Saying that your case is different doesn't make it so

Raymond Chen

A customer wanted to do one of those user-hostile things that Windows doesn’t make easy to do (the sort of thing I tend to call out on this Web site). After receiving an explanation that Windows doesn’t provide a way of doing what they want because it abuses the component in question and goes against user expectations, the customer countered, “Yes, we understand that, but our case is different.” The customer then proceeded to explain how they intended to use this newfound power (if only they could figure out how to do it) and under what circumstances they intend to invoke it. Their explanation was interesting in that the description could be applied to any other program on the planet.

Yes, we understand that, but our case is different. We would do this only after the user installs the program or reconfigures it from the Add or Remove Programs control panel. After a few days, we would stop doing it, unless triggered by a reinstall or a reconfiguration.

So far, there’s nothing here that explains why your program should be able to do this, but not, say, Photoshop. There is no evidence that this program is any different from the tens of thousands of other programs out there, many of which probably want to do that very same thing this program wants to do.

Just because you say that your case is different doesn’t make it so.

Raymond Chen

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