Firefox 2.x easter egg jabs competitiondevelopers, Humor, customer adventures — by TDavid @ 1:43 pm PST
New!
 (Hmm, no ratings yet) Loading ... |
In light of the past Microsoft position on easter eggs (”grounds for termination”), I’m not sure if we’ll see any easter eggs in Internet Explorer 7 to counter Firefox 2.x when you type about:mozilla in the Firefox (works in Flock too) URL bar.
BTW, that Microsoft policy covers Windows, I’m not sure how or even if that covers Internet Explorer. I still think easter eggs are a good idea in most (not all) programs. Why not hide a game in a spreadsheet program? Sure, easter eggs could become exploits if they are done at the wrong time and place in code, but hopefully Microsoft hires people smart enough (they do) that can figure out where not to place easter eggs. I think it’s too severe having a termination policy against them.
Hat tip to Download Squad.
If allowed, what would be a good easter egg for the IE team to put in? How about an animated picture of a bird who’s brain explodes after too many add-ons were implemented? Or a counter of memory use rising dramatically while IE7 remains stable? Suggestions, ideas?
I can understand MS’ policy, even if it’s no fun. We spent far too many hours designing and implementing an easter egg for the initial release of the Synergy/DE Composer. It ended up just wasting a few precious days on a tight schedule. OTOH if we could have made it something useful (we just had scrolling credits with some text effects), then you could justify allocating time for it.
I just checked the latest version, and it’s still there — with the original team members from 1996! I’m third on the list. For those who might have purchased the product, open Help/About Composer… then Ctrl+Shift+Alt+(left mouse click) in the unoccupied area of the dialog (like next to the OK button).
Comment by Sterling Camden — December 4, 2006 @ 5:36 pm PST
EE definitely make more sense for video games and are even considered features by gaming fans. Still, if we look at this from a marketing point of view some people can, will and do seek out and download programs just to see EE. This might have the effect of getting a potential customer to try out the application where they otherwise might have passed.
Let me put it this way. If you have the choice between two software programs that do essentially the same thing. One you know has a development team (or developer) that believes in planting EE (heck, make a contest out of finding the easter eggs, another marketing idea) vs. another who has a “we will terminate our employees” if they embed EE, which one sounds more appealing?
I know that may sound weird, but in an era when there is so much software out there — so many choices — I think software developers should utilyze things like EE to help give folks a little more incentive to try out an application. You could leave clues on your development blog, for example.
Personally, I think simple games work best because most people love games, but other unlockable secret features would be cool. Almost every Windows application I’ve created to date has at least one EE. I’m just one guy though, like you Sterling, and this is one area where we have an advantage over the gigantic corporations and large team projects. We can move much more swiftly on upgrades, patches and fixes than they can.
(generally speaking, of course)
Comment by TDavid — December 4, 2006 @ 6:28 pm PST
True. Even having an 8-person team (for Composer) made the EE take a few mythical person-days, whereas you or I could whip something up in a few hours max, and it would have a personal flair instead of a designed-by-committee feel.
Comment by Sterling Camden — December 4, 2006 @ 8:44 pm PST