What's the big deal?

What is the big deal about Microsoft delaying the release of Vista? XP is still a stable and reliable platform-albeit with few security holes- and I am quite happy to continue using it. I am not sure what the fuss all about is. All the PCs are not going to grind to a halt if the Vista is not released on the announced date.

Everyone complains about MS not paying too much attention to security. But when they delay the product to improve the security they complain even more. Isn't it better to release a more secure OS than just try to meet a deadline? What going to be funny (for me, but certainly not for MS) is, even after the release, few will still complain Vista is unnecessarily loaded with features most of us are never going to use and it is a collusion between MS and Intel to force people in to buying more powerful hardware. In my opinion Microsoft has 2 main goals for Vista (Home User Version)

1. Turn the humble PC in to the entertainment hub and the centre of your household.
   Move the most expensive electronic device in your house from the study in the corner to the living room in the middle of your house. Make people look at a PC as the integral part of their life (this will have many worried about our increasing dependency in technology), rather than looking at a stand-alone device you switch on only when you need to send an email, type a letter or do your budget. This opens up a whole new revenue stream for MS (this will worry even more people). They can offer subscriptions services such as digital downloads (movies, music) and "software as service"


2. Challenge Apple in GUI area.
   Apple has always be known for their exceptional GUI. MS is borrowing many concepts from OS X (as usual) for Vista.

In both cases MS doesn't have much to worry about. Except for few projects like MythTV there are no other players in the Home Entertainment PC area. Apple is still expensive and doesn't have whole load of software available for it to attract mainstream PC users.

What MS have to worry about is, their sloppy track record when it comes to security and Linux becoming more and more popular (also due to Linux is becoming more and more user friendly). So, I think MS has done the right things by focusing on the quality rather than the due date.

Said that, MS has to lift it's game in the future. As, more nimble (at least for the moment) organisations such as Google are entering the domain dominated by MS, MS can't afford to lag behind anymore. Specially with Google's concept of "software as service" they can always release a service first and continually improve it. So, Google is going to have small mile stones, rather than one dead line. MS is going to find it difficult to compete if they still plan to sell software as "products". I suppose that's why MS has started Office Live.

The concept of software and the way we consume it and the way we use the computers is going to go through some dramatic changes in the future. It's going to be interesting times.

Happiness 101. Actually 1504

"At Harvard University this semester, students are flocking to a new class that
might give them some insight into the secret to happiness" ....

Thanks to Lolly for the link.

Did I say "bloody"?

Ooops... did I say bloody in my last post? That's it. UK is going ban my blog. My world conquering blog is going to bite the dust even before it had its first visitor.

If you are wondering what I am ranting about have a look at the new travel campaign by Australian Tourist Board, UK banning it.

For the uninitiated, some of the mild swear words are in fact part of the Aussie lingo and are not considered rude at all. It’s quite normal for a person to greet a long lost friend with a “Where the bloody hell have you been?” After all, we are talking about a country where one of the popular and award winning ad is….. a dog saying “bugger”. On my way home from work I just saw an ad on the back of a bus screaming “Bugger the gym in Broome” Just wondering what that ad was about.

So, we all were sitting here wondering “what the bloody hell is all this fuss about?” but after pondering on it for a while (maybe 5 seconds) we decided “Bugger them!!!” and went and grabbed a beer and turned the tele on to watch the cricket.

Mad man finally decides to join the rest of the world....

.... and enlighten the unsuspecting netizens with his rantings & ravings. Watchout!!! it's going to be messy.

About bloody time!!! I have been thinking about coding my own blogging system for ages. Why? because, I was once a software engineer and loves to write my own programs & watch them work and I am little bit nuts and always wants things to work the way I want. Not to mention I have an affinity to stay up late, which means I don't get up till the sun is really shining on my backside, which always gets me trouble with my employer. Once, I walked in to the office at noon :). Ahhhh.... the good old days. Can't do that anymore :( For a while, I actually had a rudimentary blogging system working and was hosting it in my own server. This was waaaaay before blogging became cool and Google and everyone else had a blogging tool. Due to a series of unfortunate events -I am being bit dramatic here, it was just due to me moving and changing the servers and just getting very busy- I lost this website and can't find it anymore.

Finally, I realised I am never going to write my own blogging system (or atleast not as good as this ones) and can think of million different ways to better spend my time. So here I am ranting an raving, most of the time taking detours from the main topic.

Don't you like detours? I always loves to take the scenic route.