Until you write Fahrenheit 451, I wouldn't be so quick to call Ray Bradbury an idiot, no matter what he says about the internet.
You're setting an impossible goal. Bradbury wrote Fahrenheit 451. All anyone else could do is plagiarise it.
It is quite possible to do great things and still be an idiot later in life or in other areas. Some of the world's greatest scientists have had personal lives that belong on Jerry Springer.
Seeing how the election has gone so far, ummm, an M4 or AK-47?
There is no way an AK-47 will ever be sold on any kind of usage plan. Can you imagine how things would go if a user disputed their statement and didn't like the outcome taking it to the billing department? "What do you mean you're going to charge me for the excess bullets!? I didn't use them that month! Here take them back you scum!" *machine gun fire*
it makes me sad that this seems like frivolous spending in light of the social issues this planet is facing
Hey without this "frivolous spending" there may not be a society to have social issues. Science is about interpreting the physical world which we all depend on for our survival. You never know what improvements to our lives will come from the "frivolous spending". It may even save the planet itself.
Don't call me baby! I've seen you sluting around with those tramps ALSA and OSS! Do you think I wouldn't find out!? You said you were done with them but now I know you were lying. I'm going home to mother's house! See you in court!
Yep, she's guilty. Yep, she lied. Nope she shouldn't have to pay $80,000 per song despite that and anyone suggesting that this is reasonable needs their head examined. For the lies perhaps contempt or perjury charges should be laid. For the infringement she should have to pay the retail price of what she downloaded plus what she uploaded.
Actually, all you have to do is write one awful song.... ever. Once someone puts it up on a torrent, you just sue two random people a year for the next 30 years.
Brilliant! That'll give me more time to deal with the boat salesmen and bikini clad women!
So all I have to do is, twice a year write an awful song, then get someone to put it up on a torrent and that's worth $160,000 right? That's a freaking awesome alternate reality! I can live like a king for playing guitar badly a couple of times a year!
By that kind of accounting, I'm worth billions. Boat salesmen will knock. Bikini clad women will swoon. I can have any car I like!
Tell the truth now, you're just trying to outdo the British, aren't you? They only used to send their convicts to Australia for a dozen years for stealing a loaf of bread. You'd ruin people's whole lives over copying a song.
* On many occasions, I've downloaded no-CD cracks for games I've purchased legitimately.
You wouldn't steal a handbag. You wouldn't steal a TV....but we definitely think you'd buy a broken one and then feel guilty for trying to fix it after we've ripped you off.
What a bunch of disingenuous propaganda noise. They really don't need to do much to win the "hearts and minds" of downloaders. They just need to play fair.
- Reasonably priced goods, that you can play anywhere once you've bought them WITHOUT jumping through hoops like validation and copy protection checks. Stop differentiating by zone and content player.
- The ability to take something back without hassle if it is broken out of the box.
- The ability to replace already purchased content at reasonable cost when the media breaks (scratched DVDs etc). Stop trying to prosecute people for legitimately backing things up (as opposed to giving a copy to a friend)
- Stop trying to gouge fans by releasing one season at a time, then a boxed set, then a boxed set with extra features so that you're actively trying to get a fan to re-buy the same material multiple times
- Make content quick and convenient to obtain. Downloadable for those with good net access. By mail quickly and cheaply for those that don't
- Realise that some of your potential customers STILL won't be able to afford the content and don't count them as lost sales
So long as they try to rip off the very customers they're supplying with content, a large portion of those customers will feel justified in ripping them right back off. If they're fair, there will still be piracy but not as much.
Oh, I can accept that you don't like it and you don't want to use it. I just don't believe the majority of your arguments hold water.
It's called presumptuous arrogance.
It's called a joke, you should try making one some time.
You're trying to pass off something that could only have been taken as insulting by saying "only kidding". Seriously? Are you in 3rd grade??? No wonder you don't accept evidence thrust in front of you.
Don't flatter yourself, but I was never really interested in knowing your person to begin with.
Yet you're plenty interested in telling me what my needs in an office suite are.
You've convinced me of nothing. (I was already convinced that MS zealots were by definition irrational) I've convinced you of nothing. Enjoy using the ribbon.
1. A masters may not help as a developer. I have a masters but it's in Astronomy and I did it with no intention of taking on Astronomy as a job. Every time I add the qualification to the list, HR takes it back off. I'm not even sure certain HR staff know the difference between Astronomy and Astrology.
2. You might find it easier to get your foot in the door somewhere else rather than try to move into a development role in your current company. If you're already doing a job well, the company has less incentive to move you elsewhere (until they realise you'll leave otherwise, by which time it's too late). It'll be tough in this market.
Hate to break it to you but you won't necessarily get away from distractions and you may not entirely move away from support. Every job I've ever worked in included distractions and some amount of support work.
I currently work as a software developer but I also work to troubleshoot the existing systems, and I do take second tier customer calls (so less problems, but usually harder ones). I even work shifts and do on-call support. My job's a good one - prestigeous, reasonable pay so I'm not complaining.
That's not to say I would rather be on a help desk, or that you shouldn't try to better yourself. Just make sure your expectations are realistic.
Quick, buy it, pretend that you lost a sense of smell (let me see them prove otherwise) and then wait for a nice settlement check. Just kidding, that would be dishonest.
I'd love to be the lawyer in that case. I'd show up to court with a gas mask and week old road kill, then collect my cheque when you pass out while offering to represent my client for the counter-suit.
Oh come on, we all know it's discovery is actually due to all those cameras the UK government has installed on every street corner and in every crop field. Where's my tin foil hat? I need to have it upgraded to platinum to keep out the camera rays and ward off 6000 year old British zombies.
Absolutely. I don't use it regularly, but I do use it. The last time I used it was 2 weekends ago when my brother in law asked me to solve a problem that involved a formula using vlookup. I'm an advanced user, and for me it is not better - the interface is shocking and inefficient. Apparently you can't accept that for me and for others this interface is rubbish. Instead one of your first messages was to label me as some childish fool who'd hold a grudge against the company because they discontinued a game I like. Well, you've demonstrated, repeatedly and in great detail that you don't know a thing about me. All I see is weak minded hand waving personal attacks based on your own pre-conceptions. You seem to think this is how to "win" a debate as you've labelled me a "sore loser". Well all it shows is that you have a profound and deep seated lack of maturity and that you're incapable of basing what you say on logic.
There is no mistake. The original issue you brought up only effected the non-Ribbon interface.
No the original point I made was that the ribbon re-organises itself. Take a look at my original post, which you attacked. Your revisionism is a tranparent lie and makes you look foolish. I only found a link when you denied it changed. In the context my particular criticism whether the ribbon changes based on most used or context is irrelevant. The fact that it changes at all is problematic.
I don't see how a additional tab appearing to handle a very specific task for what you're editing is relevant as you mention now - This is not shifting the previous menu items at all as claimed, they are EXACTLY in the same place still.
It's additional buttons that appear and disappear as well as tabs. I fail to see how a button being there or not, or a tab being there or not is "not shifting". It can't be in "EXACTLY in the same place still" if it's there one minute and not there the next. Your argument is based on semantics only and does not take my point into consideration at all. A power user doesn't get to see all of the buttons at a glance the way they can with a static bar. A new user will find it harder to follow instructions if they try to read ahead because the button mentioned isn't there to begin with.
I don't see the point in talking to you at all anymore. You're so intent on not listening to what I say, misinterpretting, attacking childishly, using weak semantics that there can only be two possibilities: you don't have a very logical mind, or you're being very dishonest. Every time I raise a valid concern, you dismiss it and tell me why the MS way is better. You can't presume to know what's better for me. You can only give your own opinion. Well if you refuse to acknowledge there's a problem or that something is less efficient and if you constantly insist that your way is better and that I should be pleased to do it that way, what hope do I have of getting a rational reasonable discussion out of it? I may as well try to convince a parrot. It reminds me very much of discussions with religious zealots. You can't win because they're not rational.
And you don't have to. Just keep running your old version of Windows to run your old versions of your software.
But then I don't get new software. WHY exactly must I give up the old in order to use the new? I want both. The machines we have today are incredible. Are you seriously saying this is too hard an ask???
Progress does not mean having to throw away everything and start again!
I'm tired of this. You apparently wouldn't know a good UI if it bit you, or you're a sell out to MS, or both.
The old Office 2003 interface: 1. Gave buttons and menus 2. Both of which could be customised 3. Automatic customisation based on "most used" stats could be turned off 4. Allowed the display of multiple toolbars at the same time
The new Office 2007 interface: 1. Doesn't allow you to revert to the old interface without 3rd party addons 2. Determines what's on your toolbar for you, and as a user you don't get to customise it. Which means that if you use several functions in a workflow you have to click wildly between ribbon tabs
Certain sets of commands are only relevant when objects of a particular type are being edited. For example, the commands for editing a chart are not relevant until a chart appears in a spreadsheet and the user is focusing on modifying it. Contextual tabs only appear when they are needed and make it much easier to find and use the commands needed for the operation at hand."
I'm going to stop finding evidence that it does because you seem incapable of admitting any kind of mistake.
Frankly whether the commands change based on context, or whether they change based on usage stats is a moot point. If they change they make documenting step by step procedures more difficult, because a reader can't read ahead - the tools just might not be displayed for subsequent steps and if they are you have to jump between toolbars.
No, this is a new UI is a huge step backward - designed by fools for fools and defended by fools. It's not good for new learners, it's not good for power users, and it is less efficient and wastes time compared to the old.
Ultimately it's going to be commercial factors that help drive human space exploration. While a "Star Trek" universe where the sole mission is to go out and explore is a great idea, right now economic factors will need to be behind the wheel, and getting some commercial ventures off the ground will help drive up space flight.
How appropriate this comment should be made the same morning I was watching an episode of Enterprise from season 1 called Acquisition, in which the Ferengi knock out the crew and try to steal everything valuable on the ship.
It finally happened. This is the first recorded instance of a site being slashdotted not only in the present but also in the past and the future. Be very afraid. Your personal web page, not updated since the 90s, might be next.
"Secret Money Machine"? He writes a book on how to make money, sells it, and makes money? Is his book only one page with the following typed on it: "Write and sell a book describing how people can make lots of money."
I realise you're making a joke, but it's interesting to note that the only reason that this doesn't work exactly as described is that people realise they're being fooled straight away.
You don't walk up to someone you want to cheat and say "Hey can I cheat you" and expect it to work. Likewise the one page book won't work. Instead what has really worked is to draw this one page out into about 200 pages and convince people that there are deep insights. By the time they've worked out what's happening (if in fact they ever do) they'll have recommended the book to friends and family and be talking about those deep and life altering insights, which in turn drives sales of the book.
The only real problem is that creating such a vibe is very hit and miss and you're much more likely to have a book that flops before you can achieve the critical mass through word of mouth. Fashion is fickle. However many self help books that have happened to succeed and make their author rich are exactly what I've described.
What I linked to was exclusively an office 2007 knowledge base article. Apparently you don't understand English. Linking to a page for each product doesn't prove anything apart from your own stupidity. "Note This option is only available in applications which do not use the Ribbon user interface." refers to "How to turn off the Personalized Menus and Toolbars feature" - in other words you can only turn it off for applications that don't use the ribbon.
And when you look below at which applications it mentions are storing these settings, it's the ones that don't use the Ribbon but the Office 2003 interface (since not all office 2007 applications use the Ribbon). The office 2003 interface did this, the Ribbon does not.
Dude, I linked you to an article that is exclusively for Office 2007. Office 2007 does not have menus and does not have the Office 2003 interface. You're talking gibberish.
I have not yet found a single person (and I've installed this on 100+ workstations) who didn't find the ribbon interface easier to work with after they got used to it.
Since you don't refer to the reason, I'll just assume you're mad about the "Fired their Aces game development team ending a long running franchise in flight simulation" point.
You go ahead and do that. Go ahead and ignore everything else I've said on the thread, cover your ears and yell la-la-la at the top of your lungs. Don't let reality or truth get in the way.
"The Personalized Menus and Toolbars feature evaluates what menu commands you use. Additionally, this feature displays only those items that you use most frequently on a shortened version of each menu. By default, when you click a menu and then rest the mouse pointer over the menu title, the menu expands and displays all the menu items.
Note The menu expands only if the Show full menus after a short delay option is selected. "
Slashdot Mirror
Until you write Fahrenheit 451, I wouldn't be so quick to call Ray Bradbury an idiot, no matter what he says about the internet.
You're setting an impossible goal. Bradbury wrote Fahrenheit 451. All anyone else could do is plagiarise it.
It is quite possible to do great things and still be an idiot later in life or in other areas. Some of the world's greatest scientists have had personal lives that belong on Jerry Springer.
Seeing how the election has gone so far, ummm, an M4 or AK-47?
There is no way an AK-47 will ever be sold on any kind of usage plan. Can you imagine how things would go if a user disputed their statement and didn't like the outcome taking it to the billing department? "What do you mean you're going to charge me for the excess bullets!? I didn't use them that month! Here take them back you scum!" *machine gun fire*
it makes me sad that this seems like frivolous spending in light of the social issues this planet is facing
Hey without this "frivolous spending" there may not be a society to have social issues. Science is about interpreting the physical world which we all depend on for our survival. You never know what improvements to our lives will come from the "frivolous spending". It may even save the planet itself.
We've come a long way, baby.
Don't call me baby! I've seen you sluting around with those tramps ALSA and OSS! Do you think I wouldn't find out!? You said you were done with them but now I know you were lying. I'm going home to mother's house! See you in court!
Yep, she's guilty. Yep, she lied. Nope she shouldn't have to pay $80,000 per song despite that and anyone suggesting that this is reasonable needs their head examined. For the lies perhaps contempt or perjury charges should be laid. For the infringement she should have to pay the retail price of what she downloaded plus what she uploaded.
Actually, all you have to do is write one awful song.... ever. Once someone puts it up on a torrent, you just sue two random people a year for the next 30 years.
Brilliant! That'll give me more time to deal with the boat salesmen and bikini clad women!
The summary grossly misrepresents what the congressman is proposing.
I haven't read many accurate summaries lately. I mean it was always bad but now they're so bad that it must be a plot to have us all RTFA.
So all I have to do is, twice a year write an awful song, then get someone to put it up on a torrent and that's worth $160,000 right? That's a freaking awesome alternate reality! I can live like a king for playing guitar badly a couple of times a year!
By that kind of accounting, I'm worth billions. Boat salesmen will knock. Bikini clad women will swoon. I can have any car I like!
Tell the truth now, you're just trying to outdo the British, aren't you? They only used to send their convicts to Australia for a dozen years for stealing a loaf of bread. You'd ruin people's whole lives over copying a song.
* On many occasions, I've downloaded no-CD cracks for games I've purchased legitimately.
You wouldn't steal a handbag. You wouldn't steal a TV....but we definitely think you'd buy a broken one and then feel guilty for trying to fix it after we've ripped you off.
What a bunch of disingenuous propaganda noise. They really don't need to do much to win the "hearts and minds" of downloaders. They just need to play fair.
- Reasonably priced goods, that you can play anywhere once you've bought them WITHOUT jumping through hoops like validation and copy protection checks. Stop differentiating by zone and content player.
- The ability to take something back without hassle if it is broken out of the box.
- The ability to replace already purchased content at reasonable cost when the media breaks (scratched DVDs etc). Stop trying to prosecute people for legitimately backing things up (as opposed to giving a copy to a friend)
- Stop trying to gouge fans by releasing one season at a time, then a boxed set, then a boxed set with extra features so that you're actively trying to get a fan to re-buy the same material multiple times
- Make content quick and convenient to obtain. Downloadable for those with good net access. By mail quickly and cheaply for those that don't
- Realise that some of your potential customers STILL won't be able to afford the content and don't count them as lost sales
So long as they try to rip off the very customers they're supplying with content, a large portion of those customers will feel justified in ripping them right back off. If they're fair, there will still be piracy but not as much.
Oh, I can accept that you don't like it and you don't want to use it. I just don't believe the majority of your arguments hold water.
It's called presumptuous arrogance.
It's called a joke, you should try making one some time.
You're trying to pass off something that could only have been taken as insulting by saying "only kidding". Seriously? Are you in 3rd grade??? No wonder you don't accept evidence thrust in front of you.
Don't flatter yourself, but I was never really interested in knowing your person to begin with.
Yet you're plenty interested in telling me what my needs in an office suite are.
You've convinced me of nothing. (I was already convinced that MS zealots were by definition irrational) I've convinced you of nothing. Enjoy using the ribbon.
Two other things:
1. A masters may not help as a developer. I have a masters but it's in Astronomy and I did it with no intention of taking on Astronomy as a job. Every time I add the qualification to the list, HR takes it back off. I'm not even sure certain HR staff know the difference between Astronomy and Astrology.
2. You might find it easier to get your foot in the door somewhere else rather than try to move into a development role in your current company. If you're already doing a job well, the company has less incentive to move you elsewhere (until they realise you'll leave otherwise, by which time it's too late). It'll be tough in this market.
Hate to break it to you but you won't necessarily get away from distractions and you may not entirely move away from support. Every job I've ever worked in included distractions and some amount of support work.
I currently work as a software developer but I also work to troubleshoot the existing systems, and I do take second tier customer calls (so less problems, but usually harder ones). I even work shifts and do on-call support. My job's a good one - prestigeous, reasonable pay so I'm not complaining.
That's not to say I would rather be on a help desk, or that you shouldn't try to better yourself. Just make sure your expectations are realistic.
Quick, buy it, pretend that you lost a sense of smell (let me see them prove otherwise) and then wait for a nice settlement check. Just kidding, that would be dishonest.
I'd love to be the lawyer in that case. I'd show up to court with a gas mask and week old road kill, then collect my cheque when you pass out while offering to represent my client for the counter-suit.
Umm.. Crop marks, not crop circles.
Oh come on, we all know it's discovery is actually due to all those cameras the UK government has installed on every street corner and in every crop field. Where's my tin foil hat? I need to have it upgraded to platinum to keep out the camera rays and ward off 6000 year old British zombies.
Have you even used Office 2007?
Absolutely. I don't use it regularly, but I do use it. The last time I used it was 2 weekends ago when my brother in law asked me to solve a problem that involved a formula using vlookup. I'm an advanced user, and for me it is not better - the interface is shocking and inefficient. Apparently you can't accept that for me and for others this interface is rubbish. Instead one of your first messages was to label me as some childish fool who'd hold a grudge against the company because they discontinued a game I like. Well, you've demonstrated, repeatedly and in great detail that you don't know a thing about me. All I see is weak minded hand waving personal attacks based on your own pre-conceptions. You seem to think this is how to "win" a debate as you've labelled me a "sore loser". Well all it shows is that you have a profound and deep seated lack of maturity and that you're incapable of basing what you say on logic.
There is no mistake. The original issue you brought up only effected the non-Ribbon interface.
No the original point I made was that the ribbon re-organises itself. Take a look at my original post, which you attacked. Your revisionism is a tranparent lie and makes you look foolish. I only found a link when you denied it changed. In the context my particular criticism whether the ribbon changes based on most used or context is irrelevant. The fact that it changes at all is problematic.
I don't see how a additional tab appearing to handle a very specific task for what you're editing is relevant as you mention now - This is not shifting the previous menu items at all as claimed, they are EXACTLY in the same place still.
It's additional buttons that appear and disappear as well as tabs. I fail to see how a button being there or not, or a tab being there or not is "not shifting". It can't be in "EXACTLY in the same place still" if it's there one minute and not there the next. Your argument is based on semantics only and does not take my point into consideration at all. A power user doesn't get to see all of the buttons at a glance the way they can with a static bar. A new user will find it harder to follow instructions if they try to read ahead because the button mentioned isn't there to begin with.
I don't see the point in talking to you at all anymore. You're so intent on not listening to what I say, misinterpretting, attacking childishly, using weak semantics that there can only be two possibilities: you don't have a very logical mind, or you're being very dishonest. Every time I raise a valid concern, you dismiss it and tell me why the MS way is better. You can't presume to know what's better for me. You can only give your own opinion. Well if you refuse to acknowledge there's a problem or that something is less efficient and if you constantly insist that your way is better and that I should be pleased to do it that way, what hope do I have of getting a rational reasonable discussion out of it? I may as well try to convince a parrot. It reminds me very much of discussions with religious zealots. You can't win because they're not rational.
Enjoy your job at Microsoft.
And you don't have to. Just keep running your old version of Windows to run your old versions of your software.
But then I don't get new software. WHY exactly must I give up the old in order to use the new? I want both. The machines we have today are incredible. Are you seriously saying this is too hard an ask???
Progress does not mean having to throw away everything and start again!
I'm tired of this. You apparently wouldn't know a good UI if it bit you, or you're a sell out to MS, or both.
The old Office 2003 interface:
1. Gave buttons and menus
2. Both of which could be customised
3. Automatic customisation based on "most used" stats could be turned off
4. Allowed the display of multiple toolbars at the same time
The new Office 2007 interface:
1. Doesn't allow you to revert to the old interface without 3rd party addons
2. Determines what's on your toolbar for you, and as a user you don't get to customise it. Which means that if you use several functions in a workflow you have to click wildly between ribbon tabs
Take a look at this user's solution: Add everything to the Quick access Toolbar. I mean for pity sake!!!
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/HA101996251033.aspx
You claim the tool bars don't change, but everything I'm reading says they do.
http://oit.nd.edu/helpdesk/office/office2007.shtml
"Contextual Tabs
Certain sets of commands are only relevant when objects of a particular type are being edited. For example, the commands for editing a chart are not relevant until a chart appears in a spreadsheet and the user is focusing on modifying it. Contextual tabs only appear when they are needed and make it much easier to find and use the commands needed for the operation at hand."
I'm going to stop finding evidence that it does because you seem incapable of admitting any kind of mistake.
Frankly whether the commands change based on context, or whether they change based on usage stats is a moot point. If they change they make documenting step by step procedures more difficult, because a reader can't read ahead - the tools just might not be displayed for subsequent steps and if they are you have to jump between toolbars.
No, this is a new UI is a huge step backward - designed by fools for fools and defended by fools. It's not good for new learners, it's not good for power users, and it is less efficient and wastes time compared to the old.
Ultimately it's going to be commercial factors that help drive human space exploration. While a "Star Trek" universe where the sole mission is to go out and explore is a great idea, right now economic factors will need to be behind the wheel, and getting some commercial ventures off the ground will help drive up space flight.
How appropriate this comment should be made the same morning I was watching an episode of Enterprise from season 1 called Acquisition, in which the Ferengi knock out the crew and try to steal everything valuable on the ship.
The blog is no longer accessible http://nightjack.wordpress.com/ and can not be reached via http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://nightjack.wordpress.com/
It finally happened. This is the first recorded instance of a site being slashdotted not only in the present but also in the past and the future. Be very afraid. Your personal web page, not updated since the 90s, might be next.
"Secret Money Machine"? He writes a book on how to make money, sells it, and makes money? Is his book only one page with the following typed on it: "Write and sell a book describing how people can make lots of money."
I realise you're making a joke, but it's interesting to note that the only reason that this doesn't work exactly as described is that people realise they're being fooled straight away.
You don't walk up to someone you want to cheat and say "Hey can I cheat you" and expect it to work. Likewise the one page book won't work. Instead what has really worked is to draw this one page out into about 200 pages and convince people that there are deep insights. By the time they've worked out what's happening (if in fact they ever do) they'll have recommended the book to friends and family and be talking about those deep and life altering insights, which in turn drives sales of the book.
The only real problem is that creating such a vibe is very hit and miss and you're much more likely to have a book that flops before you can achieve the critical mass through word of mouth. Fashion is fickle. However many self help books that have happened to succeed and make their author rich are exactly what I've described.
What I linked to was exclusively an office 2007 knowledge base article. Apparently you don't understand English. Linking to a page for each product doesn't prove anything apart from your own stupidity. "Note This option is only available in applications which do not use the Ribbon user interface." refers to "How to turn off the Personalized Menus and Toolbars feature" - in other words you can only turn it off for applications that don't use the ribbon.
And when you look below at which applications it mentions are storing these settings, it's the ones that don't use the Ribbon but the Office 2003 interface (since not all office 2007 applications use the Ribbon). The office 2003 interface did this, the Ribbon does not.
Dude, I linked you to an article that is exclusively for Office 2007. Office 2007 does not have menus and does not have the Office 2003 interface. You're talking gibberish.
I have not yet found a single person (and I've installed this on 100+ workstations) who didn't find the ribbon interface easier to work with after they got used to it.
Two words come to mind. Microsoft and shill.
Since you don't refer to the reason, I'll just assume you're mad about the "Fired their Aces game development team ending a long running franchise in flight simulation" point.
You go ahead and do that. Go ahead and ignore everything else I've said on the thread, cover your ears and yell la-la-la at the top of your lungs. Don't let reality or truth get in the way.
Well except for the fact that the ribbon reorganises itself so you can't ever find anything.
What are you talking about?
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/912721
"The Personalized Menus and Toolbars feature evaluates what menu commands you use. Additionally, this feature displays only those items that you use most frequently on a shortened version of each menu. By default, when you click a menu and then rest the mouse pointer over the menu title, the menu expands and displays all the menu items.
Note The menu expands only if the Show full menus after a short delay option is selected. "