send a piece of e-mail ... like that piece of e-mail."

Obviously, you might be wondering how anything constructive ever got done at MS. It makes me wonder, however, why Redmond wasn't the suicide capital of the world. (Hope that last smart remark doesn't offend anyone!)

An addendum to this thread:
Classic Clips: Bill Gates Chews Out Microsoft Over XP

Quote:
"With Bill Gates saying good-bye to Microsoft this week, we're realizing more by the day how much we'll miss the guy. And when reading through the many interviews floating around this week, we came across this jewel from 2003. A leaked memo from Microsoft, it's several pages of Gates just laying into his design and programming staff for—among other issues—his personal experience when trying to install Windows Moviemaker. And it's a very fulfilling read if you've ever been frustrated by a Microsoft product.

From: Bill Gates
Sent: Wednesday, January 15, 2003 10:05 AM
To: Jim Allchin
Cc: Chris Jones (WINDOWS); Bharat Shah (NT); Joe Peterson; Will Poole; Brian Valentine; Anoop Gupta (RESEARCH)
Subject: Windows Usability Systematic degradation flame

I am quite disappointed at how Windows Usability has been going backwards and the program management groups don't drive usability issues.
Let me give you my experience from yesterday.
I decided to download (Moviemaker) and buy the Digital Plus pack ... so I went to Microsoft.com. They have a download place so I went there.
The first 5 times I used the site it timed out while trying to bring up the download page. Then after an 8 second delay I got it to come up.
This site is so slow it is unusable.
It wasn't in the top 5 so I expanded the other 45.
These 45 names are totally confusing. These names make stuff like: C:\Documents and Settings\billg\My Documents\My Pictures seem clear.
They are not filtered by the system ... and so many of the things are strange.
I tried scoping to Media stuff. Still no moviemaker. I typed in movie. Nothing. I typed in movie maker. Nothing.
So I gave up and sent mail to Amir saying - where is this Moviemaker download? Does it exist?
So they told me that using the download page to download something was not something they anticipated.
They told me to go to the main page search button and type movie maker (not moviemaker!).
I tried that. The site was pathetically slow but after 6 seconds of waiting up it came.
I thought for sure now I would see a button to just go do the download.
In fact it is more like a puzzle that you get to solve. It told me to go to Windows Update and do a bunch of incantations.
This struck me as completely odd. Why should I have to go somewhere else and do a scan to download moviemaker?
So I went to Windows update. Windows Update decides I need to download a bunch of controls. (Not) just once but multiple times where I get to see weird dialog boxes.
Doesn't Windows update know some key to talk to Windows?
Then I did the scan. This took quite some time and I was told it was critical for me to download 17megs of stuff.
This is after I was told we were doing delta patches to things but instead just to get 6 things that are labeled in the SCARIEST possible way I had to download 17meg.
So I did the download. That part was fast. Then it wanted to do an install. This took 6 minutes and the machine was so slow I couldn't use it for anything else during this time.
What the heck is going on during those 6 minutes? That is crazy. This is after the download was finished.
Then it told me to reboot my machine. Why should I do that? I reboot every night — why should I reboot at that time?
So I did the reboot because it INSISTED on it. Of course that meant completely getting rid of all my Outlook state.
So I got back up and running and went to Windows Updale again. I forgot why I was in Windows Update at all since all I wanted was to get Moviemaker.
So I went back to Microsoft.com and looked at the instructions. I have to click on a folder called WindowsXP. Why should I do that? Windows Update knows I am on Windows XP.
What does it mean to have to click on that folder? So I get a bunch of confusing stuff but sure enough one of them is Moviemaker.
So I do the download. The download is fast but the Install takes many minutes. Amazing how slow this thing is.
At some point I get told I need to go get Windows Media Series 9 to download.
So I decide I will go do that. This time I get dialogs saying things like "Open" or "Save". No guidance in the instructions which to do. I have no clue which to do.
The download is fast and the install takes 7 minutes for this thing.
So now I think I am going to have Moviemaker. I go to my add/remove programs place to make sure it is there.
It is not there.
What is there? The following garbage is there. Microsoft Autoupdate Exclusive test package, Microsoft Autoupdate Reboot test package, Microsoft Autoupdate testpackage1. Microsoft AUtoupdate testpackage2, Microsoft Autoupdate Test package3.
Someone decided to trash the one part of Windows that was usable? The file system is no longer usable. The registry is not usable. This program listing was one sane place but now it is all crapped up.
But that is just the start of the crap. Later I have listed things like Windows XP Hotfix see Q329048 for more information. What is Q329048? Why are these series of patches listed here? Some of the patches just things like Q810655 instead of saying see Q329048 for more information.
What an absolute mess.
Moviemaker is just not there at all.
So I give up on Moviemaker and decide to download the Digital Plus Package.
I get told I need to go enter a bunch of information about myself.
I enter it all in and because it decides I have mistyped something I have to try again. Of course it has cleared out most of what I typed.
I try (typing) the right stuff in 5 times and it just keeps clearing things out for me to type them in again.
So after more than an hour of craziness and making my programs list garbage and being scared and seeing that Microsoft.com is a terrible website I haven't run Moviemaker and I haven't got the plus package.
The lack of attention to usability represented by these experiences blows my mind. I thought we had reached a low with Windows Network places or the messages I get when I try to use 802.11. (don't you just love that root certificate message?)
When I really get to use the stuff I am sure I will have more feedback.

When Seattle Pi recently asked Gates about the email, he replied, "There's not a day that I don't send a piece of e-mail ... like that piece of e-mail. That's my job." There was no mention as to whether or not Gates had time to take names. [Seattle Pi]"

Plus 151 discussions

Happy reading on Gizmodo
graylox

This pretty much sums up why Billie's successors have chunks of high sulfur coal in their stockings:
"A VISTA by any other name is still a stinking pile of VISTA."

Pun Game of the Day
Websters: "You're full of VISTA."
Urban Slang: "Eeeewwww, you just VISTA'd yourself!"
Physician: Imodium-D should get that case of Montezuma's VISTA under control.
GAOTD admission: "Some of our giveaways aren't worth VISTA."
NASA: "Houston, we have a VISTA"
Santa Claus: "Darn it, Rudolph, I just stepped in more VISTA."
Realtors' stale listing: Any house in Buena Vista.

'Tis the season for g'byes? - A g'bye to Bill triggered an interesting PC vs Mac discussion. Wonder what this g'bye to hard drives will do, besides make people wonder if that new drive they just got at a deep discount holiday sale was a good idea after all. No worries... it'll probably take a few more years to obsolete HDs. Maybe.

Jingle bells.

Cost is THE big reason we won't be buying a Mac any time soon. We have been using Windows OS's since we got our first computers back in 1999/2000. My husband and I have never, ever used a Mac, and wouldn't know what to do, first...although Miss Geek, here, would probably have it figured out fairly quickly...LOL.

Rune, I enjoyed your various analogies, as well as BuBBy's. :D

Sue - who, with her family's computer buying history (a total of 4 in 9-10 years, and now have 1 in PC 'heaven'), definitely hasn't added significantly to Bill Gates vast fortune (which she wishes he would share with those 'at home', rather than with those 'across the pond'. My how our homeless citizens could use that kind of help!

I think using an Apple is like going somewhere nice for a holiday.

Everything is fresh, the sun is shining, people seem happy and relaxed - and you think, "Wouldn't it be nice to actually live here?"

So you pack up all your things, sell your house and move to Appletown. Then you start to notice things. Little things. They irritate you. Stuff doesn't work, but there are workarounds. You make a new circle of friends - and you find out about the dirty secrets in the town that you didn't know about when you were on holiday. It seems Appletown isn't perfect - nothing is, so you just do the best you can.

Appletown looked different when you were only on holiday - but now you are a local you realise a lot of the things that annoyed you about Billsville are also at Appletown.

How could you miss these things when you were on Holiday. Everything looked so clean, so perfect. Now when you visit your old friends at Billsville, you sometimes wish you still had the resources and the wide range of shops to visit - but Appletown has only the one boutique outlet. It's cosy.

Appletown is a nice place to visit. Tell your friends. Come over for a holiday, the grass is greener...

I think the real frustration with Microsoft is that for every innovation there's an aggravation. Windows sort of lives up to it's potential, and sort of doesn't. And that's no accident. I agree with this tech writer, Paul Thurott, who says there's a good Microsoft and a bad Microsoft. And guess who's the spiritual leader of bad Micorsoft. The article is from a couple of years ago when he was comparing Vista's rollout with what was actually promised. He was at the news conference when Bill introduced it as Longhorn:
http://www.winsupersite.com/reviews/winvista_5308_05.asp
As I'm old, I remember a story from a computer guru friend of mine who spent all night once with a Microsoft rep. trying to work out an enterprise problem with '95. He was eventually told, "you don't want to know what went into this code". Verifying what Microsoft has always been accused of (including in the above article): rushing code out too quickly and putting something on the market that wasn't ready, putting profit taking first and quality as an afterthought. Can you say, "service pack"? That's "bad Microsoft", and I understand the terms are becoming more and more common at conventions.

On the other hand, my experience with Apple makes me not suprised at what Rune and Simple are saying. When I did Macs for a long time, which ended about 10 years ago, I saw the problem as Mac trying to do everything it could to propagate the myth of "the computer for the rest of us". I was a PC guy and ended up being a Mac guru for a lot of people, at one time assisting on a customized $20K video system. Mac tried to convince people that you could essentially be a dolt and still use a Mac. You don't need to be a "super user", but no computer can be operated by a newbie without a hitch. To keep up the myth, Apple was stingy with detailed info., but most Mac users I worked with were nowhere near maximizing their systems. Most didn't even know about the 2 basic repair utilities that came bundled with it or how to manage memory - program memory limits had to be set manually. Plus, I got tired of Mac releasing minor updates to the OS and expecting you to pay for them. 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, or something like that. I suspect Mac limits the functionality of the machines simply to keep the ease of use myth alive.

I think those attitudes are one of the big reasons that people who go to Linux don't want to come back. With a mostly user community managed OS the attitude is more positive. "If we have a bug, we won't try to cover it up or try to get you to pay for something new, we'll band together and work it out." But, I've never gone over to Linux. As the saying goes, "one of these days I'll have to get around to that". :)

Re: Apple- it's true, for web development (and normal print publishing) the Mac holds sway in many layout departments; but for us freelancers, a legion of independent software developers and a bazillion choices have made life a lot more interesting over here in MSville. (note the word interesting is not necessarily equivalent to "fun") A couple editors tried to guilt trip me into going Mac, but I used the same defense. Despite Microsoft's inability to cleave tight to its own promise of standardization, their GUI is (or at least was) more pleasing to navigate and customize than the Apple alternative. I'm a few years removed from even seeing an Apple up close, so maybe Jobs (or whomever) finally saw the light (color?) and spiced things up. Their market share suggests otherwise. Cheers

I use SP Home and wouldn't switch.
I was thinking in terms of the Queen/witch that gave the apple to the princess.
I for one have nothing against Bill Gates and some seem to lose sight of the fact that no one is perfect.

You said it perfectly RunsageMagi. At first glance the apple was rather appealing. It managed to lure me in like forbidden fruit. Sure it's simple and most of the time "just works" though too much simplicity can leave an awful taste in one's mouth. I was daunted by the control(or lack thereof) I had over my OS. Eventually the "apple" was strewn about the patio deck. Back to Windows I fled and remain. Though on a postive note, web developement on a mac is a charm, and tools like Parallels make the Windows homesickness that much more bearable.

sixtyplus, it's likely because as reliable and simpler to operate as the Mac's may be, the trade off involves spending more money for significantly reduced options and a much more restricted pool of acquaintances. When you've been weaned on a fully tricked out conversion van with a waterbed and fridge (even one that needs regular maintenance and gets lousy gas mileage), the thought of turning it in for a more expensive, 4-seat electric jitney and have to hunt for recharge stations and accessories that are as scare as hens teeth is a major hurdle. I'm not about to obsolete 90% of the utilities, games and important apps I've grown used to just to be green.

For those of you who don't like Bill Gates or Microsoft, why aren't you investing in Mac's? Go ahead...take a bite of the "apple"...

Bowing to heavy pressure from WinXP Right to Life protesters, the clowns at Microsoft have once again acknowledged the total failure of their mass marketing department's clumsy efforts to convince a not-so-dumb-after-all public that Vista is a great product even when it's called Montana. (they dumped a plan is to rename it Obama's Brain after 50% of the focus group just broke out laughing) So, they've given WinXP yet another reprieve.
As Dr. Frankenstein would say... It's ALIVE!

Thanks for the WB.

Vista is ok, though repair install and sidebar is a pain.

Hi, Lee! Back again ? Nice.
And you dare to say something positive about Vista! or did I mistranslate your post?
I too have Vista and can't complain. Well I'm not a computer pro - like most of all pc users.
What about starting a new threat for Vista users ?

daretohavevistalox

I have been using windows vista hp sp1 past two months and it is a massive improvement on xp and vista hp rtm.

If you have a crap machine which does not have the specs to run vista then y'all probably be a moaner or hater which ever suits.

I luved xp pro, I waited well over 1 year before doing the upgrade.

You have to move on, things change and people want better and newer, it's evolution.

I.E. 7 works fine, I did try I.E. 8 b1 and yewwwwwwwww, it's horrid.

However things change and maybe the browser will be changed to a better format to silence the critiques.

maizey.. if Bill Gates had so many problems trying to do a simple d/l of their movie maker, it's a wonder that any of our machines work!

I'd love to see his comments on Vista, even though I'm sure he runs a Godzilla system for it.

While on the subject of Bill Gates, have you all seen this?

Bill Gates Chews Out Microsoft Over XP

RIP WinXP?

As a going away present to Billie, the boneheads left behind say they still intend to kill WinXP. That's sure to give a boost to Apple stock prices.

I hope he is and good riddance- but I ain't holding my breath!

Somehow I have a feeling he is not really leaving.

Did Billy The Geek ever write any code? thought he just "borrowed" dos and went on from there

Well said RunesageMagik!

guest32, I don't believe Billie has personally written any code since Win3.1 was just a twinkle in his eye. Here are some predictions from the Magic 8 ball -

a) Billie Behemoth will never suffer sticker shock at the gas pump

b) As if building his famous House of Conspicuous Consumption wasn't enough to suggest delusions of grandeur, Billie apparently plans to distribute a large portion of his est. $58 billion (accumulated via business tactics most earlier US robber barons could have only dreamed of) to the endless supply of have nots in 3rd world countries rather than, say, dramatically helping rebuild America's rapidly crumbling education and health care systems through innovative technological investment. For this, he'll be a strong contender for the coveted Nobel Prize for Futile Gestures... and get a shiny medal.

c) In a desperate bid to raise share price, Microsoft's executives will launch an ambitious though crass marketing program - selling ad banners to fill all the narrow blank spaces at the tops of each IE9 browser window as well as on the opening/closing OS splash screens. Animated scroll bars hawking everything from toothbrushes to absolut vodka are also a possiblity.

d) The GAOTD sticky for Future Giveaways will be inundated with requests for a free pop up blocker to stop the aforementioned intrusive ad blitz.

It's not so much that he did a bad job, it seems the people he put in charge botched things up with their new operating systems. At least he's leaving as a very rich man.

As we know, the software King is leaving this friday :( http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=5246378&page=1 http://news.google.com/nwshp?tab=wn&ned=us&ncl=1223892690&hl=en&topic=t . It all started with a small company, not even a small company, a group of people led by Bill Gates. Now we know it as Microsoft, and Bill Gates has been holding it up since 1975. Since now he didn't seem to do a good job, considering the fact that there's been a lot of criticisms for it's new operating systems and other software such as IE, and the fact that lots of people had given up on it. Now he's leaving and we don't know how Microsoft will do without him. So I wish him good luck, and I wonder what he's going to do next.

sorry for my bad grammar.