There are pieces of software that we each use every single day, and each seems to have some inexplicable and maddening behavior that one has to put up with. The video below acts out one of my greatest pet peeves, moving an image in Microsoft Word with the analogy of moving a piece of furniture in a room. The effort that went into what is essentially an 11-second gag is impressive, as is the result of giving an image the tiniest scooch.

David Crotty

David Crotty

David Crotty is a Senior Consultant at Clarke & Esposito, a boutique management consulting firm focused on strategic issues related to professional and academic publishing and information services. Previously, David was the Editorial Director, Journals Policy for Oxford University Press. He oversaw journal policy across OUP’s journals program, drove technological innovation, and served as an information officer. David acquired and managed a suite of research society-owned journals with OUP, and before that was the Executive Editor for Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, where he created and edited new science books and journals, along with serving as a journal Editor-in-Chief. He has served on the Board of Directors for the STM Association, the Society for Scholarly Publishing and CHOR, Inc., as well as The AAP-PSP Executive Council. David received his PhD in Genetics from Columbia University and did developmental neuroscience research at Caltech before moving from the bench to publishing.

Discussion

6 Thoughts on "An Elaborate, But Highly Accurate, 11 Second Microsoft Office Gag"

Hi Concerned Reader,

I will assume you’re new around here. For the last 17 years, we have largely taken a lighter approach on Fridays, usually offering a video post of something our editor finds interesting or amusing. We try to stay on-topic with our audience, and often look at things of interest to editors, librarians, publishers, researchers, etc. These include videos about the development of language, interesting developments in libraries, pieces of information about various sciences or humanities research, and sometimes just fun things. Today’s post seemed relevant as we often write about the technologies used in scholarly research and publication and their limitations. I’m sorry if you had a problem with today’s post, and in the future I would suggest perhaps just not engaging at week’s end.

Pity – I clicked comments hoping for another laugh as I share the same frustrations.

I look forward to the Friday posts! The lighthearted touch as we go into the weekend, usually informative and accompanied by a chuckle, is needed and welcome.

Interviewer: “Can you explain this gap in your resume?”
Interviewee: “Yes, I tried to include a photo of myself, using Microsoft Word.”

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