Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!samsung!ginosko!uunet!microsoft!neilh
From: neilh@microsoft.UUCP (Neil Hoopman)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Word 4.0 fractional widths still farcical (Grumble)
Message-ID: <2@microsoft.UUCP>
Date: 30 Oct 89 14:04:09 GMT
References: <35975@apple.Apple.COM> <1083@diemen.cc.utas.oz> <36000@apple.Apple.COM>
Reply-To: neilh@microsoft.UUCP (Neil Hoopman)
Distribution: comp
Organization: Microsoft Corp., Redmond WA
Lines: 43

In article <36000@apple.Apple.COM> chuq@Apple.COM (Chuq Von Rospach) writes:
>>In article <35975@apple.Apple.COM> chuq@Apple.COM (Chuq Von Rospach) writes:
>>>Accessory called "monkey" that will type in random keystrokes and mouse
>>>movements. It is part of their testing procedure -- just fire it up and let
>>>it whap away like a three-year-old would....
>
>>I could be gullible enough to believe this. It's so far-out that it could
>>almost be true! Are you serious, Chuq? Confirmation would really make my
>>day, and heaven knows how much I need cheering up right now.
>
>I was serious. They told me about it when I called up to report the bug my
>cockatoo found in Word 3.01. (She does a good imiation of a monkey at a
>keyboard -- if she would stop eating the stupid mouse...)

Oh, now come on Chuq!  If Microsoft is using a "monkey", we're just
following Apple's lead ;-).  Check out Inside Macintosh Vol 1, Page 261:

   "Before the Macintosh was introduced, Macintosh Software
    Engineering created a special desk accessory of its own for
    testing Macintosh software.  This desk accessory, which was
    based on the journaling mechanism, didn't use a file-- it
    generated events RANDOMLY, putting the Macintosh "through its
    paces" for long periods of time without requiring a user's
    attention."

I looked around for the "monkey" desk accessory, but I couldn't find
it.  Being a Word tester, I'm qualified to say that even if this desk
accessory existed, it was by no means the core of our testing
strategy!!

As for the spark of this conversation, fractional widths, I'll check
it out and see what I can suggest...

(Before people starting throwing sticks, rocks and small shrubberies
at me, bear in mind that I read and respond to the net on my own time :-)

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Neil Hoopman - Microsoft Corp.                         uunet!microsoft!neilh
------------------------------                  microsoft!neilh@uunet.UU.NET
"Carpe Diem. Seize the day.         microsoft!neilh@beaver.cs.washington.edu
 Make your lives extraordinary."    ----------------------------------------
 - Dead Poets Society                  Neil?  Neil who?  Posted what?  When?
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