Paul wrote:
Bill in Co wrote:


Oh please, say it isn't so!! I forgot about that one. Damn! Well, at
least the more basic one called TaxAct still works on XP. I'm sure the
major players have already dropped XP, and added more program bloat in
the process, to boot. Every year it seems they want to keep adding more
bells and whistles in the name of "attractability". Bah. The concept
of Less is More is lost on the newage generations - plus it doesn't make
them as much money, of course.

It's got nothing to do with newage or millenials.

Engineering of mature products has always involved
"tick boxes". You get promoted for "tick boxes". That's
how the woman at Microsoft got to go up on stage at
a BUILD conference, because she invented the Ribbon.
That was a Big Tick Box on a number of products.

Let's say I'm making backup software. These
are some features.

Full backup.
Differential backup.
Incremental backup.

Now, Windows already has a Full Backup in the Control Panels.
So that is "table stakes". To enter the market, you have
to have that box ticked, to be a "player". And, since the OS
gives away Full Backups for free, so must you.

Next, you're sitting in the Marketing meeting room with
a bunch of weasels. A guy in a suit says "how many man
years of work is it to add Differentials?". And now we're
working on our next tick box.

So when you see stuff being added, and that stuff doesn't seem to
have a customer focus, remember that the people in the
marketing room are staring at the navels of their competitors.
They don't give a rats ass about what customers actually want.

Which is why I'm staying with Windows XP as long as I can, before I'm forced
into Windows 7 or later. Becauae *this customer* cares what he gets, and
has no interest in the other fluff and bloat that gets added. At least we
have a choice - for now.