May 5th, 2020

Why did the message on the Start menu change from Start to Ship It! for one build?

Raymond Chen
Raymond Chen

David Simunič noticed that the message on the Start menu changed from Start to Ship It! for one build back in late 1994. What’s the story behind this?

This was a rogue change by a member of the user interface team.

The message Ship It! was one rogue developer’s expression of a combination of encouragement and impatience.

It was encouragement to the rest of the team to buckle down and finish the job. And it was impatience that the project had been in development for so long and hasn’t shipped yet.

The change was completely unauthorized and, as David noticed, reverted in the very next build. But the team got the message.

Category
Old New Thing
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History

Author

Raymond Chen

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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  • cheong00

    I remember seeing this screenshot on some computer magazine at that time, and thought it must be fake/edited image.

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