Comment by StavrosK
14 years ago
I found it amusing how you avoided to mention the name initially only to lapse (I'm assuming it wasn't intentional) and inadvertently say it was WinZip later on.
14 years ago
I found it amusing how you avoided to mention the name initially only to lapse (I'm assuming it wasn't intentional) and inadvertently say it was WinZip later on.
Whoops! Yeah, I'd had WinZip in there originally, then I couldn't remember if this particular story had already come out. I've been gone from MSFT for a long time, but it was generally considered bad form when I was there to call out specific products publicly for their bad code.
but it was generally considered bad form when I was there to call out specific products publicly for their bad code
In a way, don't you think that by not allowing customers to know just how bad the code in the software they buy is, you're encouraging more of it?
If there are advantages to producing quick-and-dirty code that violates platform programming guidelines (some would call this sort of sloppy programming "Getting Work Done"), and there are no consequences (Microsoft knows how bad the code is but Winzip's customers don't), doesn't this exert a subtle market pressure that works against good developers who take the time and make the effort to do things right?