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> when Microsoft Word came along, people obviously preferred it, even if it was slow and crashed all the time I am sure it's "overdetermined" but why -is- that
by Bluestein 2y ago
> when Microsoft Word came along, people obviously preferred it, even if it was slow and crashed all the time
I am sure it's "overdetermined" but why -is- that?
I'd call it the "tragedy of the losing better option": When two alternatives exist and, often, the lesser/worse/worst wins. You find that all over the place.-
- ForOldHack 2y agoOne word: Microsoft. Two words: shipping crap. Three words: It may get better. Four words: let the users test. Last word: doomed. Where is the system engineer? Why did Macromedia become so great? "In college, Randy's classmate Norman Meyrowitz was giving a presentation when a light bulb on the projector blew out." The rest is history.
- Bluestein 2y ago> Why did Macromedia become so great? Flash filled a need. CSS is just now beginning to achieve feature parity.-
- Qwertious 2y agoFlash filled a need to install software in a single click, which the web browser made possible. Flash unironically became so widespread because Microsoft dropped the ball in OS development.
- IndrekR 2y agoThe reference here is to “The Last Lecture” by Randy Pausch: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Lecture https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Lecture
- Bluestein 2y agoThanks for that. I was wondering - and, of course that lecture.-
- squarefoot 2y ago> When two alternatives exist and, often, the lesser/worse/worst wins. More likely is the one that will appeal more people to win, which in software means a good mix between being the easiest and quickest (hence cheapest) to develop and market, and the easiest for users to learn, and the values aren't to me absolute but rather relative: I don't think there's much difference between the people who can't live without a touch screen today and those who 40 years back could work 8 hrs/day in WordStar only through key sequences.
- Bluestein 2y ago> I don't think there's much difference between the people who can't live without a touch screen today and those who 40 years back could work 8 hrs/day in WordStar only through key sequences. But maybe there is a difference? In disposition or even capacity/willingness to exert attention towards a task? Of course, expectations do play a role, and "touch" is (almost) everything these days ...
- thom 2y agoMicrosoft Word was faster than WordPerfect’s slow, buggy, late release on Windows. Ami Pro was around and also perfectly usable. WP honestly felt like bloatware to my memory, no doubt it had a lot of features, and all I was doing was homework and D&D campaigns, but I don’t remember being unhappy with the options available.
- WantonQuantum 2y agoI was careful to specify WordPerfect 5.1. That was the last non-wysiwyg version. Yes, they didn’t pivot to wysiwyg fast enough and was caught out.