Microsoft Please call a Spade a Spade

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A note in a companion blog had explained how frequent updates from the computer and smart phone industry are making life difficult for consumers and there really is a need for the industry to rein in this habit and schedule their updates and improvements at no more than once a year best named after the year such as version 2018, 2019 etc. and not strange decimal numbers like 302.56.84 etc. that no one can remember except the Late Shakuntala Devi who could remember any number, howsoever long and complicated. Only a few critical bug fixes, virus definitions etc. may be sent on an urgent basis under precisely those names and not as an update.

It is true that there are ways to turn off updates short of disconnecting from the Internet but such ways are not easy and require some learning. One gets raped a few times, metaphorically speaking before learning that. In my case recently I had to uninstall and reinstall Windows 10 in order to get rid of a pesky update assistant that kept coming back, eating up my data plan and slowing my work down to crawl. I used the rape metaphor here being reminded of the lady who said it took a rape for her to learn to carry pepper spray to fend of more attacks.

Another habit from the industry, most particularly Microsoft, is to make up fancy names that impress no one except Microsoft it seems. Decades ago when they had started something called Microsoft Passport some had wondered if it was a Passport issued by planet Mars or Planet Venus. Then there is a Windows live. Unlike reaching gmail when one signs into gmail one somehow mysteriously lands up in a Windows live when signing into hotmail, and recently while searching an old computer of mine for Word 2000 it took me some time to locate it because guess what, it is not called Microsoft Word or Word 2000 at all but WinWord. Just wondering that they could have called it Winnie the Pooh instead to make it harder and more irritating. The latest Windows 10 update from Microsoft is not called Update 2017 or 2018 or anything like that but guess what, It is the Fall Creators Update. I am really afraid they shall soon come with equally confusing new series such as Dancing in Spring on the roof update and so on. 

It is perfectly true that justifications and reasons for the stated complexities will be found for as Aristotle or Plato, I forget who, said that any position can be debated with points for and against but as my spiritual master had once taught me, son lying is wrong, if you feel you have a compelling reason to do so, go back a bit and first trash that reason itself.

It is true that some are amused at President Trump making up names like Little Marco and crooked Hillary but I have not found anyone amused at the names Microsoft makes up. Microsoft you are a great company and have done much service for the world, we all love you but please call a spade a spade for in making up fancy names there is the stink of arrogance and as the proverbs said – Pride precedes a fall. Rooting yourself in simplicity you shall continue to grow but get into complexity and you yourself may be compelled to shut down bit by bit and trash your own parts as perhaps you or the world has had to do with Internet Explorer which was a wonderful browser – two decades ago.

Update,Sept 2018: IMPACT
This post seems to have had an impact on Microsoft, they are calling their New Update as simply October 2018 update. Apparently the trend started earlier this year in April a few months after this post was published and link tweeted on twitter including to Microsoft. From what this blogger could find on the net the new simplification is being widely appreciated, see here,
https://gadgets.ndtv.com/laptops/news/microsoft-windows-10-october-2018-update-redstone-5-1909426

Soon after this blog post was published I had sent a tweet to Satya Nadella . Some of the language of this post is not polite but it is understood in the right spirit by those with an IIT background, the alma mater of all of us,

Today I have conveyed my thank you in this other tweet

Image from: http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=211951&picture=pain


Comments

Ashok said…
As a Professor at some of the leading universities ( including UBC and IIT) I supervised several student theses and in some cases found students numbering sections and subsections of their thesis as 2.3.5.6 in second chapter, item 3 and further subsections. I had to ask them to drop that habit and use no more than one decimal place and leave further sections without those numbers. They were then found more easily actually through table of contents and led to a more pleasant simple approach. There are huge gains in simplicity and huge losses in complexity, but guess that message has not got around to all in the industry.
February 16, 2018 at 9:47:00 PM PST
Ashok said…
Really glad Satya Nadella heard this bloggers plea and simplified nomenclature. It makes life so much better for all.
September 1, 2018 at 7:20:00 PM PDT
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