Well, I have to ask the software community at large – do you believe that glitch is a bad word?

Maybe my audience is too small, but I will put it out there anyway. What is it about software that just acts funny and does things that it isn’t supposed to do? From what I have found, it does depend on a few factors:

• your operating system
• operating memory
• other “incompatible” applications running at the same time
• updated software that is dependent on other software (Flash? Quicktime? Real Player?)
• software updates that you have performed that might not have been ready for prime time
• etc, etc, etc

Maybe I just expect things to work the same way they work on a different platform… for example on the laptop or the iPad, on the iPad or the iPhone, or – and this is a huge one (especially for Microsoft) on a Mac or a PC.

Mac users are professionals too and we buy your software to be compatible with other Microsoft users. We even buy the upgrades when you release them to stay “at utmost compatibility” with our associates and colleagues.

But, I call glitch when the “bullets” on one document look like some other shape all together – not even CLOSE to resembling a bullet on another platform. Come on Microsoft, a • is not a ( or even a ) for that matter.

I’ve complained about this before. Don’t even get me started on the functional feature set of Excel on a Mac vs, a PC (can you say Pivot Table?)

Ok, so maybe this is a bit of a rant, but when I have brought errors and problems up with developers before – and had the gall, the nerve to call them a glitch – I was told that I wasn’t aware of the designed functionality of the software. Helloooo? Are you kidding me?

Don’t begin to think that you can release your product until you are ready and wiling to back up statements – with performance – that allow the end user and the buyer to count on the feature set advertised. All. The. Time.