Raymond Chen recalling the conflict between Microsoft and IBM over the TAB key.
A colleague recalls that while he was assigned to the IBM offices in Boca Raton, Florida, there was a dispute over what key should be used to move from one field to another in dialog boxes. The folks at IBM were not happy with my colleague’s decision to use the TAB key, so they asked him to escalate the issue to his manager back in Redmond.
My colleague’s manager replied, “The reason you are in Boca is to make these decisions so I don’t have to be in Boca.”
My colleague rephrased this reply in a more corporate manner before passing it on to IBM: “Microsoft supports the use of the TAB key for this purpose.”
Unsatisfied, the IBM folks escalated the issue up their organizational chain for several levels, and replied that their VP (who was around seven levels of management above the programmers) was absolutely opposed to the use of the TAB for this purpose, and they wanted confirmation from the equivalent-level manager at Microsoft that Microsoft stands by the choice of the TAB key.
My colleague replied, “Bill Gates’s mother is not interested in the TAB key.”
This apparently ended the discussion, and the TAB key stayed.
Ha!