Quick Update: July 5th, 2009

Expect some posts on Monday, and continuing from there.

So what? The Blackberry was the #1 smartphone in Q1.

So, the Blackberry was the number 1 smartphone for Q1 2009, ahead of the iPhone? Is that too much to be expected? Of course it would be in the lead, since the new Blackberries have been out for a shorter amount of time than the iPhone 3g, and people would probably want the Blackberry for businesses, or required to have one, and they’d rather wait for the new model of the iPhone to be announced before buying a 3g.  Plus, isn’t it good to have competition in the phone market again, which the iPhone actually provided, telling phone makers to not push the same crap year after year?

Stuff of the Day: 5/14/09-Renegadin’

Penny Arcade- The Carnal Consonant

PvP Online-...and the rest

The Joy of Tech-1244

xkcd-CNR

RIAA has no other choice but to file more lawsuits?

Link to ArsTechnica Article

You have no other choice but to sue indiviual file sharers?  Really RIAA?  A big business like you, is scared of indiviuals downloading music that they might already have bought?  You’re scared of indiviuals downloading a single song, learning about a artist, or band, and possibly buying more of their stuff?  Wow, you guys are a bunch of morons.

You’re trying to get people OFF OF THE INTERNET for downloading a few songs?  Did you not see what happened to Time Warner when they tried to introduce bandwidth caps?  You can’t get people off the freaking internet because they downloaded a few songs.

Also, you sue indiviuals for downloading a few songs, and expect them to pay millions, even billions of dollars for a few songs?  Do you just love money that much?  Do you just enjoy being fuckholes to everyone?  What are you going to do next, RIAA?  Copyright public songs?  Try to put DRM on every song thats in the world?  Make me pay you money if I drum out a few beats?

RIAA, nobody likes you.  And yes, this is a threat.  Not a death threat, but a threat to everyone like you, all of the bullshit corporations that try to get a quick buck for a shit load of fuck.  If you sue people, it just compells us to download more.  It compells us to make you flip out since you might have lost 5 or so dollars, when you have billions.  We will find ways to get music, illegally, or legally.  We will get the music that we already paid for, but lost.  We will always get music that is free, and we will always try to get that one good song in a album that is mediocre, be it by iTunes, or by ThePirateBay.

You will never win, RIAA.  Give up trying to go on this war against people who actually like music, instead, invest in ways to share your music more, since that helps you more.

Yes, cable companies, and fear mongerers. We’re not running out of bandwidth, and it’s easier to get.

Yes, internet traffic did grow 64% in 2008, but, according to Wired,  “global backbone providers” are going to lay 16 internet cables in this year, which is much more than what was put down in 2001, when “internet growth” was at it’s reported “highest”, or whatever the stupid figure is.  Oh, and they’re cheaper, from 13.5 billion in 2001, to 2.5 billion.

See, Internet Service/Content Providers?  You don’t have to tier us in fear of losing your tubes, or all of your bandwidth.  We’ll never run out of it!  We still have plenty from 2001 that aren’t actually used to their full extent here, and we’ll still lay down more.  So, keep on putting more stupid charges for stupid reasons, it’ll just make you look more money hungry, you idiots!

Apple’s designing their own chips! EVERYONE FREAK OUT!

According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple is having a major shift, by making their own chips.  Though, yes, the inclusion of the past two CTOs at AMD is pretty revealing, but it could just be that Apple wants to protect their chips in their Macs, their iPods, and their iPhones.  They would never go back to just making their own chips, though, the inclusion of their own, Intel, and Samsung chips is so that the chips in their products couldn’t be stolen by RIM, or Microsoft, or any other competitor.  Apple would be stupid to actually only include their own stuff, but yeah, they could be headed in that direction, but not now.

Oh, and this doesn’t mean that they’re making their own GAME CONSOLE!

Even with version 8, Internet Explorer is still losing 10% every two years.

According to Mozilla’s Asa Dotzler, every two years Internet Explorer loses 10% of its market share.  What does that exactly mean?  Well, that means that Mozilla Firefox could surpass Internet Explorer’s market share by 2013.

If this is true, then well, Microsoft better get off their butts and work on Internet Explorer more, and not just make it the same browser, but with a new skin, much like they pretty much do with Windows.

The Problem with Microsoft-Part 3: Managing some Broken Windows

Well, at least I didn’t lie completely when I said last week that this part would come on Wednesday, though, it was supposed to be the Wednesday before this Wednesday. So what happened?  Hospital and some stuff, don’t want to talk about it here. Though, this is the final part of my long awaited, long in the making rant about Microsoft.  Though, you say rant, I say a caring expose on how they screwed up.  Apples and Squished Oranges, they always say.

So, what is the problem with Microsoft’s managing?  Well, look who’s in charge now that Bill Gates is retired from day to day at Microsoft.  Steve Ballmer. Yes, a good developer(of the developing final blow to Microsoft), indeed.  So, what’s the problem with Ballmer?  Well, lets just count all of the stupid things he’s said.

First off, lets start out with something recent: “There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance. It’s a $500 subsidized item. They may make a lot of money. But if you actually take a look at the 1.3 billion phones that get sold, I’d prefer to have our software in 60% or 70% or 80% of them, than I would to have 2% or 3%, which is what Apple might get.”

That seems like a fairly good thing to say to a competitor, but only if you actually have a good, stable mobile operating system, which is something Windows Mobile has never been associated with.  Oh, and what about all of the hype around the iPhone?  Did Ballmer lose the ability in his brain to see how something is going to happen?  Maybe. OK.  Yes, he did.

And now, the second stupid thing Ballmer has said:  “We don’t have a monopoly. We have market share. There’s a difference.”

Yes, there is a difference.  Though, you did(still do) have a monopoly with Windows.  You ever become friends with EULA over Internet Explorer?

And, three, four, and five:

“My children–in many dimensions they’re as poorly behaved as many other children, but at least on this dimension I’ve got my kids brainwashed: You don’t use Google, and you don’t use an iPod.”

“Google’s not a real company. It’s a house of cards. “

“Linux is not in the public domain. Linux is a cancer that
attaches itself in an intellectual property sense to everything it
touches. That’s the way that the license works.”

(yes I know it’s the same link, but they’re the same quote’s you’d get anywhere else)

3: So, you don’t like for your kids to choose what they want to do, or what to use?  Is that also “Marketshare”?

4: Yes, a house of cards that has been surviving this poor economy better than you have.

5:  Linux is a cancer, eh?  Just like how your comments are a cancer to your credibility as the person who runs Microsoft?  Or like the cancer that all of Windows’ viruses and holes are to it’s security? Yeah, and I don’t see any harm in anything having some free software in it, since the people who do manage Linux and all of it’s distributions keep it up-to-date, unlike what you guys do with Windows.

See where I’m getting at?  Fire Ballmer, or get someone else to be the CEO of Microsoft.  Ballmer, like Jobs(in a sense, I know, I drank the kool-aid, bite me) is a businessman first, and a manager second.  Or, at least let him be the head of Microsoft’s pep talk rallies.  Instead of “DEVELOPERS, DEVELOPERS, DEVELOPERS”, it can be “DEVELOP SOMETHING MANAGABLE, DEVELOP SOMETHING MANAGEABLE, DEVELOP SOMETHING MANAGABLE!” How’s that for your “DEVELOPERS”, Ballmer?

So since we were talking about Windows there, why don’t we go into Windows now?  If you’ve ever read any of the insanity that I spew out here, or anywhere, you know I’m not the biggest fan of Windows.  Yes, I admit, Windows is great in the business world, but even then, it’s starting to show even more flaws. Windows isn’t the most secure operating system, and they’d rather spend more money on commericals than they would on fixing it.

For Windows 7 fixing most of the problems with Vista, we’ll have to wait and see.  I’m not holding my breath, since I personally think that Windows 7 is the last stand for Microsoft to get it right.  I also personally think that Windows 7 is even more lipstick on the pig that was Windows Vista.

So, how can Windows be fixed? Well, this might sound like it’s out of left park, but Microsoft should cut legacy support.  I’m not saying they should just go from Windows 7 on, but at a reasonable part.  Windows 2000 should be the earliest version of Windows from Windows 8(aren’t there already talks about this?!) on.  If people want to have a version of Windows installed from earlier than 2000, then Microsoft should offer a virtual OS solution, the same way they are (thankfully, but not in the best way) for XP support in Windows 7.  This way, by potentially cutting ties to Windows 3.1-ME, a substantial chunk of the crap that is on Windows could be off of it, which leads me to my next point.

Fix Windows.  There, that’s simple enough a caveman(Ballmer) could do it right?  Put money into Windows!  Stop with the ineffective, laughable ads that you are making!  Fix the bugs that Windows has.  Lock it down as much as you can.  I’m not saying lock it to a few pieces of hardware(which Apple does, which is one of the reasons it is “more secure” than Windows), but take away the bugs that can be killed.  You can still make Windows the whore on the corner of the street, calling to all of the hardware it can find, but try to manage the STD’s she has that can be killed.

And yes, I just compared Windows to a whore. Want to complain about it?  Comment about it.  It’s not like the Mac OS has had a abstinent life(not that abstinence works as much as it is claimed, but that’s political, and that I am referencing the 90’s and the Mac clones)!

What have we learned, or really, gone over?  Well, Microsoft needs a CEO that can be competent, and doesn’t fire off stupid remarks everytime they stick a microphone in his/her face, and they need to fix Windows as best as they can since what they’ve done so far is crap!

And now, since this really long time in the making series of posts about Microsoft has ended, I can get back to bashing Microsoft and drinking the Apple Kool-Aid, but not out of total spite, but out of some ounce of respect.

Stuff of the Day: 5/01/09-Buying some weird stuff.

Penny Arcade- The Fivefold Mother

xkcd-Packages

The Problem with Microsoft-Part 2: It’s a ad about nothing!

And here comes the next installment of the three part series “The Problem With Microsoft”.  Sorry about it being a series.  The first part can be found here, and don’t worry, like yesterday’s part, this part is going to be more of a suggestion box to Microsoft, but it’s going to have it’s fair share of necessary bashing to do on my part.  Have fun reading this!

To start off, you might have noticed that this is about Microsoft’s ads.  Now, you might be wondering, what ads?  Well, if you think really hard about it, it’s those ads that have “I’m a PC” at the end.  Yeah, I know, they’re not to be confused to the more successful, and funny(and truthful, considering one commercial had the bimbo going in the Apple store, and coming out a second later).  Remember those?  No?  Well, there’s the problem!

One thing Microsoft’s new ads stress is that PCs are more affordable, less fancy, and that they have better software for home users.  Well, yeah, they’re more affordable, but they crash more, and get more viruses more easily than Macs do(granted, Macs have less marketshare, but if Macs were as big as Windows PCs, I doubt they’d have even 1/4th of the problems PCs have).  Also, I don’t want to have a computer that looks like it came from a trailer park/the 90’s.  Oh, and about the better home software?  Yeah, ever heard of Apple’s iLife suite?  Much better, they even come free, and aren’t just used one time when your kid needs to use it for some obscure school project because the school district is behind the times.  I know, more bashing.  But still, I’m getting to another point.

Microsoft’s new ads are just retaliating against Apple’s Mac vs PC ads that they’ve been doing, and are probably going to be doing for a few more years.  When Apple did it to get recognition, it worked.  When Microsoft does it, it seems like they’re crying about competition that they haven’t seen in so many years.  Sure, you could be a Microsoft fan(there’s fans of Microsoft?) and say that Apple was crying about being behind Microsoft, but Apple can claim to be better than Microsoft when talking about operating systems, and they weren’t riding on the “PC” line that Microsoft is trying to do.

Microsoft’s ads aren’t easily remembered.  Most people have forgotten about the Seinfield ads, and the reason behind that is Microsoft deems a marketing campaign unsuccessful within a month, and ditches it.  Also: their ads are just flavors of the month, trying to shock people.  They get that right, but that’s not the best thing to do.  Anyone remember the “What do you want to do today?” line?  I do.  Most people do.  That’s because it worked.  Why did it work?  Well, Microsoft focused on the business section, which, is where they do the best at.  They talked about a program in detail, or as much detail they could.  Now?  It’s a girl printing out pictures, and saying a quick blurb about “Microsoft Program #262727 which is also on PCs. I’m a PC and I don’t know what a PC is.”  Microsoft doesn’t embrace the products they spam out, they say a quick line and that’s it.  Apple on the other hand, they actually spend a commerical on a topic talking about the iProduct that does that topic.

What does any of that mean to you?  Or to Microsoft?  Well, it means that people forget Microsoft’s commericals because they suck, and that people forget about their commericals because they just see a quick Windows logo.  It’s like Microsoft is shamed of the Windows brand so they just throw up a two second logo.  What’s the deal with that?!  Oh, and they try to be edgy by telling people PCs(not Windows, the product they DO make) are cheaper and “not made of unicorn tears”, when they should skip the cute taglines and z-list actors and talk about the products that they make, without comparing them to Macs, because when they do that, it actually makes the Mac commericals seem egotistical.  Isn’t that the point of these?  To drive people back to the Windows platform, and to make the Mac look bad, without having to make up (warning, cursing:) bullshit about the Mac, and PCs?

Seriously, Microsoft.  Why don’t you focus on the programs you do make(without BS), and less time on trying to force taglines and crap actors on us?  Maybe then the Mac vs PCs wouldn’t hurt so much.

Tune in on Wednesday for the final part.  It’ll be about the part I really want to get to: Managing, and Windows.