Bill Gates Deserves Sunglasses

UnrealClock · June 25, 2008, 10:12:45 AM

Apparently he isn't the only one who thinks Microsofts websites sucks shit.

Quote from: Bill GatesFrom: Bill Gates
Sent: Wednesday, January 15, 2003 10:05 AM
To: Jim Allchin
Cc: Chris Jones (WINDOWS); Bharat Shah (NT); Joe Peterson; Will Poole; Brian Valentine; Anoop Gupta (RESEARCH)
Subject: Windows Usability Systematic degradation flame

I am quite disappointed at how Windows Usability has been going backwards and the program management groups don't drive usability issues, and Bill Gates is pissed that it took him forever to download Movie Maker.

Let me give you my experience from yesterday.

I decided to download (Moviemaker) and buy the Digital Plus pack ... so I went to Microsoft.com. They have a download place so I went there.

The first 5 times I used the site it timed out while trying to bring up the download page. Then after an 8 second delay I got it to come up.

This site is so slow it is unusable.

It wasn't in the top 5 so I expanded the other 45.

These 45 names are totally confusing. These names make stuff like: C:\Documents and Settings\billg\My Documents\My Pictures seem clear.

They are not filtered by the system ... and so many of the things are strange.

I tried scoping to Media stuff. Still no moviemaker. I typed in movie. Nothing. I typed in movie maker. Nothing.

So I gave up and sent mail to Amir saying - where is this Moviemaker download? Does it exist?

So they told me that using the download page to download something was not something they anticipated.

They told me to go to the main page search button and type movie maker (not moviemaker!).

I tried that. The site was pathetically slow but after 6 seconds of waiting up it came.

I thought for sure now I would see a button to just go do the download.

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.

This struck me as completely odd. Why should I have to go somewhere else and do a scan to download moviemaker?

So I went to Windows update. Windows Update decides I need to download a bunch of controls. (Not) just once but multiple times where I get to see weird dialog boxes.

Doesn't Windows update know some key to talk to Windows?

Then I did the scan. This took quite some time and I was told it was critical for me to download 17megs of stuff.

This is after I was told we were doing delta patches to things but instead just to get 6 things that are labeled in the SCARIEST possible way I had to download 17meg.

So I did the download. That part was fast. Then it wanted to do an install. This took 6 minutes and the machine was so slow I couldn't use it for anything else during this time.

What the heck is going on during those 6 minutes? That is crazy. This is after the download was finished.

Then it told me to reboot my machine. Why should I do that? I reboot every night -- why should I reboot at that time?

So I did the reboot because it INSISTED on it. Of course that meant completely getting rid of all my Outlook state.

So I got back up and running and went to Windows Updale again. I forgot why I was in Windows Update at all since all I wanted was to get Moviemaker.

So I went back to Microsoft.com and looked at the instructions. I have to click on a folder called WindowsXP. Why should I do that? Windows Update knows I am on Windows XP.

What does it mean to have to click on that folder? So I get a bunch of confusing stuff but sure enough one of them is Moviemaker.

So I do the download. The download is fast but the Install takes many minutes. Amazing how slow this thing is.

At some point I get told I need to go get Windows Media Series 9 to download.

So I decide I will go do that. This time I get dialogs saying things like "Open" or "Save". No guidance in the instructions which to do. I have no clue which to do.

The download is fast and the install takes 7 minutes for this thing.

So now I think I am going to have Moviemaker. I go to my add/remove programs place to make sure it is there.

It is not there.

What is there? The following garbage is there. Microsoft Autoupdate Exclusive test package, Microsoft Autoupdate Reboot test package, Microsoft Autoupdate testpackage1. Microsoft AUtoupdate testpackage2, Microsoft Autoupdate Test package3.

Someone decided to trash the one part of Windows that was usable? The file system is no longer usable. The registry is not usable. This program listing was one sane place but now it is all crapped up.

But that is just the start of the crap. Later I have listed things like Windows XP Hotfix see Q329048 for more information. What is Q329048? Why are these series of patches listed here? Some of the patches just things like Q810655 instead of saying see Q329048 for more information.

What an absolute mess.

Moviemaker is just not there at all.

So I give up on Moviemaker and decide to download the Digital Plus Package.

I get told I need to go enter a bunch of information about myself.

I enter it all in and because it decides I have mistyped something I have to try again. Of course it has cleared out most of what I typed.

I try (typing) the right stuff in 5 times and it just keeps clearing things out for me to type them in again.

So after more than an hour of craziness and making my programs list garbage and being scared and seeing that Microsoft.com is a terrible website I haven't run Moviemaker and I haven't got the plus package.

The lack of attention to usability represented by these experiences blows my mind. I thought we had reached a low with Windows Network places or the messages I get when I try to use 802.11. (don't you just love that root certificate message?)

In short Microsoft makes everything complicated when you want to download a piece of software or update.

FileCabinetClock · June 25, 2008, 10:13:29 AM

where'd you get this?

UnrealClock · June 25, 2008, 10:14:26 AM

The Internet

PimpClock · June 25, 2008, 10:18:39 AM

Read it, microsoft really needs to get their act together

l1fty · June 25, 2008, 10:25:38 AM

ye this is old

UnrealClock · June 25, 2008, 10:29:36 AM

Quote from: arneklok;1345137ye this is old

Don't bitch about age unless you've fucking seen it before.

Solenoidclock · June 25, 2008, 10:31:34 AM

I would have liked to have seen him drop as an adviser after vista bombed and gone after open source software. He's a cool enough guy to do it.

UnrealClock · June 25, 2008, 10:31:58 AM

Quote from: Δ;1345143that was an overreaction...

I just stubbed my toe. ):

l1fty · June 25, 2008, 10:33:29 AM

Quote from: Unreal Maddox;1345142Don't bitch about age unless you've fucking seen it before.

ive never seen it before but that doesn't make it relevant for today

Al Sharpton ☻ · June 25, 2008, 10:34:18 AM

Bill Gates is a dick ass but yeah Microsoft really doesn't have anything good anymore.

UnrealClock · June 25, 2008, 10:35:39 AM

Quote from: arneklok;1345148ive never seen it before but that doesn't make it relevant for today

The email just surfaced to the internet's possession this year.

FluxCapacitorClock · June 25, 2008, 10:35:51 AM

Quote from: arneklok;1345148that doesn't make it relevant for today

Who said it was relevant to today?

UnrealClock · June 25, 2008, 10:38:32 AM

Then get the guy some Sunglasses!

RabidClock · June 25, 2008, 10:53:55 AM

Quote from: Higgly Town Hero;1345150Bill Gates is a dick ass but yeah Microsoft really doesn't have anything good anymore.

He's actually a pretty swell guy, he donates a huge amount of his income to charity - like more than he would for tax purposes.

RabidClock · June 25, 2008, 10:57:45 AM

Quote from: FloppyDiskClock;1345164He is actually donating all of his money to charity, thats including the money which would have gone to his children.

I stand corrected, but the point is he's a swell guy.

joliet_jane · June 25, 2008, 11:05:03 AM

QuoteAs for the message, Gates smiled and said, "There's not a day that I don't send a piece of e-mail ... like that piece of e-mail. That's my job."

I believe this. It all makes sense, now.

There's a scene in Pirates of Silicon Valley where Bill is shown walking around the MS offices yelling at everyone about how their own stuff is crap and how Apple's Lisa is going to toast them, etc. That email is just the same Bill Gates has been for 30+ years.

RabidClock · June 25, 2008, 11:06:13 AM

Quote from: a fat ass j of some;1345168He's actually so grotesquely rich that he could donate the entirety of his paycheck (bank account) at any time and live comfortably. Ah, the many twist and turns of economics!

Or he could give his paycheck to his kids instead of forcing them to be successful on their own.

joliet_jane · June 25, 2008, 11:10:41 AM

Quote from: Animal Mother;1345170Or he could give his paycheck to his kids instead of forcing them to be successful on their own.

Rory and Jennifer Gates are either teens or tween by now. They must be marginally good kids, since they're not whoring their dollars like Paris and Nicole. No one's ever seen them, as far as I know.

All the same, I'd hate to not get any of that money, if I were them. I suspect that Gates' parent's money will go to them. They were fairly rich.

FileCabinetClock · June 25, 2008, 11:27:59 AM

if I was Bill Gates, I'd go to a McDonalds or something and be like "Hey. Give me 100,000 burgers." and they'd be like "omg it's bill gates lol" and then I'd use my mighty wad of cash to crush their skulls

RabidClock · June 25, 2008, 12:17:32 PM

Quote from: mc snax;1345186if I was Bill Gates, I'd go to a McDonalds or something and be like "Hey. Give me 100,000 burgers." and they'd be like "omg it's bill gates lol" and then I'd use my mighty wad of cash to crush their skulls

I'd order one and take as many napkins and condiments as I could.

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Bill Gates Deserves Sunglasses