2003 Bill Gates Email on Windows Usability

Todd Bishop is republishing a few gems from the archive of Bill Gates’s email messages that were turned over during various lawsuits against Microsoft. Here’s one from 2003, where he excoriates the experience of downloading and installing Windows Movie Maker:

So I gave up and sent mail to Amir saying - where is this Moviemaker download? Does it exist?

So they told me that using the download page to download something was not something they anticipated.

His criticism of the experience is astute, but as Dan Benjamin remarks, at times it seems he’s downright unfamiliar with how Windows XP works.

★ Wednesday, 25 June 2008