Autor: Jan Rychter (jwr_at_itc.pw.edu.pl)
Data: Tue 14 Nov 1995 - 15:18:05 MET
Zastanawialem sie przez chwile gdzie takie cos pasuje w hierarchii
pl.*, ale z braku pl.comp.os.windows, pl.comp.os.advocacy ani
pl.alt.bill.gates.die.die.die zamieszczam tu. Mam nadzieje ze wam sie
spodoba.
W skrocie: jest to fragment z wywiadu z Billem Gatesem. Ale nie bede
wam psul zabawy...
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Date: Fri, 27 Oct 1995 10:31:43 +0100
From: Klaus Brunnstein <brunnstein_at_rz.informatik.uni-hamburg.d400.de>
Subject: Mr.Bill Gates: MS software essentially bug-free
In an interview for German weekly magazine FOCUS (nr.43, October 23,1995,
pages 206-212), Microsoft`s Mr. Bill Gates has made some statements about
software quality of MS products. After lengthy inquiries about how PCs
should and could be used (including some angry comments on some questions
which Mr. Gates evidently did not like), the interviewer comes to storage
requirements of MS products; it ends with the following dispute (translated
by submitter; at some interesting points, I added the German phrase):
Focus: But it is a fact: if you buy a new version of a program to
overcome faults of an old one, you unavoidably get more features
and need more storage.
Gates: We have strong competitors and produce only products which we
believe to be able to sell. New versions are not offered to
cure faults. I have never heard of a less relevant reason to
bring a new version on the market.
Focus: There are always bugs in programs.
Gates: No. There are no essential bugs ("keine bedeutenden Fehler") in
our software which a significant number fo users might wish to
be removed.
Focus: Hey? I get always crazy when my Macintosh Word 5.1 hides
page numbers under my text.
Gates: Maybe you make errors, have you ever thought about that? It
often appears that machine addicts ("Maschinenstuermer") cannot
use software properly. We install new features because we were
asked to. Nobody would buy a new software because of bugs
in an old one.
Focus: If I call a hotline or a dealer and complain about a problem, I have
to hear: `Get the update to version 6`. Everybody has such
experiences. This is how the system works.
Gates: We pay 500 million $ a year for telephone advice. Less than 1% of
calls which we get has to do with software bugs. Most callers wish
advice. You are kindly invited to listen to the millions of calls.
You must wait for weeks until one complains about a bug.
Focus: But where does this feeling of frustration come from which unites
PC users? Everybody is confronted every day that programs do not
work as they should?
Gates: That is talking, following the motto: `yes, I also know about this
bug`. I understand this as sociological phenomenon, not as
technical.
The RISK? While there is NO risk that experienced users believe Mr. Gates,
there are 2 serious ones: first, that politicians (who rarely experience the
lowlands of PCs but develop their "political visions" from their
unexperience) may believe him. Second and worst: that Mr. Gates and his
enterprise believe what he is saying, and act accordingly :-)
Maybe someone can inform Mr. Gates that it was HIS enterprise which recently
distributed the first Macro virus WordMacro.Concept on a CD-ROM to OEM
customers, in July, and to participants of a Windows 95 seminar in Germany,
in September); but indeed, this is NOT a BUG BUT an ATTACK on unaware users :-)
According to a German saying those whose reputation is corrupted may live free
and easy ("Ist der Ruf erst ruiniert, lebt sich's doppelt ungeniert!")
Klaus Brunnstein (October 27,1995)
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_______________________________________________________________________
Jan Rychter jwr_at_itc.pw.edu.pl
http://www.itc.pw.edu.pl/~jwr jwr_at_icm.edu.pl
To archiwum zostało wygenerowane przez hypermail 2.1.7 : Tue 18 May 2004 - 12:26:57 MET DST