Tag Archives: 'microsoft'

• The Future of the Web

  There are two aspects to the web that need to be tackled… the design and media (specifically video). One of them has been solved with the latest version of Firefox, the other only partially, but a sandbox for development has been built. Web designers have long desired to control the look of their sites,1 and [...]

• Twitter Haze

  I know that I just blogged that Twitter is “as substantive as a pet rock,” and although I think that that is true, Twitter nevertheless can be an effective way of communicating, albeit 140 characters (spaces included) at a time. It is akin to walking into a crowded bar and hearing what everyone is saying. [...]

• .xlsx

  Thanks to the wonderful engineering minds at Microsoft (who pleasantly thought that changing their omnipresent file extensions were (1) a good thing, and (2) in desperate need of an additional ‘x’), I get to have these types of work-related IMs… reyonthehill: are you using xls or xlsx co-worker: xlsx reyonthehill: me too co-worker: cool reyonthehill: [...]

• Email

  I’ve been thinking about email a lot lately (I almost wrote “alot;” that would have been a disaster). What it means to me, how I interact with it, how does it fit in my future plans, what is next for this medium. In fact, I’ve been thinking about email too much. I’ve had a lot [...]

• Triumph of the Nerds

  This documentary of the rise of the personal computer is clearly dated, but it includes interviews with Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, including the memorable “Microsoft has no taste” line…* This film does identify the basis however — for the record — the argument that Steve Jobs has exhibited the greatest second act in the [...]

• Silverlight

  I wanted to take a moment and thank the fine people at NBC for creating what could be the most obnoxious website (in the web’s short history) for its Olympics portal. And bonus points go to the ad wizard who decided it would be best that every god damn American be forced to download and [...]

• Pirates of Silicon Valley

  This movie changed my outlook on life when I first watched it on TNT in 1999. I had to make sure my wife saw it too before it was too late, and although the soundtrack sound-levels are considerably “off,” this made-for-TV movie stands up pretty well over time. I hadn’t realized, however, that while I [...]

• Apple v. Microsoft

  After watching my favorite made-for-tv movie of all-time — Pirates of Silicon Valley — last night, watching this video (a scene re-enacted in the film) made for great entertainment this morning… I am looking into reading a book on the subject of Macintosh, Windows, and the war between the two companies — Apple and Microsoft. [...]

• Phreatic

  This is just another reason it is frustrating using Microsoft Word in a technical field… Half-assed built-in financial functions in Excel (read: useless), and a challenged lexicon — at best — in Word.

• Yahoo Is A Dot-com Bubble Veteran

  While reading about the failed Microsoft-Yahoo bid (which may still happen), it was mentioned how Yahoo! has historically overpaid for the acquisitions it has purchased over the years, including nearly 5 billion dollars spent on GeoCities, the personal homepage service (now mostly defunct), in 1999. Ahh, the height of the dot-com bubble. Graphing the full [...]

• In the News… Muck.

  - A bug in the newest release of Microsoft Excel leads to a computation error: 850 x 77.1 = 100,000. (Note: I use Excel a lot.) -Rahm Emanuel on Bush’s promised veto of an expansion of child health coverage: “Two hundred billion dollars more for Iraq — and $35 billion for kids is labeled excessive [...]

• In the News

  - Google is now offering Sun’s StarOffice for free, a $70 value, in the latest battle with Microsoft and their stranglehold on office productivity software. (By the way, I hate Outlook.) – How long will the religious right allow Romney to continuously sway on the abortion issue, “from the ‘effectively pro-choice’ position he held until [...]

• In the News

  - Maybe Bush’s worst legacy will be the plight of the heroes of nine-eleven, the rescue workers. – Just how powerful is Google? Well, Microsoft has decided to alter Vista following a Google complaint. – New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has ditched the GOP label that hinders his political future. What is that political future? [...]

• Steve Jobs, Bill Gates

  If you are at all interested in the history of computers, Apple, Macintosh, the theft that was Windows (see Pirates of Silicon Valley), Microsoft, etc., you will enjoy this lengthy conversation between Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. (And I should mention I’ve long thought of Jobs as a god.) [Note: I think this is in [...]

• In the News

  - “The company that makes the painkiller OxyContin pleaded guilty in federal court to criminal charges that it had misled doctors and patients when it claimed the drug was less likely to be abused than traditional narcotics.” Just another marketing ploy in a business world without ethics. (Don’t blame them, it is how they were [...]

• In the News

  - I know it was expected, but I’m still surprised that every republican, even pro-choice Rudy Giuliani, outwardly supported the repeal of Roe v. Wade. Is this the prevailing viewpoint in America? (Also, are these guys running for president or parish coordinator?) – I always appreciate Ana Marie Cox’s liveblogs. I thought that this was [...]

• Mailbag: Vista

  Real emails, real life. (Keep them coming.) My new computer kicks ass but this Windows Vista has problems and I may need to return it and get a new one installed with Windows XP. I keep getting driver incompatability notices and some programs won’t run.– Jim the hitman, Pennsylvania Hitman-Don’t fret, life comes at you [...]

• In the News… Scooter’s Prison Nickname.

  - Someone needs to inform Rudy Giuliani on the rules for running for president: everything is fair game. It may not be relevant, but it is fair game. Including three marriages. – Microsoft vs. Google. Don’t be evil. Too late. – San Francisco is a bargain, placing 41st on the list of the world’s priciest [...]

• In the News… An End-of-the-Year Craptacular.

  Who needs an end-of-the-year special when you have news items like these… – “President Bush went to his ranch Tuesday to rethink U.S. involvement inIraq.” Could this not have been any Tuesday this past year? – Headline: Flaws Are Detected in Microsoft’s Vista. Um, who didn’t see this coming? – And “because scientists have concluded [...]