Category: Microsoft

Bill Gates 2008 CES keynote review

About 30 minutes into Bill Gates keynote, I realized that the one thing I would take away from Bill’s final CES keynote was this: Grown men shouldn’t wear sweaters that look like they came straight from The Gap’s Spring Collection. Bill wore a light purple number while VP of Entertainment and Devices, Robbie Bach, wore a light blue sweater that would make Martha Stewart proud.

As I watched this one big Microsoft commercial it became clear that Microsoft is obsessed with entering every market, even those that appear to have a tenuous need for Microsoft created software.

Take the Zune demo tonight. The hardware is basically an afterthought. What we saw were the “social” features of the Zune software that brought nothing new to the table. If you’ve seen Last.FM , you’ve already seen tonight’s Zune demo. Even if Last.FM wasn’t around, the social features of the Zune aren’t all that useful when most of your friends own an iPod.

One huge improvement over past years was Bill’s slide deck. I’m convinced Microsoft paid someone from Apple big bucks to create the deck. It was simple and clean to the point that it supported rather than distracted from his keynote.

A few more quick takes from the evenings events:

Best Demo: Microsoft Surface which showed Bill creating a design on his new snowboard. The demo was easy to follow. Surface still costs way to much, but it looked cool. Bill even made a sly Surface plug to casino owners at the very end of the demo.

Worst Demo: Who decided it would be a good idea to demo the Microsoft/Ford Sync from inside a car? It was much too dark, and they didn’t show off the coolest feature (Wireless syncing cars music with owner’s music collection on computer). Get out of the car or bring more light so we can see what’s going on in there. The lighting was so bad the silver Ford  looked like the Delorean in Back to the Future. I felt claustrophobic watching from home.

Weirdest Word Creation: Robbie Back actually used the word “carinfotainment” on stage when talking about Sync. I nearly spit my Diet Coke.

Best use of a Celebrity: Lots to choose from here including Slash, Hillary, Bono and Obama to name a few. But my favorite was Jay-Z watching Bill try his hand at creating a rap song. Jay-Z looks into the camera and says, “Will someone tell Bill he’s not very good?” Very funny stuff.

Strangest Product Placement: When I worked at Microsoft years ago, we were not allowed to have Sony products such as laptop or monitors in view of the cameras, especially at large keynote events. If a Sony monitor happened to sneak into an event, the logo would be taped over. Yet tonight, the cameras panned across a table with multiple Sony VAIO laptops in plain view.

Best Quote: Bach and Bill were showing a demo of “MediaRoom” that allowed the user to bring up tagged videos, one of which was the 2005 CES keynote that included a comedy bit with Conan O’ Brian interviewing Gates. As the video began to play Bach quipped, “This was the year none of the demos worked“.

Worst Quote: Bach saying, “Vista is a great OS for gaming“

Best Smokescreen: Bach again when he’s comparing the Xbox to the Nintendo Wii and Sony PS3. Bach says, “Xbox has had tremendous success as well. 17.7m consoles shipped to date — in the US through November we did $3.5 billion in business, more than the Wii and PS3.. more than the spending on Wii and PS3 combined”

Notice here that he’s careful not to give number of actual consoles sold YTD for PS3 or the Wii, only how much has been spent. The Xbox 360 console, games and peripherals cost more than the Nintendo offerings. Microsoft could be losing money on every console sold. We don’t know. We do know that Nintendo is making a profit on each Wii sold and they are still difficult to find after a year on the market.This is like General Motors saying car buyers spent more money on the Chevy Malibu than Porsche Cayman.

Biggest Non-Starter: Bach announcing that Microsoft will begin selling the Zune outside the US….in Canada. I guess not many Canadians were in attendance because you could hear a pin drop when this was announced.

Best Stating of the Obvious: Bach’s demo gal who I refer to as Nervous Molly started off her Zune demo by stating, “Music is an inherently social experience, and that’s why we made Zune Social”. This line came off like a bad Saturday Night Live skit where the guest host reads every line off the cue cards.

Best Solution looking for a Problem: Nervous Molly showing Bach this crazy new technology that allows one to order movie tickets with a phone. No way! It must be 2025!

Ugliest Device of the Night: The big black brick that Bill showed off near the end of the keynote. He referred to the thing as “contextual camera recognition” but it looked like a huge remote control tethered to a line of coax cable. The demo wasn’t setup very well so I really have no idea what its supposed to do. Maybe in the future our devices are so power hungry they require a full time power supply?

We are Not Guitar Heroes: I was hoping to see Bill jam out on Guitar Hero with Bach at the very end of the presentation, but they wimped out and brought Slash and an experienced GH girl on stage to jam in proxy. Welcome to the Jungle!

Microsoft wants so badly to be the cool kid on the block. Bill and company attempt to toss in jokes here and there, especially during the video that showed Bill trying to figure out what to do once he retires from Microsoft. As usual, the videos are well made, but the focus of the products is on the partners, suppliers, and big media like NBC. Contrast that with Apple whose products themselves are just cool because they are created with a FOCUS ON THE CONSUMER. One could hear it during the short demo of Windows Mobile. The words and delivery Bill used were geared to the companies who license Windows Mobile, not on the people in the audience who actually buy the phones.

Spending less time in a Microsoft World

I saw the picture below at Calacanis.com, minus the text. I added the first thought (text) that came to mind.

The photo was taken by Thomas P. Peschak. Check out his site for some fantastic photography.

shark

It become clear to me this past year that the time I use Microsoft products has peaked. I no longer feel the need to upgrade to the latest operating system. I use Office far less today than I did in years past. I’m currently running Windows XP until I can afford to move to Mac, although XP allows me to use many non-Microsoft products such as Firefox, Miro, FileZilla, Photoshop, and a number of small utilities that I probably won’t need once I move away away from Windows.

Window is a now a commodity. With high speed internet and new web technologies, the days of “install, patch, patch, patch…” are over. Microsoft reminds me of AOL in the mid 90’s when many first-time interest users thought AOL was the internet. Once AOL customers realized what was available beyond the wall they wanted to participate and left AOL by the millions.

That’s what happening to Microsoft only the walled garden had been created with bloated, expensive software with hundreds of features most people don’t need. As people realize how easy, inexpensive and accessible web applications are, they won’t want to go back Microsoft and their way of doing things. I’ve had the current legal version of XP installed on my computer for over 2 years and a day doesn’t go by when Microsoft tells me I need to install something called “Windows Genuine Advantage”. With a name like that, one can be sure, the “advantage” won’t lie with the user. I entered a valid key when I installed XP and Microsoft confirmed that. Why would Microsoft want to continue checking my system? They don’t trust me and they treat me like a child with all their pestering. I’m tired of it.

I’m spending a lot more time in WordPress than Word. I use iTunes and my iPod instead of Windows Media Player and a Zune. I use Google, Google Maps and Google Earth instead of Microsoft offerings. The list goes on and the fact remains: Microsoft products are becoming less relevant in my life. I’m sure there are many long term Windows users like myself in the same boat.

And if I worked for Microsoft, I’d be worried about that.

Considering a Motorola Q?

I bought a Motorola Q a few months ago. It’s not a bad device if you text/email a lot, but it’s not a great phone. I wrote a review of this phone after I’d had it for three months.

I recently upgraded to the Motorola Q9M (I’m told the “M” stands for Music) which possess the same chip as the Q but includes several big upgrades. The biggest of which is the move to Windows Mobile 6. The Q includes Windows Mobile 5 which is quite sluggish in comparison. Windows Mobile includes some shortcuts when dealing with mail that are not included in WM 5. If you read a lot of mail on your phone, the small improvement can lead to big productivity gains.

It’s worth upgrading to the Q9M just to get Windows Mobile 6 but I’m not happy that Verizon and Motorola decided that the older model couldn’t be upgraded. Why would Verizon do this when the phones have the same chip? In order to collect more money from you, that’s why!

Here are a few more reasons the Q9M is better than the Q:

  1. Vastly improved keyboard – the Q’s keys are terrible. I made far more typing mistakes on the Q. The keys on the Q9M are still small but they have a much better feel and are spaced properly.
  2. Improved Battery – This is probably a benefit of Windows Mobile 6, but the battery life is much better on the Q9M than the Q.
  3. Lighter Weight – The Q9M weighs less, yet still feels substantial in my hand.
  4. Improved ergonomics – Not only does the keyboard feels a lot better, so do all the keys on the Q9M. The big arrow buttons and analog stick are much improved making menu navigation easier on the Q9M.

One question you might have is whether or not the Q9M is a better phone. I think it is for two reasons: keyboard makes it easier to dial and Windows Mobile 6 improves the phone functions. It’s still not a great phone and if you’re looking for a great phone, you’ll have to look elsewhere. But it’s serviceable. I can’t understate how much better the device performs under Windows Mobile 6 though which makes using the phone a much better experience.

I don’t know why Verizon continues to sell the Q except that it’s $50 cheaper than the Q9M ($199 vs. $149). The only thing I like better about the Q is the scroll wheel sticks out a bit further and seems to have a better tactile feel compared to the slicker wheel on the Q9M. But that lasted a day and now I can’t imagine going back to the Q.

If you’re considering one of these devices, go with the Q9M. Even if you’re not a heavy text/email users, you’ll appreciate the substantial performance upgrade that Windows Mobile 6 brings to the phone. I wish I had upgraded sooner.

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              Q9M                                                 Q

Henry Bloget: Microsoft in Denial

Bloget writes one of the best articles I’ve come across that explains why Google is such a big threat to the Microsoft monopoly.

His description of disruptive technologies is exactly what I was attempting to describe at the end of my last post.

Disruptive technologies take advantage of a new manufacturing/business process or technology to provide a cheaper, more convenient, simpler solution that meets the needs of the low end of the market.  Low-end users don’t need all the features in the Incumbent’s product, so they rapidly adopt the  simpler solution.

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Are the days of the major operating system upgrade over?

It’s hard to read blogs or talks to friends without hearing of the horror stories many are experiencing by upgrading to the latest operating systems from Microsoft and Apple. Microsoft was first on the scene with Windows Vista which arrived with much fanfare, mostly due to its interface overhaul. But once Vista hit store shelves, the complaints started rolling in about everything from it’s hefty hardware requirements to its crippling DRM and UAC.

And now Apple appears to be following in very similar footsteps with all sorts of problems of its own. Upgrades that went awry to screen lockups to expensive hardware and software upgrades appear to be the norm for major operating system upgrades these days.

Which leads me to ask this question: Do we really need major OS upgrades anymore?

Going back to the Windows 3.1/95/98 days, one of the major reasons to upgrade to the latest OS was enhanced stability. Microsoft didn’t always refer to it so directly, but many users forked over the hundred bucks with the hope their system would require fewer reboots and the dreaded BSOD would disappear.

One could argue that system stability on the PC was reached when Windows 2000 was launched. But since it wasn’t marketed to home users, Windows XP is usually the operation system with which most home users experienced prolonged stability. Given that I can go weeks without rebooting my Windows XP machine, I have to ask myself why I’d be willing to put up with the hassle of upgrading to Vista when so many people are having bad experiences with it. I ran Vista for over six months and came to appreciate a few nice, fringe features like a more robust search, thumbnail preview, and better backup options. But along with the good came some bad like UAC, resource hogging Sidebar, sketchy driver support and a UI that feels like a cheap skin from Wincustomize.

I hope one day we get to the point where the OS fades into the background. When I pick up my phone to make a call, I don’t care one bit what software my phone company is running. I just want my phone company to connect the call. The same goes for my OS. I really don’t care what runs in the background as long as I can burn a DVD, watch a movie or write an email when I need to. The less time I spend mucking around with my OS, the better. Windows XP works for me in this manner about 95% of the time. Sure, I wish it included a few of the Vista features, but the hassle isn’t worth the upgrade. And several of the so-called Vista features are available to download for free (IE 7, Windows Live Gallery). Maybe down the road Microsoft will bridge that 5% reliability gap and I’ll upgrade. But for now, the hassle overweighs the benefits.

I learned my lesson by trying to run Vista RTM for a few months before going back to XP. Many of my friends (even some who work at MSFT) have quietly moved back to XP after battling Vista for the past year. And it’s not just frustrated Vista users. I’m hearing the similar complaints about Leopard as some users revert back to Tiger. Maybe this signals the end of the major OS upgrade. Maybe we’ve reached the point where XP and Tiger provide a level of stability that puts the focus back on getting things done instead of constant OS babysitting.

Do we really need another major OS upgrade? I don’t think we do.

Update: Oliver Rist from PC Magazine calls Leopard “the new Vista”.

Why is it nearly impossible to return software?

I bought a scale a few weeks ago at Fred Meyer. When I got it home, it didn’t work so I returned it for a full refund. Same thing happened with a portable blow-up mattress we bought at Costco. We had no trouble returning both items.

Compare that with purchasing software. You’d better do your homework because returning software for a refund is nearly impossible if the box has been opened. I suppose this has something to do with the fact that it’s easier to make a digital copy of a CD/DVD than to replicate a blow up mattress. But it can still make for a disappointing buying experience.

For example, I purchased a game called ShawdowRun that is supposed to run on Windows Vista. In fact, according to the fancy box, it requires Vista to run. Well, I tried installing it four times on Kim’s Vista machine with no luck. It would appear to install correctly but the game wouldn’t launch. Never mind this is a game released by Microsoft Game Studios.

But because I’ve opened the box, I can only return it to the store for the same item which does absolutely no good. I guess I could sell it on eBay for less than I paid for the game, but that’s not the point. I bought an item that was advertised to work, yet I have no recourse that remedies the problem.

The whole thing  leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I didn’t pirate the game. I didn’t make a copy of the game and try to return it. Software return policies assume I’m a criminal instead of treating me like a customer.

Costco can figure out a fair way for their customers to return computers and big screen TVs within a reasonable amount of time. If Costco can do this for large ticket items, why can’t software companies come up with a reasonable return policy?

I’m to the point where I just don’t trust much software anymore which means I’ll only buy programs I must have, like Turbo Tax, and continue to look for freeware options.

Windows Live Writer 2008 Now Available

Even in beta it was one of my favorite programs. Now that it’s out of beta, it’s worth upgrading to the latest version of Windows Live Writer 2008. You can download the latest version from here. 

If you maintain a blog grab this tool today. It takes the hassles out of of updating your blog. It’s easy to setup and use to use. I love the “Save Draft” feature. When I’d use the online WordPress editor, I’d occasionally lose a draft before I hit the publish button. That’s a thing of the past now.

WLW frees you up to write instead of tweak. Isn’t that why you started a blog in the first place?

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‘Tis the Season for George Winston

The time of year between Halloween and Christmas is my favorite time of year. I enjoy the cooler temperatures, colorful falling leaves and the family activities. And I especially enjoy the music.

Around this time each year, Kim will start playing holiday music on the piano and we’ll start listening to Christmas music in the car and around the house. One of favorite CDs is “December” from George Winston. I especially like the song called Thanksgiving seen below.

If you get the chance to catch Winston in concert, he’s well worth the price of admission. He’s so talented yet so humble you can’t help but like the guy.

Microsoft fires CIO

Why did Microsoft CIO, Stuart Scott, lose his job yesterday? The Digg gang weighs in. My two favorites:

Fired for producing drivel like this:
“to help the company think through and define its strategic priorities, then deliver the business-process capabilities and solutions to achieve them….

He took home a backpack full of the free soda.

Valleywag chimes in with the rumor I heard at work today. How sad for his family if this is the reason.

 scott-2

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The Salad Bar

I can’t stand eating breakfast. I don’t know why but I’ve never liked breakfast and it’s all I can do to choke down any solid foods. So about a year ago, I stopped trying and decided I’d have a low carb Atkins shake each morning. They taste pretty good and they keep me from getting hungry later in the morning.

By the time lunch rolls around I’m ready to walk over to building 121 on the Microsoft campus and visit the amazing cafeteria they have there. They have five or six hot meal areas with foods ranging from pizza to Pho soup to a grill where one can order from over a dozen meats ranging from catfish to teriyaki chicken. I usually head over to the vegan area to see what steamed vegetable they have that day. Then I’ll head over the salad bar.

Microsoft has one of the best salad bars around. It’s better than most restaurants I’ve been to. It has four different types of lettuce and all types of fresh veggies and fruits for the taking.

But there’s one curious placement as I come to the end of the salad bar. Sitting just past the salad dressing are a number of desserts. I’ve been pretty good to walk by them. Only once in the last six months have I bought a rice crispy square. But I really wish they would move the desserts to an area that’s not so close to the salad bar.

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