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January 21, 2004
All Microsoft is the Same
It doesn't matter what the delivery platform is, Microsoft is the same. It's prone to the same problems, the same bugs, the same UI quirks, the same inconsistencies and the same user stress for trying to use their products.
Recently, I've been testing out an HP iPAQ with Windows CE 2003. I will grant it some of its due--it's a speedy little piece of hardware with a nice screen and an acceptable array of input methods.
Now if only the software would behave as it should! Getting the built-in 802.11b wireless to work has been a total f**king nightmare. There are some basic settings (like setting SSID) that cannot be set, and the erratic auto-detection behaviour has been a total mystery.
This stupid device will detect networks that don't exist in the area I'm in, try to connect to them, say it has connected to them, when in reality, it hasn't a damn clue what its true status is.
I know the device will work, because the one network it actually functions properly on is precisely the one I don't need it to work on: the wireless in my office. I have the base station in my office, so it can use the net by proxy thru the base station.
Ok, so one function doesn't work because I'm an idiot and haven't found the iPAQ Rosetta stone? Ok, let's go with UI consistency then! The Microsoft applications don't have a Quit function. There's the little close button which hides the application, but doesn't actually stop the program and remove its processes from active memory.
Well, some of the MS apps actually quit when you perform the expected simian-like regurgitation but most don't. Other third-party apps will either quit and remove from the close box or some other method like a File menu. And then, some don't. It's flash memory! Application start time isn't an issue here, so why stay in memory when you don't need to? Having used MS Windows products for so long, I know that the more crap running at once, Windows puts more explosives-carrying circus clowns balancing on a five-hundred year old rusty unicycle. Disaster awaits!
There's a reason MS has the computing world by the balls. They've achieved near total market saturation and yet their crap works just well enough to make us think that it won't crash before we can finish our next sent
Posted at January 21, 2004 07:42 AM | Rants and Opinions
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