hbgold (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} hbgold) wrote,@ 2008-02-02 06:43:00 |
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A Microsoft-less World
I have this love-hate relationship with Microsoft products. It is like getting something from Sony. You know there are other products out there that do the exactly the same thing, but you are willing to pay more, sometimes a lot more, because it has the Sony name on it. After a while, so many people are doing it that other suppliers cater mostly, or only to that brand.
Take Outlook, for example. I have had, and loved Outlook for several versions now. Mine has a lot of add-ins that help me get through the day; because I keep and file virtually all email. I would be lost without reminders constantly popping up; and sometimes I need Journal to find out where I have been. But Outlook becomes slow and bloated pretty quick. Especially the 2007 version. I compact and archive often, but still it is a lumbering giant. Over the last couple of days I downloaded Mozilla's Thunderbird again and installed it. While not as feature rich as Outlook, there was something in its simplicity that at least for the moment appeals to me.
It's that same simplicity that sent me back to LiveJournal from Microsoft Spaces. I liked that Spaces was integrated with Live.com so that if I found something I wanted to talk about, I could just click a button and start blogging about it (okay, not so often and not so much, but that isn't the point). LiveJournal had a simpler interface.
So it was interesting when I was reading through the online version of the New York Times this morning when there were 2 articles that caught the essence of what I was feeling. The first article took up the argument that in making a bid for Yahoo, Microsoft was conceding that it had failed in the online business; settling for 2nd place in the internet ad business. The point was that as a bloated monopoly, Microsoft has lost its way and is slow to creativity as a consequence of its obesity.
Almost immediately after reading that article, I came across another, which discussed a new Linux based computer, that does not integrate Microsoft products, but rather is founded on using Goggle products. The user interface takes you to Google Docs, or Calendar or whatever other Google product you fancy. That computer is $200.00......at Wal-Mart (I know, I know......but that is a whole different blog, and I'm sure at some point my wife has written about it - like this one.) So it is possible to exist cheaply in the 21st century without Microsoft.
I have this love-hate relationship with Microsoft products. It is like getting something from Sony. You know there are other products out there that do the exactly the same thing, but you are willing to pay more, sometimes a lot more, because it has the Sony name on it. After a while, so many people are doing it that other suppliers cater mostly, or only to that brand.
Take Outlook, for example. I have had, and loved Outlook for several versions now. Mine has a lot of add-ins that help me get through the day; because I keep and file virtually all email. I would be lost without reminders constantly popping up; and sometimes I need Journal to find out where I have been. But Outlook becomes slow and bloated pretty quick. Especially the 2007 version. I compact and archive often, but still it is a lumbering giant. Over the last couple of days I downloaded Mozilla's Thunderbird again and installed it. While not as feature rich as Outlook, there was something in its simplicity that at least for the moment appeals to me.
It's that same simplicity that sent me back to LiveJournal from Microsoft Spaces. I liked that Spaces was integrated with Live.com so that if I found something I wanted to talk about, I could just click a button and start blogging about it (okay, not so often and not so much, but that isn't the point). LiveJournal had a simpler interface.
So it was interesting when I was reading through the online version of the New York Times this morning when there were 2 articles that caught the essence of what I was feeling. The first article took up the argument that in making a bid for Yahoo, Microsoft was conceding that it had failed in the online business; settling for 2nd place in the internet ad business. The point was that as a bloated monopoly, Microsoft has lost its way and is slow to creativity as a consequence of its obesity.
Almost immediately after reading that article, I came across another, which discussed a new Linux based computer, that does not integrate Microsoft products, but rather is founded on using Goggle products. The user interface takes you to Google Docs, or Calendar or whatever other Google product you fancy. That computer is $200.00......at Wal-Mart (I know, I know......but that is a whole different blog, and I'm sure at some point my wife has written about it - like this one.) So it is possible to exist cheaply in the 21st century without Microsoft.
