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!)
