February 25th, 2005

Two brief reminiscences on the Windows XP "Comments?" button

In beta versions of Windows XP, there was special code in the window manager to give every window a link in the upper right corner called “Comments?” which if clicked on displayed a dialog that allowed you to submit feedback to Microsoft about that window. Since this was a beta release, there was no anonymity when you submitted feedback. (You signed away your anonymity when you agreed to the special beta license agreement and typed in your beta ID number.) Yet we got more than one feedback submission that begin, “Hi, I pirated this copy of Windows XP, and here’s some feedback.”

In its initial incarnation, the word in the title bar was “Lame”, but people with a weaker sense of humor changed it to the less confrontational “Comments?”. The name “Lame” came from a recurring sketch on local comedy show Almost Live! called “The Lame List, or What’s Weak This Week (brought to you with the help of Seattle’s Heavy Metal community)”.

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Raymond has been involved in the evolution of Windows for more than 30 years. In 2003, he began a Web site known as The Old New Thing which has grown in popularity far beyond his wildest imagination, a development which still gives him the heebie-jeebies. The Web site spawned a book, coincidentally also titled The Old New Thing (Addison Wesley 2007). He occasionally appears on the Windows Dev Docs Twitter account to tell stories which convey no useful information.

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