Richard BF

What is it with the little dog in Windows XP file search? Dogs fetch sticks. So I’m guessing that when I want to search for a file, the analogy is that of throwing it away somewhere into my hard drive, and I want a dog to run after it, slobber all over it, and hand it back to me? And supposedly I need a 3D animated animal to remind me that searching for a file will do this? OK, that sort of works I guess.

So what about the fact that dogs don’t always return the stick, they sometimes get bored and run off, or they grab the stick and just sit down somewhere off in the distance? At times they’ll grab the stick and give it to someone else, who will then throw it somewhere else. These are the memories I have of playing fetch. Are they really the ones I want associated with my important files? Well, perhaps it’s OK because they’re sort of man’s best friend.

What if I’m a woman? Well, Google unfortunately toes the sexist line if you’re feeling lucky, but I guess they’re hoping the dog analogy is gender neutral. So yeah, forget diamond rings, the supposed woman’s best friend, and let’s just go with a gender neutral dog analogy for now.

So umm… what if I just plain hate dogs?

Right, well if you click on the configuration button, you can change the animation to other 2D cartoon style drawings, or you can even turn it off.

Great! So where’s the 3D cat? Oh, there’s only a characterisation, a cartoon image of a cat? That sort of sucks. I guess cats don’t fetch sticks, so in theory, there was no point spending time doing a 3D cat. OK, that sort of works I guess.

So why bother including a cat at all? As a cat lover, I’d probably have preferred a dog fetching a file, and having no cat option whatsoever. A 2D cat just makes me pissed off. Even more pissed off than a fucking 3D dog slobbering over my files, and optionally, at the dog’s discretion, not returning the file at all!

Microsoft. Just when you think they start to get it… They don’t.