5 ms·

I love how this guy always pretends that nonintuitive things are completely obvious, even when they are actually the furthest thing from it. Definitely edifying

I love how this guy always pretends that nonintuitive things are completely obvious, even when they are actually the furthest thing from it. Definitely edifying to read his blog but I don't get the sense that he has much respect for his users, or to put it another way, a that he has an accurate perspective on how reality differs from people's expectations. Clearly that's going to be slower, you doofus. It's almost as dumb as asking why an international package takes longer to arrive than a domestic one. What are you, some kind of moron?

DrJokepu 15y ago
This is the characteristic style of Raymond Chen. He is, in fact, a super clever genius and these things are actually completely obvious for him. I think his blog is a good reflection of the internal culture at Microsoft, and I mean a bunch of really clever people living in a bubble. And this post is nothing compared to some of his really technical posts. They're all very interesting reads however.
- code_duck 15y ago
  The answer he gave is only apparent due to his knowledge of Windows internals. He may or may not be a super clever genius... there's no way intuition or logic would have suggested the answer supplied.
  - sriramk 15y ago
    As someone who knows Raymond personally and his body of work at Microsoft, I can attest to the genius part. His exploits in the Win95 days ( as one example), is part of MSFT mythology.
    - code_duck 15y ago
      Surely, I've read his blog and agree he's as sharp a cookie as cookies get. I'm trying to refer only to conclusions that could be drawn from this circumstance.
bwarp 15y ago
He's not a user facing staff member and this is a blog aimed at very technical users only. Why would he make the posts nice and cuddly? We're grown-ups and should be able to take it. I have a lot of respect for Raymond Chen and have learned a huge amount from his blog. I wouldn't go slating him on this basis.
- archangel_one 15y ago
  Even so, I tend to agree that it's not always as obvious to the rest of us - in this case it's not really clear that pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del switches anything to another user. Certainly the conclusion that the time is going into a video driver mode switch wasn't intuitive to me from the original statement, but I'm pretty sure I could figure out why an international package might take longer to arrive.
wisty 15y ago
It is obvious, once he's explained the context - Windows has to move it from one desktop to another. Well, it's not clear that it's slower. Shouldn't it be virtually instant? But I guess there's no easy way to explain every step that Windows does to switch the program to a new desktop, because if there was it wouldn't be so damn slow.
brudgers 15y ago
I read it with a completely different tone. I've been hitting CTL-ALT-DEL since the 1980's. It has only been about a year since I even realized that Task Manager is available as a right click on the Taskbar - and I still tend to use the three fingered salute in the heat of the moment caused by something going amok. He [most likely] correctly assumes that the typical person launching Task Manager is not knowledgeable enough to have all the relevant details at their finger tips. Particularly when focusing on an immediate technical issue. BTW, once I read about the faster loading, I realized that that is why I have been subconsciously trying to use the Task Bar to launch Task Manager.
- bane 15y ago
  " It has only been about a year since I even realized that Task Manager is available as a right click on the Taskbar - and I still tend to use the three fingered salute in the heat of the moment caused by something going amok." I also didn't know this. I've been ctrl+shift+ESC for the longest time instead.
  - brudgers 15y ago
    I didn't know that CTL-SHIFT-ESC would bring it up until now.
jerf 15y ago
"for his users" As is evident from his other postings, "his users" aren't "users", they are other Windows programmers inside of Microsoft, who generally ought to either know better, or be able to figure it out themselves since they have all the tools to do so. That latter one in particular seems to cause him some frustration. If he doesn't write with the kid gloves on, it's because "users" in the sense you meant are probably not involved and it's nobody in here but us chickens.
powertower 15y ago
I love how people love to pretend that Windows is so completely and obviously broken, even when that's actually the furthest thing from the truth. And when it's explained to them why something is the way it is with perfect reason, they attack the messenger, or just make more shit up to complain about.
- Symmetry 15y ago
  Aren't you reading a lot into the OP's response? I don't see anything to indicate he has anything against Windows.
  - powertower 15y ago
    I'm reading into OP's response to the same exact depth as he read into Raymond Chen's (the blog's author).

DrJokepu 15y ago

This is the characteristic style of Raymond Chen. He is, in fact, a super clever genius and these things are actually completely obvious for him. I think his blog is a good reflection of the internal culture at Microsoft, and I mean a bunch of really clever people living in a bubble. And this post is nothing compared to some of his really technical posts. They're all very interesting reads however.

code_duck 15y ago
The answer he gave is only apparent due to his knowledge of Windows internals. He may or may not be a super clever genius... there's no way intuition or logic would have suggested the answer supplied.
- sriramk 15y ago
  As someone who knows Raymond personally and his body of work at Microsoft, I can attest to the genius part. His exploits in the Win95 days ( as one example), is part of MSFT mythology.
  - code_duck 15y ago
    Surely, I've read his blog and agree he's as sharp a cookie as cookies get. I'm trying to refer only to conclusions that could be drawn from this circumstance.

bwarp 15y ago

He's not a user facing staff member and this is a blog aimed at very technical users only. Why would he make the posts nice and cuddly? We're grown-ups and should be able to take it. I have a lot of respect for Raymond Chen and have learned a huge amount from his blog. I wouldn't go slating him on this basis.

archangel_one 15y ago
Even so, I tend to agree that it's not always as obvious to the rest of us - in this case it's not really clear that pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del switches anything to another user. Certainly the conclusion that the time is going into a video driver mode switch wasn't intuitive to me from the original statement, but I'm pretty sure I could figure out why an international package might take longer to arrive.

wisty 15y ago

It is obvious, once he's explained the context - Windows has to move it from one desktop to another. Well, it's not clear that it's slower. Shouldn't it be virtually instant? But I guess there's no easy way to explain every step that Windows does to switch the program to a new desktop, because if there was it wouldn't be so damn slow.

brudgers 15y ago

I read it with a completely different tone. I've been hitting CTL-ALT-DEL since the 1980's. It has only been about a year since I even realized that Task Manager is available as a right click on the Taskbar - and I still tend to use the three fingered salute in the heat of the moment caused by something going amok. He [most likely] correctly assumes that the typical person launching Task Manager is not knowledgeable enough to have all the relevant details at their finger tips. Particularly when focusing on an immediate technical issue. BTW, once I read about the faster loading, I realized that that is why I have been subconsciously trying to use the Task Bar to launch Task Manager.

bane 15y ago
" It has only been about a year since I even realized that Task Manager is available as a right click on the Taskbar - and I still tend to use the three fingered salute in the heat of the moment caused by something going amok." I also didn't know this. I've been ctrl+shift+ESC for the longest time instead.
- brudgers 15y ago
  I didn't know that CTL-SHIFT-ESC would bring it up until now.

jerf 15y ago

"for his users" As is evident from his other postings, "his users" aren't "users", they are other Windows programmers inside of Microsoft, who generally ought to either know better, or be able to figure it out themselves since they have all the tools to do so. That latter one in particular seems to cause him some frustration. If he doesn't write with the kid gloves on, it's because "users" in the sense you meant are probably not involved and it's nobody in here but us chickens.

powertower 15y ago

I love how people love to pretend that Windows is so completely and obviously broken, even when that's actually the furthest thing from the truth. And when it's explained to them why something is the way it is with perfect reason, they attack the messenger, or just make more shit up to complain about.

Symmetry 15y ago
Aren't you reading a lot into the OP's response? I don't see anything to indicate he has anything against Windows.
- powertower 15y ago
  I'm reading into OP's response to the same exact depth as he read into Raymond Chen's (the blog's author).