Credits

Watch a film, and the end credits list everybody involved in its making - from caterers to accountants.

Thank heavens that this ego-fest hasn't spread to the world of clothing. I used to be in charge of making womens' tights. There were 300 people in the factory, and they all played some part in the creation of the garments. Imagine how big a label it would have taken to give us all a credit.

This rant was prompted by Adobe, whose product Dreamweaver MX 2004 requires you to sit through an interminable list of credits before it will tell you which version you have. I literally had time to go an make a cup of tea whilst the credits rolled (yes - they controlled the scrolling; no cheating and scrolling down to the bottom). And there, at the very bottom was the only piece of information that was required by 99.999% of those checking the "About Dreamweaver" information - the version number. What arrogant people, deciding that they should impose a meaningless listing of their employees.

I don't actually care who wrote my software. Sure, make the information available at the end of a link, so that vain people can show Mum that they have their name up in lights, or so that headhunters know who to try and poach. But let the rest of us show our appreciation by buying the product.