4 ms·
> "this was back in the Windows 3.x days when Microsoft sought consent from the user before doing this kind of thing" Since nobody had an Internet connection i
by pavlov 5y ago
> "this was back in the Windows 3.x days when Microsoft sought consent from the user before doing this kind of thing"
Since nobody had an Internet connection in those days, it was literally impossible to get the data back to Microsoft without the user's involvement.
If 1993 Microsoft could have collected this data automatically, they certainly would have.
- AdmiralAsshat 5y agoYeah, I'm curious how exactly this data got back to Microsoft. We had a family computer back in the day that definitely ran DOS / Windows 3.1 / Doom, so we in theory would have been one of those data points. But with no internet for another 5-8 years or so, I can say pretty confidently that the number of floppies I sent to Microsoft with data from my computer was a big fat zero. So how would they have retrieved this data?
- pavlov 5y agoI've been reading Steven Sinofsky's extremely detailed blog about those days (it's at https://hardcoresoftware.learningbyshipping.com https://hardcoresoftware.learningbyshipping.com). He was in charge of Office in the late '90s. He mentions that Microsoft had a program where they partnered with large enterprises to collect usage data from corporate desktops. But those computers were on a network even if though often not on the Internet yet. Stats that would show Doom towering over Windows 3.1 must have been collected manually, maybe by sending people a floppy that contained a program to collect the data, and asking them to mail it back in. "Insert floppy, then type A:\SPY.EXE in your DOS prompt" ...
- dTal 5y agoThe sounds like a hilarious parody of modern telemetry. But then, the fact the Netflix used to work by mailing you DVDs also sounds silly to modern ears. I don't entirely trust my intuition on what the 90s were capable of.
- kalleboo 5y agoIn the 50's, TV ratings were automatically collected on a 16mm film camera attached to your TV and mailed weekly back to HQ, in exchange for free TV repair https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nielsen_ratings#Measuring_ratings https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nielsen_ratings#Measuring_rati...
- Melatonic 5y agoI am guessing a floppy mailed back and forth
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- reaperducer 5y agoSince nobody had an Internet connection in those days, it was literally impossible to get the data back to Microsoft without the user's involvement. What makes you think that "nobody" had an internet connection in "those days?" We weren't riding around on the backs of dinosaurs and cooking up bronto-burgers on the weekends. Winsock came out in June of 1992, right in the middle of the Windows 3.x life cycle.
- pavlov 5y agoWell, ok. But if the data point is "X% of users have DOOM installed but not Windows", how does Winsock help you get that data to Microsoft? I do remember using Winsock on Windows 3.1 to grab Usenet updates on expensive dial-up. The batch Internet :)