Die, My, Die!
Todd Bishop reports in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer that Microsoft is dropping the “My” prefix from user folders in Windows, starting with Longhorn. This means no more “My Computer”, “My Documents”, “My Pictures”, “My Chicken”, or “My Severe Arthritic Thrombosis”. Microsoft started the whole “My” trend with Windows 95, and has decided, ten years later, that “My” is sooo played, with widespread use in websites such as My Yahoo, My eBay, MySwitzerland, and My Invasive and Embarrassing Surgery.
In fact, the very pervasiveness of the prefix is one reason the company is moving away from it, said Jim Allchin, who oversees Windows and related areas as Microsoft’s group vice president of platforms.The company introduced the “my” prefix in part to give users obvious places for storing their own files, Allchin said. (Although users can rename the standard folders, and create their own, many tend to stick with the default Windows naming structure.) He acknowledged that the company also was aiming to make the experience more personal.
But now, the “my” prefix has become so ubiquitous in the technology industry that it’s no longer the distinguishing characteristic the company hoped it would be. In part, Allchin attributed the situation to the tendency of software developers to adopt the common Windows terminology when making programs that run on the Microsoft operating system.
“People got carried away,” Allchin said in a recent interview. “Anytime Microsoft does something, everybody wants to do it. … It became a worthless descriptor.”
Another change in the upcoming Windows version, code-named Longhorn, could render even the newly named default folders moot for some users. A new Windows search feature will let people create custom “virtual folders” that continuously gather files and organize them automatically based on keyword, file type and other characteristics.
(via Brian Chin > Findory)
‘My’ comments
Based what Todd Bishop’s hearing from readers, Microsoft’s decision to banish “my” from the desktop may prove to be one of the least unpopular changes it’s ever made to Windows. It’s also encouraging no small amount of witty commentary online:…
Trackback by seattlepi.com Buzzworthy | May 31, 2005
Yeah, Brian put me in the “witty commentary” category. Thank god, because I thought I might be putting too many attempts at humor in one paragraph.
Comment by Nathan Weinberg | May 31, 2005
The “My” prefix is patronizing, and cutesy in a retarted sort of way. Put on the lilt of a five-year old, and repeat after me “These are MY pictures, and I will put them on MY computer, and mommie says these are all mine!”.
It is pathetic that MS designed it this way in the first place, took ten years to fix it, and then has the gall to come up with an intelligent-sounding reason.
Rot in hades, Bill!
Comment by garotte | July 5, 2005