Heartland

James Blast wrote:If Microsoft made guitar amps

15- Little-known fact. Microsoft started out with "guitar". Although Ap*le had brought out a "guitar" with six-strings, all of which could be played at the same time to produce complex and beautiful layers, Microsoft had a different idea. MS-Bass 3.3 had four strings and could only really play one at a time properly. Fortunately for Microsoft, International Bass Musicians (IBM) figured this would do. Thanks to aggressive marketing, the notion got fixed that every band needed an IBM to the point that many 6-stringers are restricted to standalone use in the spare room while vastly inferior "Bass" rapidly networked.

Thirty years on, "Bass" has developed flashy, exotic wood front ends, active electronics and even an extra one, two or more strings. Behind the facade, though, "MS-Bass" is still clunking along, one string at a time