Microsoft's Bill Gates puts signposts to nowhere on highway to Utopia
Article Abstract:
The CD-ROM accompanying Bill Gates' new book 'The Road Ahead' displays many of the faults of the technology it attempts to extoll. The CD-ROM installs only on Windows machines, and it causes error messages and program crashes. When it does install properly, the installation messages offer little practical assistance. The CD-ROM includes samples of the videos Gates showed at the 1994 fall Comdex show, a tour of Gates' house, which is under construction, and a list of ten questions answered by Gates. The CD-ROM fails to deliver the interactivity that proponents claim for the medium. Users cannot stop and rewind a video clip to view a portion of it, instead they must replay the entire clip. The text of the book is also on the CD-ROM, but the index is less comprehensive than that found in the book, and the search engine is weak. Links to hypertext reveal slick marketing materials with little value.
Publication Name: The New York Times
Subject: Business, general
ISSN: 0362-4331
Year: 1995
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Atomic bomb history on CD-ROM
Article Abstract:
Corbis' $50 Critical Mass: America's Race to Build the Atomic Bomb offers strong visual images but fails to provide any significant level of detail or analysis. After a brief, documentary introduction, users are able to view any portion of the disk, which includes a slighty better documentary called The Los Alamos Story, and users may examine the buildings found at Los Alamos, although those used for scientific purposes are only perfunctorily explained. Text biographies appear for 13 figures involved in the creation of the bomb, and a few figures have narrated biographies. These biographies are some of the better material on the disk, although they give little impression of the chronology of events and scientific ideas are mentioned, not explained. Five timelines address the topics of scientists, atomic events, military technology, political history and popular culture.
Publication Name: The New York Times
Subject: Business, general
ISSN: 0362-4331
Year: 1996
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An industry that shrugs off errors
Article Abstract:
Problems with software and hardware for PCs are becoming all too common. The PC industry's standard of quality seems to consist of 'good enough,' in which vendors ship products with known deficiencies and plan to correct them in the next release. Microsoft executives in Dec 1997 presented a two-part slide on aspects of the forthcoming Windows 98, which comprised 'Reduce The Number of Problems' and 'Reduce Time Spending Problems.' Part of this presentation implies that users will continue to face various and difficult problems. Apple Macintosh customers face fewer software and hardware installation troubles, but the Apple machines' drawbacks include crashes that require rebooting. Apple Interim CEO Steve Jobs said MacOS 8.1 'fixes a zillion bugs, of course,' in MacOS 8, which the company introduced only in Jul 1997.
Publication Name: The New York Times
Subject: Business, general
ISSN: 0362-4331
Year: 1998
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