5/5/2009 - Laptop Hunters

There is much we can derive from those new "I'm a PC" ads from Microsoft where "laptop hunters" go out to do comparison shopping for laptops that are $1000. These ads are probably the most direct attack on Apple and relies on just one argument: price. Of course in this economy, that aspect is nothing to sneeze at. Yet, nobody ever talks about the difference in the Total Cost of Ownership between a typical PC and Mac laptop. Sure, the initial price of a PC laptop may be less, but that doesn't take into account all the antivirus and antimalware applications you have to buy just to keep the PC healthy. Those programs have yearly subscription fees, which can add up over time. With all that added bloatware on top of a resource intensive operating system, you're going to need more memory as well, just to keep things humming. There's also the notion that you get what you pay for. I'm sure Microsoft has some kind of gag order on the release of all those customer satisfaction surveys.

And you have to love the controversy that surrounded this particular commercial:



It turns out that "Lauren" is not a real "laptop hunter" after all. She's an actress hired by Microsoft's ad people to attempt to relate to the average consumer. Yes, Lauren, you're not cool enough to be a Mac person.

1/18/2009 - ZY2K (2 videos)

Ah, Microsoft... It seems like every one of your products has some kind of flaw that inspires ridicule or scorn. Red rings of death on the XBox, anyone? How about the system requirements of Vista? Microsoft's Zune may not be competitive with Apple's iPod, but it can be said that it is more feature complete than the iPod (if you discount the iPod Touch, of course). Its style might be lacking, but it wasn't considered to be a "broken" product that made it a non-viable choice of an MP3 player. Well, that was the perception of the Zune before December 31, 2008. That was the date when all 30gb Zunes suddenly stopped working. Why? Because 2008 was a leap year. That's right: the programmers for the Zune's software handled programming for a leap year incorrectly, and the result was dubbed ZY2K:

12/4/2008 - Windows 7 "Aero Shake" Demo

It seems like Microsoft is trying to put out the next version of Windows as fast as they can. Who can blame them, really? They're putting out these "Mojave" ads that try to trick users of Vista that the operating system is actually good. It's the same thing that happened with Windows ME. It turned out to be such a turkey that even Microsoft would acknowledge it as their ugly stepchild. While Vista isn't ALL bad, it's just not that much of an improvement over Windows XP, which has turned out to be pretty solid.

From what I've seen of the next Windows version (called Windows 7), I can probably predict that it won't be as bad as Vista. Although they copied Apple again with the new taskbar complete with big program icons, the "Peek" feature actually does look to be somewhat helpful. The interface won't change much from Windows Vista (in fact, if you didn't know better, you'd think it was Vista), but at least it won't be the jarring change from XP to Vista. There is one feature that I had to laugh at when I saw it demonstrated, though. It's called "Aero Shake", and I'll let it speak for itself:

8/25/2008 - Microsoft Surface Sphere

I've ridiculed Microsoft's attempt at touch screen technology with it's Surface tabletop computer. I mean, compare their vision of a touch screen computer that's hundreds of pounds with Apple's iPhone that you can put in your pocket. As ridiculous of a concept that the Surface table is, however, it is being used in hotels and bars as sort of glorified kiosks and social magnets. Microsoft's next iteration of their surface technology, however...



Seriously, I cannot see any redeeming value of this product. If this was a product that was greenlighted after Bill Gates retired, then he should really rethink that decision once he see this. Between this and Vista, I'm surprised more people aren't moving to LINUX!

3/8/2008 - Music using ONLY sounds from Windows XP and 98!

You know what stood out to me about this video? Not that you can actually make pretty good music with the beeps and chimes of Windows (although the composition here is quite impressive). It's that when the sound of an incoming e-mail appeared, I actually checked my Outlook window to see what had come in. After so many years of working on Windows, checking my e-mail after hearing that distinctive sound, I guess it's just instinct now. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if you the reader had the same reaction. It's definitely like Pavlov's dog salivating to the sound of a ringing bell because it was conditioned to believe that food would appear after hearing the sound.

11/28/2007 - Don't Give Up On Vista Ad

Now this is rich... Apple is not-to-humbly crowing about the fact that some computer manufacturers are "downgrading" to XP instead of installing Vista on their new hardware because of Vista's incompatibility issues, its sluggishness, and its higher expense. If you've seen the new Apple ads with the Mac guy and the PC guy, you'll see that the PC guy is not too happy about this downgrading trend and is trying to persuade those who will listen to not give up on Vista. The funniest of these ads is actually not on TV. A few days ago, Apple started a viral marketing campaign on some tech websites with the Mac and PC guys in an online Flash advertisement. What's really clever is how the ad was designed on the webpage, as you'll see in this video:



What's kind of ironic is that the new Apple operating system, Leopard, shares a few problems with its direct competitor, Vista. My main beef with Leopard is that you really need the newest hardware to take advantage of all of its features. My Powerbook is running perfectly fine with Tiger and I don't see any compelling features that I would need in Leopard.

What is really exciting to me, though, are these new mobile computing platforms in the form of the iPhone/iPod Touch OS and the new Google Android mobile operating system. These new operating systems really allow developers to "start over" with software that has no bloat (yet), allowing for applications that run fast, are efficient, and are a truly new experience because they have to adapt to a new user interface in a mobile device. Leopard and Vista may be the big boys on the desktop and laptop computers, but Web 2.0 and mobile apps are the future, in my opinion.

9/17/2007 - Microsoft Surface Parody

So what was Microsoft's big answer to Apple's iPhone? No, it wasn't another phone with a touchscreen. It was a ... table ... with a touchscreen. Apparently, Microsoft doesn't think there's a future with smaller and more portable computing devices. Rather, they put their money on making computers bigger! That's right, big... as in tabletop-size big! Yeah, it has a touchscreen with cool Aqua-like animations. But really, if Apple wanted to copy something like this, they could make a table of their own in a couple of months.

Microsoft says they're going to market this thing to high-end hotels whose clientel apparently have nothing better to do than to play with a table. At least they're not trying to cater to us normal people who desire usefulness and portability in their computing devices. I mean, say what you want about the high cost of an iPhone with a two-year contract... it is a BARGAIN compared to this $10,000 monstrosity. WHAT WERE THEY THINKING???

Well, this video pretty much sums up my thoughts on "Microsoft Surface":

9/6/2007 - In Your Face, Microsoft! (2 videos)

I've made my points about Microsoft and Apple in the past, but what happened yesterday really has solidified my position. First came the announcement that the Microsoft Zune was discounted $50 to make it $199. Now, the only real reason to discount something is to sell more of them (as long as you have the supply and can still make a profit). Everybody knows that the Zune really hasn't done that well, especially when compared to its direct competitor, the Apple iPod. Well, wasn't it curious that Microsoft would make the price cut on the exact day that Apple was introducing its new line of iPods? Coincidence? I think not.

Boy, I tell ya... if I were Microsoft or any other media player manufacturer, I'd be sweating bullets at the prospect of competing with Apple this holiday season. With the new iPods Apple introduced yesterday, they have something for pretty much everybody...except me, but that's another story (or blog entry). Everybody pretty much knew that the iPod was going to go with touch controls like the iPhone, but seeing it in reality is a different story, especially with a price point affordable to most gadget fans. Now, I'm not one to rub in the failures and the faults of others, but with Microsoft, I'll make an exception:

This is what would happen if Microsoft designed the iPod package:

It's funny because it would be true.

And this is what Microsoft's smart phone would be like:

Yeah, I could see that.

5/23/2007 - CNN ridicules Microsoft Zune

I'm not a Microsoft hater... I use Microsoft products all the time. I use their operating system at work, our servers are running Windows, and I program using Visual Studio. As someone who provides computer support at work, though, I just get sick of using Windows, dealing with its shortcomings, and fixing problem PCs. That's why my home computer is a Mac.

I've used Macs since around 1990 and I've never really had a problem with them. In fact, I just like using them better. People may think they're like toys, but hey, I like playing with toys! I can get my work done on Macs and do recreational activities without giving much thought as to the internals of the machine or the delicate balance of managing applications within the operating system environment. See, when I use a PC, these are the things I have to worry about... because I see everyday what happens when you ignore these things!

A microcosm of the Mac/PC battle can clearly be seen with the iPod/Zune rivalry. The way Microsoft copied OS X with Vista is so blatant, it's almost laughable. Microsoft's patent-ignoring ways carried over when they created the Zune. But no matter how many features they copy from Apple, they will always lack that special elegance that Apple products have. The following video sums it up beautifully. What begins as a tepidly positive review of the Zune, turns into a "meh"-fest when all the limitations of the Zune are presented. The best part is when one of the news anchors whips out her iPod Shuffle, though. They can't stop gushing over it!