David A. Karp > Quotes

“sufferers of depression, who can elect to keep their feelings private, experience chronic, unremitting emotional alienation. Each moment spent “passing” as normal deepens the sense of disconnection generated by depression in the first instance. In this regard, depression stands as a nearly pure case of impression-management. For depressed individuals, the social requirement to “put on a happy face” requires subjugation of an especially intense inner experience. Yet, nearly unbelievably, many severely depressed people “pull off the act” for long periods of time. The price of the performance is to further exacerbate a life condition that already seems impossibly painful”
― David A. Karp

“Much of depression's pain arises out of the recognition that what might make one feel better--human connection-- seems impossible in the midst of a paralyzing episode of depression. It is rather like dying from thirst while looking at a glass of water just beyond one's reach ”
― David A. Karp

“All of us must do our best to live gracefully in the present moment. I now see depression as akin to being tied to a chair with restraints on my wrists. It took me a long time to realize that I only magnify my distress by struggling for freedom. My pain diminished when I gave up trying to escape completely from it. However, don't interpret my current approach to depression as utterly fatalistic. I do whatever I can to dull depression's pain, while premising my life on its continuing presence. The theologian and philosopher Thomas Moore puts it well with his distinction between cure and care. While cure implies the eradication of trouble, care "appreciates the mystery of human suffering and does not offer the illusion of a problem-free life.”
― David A. Karp, Voices from the Inside: Readings on the Experience of Mental Illness

“(just as a novelty flying disc is commonly known as a Frisbee),”
― David A. Karp, Windows 7 Annoyances: Tips, Secrets, and Solutions

“gasp, have to walk across the room and put discs in the tray by hand),”
― David A. Karp, Windows 7 Annoyances: Tips, Secrets, and Solutions

“The observers — members of Microsoft’s User Research Group — diligently note each click, key press, and hesitation, hoping they’ll learn the answer to the industry’s big secret: why do so many people find computers difficult to use?”
― David A. Karp, Windows 7 Annoyances: Tips, Secrets, and Solutions

“Alt-Tab”
― David A. Karp, Windows 7 Annoyances: Tips, Secrets, and Solutions

“Watch TV on Your TV”
― David A. Karp, Windows 7 Annoyances: Tips, Secrets, and Solutions

“They say no one should see how sausage or laws get made,”
― David A. Karp, Windows 7 Annoyances: Tips, Secrets, and Solutions

“OK, here’s the next exercise: transfer a photo from this digital camera to the PC and then upload it to the Internet,”
― David A. Karp, Windows 7 Annoyances: Tips, Secrets, and Solutions

“Windows XP in a box”)”
― David A. Karp, Windows 7 Annoyances: Tips, Secrets, and Solutions

“Take content protection, Windows 7’s copy-protection initiative for so-called premium content like high-definition movies from Blu-Ray and HD DVD discs. According to Microsoft’s standards, software and hardware manufacturers are supposed to disable “premium content” across all interfaces that don’t provide copy protection. One such interface is the S/PDIF digital audio port — usually in the form of a TOSlink optical plug — that comes on most high-end audio cards. Since S/PDIF doesn’t support copy protection — meaning that you could theoretically plug it into another PC and rip the soundtrack off an HD movie — Windows 7 requires that your TOSlink plug be disabled whenever you play back that HD movie on your PC. As a result, you’ll only be able to use your analog audio outputs when watching HD content, and that expensive sound card you just bought is now trash. Why would Microsoft hobble an important feature? For you, the consumer? Of course not. Windows 7’s content-protection feature is intended to appease piracy-wary movie studios, so Microsoft won’t be left behind as the home theater industry finds new ways to rake in cash. And ironically, Microsoft boasts content protection as a feature of Windows 7.”
― David A. Karp, Windows 7 Annoyances: Tips, Secrets, and Solutions

“Ironically, the internal version number of Windows 7 is version 6.1,[1] which implies that Microsoft considers its newest operating system to be a (relatively) minor revision of Windows Vista (version 6.0).”
― David A. Karp, Windows 7 Annoyances: Tips, Secrets, and Solutions

“Windows 7 is like a pumpkin: handsome and plump on the outside, but a big mess on the inside. So get out your knife and start carving.”
― David A. Karp, Windows 7 Annoyances: Tips, Secrets, and Solutions

“where you might expect to find a straightforward folder tree, resides Favorites (how does it know?) and Libraries. Microsoft really wants you to organize your stuff into these rigidly defined categories, although it’s often more efficient to organize files by project rather than data type.”
― David A. Karp, Windows 7 Annoyances: Tips, Secrets, and Solutions

“When Alice is manic, she doesn’t have any control over herself either. She doesn’t remember what happened when she gets really manic. She has no organized memory of what took place so that she can’t even learn from her mistakes or correct them or understand why she’s dealing with the consequences that she is.”
― David A. Karp, The Burden of Sympathy: How Families Cope With Mental Illness

“Go get yourself a nice cup of tea while Windows copies half a million files to your hard disk and reboots a few times.”
― David A. Karp, Windows 7 Annoyances: Tips, Secrets, and Solutions