All posts by Richard

Design counts…

Imagine that you work for Microsoft and you have to battle against comments like the one below.

Where do you start? At this point I don’t think that they have anywhere to go.

“I know Windows is awful. Everyone knows Windows is awful. Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it’s there, and there’s nothing you can do about it. OK, OK: I know other operating systems are available. But their advocates seem even creepier, snootier and more insistent than Mac owners. The harder they try to convince me, the more I’m repelled. To them, I’m a sheep. And they’re right. I’m a helpless, stupid, lazy sheep. I’m also a masochist. And that’s why I continue to use Windows – horrible Windows – even though I hate every second of it. It’s grim, it’s slow, everything’s badly designed and nothing really works properly: using Windows is like living in a communist bloc nation circa 1981. And I wouldn’t change it for the world, because I’m an abject bloody idiot and I hate myself, and this is what I deserve: to be sentenced to Windows for life.”

via Microsoft’s grinning robots or the Brotherhood of the Mac. Which is worse? | Charlie Brooker | Comment is free | The Guardian.

Unemployment benefit…

Unemployment benefits | The Economist

What I found interesting is how little people get after 5 years. In four countries the figure is nil. I’m assuming that at this point you get some other social security and that you’re not just thrown on the street.

Le Web buzz starts…

It’s becoming somewhat of ritual. Each autumn the weather get colder and the updates about Le Web start. I have my ticket already and it makes for something to look forward to!!!

“Looking forward to kicking ass at #LeWeb in December #Paris cc: @loic http://bit.ly/1gJCAy“

via Facebook | Hugh MacLeod.

New book titles…

It’s a lovely idea. Take old classic books and give them new titles.

http://yourmonkeycalled.com/post/185927647/book-titles-if-they-were-written-today

What is even better is that some of the comments are better than the original post. I vote for…

Old: Richard III

New: R3: Judgment Day

Windows Live Sync and Mac OS X Leopard…

Since FolderShare joined the Windows Live family it’s been a downhill slope.

First there were outages, then the site redesign (a massive downgrade) and now this…

Windows Live Sync and Mac OS X Leopard

It’s almost as if they don’t want it to work.

Get the code out of the door quickly…

I’ve said it before but it’s worth repeating.

Microsoft has one major issue; and only one. The speed that they can get code and functionality out of the door. There seems to be some serious process issues when competitors are realeasing functions at twice the speed of the market leader.

“Microsoft is apparently going to counter the Android and iPhone offensives on the mobile market with a new strategy: confusion. The company will allegedly continue to sell its increasingly less relevant Windows Mobile 6.5 for a lower price when it launches version 7 in the fourth quarter of 2010.

The fourth quarter of 2010? I mean, does Redmond expect Google and Apple to go on a yearlong vacation? No wonder Microsoft is becoming irrelevant on the mobile platform. As I have pointed out in the past,Android is going to kill Windows Mobile.”

Microsoft’s Mobile Strategy: Irrelevance