On Wed, 19 Mar 2008 01:06:56 -0400, "Eisboch" wrote:


wrote in message
.. .

It is not just Microsoft, adobe is the same way. There are now PDFs
all over the internet that you can't open with a version of the reader
that runs on W98, yet it is still just a picture of a page. Where is
the increased value ... other than making software companies a little
richer.

Hmmmm... With that logic, the automobile industry should have stopped
with
the model "T".

If the actual benefit to the customer didn't improve they should have
kept building model Ts. Probably why they did for 18 years.
Creating a new format that is not backward compatible, simply because
they can is pure greed.

It's also how companies stay in business.

True and innovation drives success.

However to the larger point, a personal example.

When I first installed Thunderbird, it worked fine - simple to use,
did the job, no messing around with different menus, etc.

One day, Thunderbird upgraded itself - no choice in the matter. And
what was simple and easy, now became a problem. Only one email
account worked. Turns out they changed the way the account data is
entered - what had been done on one entry page, now takes three.

And as far as I can see, there isnt' any reason for it. It's just an
unnecessary complication under the guise of "improvement".

That's the way it is with most software.