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Making fun of stuff - something never before done on the Internet!

Zune update for May 2008: PlaysForSure PlaysNoMore; Zune gets lonelier

Sun, 2008-05-11 03:17
Brownie the Lonely Zune

The Zune music player is probably not a topic on many people's radar, but given the Zune-specific origins of this site, here's a short double-header of music news:

My Dear John Letter from MSN Music
The shoe drops: MS officially tells its PlaysForSure customers to get bent.

Zune Sales Still In the Toilet
Well, not much need to explain that article's premise, is there.

You know, Zune probably isn't an awful product in terms of, say, falling apart or blowing up or just plain dying after a month... so, what is it that makes it so danged unpalatable? Like Vista, it just has this taint that goes beyond actual product flaws. All jokes and snark aside, it's truly a fascinating phenomenon to see.

"Rockin Our Sales" Vista SP1 music video

Sun, 2008-04-20 12:32

Sweet mother of Jebus. This is apparently what it takes to get the beleagured Vista sales team energized about meeting quota.

In their defense, "Why not create a decent product instead of wasting time on cheesy videos?" isn't a totally apt criticism, as the sales team doesn't create the product; they can only try to flog what's been extruded from the product dev section.

One thing in life I would not want to be is a Vista sales manager, and this video just made that go double.

I bow my head to the Vista Failure Log

Wed, 2008-04-02 15:58

Going down in flamesHoly bejesus. I thought my Anything but Speechless: 100 Things People Are Really Saying About Windows Vista was a pretty thorough record of Vista's failure. This Slashdot page goes me one better. It's got plenty of info and links, which I've got too, but also puts it all into a chronological ordering. Like watching train wreck footage, frame by painful frame.

Vista Failure Log

I doff my cap to my better. Well done, sir(s)!

Huh? I missed that.

Tue, 2008-04-01 12:26

Okay, so Apple won some survey of the world's leading brands. Good for them.
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSL2850164020080331?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0

I was confused only by this: "At the other end of the spectrum, Microsoft had "gone from innovative and bold to stodgy and follower," said another unnamed reader."

"Gone from innovative and bold to stodgy and follower"? I resent that mischaracterization of Microsoft! I demand an explanation:

When was Microsoft ever innovative and bold? It's a serious question.

eWEEK: "Vista?" Enterprise: "No."

Fri, 2008-03-21 16:40

Vista survey"Why Vista? Good Question." That's the premise of an eWEEK survey to enterprises. And the answer is... buried in a horrible "slideshow" format forcing would-be readers to wade through flickering screen after screen, for what turns out to be barely a large paragraph's worth of info.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Vista/Why-Vista-Good-Question/

For you, fair readers, I bring the slides' text in its entirety. Here it is:
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The proof is in the language

Tue, 2008-03-18 13:30

Allow me to link to a funny post here, as I have nothing funny to say myself. An excerpt:

Here's proof that Apple is already capturing mindshare in the market. These are things you never hear:

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100 Things People are Really Saying About Windows Vista

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Overheard in tech

The Windows API is so broad, so deep and so functional that most ISVs (independent software vendors) would be crazy not to use it. And it is so deeply embedded in the source code of many Windows apps that there is a huge switching cost to using a different operating system, instead. It is this switching cost that has given the customers the patience to stick with Windows through all our mistakes, our buggy drivers, our high TCO (total cost of ownership), our lack of a sexy vision, at times, and many other difficulties. Customers constantly evaluate other desktop platforms, (but) it would be so much work to move over that they hope we just improve Windows rather than force them to move... In short, without this exclusive franchise, called the Windows API, we would have been dead a long time ago.

<a href="http://news.cnet.com/2100-1016_3-5197411.html">Email memo</a> from Microsoft C++ General Manager Aaron Contorer to Bill Gates

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