Why do we pick on Auto Summarize? It seems innocent enough. Surely somebody uses it an enjoys it. Probably the well-meaning secretary of a CEO in some marginally successful business somewhere.
We think Auto Summarize (and its cohorts Auto Correct and Auto Format) typify the what's wrong with product development. Company ABC writes a nice word processor and it does well on the market. Soon everyone who was going to buy it has bought it. So company ABC, who really kind of enjoyed having all that money coming in, decides that they need more of it, and instead of fixing bugs in their existing product (which doesn't generate more revenue), they spend time thinking up a bunch of new "features" which nobody really wants. But they buy the new version anyway because they are hoping their favorite bug gets fixed, but instead, the get Auto Summarize.
We thought it would be fun see what Auto Summarize does with a few documents that have been important to a few people here and there. The results: Its a good thing this feature wasn't around when these docs were being created...
| Original in its full glory |
| 50% (Your Boss) Oops. Sorry about those 1st, 4th-6th, and 8th amendments. You probably won't mind not speaking your mind, or having soldiers stay in your daughter's room. |
| 25% (Upper Mgt) Executive Vice Presidents don't have time for rights. Well, tell ya what. We can keep the ones conservatives like best. But not that one about the guns. |
| 10% (CEO) There's no need to write any of this down. We'll tell you what your rights are, when there is a need to. |
| Original as Abe intended |
| 50% (Your Boss) Let's not mention anything about the battefield - it might offend my boss. Plus don't be so self-deprecating |
| 25% (Upper Mgt) Strike that part at the end. It sounds like a lot of work and we'll need to negotiate more head count if they really want it done. |
| 10% (CEO) Lets leak this and see what kind of press we get out of it |
OK, enough fun. Back to coding...