Paul Murray's weblog, with news you may have missed and my $0.02 worth on a number of topics.

"You can't make up anything anymore. The world itself is a satire. All you're doing is recording it."
- Art Buchwald

I bet you don't have a friend who's an acupuncturist

E-mail me: pmurray [at] despammed.com

A passing (?) of note. Q: What's the oldest software Microsoft still produces and sells?

A: Flight Simulator -- although that may be changing, as PC Magazine reports.

Microsoft confirmed Friday that the software giant has shuttered ACES Studios, the developer of the Flight Simulator series of games, whose latest incarnation is Flight Simulator X. The simulation is considered Microsoft's oldest product, whose original version first shipped in 1982.

However, a Microsoft spokeswoman said that while the studio has been closed, the software company remains committed to the Flight Simulator franchise, without explaining how future products can be launched without a dedicated software development team backing them.

James Fallows bemoans the (apparent) loss. More information than you may want at the MS Flight Simulator Wikipedia entry.

I fondly recall wasting time with Flight Simulator is my early computing days (although SimCity and Harpoon were my real addictions). I haven't touched it in years.

Via rc3.org

Labels: computer games, Flight Simulator, memories, Microsoft

posted by Paul Murray at 4:44 PM | permanent link |

Listening to users. CNET reports that Microsoft spent months working on a major upgrade to Hotmail that would make it work more like a desktop application, with drag-and-drop editing and message previews. There was just one problem: test users hated it. Not only was it different, it was slow -- particularly for dial-up users.

To their credit -- and it's a shame to have to single out a decision such as this for praise -- the program managers let the users have their way. The fancy desktop-like interface became an option, and another "classic" version originally intended only for older browsers became the new default.

Labels: email, Microsoft, user interface

posted by Paul Murray at 12:59 PM | permanent link |