Quentin Crisp. "Treat all disasters as if they were trivialities but never treat a triviality as if it were a disaster." [Quotes of the Day]
6:54:32 AM
More negative PR from Microsoft. Oh, great, as if my Hotmail account didn't get enough spam already. Has anyone noticed that Microsoft just does not care about public relations? Has Microsoft done a single thing in the past two years for a positive public relations spin (note: I define "postitive public relations spin" as doing something for your customers, not giving free copies of your software to schools so you can take over another market)? Why is that? I think that Bill Gates assumes that Microsoft can and will remain number one no matter what it does against its customers and no matter how its customers perceive it. You know, I'm probably the last guy in Silicon Valley that is still trying to put a positive spin on Microsoft and I tell you that job just gets harder and harder to do every day. I miss the Microsoft who did things +for+ users rather than +against+ them. Something has switched at Microsoft from a company that tries to add features to one that tries to "monetize" its users and treats its developers as a strategic asset. You know, I am noticing a lot more Macintosh computers lately. Yes, Microsoft has a small investment in Apple, but at least we don't see Apple trying so hard to be anti customer lately. I'm still studying the Digital Rights Management stance of the computer industry but I'm seeing just a whole new level of contempt of users by Microsoft (and other companies too, but particularly Microsoft). As a Microsoft adherent (I, unlike other people who are bashing Microsoft, love Windows XP and am a strong supporter of its products) I'm getting tired of hearing decision after decision and interview after interview of sentiment that's anti customer. We're coming into huge battles over Digital Rights Management and copyrights and patents and I am slowly getting the opinion that Microsoft won't be on my side in these battles (and that's too bad, because they should be since it's people like me who've gotten Microsoft where it is today). So, Microsoft, when are you going to start explaining what you're doing to help people like me do things better? You've done a dreadful job of: 1) Coming out with new technologies that improve my life (at least in the past six months). 2) Explaining what you did come out with (does anyone really understand .NET?) Why doesn't Microsoft have any emails from its executives saying "let's put this feature in because it'll make life better for our customers" rather than "let's put this feature in because it'll make life tougher for our competitors?" or "let's put this feature in because Java developers will be drawn to it?" Not that Sun or Oracle are doing any better, mind you. I haven't seen them do anything for desktop users lately either. They just want to fuck me by making it easier for corporate IT folks to manage me. Heh. Oh, am I waiting for a big company to make life easier for me? Yeah, right. I keep hoping. Apple sure has caught stride with its user base again. I haven't seen much negative PR come out of Apple lately, and a whole lot of cool new products. Apple isn't perfect, to be sure, but at least I see them doing stuff that's interesting and they are going in the right direction. While I'm on my SOAP box, what the hell is Microsoft doing with FrontPage and Internet Explorer? Is Internet development dead at Microsoft? Has Microsoft stopped believing in the Internet now that Microsoft believes it owns the Internet once again? The silence from Microsoft's product planners is deafening and getting louder. [Scobleizer Radio Weblog]
