Lady Geek took mild umbrage at my joke about Windows 7 being "Vista in garters and a tight sweater."
Garter and tight sweater? Buff up, take off the shirt, oil down, tight pants, now we're talking! That'd make me notice Windows 7. Not all geeks are guys!
She's absolutely right. But every time I read that comment I imagine Steve Ballmer, and then I can't eat for two hours.
One of Cringeville's longtime citizens says he tried to upload his own five-second video offering to Microsoft's marketing gods, but was rebuffed. The "I'm a PC" site said his file format was unsupported.
The format in question: Microsoft's own WMV.
W. P. says he created the video using Windows Movie Maker running under Vista. He even tried to convert the file using an XP-based version of Movie Maker -- still no luck. (You can here -- it's freaky and cool and disturbing, all at once.)
Yet some commenters wonder why I rag on Microsoft so much. To wit:
You're just another "dime a dozen" Microsoft hater. This article was just a cynical waste of my time.
and
This article should be renamed, as it is pointless one-sided dribble [sic] that merely points out that that [sic sic] Microsoft has new commercials. Wow, amazing! I think we're all suckers for reading this.
and
So. ... I've read theis [sic] twice now and have a question: what was the point of this article? Where is the "sucker" part? Why is a Mac a "she"?
My problem with the " is that it's just more of the same. Microsoft is trying to win on muscle and marketing gimmicks, not merit. And when things don't work as advertised, it's user error, third-party applications not playing nice, and so on. Even when all the software involved comes out of Redmond, they generally find a way to pin the blame elsewhere.
For the record, I'm using both XP and Vista. XP works OK, most of the time, assuming I reboot once every couple of days. I got a new Vista laptop a year ago; it started out slow and finicky and has only gotten slower and more finicky -- just like every other version of Windows I've used since 3.0. So I have no hope that Microsoft will somehow get it right with Windows 7. If you don't like that, well, sorry.
I use a PC. But I am not a PC.
On the other hand, I like Macs but they're hardly trouble-free, and so far I haven't been willing to fork over the extra money for one. Most everyone I've ever worked with uses Windows, which is why I do. And in my experience, the Windows-to-Mac-and-back experience is still not entirely seamless.
I've used Linux Ubuntu too. It's great if PCs are your hobby and you have plenty of free time to dive into the user forums and figure out what language these people are speaking (it's definitely not English). Getting actual work done? Not so much. Your mileage may vary.
Have I managed to tick off everyone yet? If not, let's talk about the election. That'll do it for sure.
Are you tired of this discussion? Want to fight about something else? E-mail me: cringe@infoworld.com.