Anti-Windows Catalog

Beware the Software Critic

Written by Gordon Fecyk, 1/26/2005

I DON'T HAVE TIME TO FIX SOFTWARE. Honestly, I'm not a programmer by trade. I'm a systems guy, more interested in making the existing stuff work as much as I can. And no one wants to pay me a software programmer's wage to fix software, anyway.

Yes, yes, yes, I know how to write some code - this web site proves that much. And I know enough programming to make something like Quake II work in a "safe computing" environment if I have original source code to work from. But I really don't have time to do this to Quickbooks, Flight Simulator 2004...

Flight Simulator 2004? 2004? As in two years after the release of Windows XP? Four after the release of Windows 2000? Why is Microsoft releasing applications for their own operating system that weren't even tested on it?

But I'm digressing... there's a lot of lazy code out there to fix, and I can't do it alone.

IF YOU CAN'T FIX THEM, JOIN THEM? Not quite. But I can make a lot of noise about them. I can point out their laziness, point out their poor design, and point out their competition.

In other industries, this kind of work falls to the critic - Roger Ebert, Rob Rosenberger and others critique bad things to make them better, and in doing so do far more good for their industries than their own people can. The critic can influence the customer, who in turn influences the customers' suppliers.

By signing in and contributing your own bad design experiences, you can become a critic of the PC computing industry, and help me make a difference. Beware the critic? Beware the critic-customers!

Related Links:

• Comparing Vmyths to [Roger] Ebert -- Wired

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