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"Microsoft just, you know, copies everyone else. Especially Apple."

Yawn. We've heard it before; it's not news, and it's pretty dull stuff by now too. Not much fun to be had in beating that horse.

But I swear... Sometimes, it seems Microsoft is just demanding to keep that horse a-flogged. Witness:

Earlier this year, the people from Redmond crowned a queen in the "Microsoft PC Fashion Awards". (Stop laughing. This is real.) Here's the tearful recipient of the crown and bouquet, a laptop concept from design firm ego:

And does that remind you of anything? Think back to 1999:

Yes, the original "clamshell" Apple iBook, complete with roundish handle (though it's not visible in this photo).

Now, keep in mind that the Fashion PC above isn't Microsoft's own design, and there's nothing wrong in their selecting it for tony design kudos... But doesn't the choice make MS appear to be begging for "Apple did it first!" rebuttals?

You decide.

(Should you choose the one on the right, seek professional counseling immediately.)

Image via EatLiver.com.

"All of this gear may have worked just fine, but it sure looked bad doing it."

http://tech.msn.com/products/slideshow.aspx?cp-documentid=5551551&imagei...

Heh. Possibly the shallowest tech topic possible - right up my alley! 

To spare you the 10 pages of PC World's annoying slideshow format, I'll give you the Top 10 list here. But I still recommend you flip through the pages to see teh ugly for yourself; after all, that's the point here!
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No, not the Microsoft Watch website.

This Microsoft Watch.

In 2003, a Windows user who simply wanted to install Microsoft Moviemaker ran into the non-functioning Windows hell that plagues – well, nearly all Windows users. 

No, an everday rant like this isn't big news, but it's worth a read as a look at what's seriously wrong with the Windows experience. Things like this: "Someone decided to trash the one part of Windows that was usable? The file system is no longer usable. The registry is not usable. This program listing was one sane place but now it is all crapped up. But that is just the start of the crap..."

(I know, life isn't perfect across the street in Macland, but 99.9% of the time, this sort of software update is about as eventful on a Mac as eating a peach. Linux users, how about you?) 

Oh, by the way, who was the guy who couldn't get Windows to work? Name's Bill Gates, or something like that. Not that it matters.

The email, as reported by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:
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Man gets Windows Vista to work with printer

Bwah-ha-ha! It's a news story! It's not The Onion, or some other parody site; it's a Seattle Post Intelligencer blog, and the story is real.

There's a photo as evidence that Vista actually will print, complete with caption: "Charles Walling prints from his Windows Vista PC."

You can't make this stuff up. : )