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Now THERE'S An Idea (8/22/99)
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Buggy software is the bane of any computer user's existence. It crashes just when you're trying to print that last-minute report, or just before you're about to save your work. It can cause data loss, time loss, sanity loss, and hair loss. In severe cases it can cause job loss and even life loss (though if constant crashes are making you so frustrated you're looking longingly at implements of mass destruction, we'd advise you to relax a smidge). At the same time, though, it seems we all just accept that software has to be buggy. Some Windows users we know, in particular, simply see restarting after crashes as a fundamental part of operating a computer, as integral to the whole process as launching applications and copying files. It's just something we all have to endure.
But longtime Mac shareware developers Ambrosia Software are drawing a line in the sand-- and an icky one, at that. Faithful viewer Keith Lim points out a press release in which the company announces that if any of its upcoming releases contain any bugs at all, Marketing Director Jason Whong will be forced to eat real insects at next year's Macworld Expo in New York. That's right; if Ambrosia has to release a bug-fix patch for any of its new product, Jason will be chowing down on "live or roasted crickets, grasshoppers, locusts, spiders, or any number of edible insects." (Yeah, we know spiders aren't insects, but this publicity stunt is goofy enough that we're not going to call them on it.)
We like any idea that might reduce the bugginess in the software we all use, but while we are especially fond of the idea of punishing the marketing folks when bugs surface, we have to wonder about the effectiveness of Ambrosia's plan. We don't know what kind of good-time vibes and happy campfire songs ring through the halls at Ambrosia, but in general, software developers and marketing people get along like cobras and mongooses. If other software companies were to institute Ambrosia's "eat a bug in public" policy, we bet the programmers would be making mistakes on purpose just to watch the marketing people squirm. So what's the deal; will the computing public accept a reduction of system stability if it translates into a rampant rise in marketing types publicly wolfing down creepy-crawlies?
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SceneLink (1733)
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 8/22/99 episode: August 22, 1999: Quicken 2000 finally surfaces for the Mac, as one of the first software titles planned due to the iMac's influence. Meanwhile, Ambrosia Software uses grossness as its secret weapon in the War on Bugs, and using Windows with a computer newbie really makes us appreciate the iMac...
Other scenes from that episode: 1732: Quicken Wasn't Quick (8/22/99) Sure, there are still plenty of hurdles for Apple to overcome if the Mac is ever to secure greater acceptance as a viable platform choice, but sometimes it's worthwhile to step back and consider how far things have progressed in such a short time... 1734: We Feel Unclean (8/22/99) Here's a quickie; we spent a few hours over the weekend volunteering some computer training time for the Activities Director at a nursing home. Unfortunately, the computer in question was some Compaq Presario running Windows 95, and while the experience may have warped our fragile little minds, we emerged otherwise unscathed...
Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast... | |  |
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