Apparently I wasn't the only person to link to Chris Pratley's phenomenal blog entry about the history of Word today. I just discovered that Chris's blog entry appeared on the front page of Slashdot earlier today. It's shocking I didn't notice this before...

Let me tell a little story. Once upon a time (read: 2002-2003) while I was a senior in college I had to do an Advanced Project Laboratory , or, as the rest of the world refers to them, a senior design project. Somehow, I came upon the bright idea of porting...

From Chris Pratley : “ So, that in a nutshell is the Microsoft method. Understand the market, and the customers, and then go pedal to the metal, with release after release focused on what the customers need, incorporating their feedback.”

Have you ever noticed how Office 2003, and a wide variety of modal dialogs throughout Windows XP and Windows 2003 Server use that little question mark button in the title bar to launch their F1 help system? It's rather neat, unobtrusive, and it allows...

I moderated a talk yesterday on accessibility at Microsoft. I think it went over pretty well. In any case, one of the central points I made during the talk bears repeating in a more public forum. Accessibility is not a feature. “Whoa, wait...