Originally posted by edesignuk
[rant]How you can turn your "problem" with Excel, in to a Windows bitching session is beyond me. Mindless bashing on either side of the PC/Mac "war" drives me nutz.[/rant]
Its easy enough to do because most people seem to not understand that there are multiple development teams that are in Microsoft, just as there are multiple dev teams at Apple, and as such quality software is going to very from team to team. All most people see is MICROSOFT. Nothing beyond that name. They equate Microsoft = crap software and while this sentiment isn't totally unwarranted due to the history of Microsoft's software its not really fair unless you are dealing with the latest MS product on its own instead of applying the stigma that since its Microsoft it has to suck right?
To be fair, to a certain extent, most Microsoft products have their annoying features/bugs that can get on one's nerves. To date even with Office 2003 I'm still getting a corrupt normal.dot file from time to time that really does a good job of hosing Word. To date even with Windows 2K and XP I still get start menus that freeze on me while it's populating the program list. (It eventually comes back after a good 10-30 second wait. In the mean time I get to twiddle my thumbs.) To date I occasionally get the CD-ROM drive to spin up when I access a web page with IE. Little stuff, and some big stuff, that has been in Windows/Office since day one is what I personally find distasteful about Microsoft. You'd think after 4+ version of Office and 3+ versions of NT Microsoft could fix some of the little nagging stuff. But no. They focus on stuffing feature upon feature into their products.
Also you have to keep in mind that the design philosophy of Microsoft's products is going to be somewhat to VERY different from Apple design philosophies thus when you come to a Mac board you are going to hear, from those users who are forced to use Windows at work or at school, etc why the heck does Windows work this way?!?! Its a different design mentality and as such can get on the nerves of people who aren't use to it or like it. I'm not going to start getting into which is right and which is wrong. But I will say that Microsoft's way of doing things seems to keep changing from version of software to version of software. They keep trying to find the right formula every time and never really hit the mark or market even. (There has been no overwhelming celebrated version of Windows or Office in about 10 years with the possible exception of Windows 2000.) They are still in the add features game and only now are starting to realize there is a world past feature set. Ease of use wise they use wizards which I personally think is a massive copout on ease of use. All of Microsoft's applications are heavily wizard laddered with IMHO speaks of a poor design. *shrugs* but that's just me.
Honestly, threads like this don't bug me as much as uninformed threads bashing Microsoft on the basis of basis of.....er.....umm....basis. I get back to you on that one when I find a basis. Those threads or posts drive me insane. They are typically posted by the Mac zelots based on nothing other then perpetuating rumor and the fact that its trendy on the Mac side of things to trash Microsoft.
LOL what am I saying. Its trendy everywhere to trash Microsoft. Its easy enough to hack on an OS or company when you haven't ever use their software or at the very least haven't used it in years. THIS is my biggest pet peeve when it comes to Mac users. And don't think I don't get IMed for it. But what people don't get is that I call windows users on the carpet for the same behavior. This IMHO is immature and is the hallmark of the Mac vs. PC battle. Lack of a truly informed individual.
Unfortunately I have a tendency to flip my lid when I see posts like those. :\
I guess I need to get use to them but it still irks me since I'm relatively new to the world of the Mac. My last mac was a ][e. Only in the last 6 months have I even considered getting another Mac. (Come on PowerBook G5!!!)
*shakes head*
I'm not even sure that made any sense since I've been sitting at this desktop for 12+ hours doing my A+ cert training. I think I'm going blind from this monitor. Later.
