🚀 go-pugleaf

(Peter Ferris) writes:
>It's   my understanding  that Excel has   been  fixed so  it no longer
>requires "the  first MB of RAM".   I think you're really  throwing the
>baby out with the bathwater  on this one.  To say  Microsoft is writes
>"crappy" software  is a pretty  hard  statement.  On  what do you base
>such a statement?  I want to see something other than...
>...omissions...
>... just   can't let you squeak   by  on that blanket  statement about
>Microsoft!  Later...

Peter,

I  can  only guess  that you  haven't   had to deal   with Microsoft's
MSDOS/OS-2 stuff.  There have been - for many years -  outrageous bugs
in the MSDOS assembler  (MASM) with regard  to arithmetic, masking and
logical operations.   There are enough   things which are  frustrating
about MSDOS  and OS/2 to make  me wish I  had never  even  entered the
field.

An early version (1 or 2) of MS-C used to hang up, from time  to time,
for no apparent reason, and issue the error  message: "Sucking Mud". I
swear to GOD, this is true!

I will  grant that MS's  Macintosh  stuff is CURRENTLY  rather  nice -
except we  can't  forget MSWORD's abortive   introduction (should have
been called  MSBUG - NO SMILEY's HERE  :-( and  how  about the bizarre
implementation of the interface - no menu resources, etc.?

I agree that  blanket  statements such as XXX's  stuff  stinks, aren't
particularly  useful, nor productive; but  you  have to  cut  people a
little  slack -  some of  the  software vendors  in MICRO-LAND are  so
frustrating that it can drive you bats... Microsoft  is on my  list of
"crazy makers".

-- 
These opinions are solely mine and in no way reflect those of my employer.  
John M. Pantone @ GE/Calma R&D, 9805 Scranton Rd., San Diego, CA 92121
...{ucbvax|decvax}!sdcsvax!calmasd!jnp   jnp@calmasd.GE.COM   GEnie: J.PANTONE