Windows 98: $90 Worth of Digital Duct Tape nytimes.com
Oh dear. From this account, it again appears that rumors of sucking less may have been greatly exaggerated.
What a difference three years make! When Windows 95 finally made its way out the door, the Microsoft Corporation promoted it to the cheeky beat of the Rolling Stones' "Start Me Up." The CD-ROM came with hip videos of Edie Brickell and Weezer.
Windows 98? Dullsville. Today's official release flaunts the bland slogan, "Works Better, Plays Better." The CD? It comes with a Microsoft commercial appropriately set to a pop adaptation of a theme from Beethoven's Piano Sonata (Op. 13), the "Path‚tique."
For all its failings, Windows 95 was in many ways, big and small, a significant improvement over its predecessor, Windows 3.1, particularly in its ability to run multiple programs at once. But when it arrived, one reviewer (this one) described it as "an edifice built of baling wire, chewing gum and prayer."
Windows 98 adds duct tape, caulk and pesticide. Think of it as a minimal renovation that spruces up the place a bit, plugs some leaks, exterminates some bugs and adds some new plumbing. The wire, gum and prayer remain.
Cheers, Dan. |
