Diagonal Installs Don’t Duplicate
Written by admin on May 13, 2009
If duplicating functions is to be avoided on Windows, then Microsoft Word should never be installed. Windows already includes Notepad and Wordpad. Those tools cover the text editing and word processing functions; Word is just an unnecessary repetition.
This argument holds no water because Word is installed diagonally when Notepad is present. It expands the functionality of Notepad greatly (the “upgrade” or upwards install part). At the same time it gets away from the fundamental problems build into Notepad, such as file size and fixed-width fonts (the “side-grade” or alternate product part). This is self-evident to anyone who has used both Notepad and Word. Word is not just a better Notepad, it is a better Notepad that also gets away from the nasty issues implicit in any Notepad-like solution.
* Escaping an entrapping tool via an alternative is not duplication.
The relationship between Notepad and Word is akin to the relationship between Internet Explorer and Mozilla. By all technical measures, Mozilla is a far superior tool. It has hundreds of standardised or innovative features that are missing from IE. It is the darling of industry reviewers. Its use ensures that numerous IE security problems are avoided. Furthermore, it ensures that Web content visible to Windows users is visible to everyone else as well.
* Mozilla truly is superior technology to Internet Explorer.
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