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A Real Bill Gates Rant

lou ibmix XI submitted an email written by Bill Gates a few years ago and turned over to the feds as part of the government's antitrust case. Great quotes like 'Someone decided to trash the one part of Windows that was usable?' and 'The lack of attention to usability represented by these experiences blows my mind.' We like to think of him as an abstract, but I think this is interesting stuff. Also, this might seem familiar. Oops.

25 of 293 comments (clear)

  1. Re:I don't get it by QCompson · · Score: 4, Funny

    I don't understand all the hate for Bill.

    Stay off my lawn.

  2. Re:Massive Dupe by Sockatume · · Score: 5, Funny

    No, no, this is deliberate. After posting a story which wasn't really news for nerds, they decided to post a story which is for nerds, but isn't actually news. They're giving up errors for lent and are trying to get them all out of their system first.

    --
    No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
  3. it's actually a fantasy game! by Dekortage · · Score: 4, Funny

    FTA: "In fact it is more like a puzzle that you get to solve. It told me to go to Windows Update and do a bunch of incantations."

    Finally, someone at Microsoft admits that you have to use magic to make Windows work right... I would comment more, but I am on my way to my daily Ballmer goat and bull sacrifice.

    --
    $nice = $webHosting + $domainNames + $sslCerts
    1. Re:it's actually a fantasy game! by Scrameustache · · Score: 4, Funny

      FTA: I would comment more, but I am on my way to my daily Ballmer goat and bull sacrifice.

      Ah yes, where you let a live goat or bull into the Ballmer enclosure at feeding time.
      Because Ballmer doesn't want to be fed... he wants to hunt!

      --

      You can't take the sky from me...

    2. Re:it's actually a fantasy game! by Bryansix · · Score: 3, Funny

      Does he hunt with a chair?

  4. Carter Pewterschmidt by Red4man · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Hey Bill, can you help me program my Zune? Ha ha ha, I'm kiiding, I have an iPod like the rest of the planet."

    --
    Sock Puppets: damn_registrars=pudge_confirmer=jimmy_slimmy=raiigunner=cml4524=a_klavan=red4men=ronpaulisanidiot
    1. Re:Carter Pewterschmidt by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      I guess you are just too highbrow to spot the Family Guy quote.

  5. NEW! by Cornwallis · · Score: 2, Funny

    I've got a news item about Craig Shergold. Really, it's news. Can I post it here?

  6. Re:gust? by PenguSven · · Score: 3, Funny

    You don't vote huh? Sounds too much like hard work huh? Besides, why bother, the last guy you cunts elected has REALLY been great for the world. Spell check is intended to pick up mistakes. Unfortunately it can't deal with the mistake in your case, because YOU are the mistake.

    --
    What is...?
  7. Re:thanks but I need more than a lower case j by xerxesVII · · Score: 4, Funny

    Oh, great. So you're reproducing.

    Thanks.

    --
    "We shall grapple with the ineffable, and see if we may not eff it after all." - Douglas Adams
  8. Re:Abstract by eln · · Score: 5, Funny

    You know, composed of a lot of straight lines and sharp angles, both eyes on the same side of his head, lots of colors everywhere, that sort of thing.

  9. Re:I don't get it by aero6dof · · Score: 5, Funny

    The vision at Microsoft has always been to try and reduce complexity.

    Surely you jest.

  10. Re:Abstract by Skim123 · · Score: 2, Funny

    From Microsoft's website:

    The abstract modifier indicates that the thing being modified has a missing or incomplete implementation. The abstract modifier can be used with classes, methods, properties, indexers, and events. Use the abstract modifier in a class declaration to indicate that a class is intended only to be a base class of other classes. Members marked as abstract, or included in an abstract class, must be implemented by classes that derive from the abstract class.
    http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/sf985hc5.aspx

    --

    I could not justify my existence if I were a turkey farmer. Would I terminate myself? Undoubtably, yes.

  11. Re:I don't get it by chdig · · Score: 2, Funny

    Unfortunately some things are inherently complex, and as you try to wrap them behind simplistic abstractions...

    Does anyone else see the irony in a poster reducing a company like Microsoft's approach to one of "simplicity", while he himself reduces the complex discussion down to a "simplistic abstraction"?

    --
    even worse, he's dead wrong.
    Rather, the poster porkchop's argument that Microsoft chose flexibility is bang on.

  12. Re:I don't get it by UnknowingFool · · Score: 2, Funny

    Microsoft's modus operandi has been more features = more sales. You see this in why Vista had so many issues with the new driver model. For years they neglected to work on security and stability over features. When it became obvious that XP was/is a major target of malware, then they worked on it. But by that time years of bad programming practices by MS and 3rd parties led to many drivers breaking in Vista.

    --
    Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
  13. Re:Download page to download? No way! by ben0207 · · Score: 2, Funny

    No, this is MS in a nutshell:

    "Help help, I'm trapped in a giant nutshell. What kind of a nut has a shell like this?!"

    --
    cmd-q.co.uk - some sort of stupid fucking internet bullshit
  14. Re:I don't get it by theaceoffire · · Score: 5, Funny

    The vision at Microsoft has always been to try and reduce complexity.

    Surely you jest.

    I am quite serious, and stop calling me Shirley.

    --
    I steal signatures. This one used to be yours.
  15. Re:Glass houses and stones... by spacefiddle · · Score: 2, Funny

    "Grammer" is not an English word I have ever encountered.

    She's married to Gramper.

  16. Re:Massive Dupe by cayenne8 · · Score: 2, Funny
    "They're giving up errors for lent and are trying to get them all out of their system first."

    Hmm...well, this year for lent, I'm either going to stop giving up things...

    Or...I'm going to quit not drinking.

    Will worry about that later, tomorrow is Fat Tuesday, and NOLA is a wonderful place to live this time of year!! I feel so sorry for all my friends around the country, that not only will they not have a cold drink in their hand by 6am...but, will be actually going to work?!?!

    Hmm, now, what to drink for morning beverage? Bloody Mary?...Screwdriver?...Beer?.....Bucket of Everclear?

    --
    Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
  17. Re:Massive Dupe by 1hurcoman · · Score: 2, Funny

    I love NOLA as well. Had a client schedule a meeting for 10:30 tomorrow. Told him "I'm going to be drunk by then".

  18. Re:Massive Dupe by hardburn · · Score: 3, Funny

    Connecting to the SMTP port directly and writing ASCII in base 13 is better than Outlook.

    --
    Not a typewriter
  19. Re:I know it's a dupe, but... by fastest+fascist · · Score: 4, Funny

    It is said that realizing there is an issue is the first step to resolving it :)

    It is also the first step to ignoring it.

  20. Re:Massive Dupe by Weaselmancer · · Score: 2, Funny

    Using the stripped ends of two wires hooked to an RS232 port to enter it in binary manually. With your tongue.

    --
    Weaselmancer
    rediculous.
  21. Re:I don't get it by AliasMarlowe · · Score: 3, Funny

    The vision at Microsoft has always been to try and reduce complexity.

    Alas, their hallucination has morphed into a very bad trip indeed.

    The quote about "we didn't realise people would try and download it from the downloads page" is a classic example.

    Who the hell mixed PCP into their acid?

    --
    Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
  22. Low bar to cross by mkcmkc · · Score: 2, Funny

    Git is a better source code control system than Visual Source Safe. cp is a better source code control system than Visual Source Safe. Heck, rm is a better source code control system than Visual Source Safe.

    --
    "Not an actor, but he plays one on TV."