Style guide biased towards Microsoft apps

Date: September 1991

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To: Don Casey cc: Alex Morror, Frank King, AI-ESC, AI-PSC, AI-TSC, Richard Wolf From: Richard Wolf Date 09/11/91 07:03:09 Pm Subject:

This memo lists and briefly describes items in the draft Microsoft Style Guide for Windows that are biased towards Microsoft applications. Individually, none of the items are major changes. They are a collection of small arbitrary decisions without clear user benefit that taken together give Microsoft an advantage because most of their applications already conform ..

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Second, the style guide provides little or no indication of future object oriented user interface directions that Microsoft is developing, including property sheets, direct manipulation, pop-up menus, and notebook techniques. Essentially, current and somewhat arbitrary GUI practices of Microsoft applications are being set up as detailed standards while Microsoft works on new approaches that obsolete these standards. Microsoft has privately disclosed to Lotus some elements of their intended direction.

Full Exhibit
http://boycottnovell.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/px00956.pdf