Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Open letter to Microsoft
Okay, I'm not one of the many "Microsoft is the devil" types you see around, but you've found a new way to piss me off. I recently got the "Student and Teacher" edition of Office 2003 (as if most students and teachers have $130+ to blow on it--I wouldn't have bought it except I was reimbursed). One of the programs it includes is Outlook, and since I currently use Outlook Express, I figured it would be no big deal to upgrade.
Ha ha.
First, Outlook claims that it can import all your information from Outlook Express, but it turns out that certain things of minor importance, like e-mail passwords, actually don't get transferred.
Second, Outlook has switched from the sensible preview pane system Outlook Express (and old Outlook) used, so that instead of the e-mail list covering most of the full width of the screen and about half top-to-bottom, with the text of the message itself covering the bottom half at the same width, it's now split into two columns, with the message list and the text both looking like newspaper columns. Microsoft claims that you can view more of the message text this way, apparently ignoring that (A) you can no longer easily see as many messages or who sent them or when they arrived because there's no width for those columns, and (B) reading any length of message in newspaper column format is harder, word-flow-wise, than reading it with long lines. Think Whitman versus Kay Ryan or Mary Oliver. I was able to fix the display, but it's simply not something I should have to fix in the first place.
Finally, I assumed that since Outlook Express is a stripped-down version of Outlook, Outlook would have all the Outlook Express features I like.
Ha ha.
At least two helpful features of Outlook Express that I consistently use have vanished, and it also apparently no longer acknowledges any attempt you make to cancel downloading of messages, instead continuing to do it in the background so you can see it happening but are powerless to stop it. Seriously.
So goodbye Outlook, hello again trusty old Outlook Express. I'll be looking elsewhere for software in the near future, Microsoft.
Ha ha.
First, Outlook claims that it can import all your information from Outlook Express, but it turns out that certain things of minor importance, like e-mail passwords, actually don't get transferred.
Second, Outlook has switched from the sensible preview pane system Outlook Express (and old Outlook) used, so that instead of the e-mail list covering most of the full width of the screen and about half top-to-bottom, with the text of the message itself covering the bottom half at the same width, it's now split into two columns, with the message list and the text both looking like newspaper columns. Microsoft claims that you can view more of the message text this way, apparently ignoring that (A) you can no longer easily see as many messages or who sent them or when they arrived because there's no width for those columns, and (B) reading any length of message in newspaper column format is harder, word-flow-wise, than reading it with long lines. Think Whitman versus Kay Ryan or Mary Oliver. I was able to fix the display, but it's simply not something I should have to fix in the first place.
Finally, I assumed that since Outlook Express is a stripped-down version of Outlook, Outlook would have all the Outlook Express features I like.
Ha ha.
At least two helpful features of Outlook Express that I consistently use have vanished, and it also apparently no longer acknowledges any attempt you make to cancel downloading of messages, instead continuing to do it in the background so you can see it happening but are powerless to stop it. Seriously.
So goodbye Outlook, hello again trusty old Outlook Express. I'll be looking elsewhere for software in the near future, Microsoft.
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Microsoft went on my hit list a couple of years ago when I ran into a glitch attempting to install MS Word.
It took two emails (I never received a response to the second one) and three phone calls to their "customer service" number (as anyone who has called them knows, they don't have a toll-free number for customer service), to figure out that one small but essential step had been omitted from the installation instructions in the package.
I was at that point able to get MS Word installed successfully. But I mean, really....
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It took two emails (I never received a response to the second one) and three phone calls to their "customer service" number (as anyone who has called them knows, they don't have a toll-free number for customer service), to figure out that one small but essential step had been omitted from the installation instructions in the package.
I was at that point able to get MS Word installed successfully. But I mean, really....
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