“We haven’t talked about Microsoft much lately because they haven’t really done anything news worthy in a long time. And if they hadn’t made such a fool of themselves with this latest event I probably wouldn’t have even given them a second thought. But this was just too good to pass up,” James R. Stoup writes for Apple Matters.
Stoup writes, “Why don’t we take a look at how they have been faring these past few months. What with the tech world talking about iPods, video downloads and Sony slipping you some spyware with your new CD good old MS has been left out in the cold. So, here is what they have done that has made the news lately. And keep in mind, that whoever said ‘There’s no such thing as bad publicity’ obviously never met the management at MS.”
In the full article, Stoup recaps the latest Microsoft news as such:
• Failed demo – Taking ineptitude to the next level
• The South Korea “Incident” – MS threatens to make S. Korea virus free
• Xbox due out before PS3 – See, it’s not all bad news
• IE patent appeal lost – Time to get out the check book to the tune of $500 million
• Patch creation process flawed leaving system still vulnerable – Earth still round, water still wet
• Windows Media Center upgraded – User interface goes from “raped in city jail” to “tortured in Vietnamese POW camp”
• In USA Internet Explorer is down to 80% market share – Get Ballmer another chair ’cause it’s time to panic
Stoup writes, “Yes, I know it’s bleak but if they could just stop making such fools of themselves things would improve. We don’t expect a presentation from Gates to be anywhere in the same league as Jobs but making sure the janitor didn’t accidentally turn off the internet doesn’t seem like too much to ask does it?”
Full article here.
Advertisement: The New iMac G5 – Built-in iSight camera and remote control with Front Row media experience. From $1299. Free shipping.
Related articles:
Microsoft announces Dead.com, er, Live.com Web-based services – November 02, 2005
Microsoft threatens to boost South Korean productivity by withdrawing Windows – October 29, 2005
U.S. federal judge scolds Microsoft over abandoned exclusive music demand – October 26, 2005
Can Microsoft do anything original? Redmond behemoth issues ‘mysterious’ invite to reporters – October 25, 2005
BusinessWeek: Microsoft fumbles while Apple turns the needlessly complex into the beautifully simple – October 13, 2005
Mafiasoft? Microsoft to ‘offer’ new subscription security protection racket – October 07, 2005
Chair hurling Microsoft CEO Ballmer: ‘I’m going to f—ing kill Google’ – September 03, 2005
Its quite incredible how a company that has so much power, so many people working for it and so much money can make so many disastrous mistakes.
The Xbox and their range of mouses are the only thing that realistically they should be proud of. #
But hey, im not complaining, the worse Microsoft looks, the better Apple looks.
I didn’t see “Microsoft Plans Deliberate Xbox 360 Shortage”
http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/11/03/0026241&tid=211
thats one funny article
I think it is encouraging for Apple’s Front Row that it appears that the next update to MS MCE is a step backwards.
making sure the janitor didn’t accidentally turn off the internet doesn’t seem like too much to ask does it?”
LOL! That made my day! I’m flashing back to an old Far Side comic of the janitor unplugging vital equipment in a science lab so that he could plug in his vacuum cleaner!
Is there a video of the demo? I would love to see that!
It does boggle the mind. MS has many outstanding employees and engineers (crippled by management) and piles of money pouring in from luke warm product offerings. I guess they’re in the waiting mode trying to figure out what to copy next. They need to copy something that’s successful.
Recently they tried to copy Apples success with media events. Gates looks pretty foolish making a big deal about rolling out “LIVE” with virtually nothing working. Sheesh. At least when Apple rolls something out, there’s a working product for people to see. MS ought to copy that, “working products”.
It blows my mind that MS users are not outraged (and outrageously pissed off) and vocal about the notion of having to pay more for a secure working OS.
I’m less than 24 days away from being MS-free for two years (that’s right, not one PC running anything by MS in my shop of 14 Apple computers). That’s a message Apple needs to get out…. there is life without MS and it is GOOD!
I just came back from reading the referenced article.
The opening is wicked funny! Highly recommended – MDN did not do the humor in this article justice!
Microsoft is good with marketing phrases like “Plays for sure” and remember “Plug and Play”? It keeps the tech writers, IT guys and general public pacified and duped into thinking the product is as good as or better than the Apple/Mac product they copied. Unfortunately, the slogans are empty because they’re not backed by technology that actually works. At least when the current Apple team copies something, they usually improve it, simplify it, make it look great, and it works.
The Xbox 360 had better enjoy their brief lead while it lasts. Their rush to bring the console to market before the PS3 will leave it as the inferior choice hardware wise, and in the end, they’ll probably end up in a distant second place position again just as they did with the original Xbox vs the PS2.
User interface goes from “raped in city jail” to “tortured in Vietnamese POW camp”
Classic.
When MDN is on, it’s on.
The Microsoft Follies..
Uh, We meant to do that….
WizeGuy wrote:
“Its quite incredible how a company that has so much power, so many people working for it and so much money can make so many disastrous mistakes.”
Two words: General Motors.
MS has a classic case of Big Company Disease. Like always, it’s interesting to watch the train go off the rails.
Too bad the raping/POW joke wasn’t MDN’s.
When Apple Matters is on, Apple Matters is on.
…see what happens when someone decides to name his company after his penis
I wonder what kind of press MS will get once this hits the mainstream.
http://news.com.com/Xbox+360+and+iPod+interoperability+Sort+of/2100-1041_3-5931847.html?tag=nefd.lede
The whole point of desktop computers was to make life easier – save time doing complex calculations, typing pools and what not; one wonders if the world adopting a PC/MS solution has held things back as much as it moved things forward.
It appears there’s finally a concern within the larger community for hi-tech to be made simple to use, not just for the developers of the products who are intimately familiar with it… MS needs to either get out of the biz, or get its act together. Of course, they’re making too much money to leave it on the table and walk away. So, they’ll continue to make also-ran products and perhaps might occasionally have a hit (like they did with Windows 95)
The sad part of it all is that it’s apparent that Bill really doesn’t give a hoot that the stuff they produce is flawed, insecure, not fit-for-purpose (I could go on). He’s only interested in it selling. If it doesn’t sell, he’ll make the product “good enough” so that it does and either buy out, out market, or sue the competition out of existence.
To be honest, it’s not just Microsoft at fault for making crap products either… there’s a huge number of tech companies at fault; adding many useless or hard to find or use product features like it’s some kind of race to win the Grand Swiss Army Knife of Prizes.
The best thing to do is vote with your wallet. Don’t buy hard to use products. Or take them back if you can’t get them working. Eventually, manufacturers will wake up and improve the human-machine interface, because otherwise, they’ll go out of business. Of course, this requires *everyone* to participate and be serious enough to deprive themselves of keeping up with the Jones’ when it comes to fancy new technology.
MW=perform. Well, yea, how appropriate.
Truly, the Chief Software Architect and the CEO should be fired for their inability to come up with anything innovative, timely, secure or user-friendly. The company should be indicted for racketeering and abusing their market power: to wit, the recent verbal threat and its withdrawal. A class-action suit needs to take this company to task for the billions of dollars it cost business by selling unsecure software for way too long.
All those companies thinking of partnering with Microsoft ought to have a hard think about it. Find another business model or wallow in the sewer and get infected. If Microcrap leaders would screw their own mothers, what hope could there be for you? MW: “bend” over.
“and perhaps might occasionally have a hit (like they did with Windows 95)”
So making Macintosh System 7 available for the PC (approx 5 years after it had originally been released) is Microsoft’s definition of a hit?
MW: “really”?