Pet Peeves #7 - #9
Pet Peeves #1 - #3
Pet Peeves #4 - #6
7: People Reading Novels in Bars
I just don't get this. I like to read. I like to drink. But reading in a loud bar and drinking $5 pints when I could just be relaxing on the couch at home doing the same? I do not get it. I sort of get the feeling that they're introverted exhibitionists. Like that they're really getting into people
watching them read.
8: Auto-formating
I cannot tell you how much time I spend fighting auto-formatting while trying to make worksheets or outlines. I just do not understand its logic and at times it seems like it's just fucking with me. Like yesterday, I pressed return and it changed the size of the type from 12 to 10-point font. Why would it think I wanted this? There wasn't single item of 10-point on the entire document. What pattern was it following? Oh, at this point he might just want this section in miniature? EMHO, I think you need to talk to Microsoft about this.
9: No Snow at Christmas
I mean, why go on a big trip to Chicago and not have a White Christmas? Next year I'm going to Denver...
Pet Peeves #4 - #6
7: People Reading Novels in Bars
I just don't get this. I like to read. I like to drink. But reading in a loud bar and drinking $5 pints when I could just be relaxing on the couch at home doing the same? I do not get it. I sort of get the feeling that they're introverted exhibitionists. Like that they're really getting into people
watching them read.8: Auto-formating
I cannot tell you how much time I spend fighting auto-formatting while trying to make worksheets or outlines. I just do not understand its logic and at times it seems like it's just fucking with me. Like yesterday, I pressed return and it changed the size of the type from 12 to 10-point font. Why would it think I wanted this? There wasn't single item of 10-point on the entire document. What pattern was it following? Oh, at this point he might just want this section in miniature? EMHO, I think you need to talk to Microsoft about this.
9: No Snow at Christmas
I mean, why go on a big trip to Chicago and not have a White Christmas? Next year I'm going to Denver...
Labels: Random Rankings
posted by chuckdaddy2000 at 5:46 pm
9 Comments:
I like the notion of the "introverted exhibitionist." Reading while drunk can make you go cross-eyed. Very dangerous.
You see people reading novels in bars a lot in PDX. And it's always something deeply profound, never Michael Cricton (sp?) or Erica Jong. I've always found it sorta pretensious and lonely. I'm personally not a fan of going to bars by myself. However when I travel and have to eat out by myself I usually bring a book, magazine or something to write on. I'm just not someone who feels comfortable sitting at a table by myself staring at the wall.Maybe all these people reading novels in bars are travelling?
The only time it's ever snowed on Xmas for me was when I lived in Japan and didn't really celebrate. Ironic, eh?
Pretensious is the right word. Reading in bars is about is pretensious as the people who go for a jog down ultra busy Michigan Ave (hey! look at me! i'm jogging).
Maybe they want to read a book and enjoy a beer while enjoying the companionship of their fellow citizens. I like to think there's room for all sorts of activity in the public house, and besides, having a guy tucking into Proust at the next table over raises the level. So I say: hurray for the bar reader! As long as he isn't reading out loud.
Introverted exhibitionists need to drink too.
On the other hand, I'll go along with the premise that autoformatting as practiced by Microsoft products just blows. Blows! Blows! Blows!! As do Microsoft products in general. Considering that word processing is not exactly rocket science, it is amazing how poor the current product is. If you had told me 10 years ago that Word would be essentially unchanged today, I would have thought you were crazy.
On some days, I think that the MicroSoft corporation is a tremendous force for good in the world, in that it slows the pace of consumer and office information technology to the point where social and cultural structures can adapt to it without self-destructing.
Other days, I wonder why they can't make the formulas in their basic spreadsheet legible to educated humans.
michael5000, i'm sure you are a programming genius. Maybe you can go work at a software company and make the world safe from formating issues?
EMHO- between M5M and myself, are we making your life more difficult w/ our anti-PR? Feel free to respond w/ a press statement if you fear the CDX negativity is bringing down sales.
@ C#: While I'm all about the civil discourse, your premise -- that advanced technical knowledge is required to critique the deficiencies of the MicroSoft product -- is pretty dumb.
The failure of the Office software to progress has nothing to do with the guts of the code. A genial disregard for the user, born of monopoly, underlies a refusal to address big obvious flaws in the user interface that have been pains in our collective asses since at least 1996.
Could I solve these problems personally? As you gently suggest, and as I must to my great shame confess, the answer is no. But a team of trained programmers could, easily, given a month or so. And maybe they should.
Evidentally, this has not been a priority for our friends in Seattle. You can't really blame MicroSoft for not wanting to improve a product that has no competition, but it's reasonable to wish it were otherwise.
I'm really not interested in getting into a discussion about Microsoft. I don't do PR for Office and have been frequently annoyed with the autoformating myself. Ever hear do CRTL + Z? You can turn it off. However, I would like to point out that 2007 Office is pretty cool and appears to have done aware with annoying auto formatting. Of course as workers in the public sector you are probably using Windows ME edition and an upgrade is a long way off. :-)
Big company = big target. A year ago you'd NEVER read a negative article on Google but as they grow as a company, so does the skeptism. We love an underdog.
Now get back to editing your Wikipedia pages or laying down your latest DJ tracks! Software makes you cool!
These are the kind of ChuckDaddy posts I live for. I just read this out loud to my roommate and we concur on all point! I can't wait to see the next submissions.
Post a Comment
<< Home