How to Explain Your Limitations — Basic Instructions

I may have explained this before, but it bears repeating. The symbol on Omnipresent Man’s chest is based on the “You are here” marker from Google Maps. The one on Mr. Everywhere’s chest is the same marker from MapQuest.

Before either of those websites existed, I had two products called Microsoft Streets and Microsoft Trips, that did the same thing as Google Maps, but were entirely stored on two CD-ROMs that you had to buy separately. My memory is that one had highways and freeways, the other had surface streets and residential neighborhoods. If you wanted to punch in addresses in two different cities and get printable driving directions, you needed both disks. (I think they eventually started packaging them together, but that came well after I bought them.)

You may ask, what was the point of making it possible to buy one without the other? The answer is: buying one would force you to buy the other. This is 1990s Microsoft we’re talking about. You don’t become the world’s richest man without creating some unhappy customers.

As always, thanks for using my Amazon Affiliate links (US, UK, Canada).