Tuesday, January 5, 2010

IT Religion and Windows 7 "God Mode"

I've written in the past that IT has become something of a religion, with computers as an altar or shrine, programmers and technicians as clergy, programming a sacrament, and an irrational exuberance and "faith" prevailing about the computer's miraculous capabilities despite growing literature to the contrary. Of course, my focus has been on computers in medicine.

I am generally very happy with Windows 7. Microsoft has done well, but this caught my attention:

Understanding Windows 7's 'GodMode'
CNET News
January 4, 2010 12:41 PM PST

Although its name suggests perhaps even grander capabilities, Windows enthusiasts are excited over the discovery of a hidden "GodMode" feature that lets users access all of the operating system's control panels from within a single folder.

By creating a new folder in Windows 7 and renaming it with a certain text string at the end, users are able to have a single place to do everything from changing the look of the mouse pointer to making a new hard-drive partition.

... To enter "GodMode," one need only create a new folder and then rename the folder to the following:

GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

Once that is done, the folder's icon will change to resemble a control panel and will contain dozens of control options.

I've tried it, and it works. Upon renaming a new desktop folder as above, the folder actually transforms into the following icon and label:



Then, on opening the "God Mode" icon a comprehensive list of control options appears. Very convenient and useful.

While the name was clearly intended to be humorous, I think that the originators of this name could and should have come up with a less theistic name. Not on religious grounds, but on psychological ones - i.e., the impact such nomenclature might have on IT personnel.

I'm already seeing comments such as "Did you know that you can become a God? Well, at least on Windows 7!" on IT enthusiast sites...

The culture of IT is already patronizing enough towards end users, thank you very much.

I felt the same way ca. 1976 when visiting professors from MIT implemented the programming language "Logo" on Boston University's IBM 370-based RAX timesharing system. The RAX/370 monitor command for restarting after a Logo interpreter fault was "RESAT GOD" (resume at symbolic address 'God', a symbol defined by the professors to represent an address in the 370's user program address space). Since the Logo interpreter was in beta, I had to type that Charlton Heston-esque command often...

Note: having spent some time in Saudi Arabia, I'm not sure how well this Windows 7 holiness will go over in that part of the world...

-- SS

Addendum: I've discovered that renaming a folder to, say, "Bob.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}" creates an icon with identical capabilities, but with a ... somewhat less presumptuous name. :)