It occurred to me that I haven't joined in the fun of rant-posting yet, and so I decided to blog the very first irritation that came to mind. I just so happened to be using a computer at the time, so here goes...

Microsoft have had their fair share of criticism since the good old days of Windows 3.1, yet I've always stuck with both their operating systems and their desktop software.

While It's safe to say that I'm not a Microsoft fanboy, I am a very comfortable Microsoft user. My home studio setup runs XP, as does my laptop (okay fine, I like the look of Windows 7 so much that I've patched my PCs to look like it - helpful hint: set a restore point before trying that...). Our office network and mail runs off Microsoft Small Business Server. When I write software, I write it in Microsoft Visual Basic 2008. My phone runs Windows Mobile 6.0. And all of this stuff works well, almost all the time. But any relationship with a computer is bound to be love-hate, so let's get onto the bit that I'm annoyed about:

Microsoft is a behemoth software company, whose success spans decades. Google's been giving them a few scares lately, but they've been the undefeated titans of the home and business desktop for a very long time. The name Microsoft is almost universal, like Coca Cola and The Brothers Streep. So it's safe to say that we know who they are, and attempts to constantly remind us are not  strictly necessary.

Why then, in the name of all that is good and holy, does Microsoft Outlook 2007 always insist on repeatedly jumping to the top of my desktop when it starts? Once I can deal with. Once is expected. You want this to happen. But once. Not repeatedly.

I have a slowish laptop, and starting Outlook sometimes takes around 40 seconds or more. During that waiting period, if I dare to switch to another application, I can be assured that Outlook will soon leap above it to claim uber desktop dominance once more. This will happen no fewer than three times on average. Now I'm no hacker, but I've been programming for a long time, and I know that means three or more separate instructions in the startup process that are essentially saying "Quick! Quick! Outlook might not be on top of everything at this exact moment! Set it as the topmost window! Don't let anything cover it!"

That, Microsoft, is just plain annoying. If I start Outlook and then attempt to work in another window while it opens, I DO NOT want you to keep bouncing the thing to the surface like some kind of insane binary jack-in-the-box. Just load the application in the background, and I will click the taskbar to bring it into focus when I want to use it. If I start your program and minimise it immediately, know that I still love you, and will buy Outlook 2035 when it is released in 2038. But leave my desktop window arrangement alone. Please.