According to a recent Slate piece, it’s… Solitaire? The article says that the various versions of Windows Solitaire are the most-used programs among Windows, and charts in particular the American workplace’s ongoing love affair with the time-waster.
The article raises a number of interesting points — how the temptation of playing Solitaire at the workplace, for example, might have trained an older generation of computer-illiterates to use the mouse well, to minimise windows and swap between applications quickly (like you do when the boss is coming).
You know, I can’t really argue with the claim that Wes Cherry created the most-played video game ever: Solitaire for Windows (PC) which came out in the early 1990s and was installed on millions of machines worldwide. I think IGN gave it a 10/10 at the time. I kid! I kid!
But the Web site B3TA tracked down Mr. Cherry and, by all appearances, got a legit Q&A with him. A bunch of their commenters sent in questions and according to the article, Cherry got back to them about a year later. The big question, would he play ball with this kind of an interview? Oh yes, he did.
