Back to business...

Just arrived back home from Blogworld.

Great event and I'll blog some more about it when I'm firing on all cylinders and over the jet lag.

One thing that caught my eye is this post by Business Week:

Copyright BusinessWeek - Click on the image to see the original article

Oh yes, it's the Apple earnings call later today and as ever, good financial results are anticipated.

Microsoft are launching Windows 7 in a couple of days time on the 22nd October.

It's Tuesday tomorrow, two days before the launch and the usual day that Apple release new products. What if tomorrow, Apple launch a new range of iMacs (or similar) at a cost conscious reduced price?

If you had the choice of buying a new PC with Windows 7 or a new Mac at a reasonable cost, which would you do? OK, so if you're reading this blog, chances are you're already a Mac user....

I wonder if Apple have something special in the wings ready to release once the quarterly earnings call is done, something that could impact Microsofts big day?

We'll soon find out! 

Microsoft! Get A Grip!

So you've probably heard by now that M$ have dropped the badly received Gates/Seinfeld commercials after only two episodes. Whether this was planned or they pulled them is any ones guess, either way, they are now onto the second phase of the $300M marketing campaign. Next phase is a direct rebuttal of Apples "I'm a PC, I'm a Mac" Ads The only problem is that they've completely missed the point of the Apple ads: "I'm a PC" in the Apple ads is not a person! The John Hodgman character is the embodiment of the PC, the actual computer. He is not a stereotype of a PC user, he's the actual computer!! People in the Microsoft ads, you are not computers! When will Microsoft ever learn? As a mac user, my overwhelming feeling after watching the latest ad is one of sadness. I know it probably comes across as the comments of a "mac fanboy" stereotype, but I really feel sorry for these people being shackled by the fact that they don't use a mac. Honestly guys, give it a try! How the ads are perceived by Windows users I don't know. They are almost certainly going to be received better than the Gates/Seinfeld ads but I'm not sure what the message they are trying to get across is. Microsoft really needs to pull something out of the bag to rescue Vista unless they've given up hope and and starting to prepare for the next version - Windows 7. And really, "I'm a PC and I sell fish!" What were they thinking.

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Microsoft Hits Snooze at Google's "Wake-Up Call"

"One thing is pretty clear: A decade ago, Microsoft was willing to do whatever it took to take down Netscape, including the ill-advised bundling of its Web browser into Windows, despite internal protestations about the technical and moral problems with such an approach. Stung by the innumerable antitrust battles that followed, today's Microsoft seems unwilling to change as dramatically. And its current complementary approach, from what I can see, has failed. Put simply, Microsoft may indeed have gotten a wake-up call, but it's been punching the Snooze button ever since."

Original Link

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Bill Gates Loses it! Totally!

Nowadays, security guys break the Mac every single day.

Every single day, they come out with a total exploit, your machine can be taken over totally. I dare anybody to do that once a month on the Windows machine. So, yes, it took us longer, and they had what we were doing, user interface-wise. Let’s be realistic, who came up with [the] file, edit, view, help [menu bar]? Do you want to go back to the original Mac and think about where those interface concepts came from?

So it’s totally according to plan, and that’s why we have the whole Windows Update thing. We made it way harder for guys to do exploits. The number [of violations] will be way less because we’ve done some dramatic things [to improve security] in the code base. Apple hasn’t done any of those things.

Well, certainly we've done a better job letting you upgrade on the hardware than our competitors have done. You can choose to buy a new machine, or you can choose to do an upgrade. And I don't know why [Apple is] acting like it’s superior. I don't even get it. What are they trying to say? Does honesty matter in these things, or if you're really cool, that means you get to be a lying person whenever you feel like it? There's not even the slightest shred of truth to it

If you just want to say, "Steve Jobs invented the world, and then the rest of us came along," that's fine. If you’re interested, [Vista development chief] Jim Allchin will be glad to educate you feature by feature what the truth is.

Original Article

Ah well, he's probably hyperventilating being caught up in the Vista launch this week. I thought it was Steve Jobs who had a "Reality Distortion Field"!

Technorati Tags: Apple, Microsoft, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs

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A "Call to Arms" for UK Mac and Linux Users

The BBC Trust is carrying out its first Public Value Test (PVT) – a new procedure that must be applied when the Trust considers applications from BBC management for the approval of new BBC services.

The first PVT concerns the BBC’s proposed on-demand services.

Here you can find out how to take part in the public consultation on the BBC Trust’s provisional conclusions.

Questionaire

I took part in the pilot of the BBCs on demand service quite a while ago now. I had to use a PC as the BBC had created a Windows only media player and relied heavily on Microsofts DRM to protect the shows. It was pretty bad. In fact I had so much trouble with the DRM I eventually stopped using it. The BBC are now moving forward and have started a public consultation on certain aspects of the service. There is a question in the consultation that needs to be answered by every Mac and Linux user in the UK, and that's question 5:

Question 5
How important is it that the proposed seven-day catch-up service over the internet is available to consumers who are not using Microsoft software?

How important? Very important!!!! Please treat this blog post as a "call to arms" and complete the Questionaire now! It finishes on the 28th March 2007 but fill it in now and let the BBC realise that they can't exclude both Mac users and Linux users by locking into Microsoft technology. The questionaire is quite unusual as there are no multiple choices or yes/no answers as each question has a text box for you to state your opinions. Very neat but I'd hate to be the one analysing the responses! You can of course just enter "yes" or "no" as a response to some of the questions. Please do it and do it now! PS Don't forget to circulate this link to your friends and colleagues who may also want to voice their opinion. Just send them the permalink to this post or the link to the Questionaire. PPS You might want to request HD content plus some premium content via the iTunes music store as well in the last question! Kudos to Cult of Mac for original link

Technorati Tags: Apple, mac, osx, Apple TV, BBC, On Demand TV, Broadcasting, TV, IPTV

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