To B Or Not To b
from the Microsoft-on-capitalism... dept
The folks over at Fortune (part of the AOL Time Warner family) have apparently just discovered Microsoft Word’s “auto correct” feature that has been around for years. Someone has written an amusing piece looking at the odd patterns in auto-capitalization of words, wondering why certain words (prozac, paxil) got slighted over other words (Claritin, Zoloft). Of course, the answer is pretty straightforward: it just depends on what some folks at Microsoft thought were popular at the time, and put into their lexicon file. Also, interesting to note that the reporter claims he sends all emails in lowercase only. While I’m sure that’s fine for personal mail (though, I still can’t stop capitalizing myself), I wonder how well that works in a corporate setting – or have I missed out on the fact that no one anywhere capitalizes anything anymore?
Comments on “To B Or Not To b”
No Subject Given
I got tired of reading the crappy spelling and predictable grammar problems on various popular blogs and forums. I converted the basic auto-correct file into an easier-to-use format, and made a little HTTP proxy that auto-corrects people’s most common mistakes as I read. http://www.halley.cc/typoxy.png for a highlight-mode example.
lower case
I have heard that lower-case-only used to be the writing mode at Microsoft. My source? Julie Walker, former Microsoft employee who went on to become the contact person for Best Brains, the company behind Mystery Science Theater 3000. She used to post to the MST USENET group, and always did it in lower case. At some point, she said it was a holdover of her days at Microsoft.
Which is probably useless info at this point…