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That reminds me of that other episode in which Bill Gates sends an email to some Microsoft people about his failure to find information and run some program in

by fiatjaf 10y ago

That reminds me of that other episode in which Bill Gates sends an email to some Microsoft people about his failure to find information and run some program in his Windows machine, saying that everything was horribly difficult and obscure.

noblethrasher 10y ago
The rant was about the difficulty of buying and installing Windows MovieMaker: http://blog.seattlepi.com/microsoft/2008/06/24/full-text-an-epic-bill-gates-e-mail-rant/ http://blog.seattlepi.com/microsoft/2008/06/24/full-text-an-... Funnily enough, I just shared this with a friend two days ago.
phonon 10y ago
http://antitrust.slated.org/www.iowaconsumercase.org/011607/7000/PX07199.pdf http://antitrust.slated.org/www.iowaconsumercase.org/011607/... Scroll to the bottom :-)
- colanderman 10y ago
  "So they told me that using the download page to download something was not something they anticipate" This is comedy gold. What boggles my mind is, there are lots of people who have good usability taste. But so many software vendors seem to have no-one with taste in a position to do anything about it as their priority. Hence so many crappy UIs…
  - wwalser 10y ago
    The delta between the ability to identify that something is poorly designed (taste) and the ability to create a well designed version of a system is immense. The problem isn't that people with taste aren't in positions capable of effecting change. The problem is that design is very very hard.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
astrodust 10y ago
Legend has it that he'd call in to tech support for various products his company made when he couldn't get them working just to see what the experience was like. Say what you will about Gates, he's a pretty normal guy at heart. I remember when he was in town for the Windows 95 launch he was just poking around in various local shops, checking things out, no security detail or anything, just one scruffy haired guy going about his day. It's just like, oh, there's Bill Gates looking at bonsai trees.

by fiatjaf 10y ago

noblethrasher 10y ago

The rant was about the difficulty of buying and installing Windows MovieMaker: http://blog.seattlepi.com/microsoft/2008/06/24/full-text-an-epic-bill-gates-e-mail-rant/ http://blog.seattlepi.com/microsoft/2008/06/24/full-text-an-... Funnily enough, I just shared this with a friend two days ago.

phonon 10y ago

http://antitrust.slated.org/www.iowaconsumercase.org/011607/7000/PX07199.pdf http://antitrust.slated.org/www.iowaconsumercase.org/011607/... Scroll to the bottom :-)

colanderman 10y ago
"So they told me that using the download page to download something was not something they anticipate" This is comedy gold. What boggles my mind is, there are lots of people who have good usability taste. But so many software vendors seem to have no-one with taste in a position to do anything about it as their priority. Hence so many crappy UIs…
- wwalser 10y ago
  The delta between the ability to identify that something is poorly designed (taste) and the ability to create a well designed version of a system is immense. The problem isn't that people with taste aren't in positions capable of effecting change. The problem is that design is very very hard.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]

astrodust 10y ago

Legend has it that he'd call in to tech support for various products his company made when he couldn't get them working just to see what the experience was like. Say what you will about Gates, he's a pretty normal guy at heart. I remember when he was in town for the Windows 95 launch he was just poking around in various local shops, checking things out, no security detail or anything, just one scruffy haired guy going about his day. It's just like, oh, there's Bill Gates looking at bonsai trees.