Sunday, August 15, 2010

Google and Apple continue to make Microsoft technology obsolescent

It's just not fair. In every single online technology arena, from search to mobile devices to cloud apps, Microsoft is getting its lunch eaten by Google and Apple. Every new technology brought to the market by Microsoft hass been late and inferior to what Google and Apple are doing. Right now I really can't think of a reason to not use Google Docs in favour of MS Office 2010. I'm sure Office 2010 (and its non-free Web counterpart) have a lot of features Google Docs doesn't...but all the stuff I need to do day-to-day, including drawing diagrams and making presentations,  is in Google Docs. Plus I have zero work to do publishing documents online or real-time collaborating with others, or even just worrying about if my documents are backed up. These features alone are worth more than any sophisticated formatting features in Office 2010. I'm pretty sure a lot of small and medium-sized business owners around the world are evaulating whether buying yet another relase of Office makes sense compared to the power available from Google Docs
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Meanwhile Android's 2Q sales outpaced the iPhone...while Microsft's Kin was an embarassing failure and Windows 7 is threatening to be the same. Bing is...well maybe some people like it, but in searching the Web for programming articles or technical information which I mostly do, Bing is horribly inferior to Google. I just like the fact that Google is catering to more tech-savvy users than MS. Gmail is perfect for following mailing lists and Android and Chrome OS will be hacked and customized and enhanced in infinite ways to provide the ultimate level of control which open-source users crave.

Chrome OS will probably become the standard on non-Apple tablets and e-readers and netbooks - which I suppose Apple isn't too concerned about since the people who use Android and Linux are in a different segment from the people who use iOS and OSX. I doubt Apple execs are losing much sleep over Android and Chorme OS - they already have their hands full figuring out how to spend the billions and billions of dollars their iDevices are generating. I'm sure there were massive grins in Cupertino when Apple's market capitilization outpaced Microsoft - quite a milestone in the company's history.

Where does this leave Microsoft? It's already losing developer mindshare to Google and open-source (which no doubt generates loud cackles from Google as it licenses more and more of its technology as FOSS and gives developers less and less reason to use Microsoft's proprietary stuff.) Windows 7 is great - a real step forward after the Vista debacle. Selling OS licenses are Microsoft's bread and butter - but what's going to run on the hundreds of millions of mobile phones and tablets and e-readers and netbooks out there all over the world? Microsoft STILL doesn't have a worthy answer.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Fallout 3 journal

Set out on some damn fool quest to find this boy's dad...notice a sewer plant, decide to investigate, this freaking HUGE scary radoscorpion attacks me...meet up and kill some ghouls...go down into sewers poke around...see door...with two LAWN GNOMES in front...wtf...next thing I know this crazy looking ghould runs out and starts shooting...shoot up his ass...he runs away...realize I stumbled on his hideout...sleep in his bed...rifle through all his stuff...take all the valuables...leave...feel bad I stole all this dude's stuff, after all he was just hiding down there trying to get by like everybody else...

Fallout 3 is one of the games that's generating real emotions in me - like feeling scared and disgusted and depressed at the state of the world.