Then there were the really good old days (emphasis on “really” and “old”), when the computer didn’t even have a hard drive, so you had to run everything from floppies, and save your work to a separate floppy. The first version of AutoCAD was like that – don’t remember how many floppies it took to load it into memory (it WAS 30 years ago, after all), but you had to have two floppy drives because you had to leave the last program disk in the drive, and have a separate drive available for your drawing files.
I remember installing MS Office on a PC for my then boss. It was the version that came shrinkwraped from MS with a virus. Got to the last diskette (23rd or 24th I’m not sure which) and then the diskette wasn’t readable. Virus had mucked with the volume label. Called MS support prepared for a long afternoon of doing the “try this” mambo. Told the tech what was happening and he immediately said we’ll send a new copy! Even with hold time I don’t think it was 10 minutes.
This isn’t far from the truth. My client, an Indian casino, bought DRDOS and MS Excel (at that time a DOS app). Every time we ran ‘win.exe excel’, the system would freeze, after a full day of debugging with a MS rep I finally asked point blank if Win.exe looked for the MSDOS signature and if it was the DRDOS signature then freeze the app. The win.exe program did exactly that. MS was later sued for this blatantly illegal program but twenty some years later the case still hasn’t come to trial. Microsoft was built by slick lawyering, not slick programming. Both Bill Gates parents are slick lawyers.
Not far from the truth. Microsoft provides third-party developers with “hooks” to their operating system. These are not the same ones they use internally.
I wonder if Windows 10 was created using tablets and touchscreens. After all, desktop computers with mice and keyboards are so passé.
If it weren’t for MicroSquish, a whole lot more folks would be out of work!.After all, it takes a lot of techs to repair this crap! Or, if you have a 6 year old handy, you could just ask him or her…
A friend of mine worked on the micro$oft campus back in the early 2000’s. Getting employees to dogfood MS products was a constant challenge. My friend ran Debian linux for 90% of his work.
awgiedawgie Premium Member about 9 years ago
The copyright says 2004, but I’d have guessed it was much older than that. Netscape has been out of fashion for a lot more than 10 years.
phaze58 about 9 years ago
This just so DiD happen tho
Wren Fahel about 9 years ago
Ahhh, Netscape…feeling nostalgic…
diodonofrio about 9 years ago
I remember installing Netscape from 8 floppies. Those were the days….
awgiedawgie Premium Member about 9 years ago
Then there were the really good old days (emphasis on “really” and “old”), when the computer didn’t even have a hard drive, so you had to run everything from floppies, and save your work to a separate floppy. The first version of AutoCAD was like that – don’t remember how many floppies it took to load it into memory (it WAS 30 years ago, after all), but you had to have two floppy drives because you had to leave the last program disk in the drive, and have a separate drive available for your drawing files.
bbbmorrell about 9 years ago
a Netscape. I remember you well, and Mosaic and even Lynx before yee
derdave969 about 9 years ago
I remember installing MS Office on a PC for my then boss. It was the version that came shrinkwraped from MS with a virus. Got to the last diskette (23rd or 24th I’m not sure which) and then the diskette wasn’t readable. Virus had mucked with the volume label. Called MS support prepared for a long afternoon of doing the “try this” mambo. Told the tech what was happening and he immediately said we’ll send a new copy! Even with hold time I don’t think it was 10 minutes.
jones.knik about 9 years ago
This isn’t far from the truth. My client, an Indian casino, bought DRDOS and MS Excel (at that time a DOS app). Every time we ran ‘win.exe excel’, the system would freeze, after a full day of debugging with a MS rep I finally asked point blank if Win.exe looked for the MSDOS signature and if it was the DRDOS signature then freeze the app. The win.exe program did exactly that. MS was later sued for this blatantly illegal program but twenty some years later the case still hasn’t come to trial. Microsoft was built by slick lawyering, not slick programming. Both Bill Gates parents are slick lawyers.
Robert Wilson Premium Member about 9 years ago
Supposedly the motto at Microsoft about new versions of Windows was, “It’s not done until Lotus won’t run.”
dflak about 9 years ago
Not far from the truth. Microsoft provides third-party developers with “hooks” to their operating system. These are not the same ones they use internally.
I wonder if Windows 10 was created using tablets and touchscreens. After all, desktop computers with mice and keyboards are so passé.
neverenoughgold about 9 years ago
If it weren’t for MicroSquish, a whole lot more folks would be out of work!.After all, it takes a lot of techs to repair this crap! Or, if you have a 6 year old handy, you could just ask him or her…
Boots at the Boar Premium Member about 9 years ago
A friend of mine worked on the micro$oft campus back in the early 2000’s. Getting employees to dogfood MS products was a constant challenge. My friend ran Debian linux for 90% of his work.