Moishe Lettvin, who moved from Microsoft to Google, was amused by a Joel Spolsky essay on Choices = Headaches, which basically wondered How many Microsofties does it take to implement the Off menu?
Well, Lettvin worked on that feature in Vista so he knew the answer: 24. He writes: "I spent a full year working on a feature which should've been designed, implemented and tested in a week."
Comment: Not only is it a fascinating story, it's well worth reading the comments, too.... including the one that points out Spolsky has got it wrong. There are, for most people, only two options: Off and Lock. It's his choice to pop up the advanced menu options (photo above), though he could argue that Microsoft makes the pop-up menu too easy to find.
