[crackmonkey] Re: interview with

[George Moffitt]

On Sun, Dec 13, 1998 at 01:49:33AM -0800, George Moffitt wrote:
> Date: Fri, 27 Oct 1995 10:31:43 +0100
> From: Klaus Brunnstein <brunnstein at rz.informatik.uni-hamburg.d400.de>
> Subject: Mr.Bill Gates: MS software essentially bug-free
> 
> In an interview for German weekly magazine FOCUS (nr.43, October 23,1995,
> pages 206-212), Microsoft`s Mr. Bill Gates has made some statements about
> software quality of MS products. After lengthy inquiries about how PCs
> should and could be used (including some angry comments on some questions
> which Mr. Gates evidently did not like), the interviewer comes to storage
> requirements of MS products; it ends with the following dispute (translated
> by submitter; at some interesting points, I added the German phrase):
> 
>     Focus: But it is a fact: if you buy a new version of a program to
>            overcome faults of an old one, you unavoidably get more features
>            and need more storage.
>     Gates: We have strong competitors and produce only products which we
>            believe to be able to sell. New versions are not offered to
>            cure faults. I have never heard of a less relevant reason to
>            bring a new version on the market.
> 
>     Focus: There are always bugs in programs.
>     Gates: No. There are no essential bugs ("keine bedeutenden fehler") in
>            our software which a significant number of users might wish to
>            be removed.
> 
>     Focus: Hey? I get always crazy when my Macintosh Word 5.1 hides
>            page numbers under my text.
>     Gates: Maybe you make errors, have you ever thought about that? It
>            often appears that machine addicts ("Maschinenstuermer") cannot
>            use software properly. We install new features because we were
>            asked to. Nobody would buy a new software because of bugs
>            in an old one.
> 
>     Focus: If I call a hotline or a dealer and complain about a problem, I have
>            to hear: `Get the update to version 6`. Everybody has such
>            experiences. This is how the system works.
>     Gates: We pay 500 million $ a year for telephone advice. Less than 1% of
>            calls which we get has to do with software bugs. Most callers wish
>            advice. You are kindly invited to listen to the millions of calls.
>            You must wait for weeks until one complains about a bug.
> 
>     Focus: But where does this feeling of frustration come from which unites
>            PC users? Everybody is confronted every day that programs do not
>            work as they should?
>     Gates: That is talking, following the motto: `yes, I also know about this
>            bug`. I understand this as sociological phenomenon, not as
>            technical.
> 
> 

-- 
------
     They sought it with thimbles, they sought it with care;
     They pursued it with forks and hope;
     They threatened its life with a railway-share;
     They charmed it with smiles and soap.
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