I want to add my 'voice' to what now seems to be a chorus of us who find it offensive that an alleged professional like yourself can't put blame where it belongs. Microsoft is not the bad guy in this case as others have aptly pointed out. I find it alarming and surpising that you would make this sort of gaffe. Some of your readers are apt to believe what you write. Please be careful!
One MS defender was both nasty and apparently a bit shaky on his history:
David, David, David. You remind me of the reporters during the Watergate scandal. If President Nixon would have gone out to the Potomac and walked across the water, your headline would have been "Nixon Can't Swim!" All those program removal problems you are discussing are NOT Microsoft's doing. A little research (you know what that is, right?) would have showed you that the programmers who write those programs you name also write the uninstall software - not Microsoft. Stop being like the rest of the uninformed Microsoft bashers.
Some MS defenders seemed to want to buy credibility by professing disdain for MS — most likely a devious trick by MS plants to deflect suspicion:
Well, I admit to hating Microsoft (more or less). Still, I find it hard to point the finger at them on this one. Microsoft provides a service to developers, who often abuse it. Programs that do not uninstall well probably do not provide the information Windows requires to use the uninstaller service. Microsoft could, I suppose, police this, but think of the uproar that would cause. I see lawsuits for restraint of trade.Just this once, I don't blame Microsoft. The rest of the stuff is a result of monopolistic arrogance, though.
Those moles can be subtle.
Pogue himself eventually appeared and gave a marvellously apt retort:
If Microsoft is not responsible here, then how come uninstalling from Mac OS X is an effortless piece of cake?You just drag the app to the Trash. Period.
It's about the DESIGN OF THE OPERATING SYSTEM.
Microsoft left uninstallations open to the developers, sure, but it's had, what, 20 years now to correct that mistake?
In discussions of MS product deficiencies, some MS lackey often pipes up to announce that the next-generation product takes care of all the problems. This discussion was no exception:
Article comments
1 - Temple Stark
Pretty funny stuff. A nice shortening of the discussions highpoints.
There are still some odd things left if you uninstall a program in Macs. But normally these are in only two folders and are fairly easy to determine where they go.
Pogue is a guy who used to write for MacWorld but has affection for both PC-Mac. Not me. I've never sent my Mac in for repair; never wondered what the hell happened there. I did have to erase everything on my work disk once, but that wasn't my fault (I was assured)
And OSX has elimnated program crashes completelty. One program dies, you force quit it and the computer runs as before.
Of course, it's all down to what you started with and I started with Macs in 1995.
2 - Mark Saleski
the .net comment was particularly funny.
great solultion to bad software...wrap it in an even heavier layer of more software.
3 - DrPat
As someone who has worked with both Mac and PC, I would have to agree that Macs side-step a lot of the problems seen in Windows.
On the other hand, they also have problems with some common stuff. (If I had a nickel for every attached eMail file my Mac-dedicated friend Dave told me he couldn't see, I'd have a szit-load of nickels!)
Same thing holds true with Linux and Unix and other operating systems. You pays yer money, and you takes yer choice...
4 - gonzo marx
being a Fan of David Pogue's stuff for quite the number of years..it was good to see him tee off this way..
i also am in a dual boot household..i went from an Amiga 500 to a 386 PC, next computer was a Mac and kept with them for years ...my better half being into graphic design for 10 years...
i went with 2 computers when i needed to learn XP for work, since the game center LANs were going to be using it, while our servers were Linux builds...
while XP is by far my favorite flavor of n Windows...there are sO many problems inherent in the OS that the strange "unistall" difficulties are merely the surface...
Apple tends ot avoid a lot fo this by requiring their software makers to adhere to a very strict code fo standers...from the way a program installs, to the look and feel as well as function of the Interface and beyond
each has it's strength's and weaknesses
but for Bloat and obscurity..nothing tops Windows...
nuff said?
Excelsior!