Anil Dash lays into Microsoft (er, us) for the Add Font dialog box in Windows XP, which has not substantially changed since Windows 95. He has a complaint, and an offer we can’t refuse:
… you still can’t even get this one dialog box to look like every other one in the operating system, with a little My Computer over on the side. You’ve got the “Drives:” dropdown box still partying like it’s 1994. It doesn’t even let me type in a network path unless I map a drive letter. Sweet, that way I can easily connect to my Netware 3 server over Token Ring and install the font I downloaded on my 9600 baud modem! Kickass!…
Here’s my offer. For less than 10% of your outstanding cash on hand, a mere four billion dollars, I will personally create a working, usable, UI guidelines-compliant version of this dialog box. I’ll even create it in .NET managed code. I’ll make sure it’s compatible with all the apps out there and regression test it against even the most obscure configuration.
Then, I’ll fly myself to Redmond and smack the product manager for Windows on the ass on his way out the door.…
It gets better. Some of the funniest ranting I’ve seen in a long time. And embarrassing, if you’re one of the folks in Redmond like me.