Tuesday, October 18, 2011 at 5:15AM Oh Steve Ballmer... has anyone brought so many laughs, intentional or otherwise, to the world of technology? We don't know the backstory on what you're about to see, but we will cut Ballmer a little bit of a break, and assume it was meant to be tongue-in-cheek. With this guy though, you never know. Here's Ballmer giving you the hard sell (used car salesman style) on Windows 1.0
Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 8:45PM 
The sky is falling! The sky is falling! Google is working on a web-based operating system! Ahh! The news spread like wildfire, landing on the home page of CNN, no less (hey, Michael Jackson could only be on there so long). Some tech blogs pointed out the forthcoming OS will run on x86 hardware, be it Windows or Mac (it is it's own OS, after all) but the early installations will be on netbooks.
Frankly, this could prove to be a blessing for Apple. Don't forget, not only does Apple not compete within this sector, they don't make the OS available for other hardware suppliers. Who does? Microsoft, of course. If Chrome is successful, Microsoft will have to cloud-ify Windows more and more to stay dominant in that space. The further Chrome leads Microsoft into the cloud, the more pronounced the differences will be between OS X and future Windows products. After all, it's the tight integration of apps like iMovie, iTunes, etc, (as well as stability) that sets OS X apart. No cloud app in the near future will allow for the video editing power of iMovie, or meet the needs of professional photographers like Photoshop.
So for now, we say bring on the Chrome OS, and Microsoft, have fun chasing your own tail keeping up with Google. We'll be sitting over here with a tightly integrated hardware/software solution that doesn't require an internet connection to get pro work done.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009 at 2:26PM 
Millions of PCs the world over are infected with Conficker. Yes, your Mac is safe. No, that guy who continues give you such insights as "Macs suck" since 1994 is not safe. And no, not even Microsoft's Lauren is safe (she might be, but I don't think she's "cool" enough to run virus software on her new computer.)
So let's do our best not to snicker. After all, PCs run a lot of critical operations at airports, hospitals, and military installations. So we'll hope for the best, although a little bit of chaos could certainly help Apple's marketshare... Nonetheless, I hope you'll join us in taking an oath to try to bite your tongue, and not mention the fact that your Mac is just fine. Aw, forget it. You've told them for years. If they haven't gotten it by now, they're not going to get tomorrow either. And that's just the way the antivirus makers want it.
Windows, just for fun, virus Permalink Thursday, May 1, 2008 at 11:07AM In a further confirmation that nice guys finish last, do you remember the concerns some raised about the PC iTunes updater that presented Safari as a software update? Some people cried foul, others said it was only right to fight fire with fire. Well, it turns out the software update escapade got results. As reported by AppleInsider, Safari's PC marketshare tripled. Now granted we're talking about moving from .07% to .21% of the market, but still, it's a significant increase.
However, if Apple's serious about making Safari a competitive browser, there's something they could do that would change the browser landscape overnight. Are you sitting down? Advertise for Safari. Yes, that's right, a full media push for Safari. Not since the heyday of Netscape has someone turned on the TV and saw and ad for a browser, or even free software, for that matter. With roughly $20 Billion in cash, devoting just 1/500th of that money to a Safari campaign could yield incredible results. It doesn't matter if the browser is the greatest in the world (Firefox is dang good) if people aren't first in the mindset to change browsers. When do you think the average PC user last thought about trying a different browser? Anyone who's even considered it has moved to Firefox. iPod and iPhone, and iTunes marketing has reached a saturation point. If a PC user doesn't know about an iPod by now, they never will. Safari, on the other hand, is something new. And the price is right. So rather than spend precious engineer hours pushing Safari through an iTunes update, why not spend the effort and resources on results that will make .21% pale in comparison.
True, unlike iPod marketing, there's not an immediate financial gain from a Safari ad campaign, but imagine a world in which Firefox and Safari comprise more than 50% of the browser market. Imagine what Apple could do in promoting QuickTime (which is somewhat dead in the water outside of iTunes lately) as the default media player on the web (again.) All those frustrating sites that use Windows Media 10 DRM, and therefore don't play nice with the Mac could re-consider if Apple could give them a more dominant solution.
If marketshare continues to rise .14% per month, it will take a LONG time to reach Internet Explorer numbers. Go for it, Apple. Spend the money, or don't even bother with Safari for Windows.