# That Damn Microsoft Continuously Turning Circle!!! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 24, 2012, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-damn-microsoft-continuously-turning-circle/616699 "2012-03-24T17:52:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2012, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-damn-microsoft-continuously-turning-circle/616699/1 "2012-03-24T17:52:23Z")
Does it also piss any of you off??? Right now I’m looking at it in the upper left hand corner of my Google Chrome, and it will NOT STOP!!! Thanks for letting me vent.🙂 Your pal, Quas’ ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2012, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-damn-microsoft-continuously-turning-circle/616699/2 "2012-03-24T17:54:03Z")
Referred to among my officemates as the “Doughnut of Death”. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2012, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-damn-microsoft-continuously-turning-circle/616699/3 "2012-03-24T18:28:39Z")
it is more entertaining than an hourglass. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2012, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-damn-microsoft-continuously-turning-circle/616699/4 "2012-03-24T18:59:53Z")
User: Hey, my browser locked up. Software Developer: It didn’t lock up. It’s waiting for a reply from the site. User: Well, it looks like it locked up. It isn’t doing anything. Software Developer: Ok, I’ll add an hourglass so you know it is waiting. User: The hourglass is annoying. Software Developer: How about a progress bar? User: The progress bar just sits there. It looks like it locked up. Software Developer: How about if I make the progress bar move even if it’s just waiting? User: Now the progress bar is useless. It makes it look like it’s doing something when it’s not. Software Developer: Fine. How about a little spinning circle so you know it’s doing something but it doesn’t look like a progress bar? User: The spinning circle is annoying. Software Developer: I freaking give up. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2012, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-damn-microsoft-continuously-turning-circle/616699/5 "2012-03-24T19:42:48Z")
The point where they (software developers) lost it was when they began making “progress bars” (or any reasonable facsimile) that ran independently of whatever process they were allegedly tracking. Somewhere, some programmer(s) out there is seriously weak on the concept of “progress bar”. ---
**Author:** ![Black\_Bisector](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ce73a5/32.png) [@Black\_Bisector](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Black_Bisector)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2012, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-damn-microsoft-continuously-turning-circle/616699/6 "2012-03-24T19:43:31Z")
[Submitted without comment](http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/a_ted_speaker_s_worst_nightmare.html) Safe for work. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2012, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-damn-microsoft-continuously-turning-circle/616699/7 "2012-03-24T21:03:21Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > User: Hey, my browser locked up. > Software Developer: It didn’t lock up. It’s waiting for a reply from the site. > User: Well, it looks like it locked up. It isn’t doing anything. > Software Developer: Ok, I’ll add an hourglass so you know it is waiting. > User: The hourglass is annoying. > Software Developer: How about a progress bar? > User: The progress bar just sits there. It looks like it locked up. > Software Developer: How about if I make the progress bar move even if it’s just waiting? > User: Now the progress bar is useless. It makes it look like it’s doing something when it’s not. > Software Developer: Fine. How about a little spinning circle so you know it’s doing something but it doesn’t look like a progress bar? > User: The spinning circle is annoying. > Software Developer: I freaking give up. :smack: IME, the hourglass generally meant that in another moment, whatever was loading would finish up, and I’d be able to get on with what I was doing. But the damned doughnut usually means something’s locking up and is going to crash, but I won’t find out for sure for several minutes. THAT’s why I hate the doughnut. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2012, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-damn-microsoft-continuously-turning-circle/616699/8 "2012-03-24T21:19:03Z")
What does Microsoft have to do with Google Chrome waiting? I am having a brain fart…what is the “spinning donut”? (Yes I use Windows) ---
**Author:** ![Michael63129](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@Michael63129](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael63129)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2012, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-damn-microsoft-continuously-turning-circle/616699/9 "2012-03-24T22:21:45Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > What does Microsoft have to do with Google Chrome waiting? > > I am having a brain fart…what is the “spinning donut”? (Yes I use Windows) I don’t use Chrome, but Firefox shows a spinning circle on tabs that are loading, where the icon is; as far as I know, that is part of Firefox and not related to Microsoft’s mouse cursor wait circle even though it looks the same. It also appears to be part of a general trend towards using spinning circles instead of progress bars, probably because they are smaller and easier to program (e.g. Youtube videos show a circle of dots, others use various circle-shaped wait indicators). ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2012, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-damn-microsoft-continuously-turning-circle/616699/10 "2012-03-24T22:44:47Z")
Ok. I’m actually most familiar with my iPod Touch’s spinning circle. It’s not that the appliance is particularly slow, just that the circle shows up every time any app is refreshed. It really bugs me when people falsely attribute any sort of computer annoyance to “Microsoft” and/or “Windows.” Looks like this is another case of mistaken identity. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2012, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-damn-microsoft-continuously-turning-circle/616699/11 "2012-03-25T00:53:45Z")
As always, [xkcd](http://xkcd.com/961/) has already weighed in on the subject.