Digital Living

Now This Is A Truly Really Scarry Robot!! (We Don't Want To Run Windows In It) ...

In yesterday post we talk about how robot is getting even smarter -- resembling human -- strong, and powerful, and multiple times faster, stronger than human -- hence  the importance of making sure it never "hang" or catch virus, because we can "never" Ctrl-Alt-Delete it if it start acting "erratically" -- without significant effort on our side. (Hence NOT to install Windows on it). :-)

Today, such condition may be getting even more important, if we consider that one of the "today" and "future" robot might look and behave like this:

This is really "scarry" crazy little mean machine! We definitely don't want Windows (or even Vista) to ever run on it. The implication of "bug", "error", "hang" and "virus" is really serious in such circumstances.

For something really mission-critical and critically, sensitively important, may be Windows is not the option?.

Just a thought.

We'll see how the future goes. :-)

Microsoft Seem Will Take On Yahoo (Whether Yahoo Likes It Or Not)

As of today Microsoft seem determine to take on Yahoo and put it inside Microsoft, whether Yahoo likes it or not. To execute this, $44B is at stake.

My overall feel and impression looking at this "big and bold" move is as follow:

1. Seem Microsoft still has the passion to "bet the company" on something that they feel really important. Despite Microsoft's "dull innovations" (in the past few years), seem many of the old Microsoft veterans still have the passion to keep the company exist in important market. Such determination  makes this daring initiative look pretty fascinating indeed. Perhaps one day this would mark a "key milestone" and a "symbolic gesture" of the important time in history when the "big, fat, lazy" Microsoft suddenly seriously transformed again to become and "agile, aggressive and responsive" company once more; and throttle its full strength and energy to be "forcefully, competitively, heartfully, creatively and innovatively" be back again in the current (and future) biggest market possible.
   
2. But if I look at this initiatives from other perspective, I have these "disturbing feeling" and concerns that I can not still fully express:
   
   1. Has Microsoft been very "innovatively" retarded hence they can not catch up by creating their own innovation?
   2. Do they really so "behind" that they have to waste $44 billion just to embrace the yahoo brand?
   3. Or would this be another nostalgic attempt, the same way they did several years ago when Microsoft buy DOS and leverage on it very very smartly and build/enter a very big huge business and industry by acquiring something that other people made??
      1. Would these old Microsoft veterans try to "replay" the "old nostalgic history" that makes them a great legendary success in the past, and "copy-and-paste" such "magic formula for "today" and into the "future"??

We don't know yet why embracing Yahoo becoming a must-list for Microsoft to do, instead of trying to do something on their own.

Yet despite all these rumors, talks and speculations about the "take over" or "merger" -- the thing that relate with WHY Microsoft need to take this bet, the biggest key question into the future is probably this: WHAT is it that Microsoft really would like to do once it got Yahoo under its wings?.

Understanding WHAT Microsoft would possibly do "through" Yahoo once they get Yahoo under their wing probably would reveal WHY Microsoft really would like to take on Yahoo today -- under its wing.

Let's see and explore the possibility of WHAT Microsoft could/would do once they got Yahoo under their wings:

1. Would they use Yahoo as a vehicle for increased source of advertising revenue, so they can lower their Office price offering -- hence they can "hurt" Google in the Office space? -- which is Microsoft "home turf"??
2. Would Microsoft leverage Yahoo customer base (who are using Yahoo Mail and Yahoo Messenger Daily) as a base to launch and introduce "new add-on live services" to the market? e.g. for every yahoo mail and yahoo messenger user, now "suddenly" they can have "Office Live" at the click of a button too?? -- which comes at a very reasonable price as well? -- hence creating a "captive market" for their "Office Live" offerings?
3. Would Microsoft use Flickr, Delicious and other fascinating assets that Yahoo has as a leverage to build more advertising revenue, so they can lower the Office product (Office Live or Office Desktop) pricing, without hurting their stock valuation in the market?
4. Would Microsoft leverage Yahoo infrastructure and turn it to become more "programmable" and "API" ready, so it eventually become the "Web Operating System" that would/could become the homeground to ensure future brighter prospect for Microsoft Windows OS?
5. Would this actually be an attempt to win all these "4 key initiatives" at the same time??
   1. To turn Yahoo mail & Yahoo messenger customer base to become "captive" customer for Office Live?
   2. To turn Yahoo web advertising revenue + Microsoft web advertising revenue as a base foundation to leapfrog Google in the future?
   3. To wrap Yahoo services with "programmable" and "friendly" API that would make Yahoo services the first base foundation for Microsoft's future "Web Operating System" .. which eventually would become the future prosperous home ground for the "future Windows OS"?
   4. To complement Yahoo services (email + YM + flickr + delicious, etc) with Office Live offering, which if complemented with advertising revenue stream would enable Microsoft to lower its Office Live price -- which would enable it to compete agressively with Google Docs; yet at the same time also would enable Microsoft to do so (aka lower its Office systems price) without affecting its market stock valuation?

These questions and speculations are still yet to be seen. I was totally skeptic when I hear Mr. Ballmer or even Mr. Ozzie mention about the plan to take on Yahoo. But when Bill Gates start to stand up on on stage and provide perspective of the company determination to take on Yahoo, or to proceed with their "big bet" goal with or without Yahoo ... for sure this is something that -- may be, seems -- need to be more seriously considered and think about.

What is Microsoft really up to? Are we really going to see Microsoft feeding their "new" Office live offering through Yahoo customer base? Are we really going to see Microsoft using Yahoo's advertising revenue as a basis to lower their Office Live offering, hence it can "flexibly" and "adaptively" compete with Google offerings -- without hurting their stock market valuation?? Or would this just be one of Mr. Ballmer craziest useless ideas -- that one day will be remembered in the annal of CEO and great company leadership as the strangest and most pathetic decision a CEO could ever made?

As of now we don't know yet. Things are remain to be seen. But overall, the recent appearance of Bill Gates to provide support to the ideas is really make this "big-bet ideas" worth a more serious consideration. May be .. and this is probably a BIG speculative MAY BE ... MAY BE Microsoft is really up into something really BIG HUGE and WONDERFUL?

Let's say it's a yes, can Mr. Ozzie execute on that? Based on Mr. Ozzie track record, may be, but whether he will be able to do that in rapid timeline like Microsoft used to be able to do during the DOS, Windows, IE-Browser-War leadership of Bill Gates ... such remain to be seen.

After all, good idea could be a good idea, but ability to execute on those ideas usually will determine success, or failure.

Microsoft today is no longer the same Microsoft we use to know in the 80s or 90s. Its leadership team has changed. Mr. Ballmer, Mr. Ozzie -- and not Bill Gates -- is now in charge. No matter how good the idea is (if it is indeed later on happen to be known to be a "good" or "great idea") ... if the executive team's execution is lauzy, for sure such "big bet" have a very high risk of being a tremendous failure.

We can never predict the future. But we'll see how the future goes if this big-bold-"ugly" initiative eventually take place.

The WHAT (and WHY) Microsoft takes this big bold "seem intuitively crazy" bet to embrace Yahoo as one of its key strategic attempt to make itself relevant again in the future is something interesting and important that worth sometime to think upon.

The future of computing might be heavily influenced by it, one day.

ps: Additional readings related with the "Microhoo" initiatives can also be seen below:

• Microsoft: See the Yahoo, Take the Yahoo

• Gates on Microhoo: Offer very fair

   

An Unfunny, RETARDED, MORALLY IN-ETHICAL, SHAMEFUL Joke About XO Laptop!

I'm a fans of Mac technologies. And I usually love the "satir" of Fake-Steve-Jobs (FSJ). But when it comes to people making funny of a moral-attempt-that-try-to-change the world for the better, I'm TOTALLY AGAINST it.

This is one example of that IMPROPER satir. It makes fun of the "OLPC" (One Laptop Per Children) computer.

It says:

Looking at this, I really wonder what this is all about!!

I said, for God sake, this is NOT funny at all. Actually it's actually a bit morally retarded. I mean, these people at OLPC is trying to make computing accessible to ALL children around the world out there, and instead of trying to help them out with their noble cause, we try to ridicule them by being SNOB???.

Are we really becoming morally retarded that despite their OLPC XO notebook attempt might be successful or un-successful, we should even ridiculed them for their noble act and attempt? This is no funny joke at all. Instead, doing such unfunny joke really seem morally retarded.

In regards with that, it is a pity that recently Fake-Steve-Jobs posting context more and more focusing on the "self-pride" aspect of the "Mac" and forget the "underlying moral essence" that makes Apple so much fun, fascinating and great company after all.

Beside the "MORALLY IN-ETHICAL" essence of such un-funny joke, strangely (and sadly) enough I believe such publicly posted joke is also morally against the "underlying moral essence" standard of the Apple brand and value system that Apple had as as well.

If we remember these beautiful "think different" spirit and quotes FROM APPLE:

THE CRAZY ONE

Here's to the crazy ones ..
The misfits; the rebels ..
The troublemakers ..
The roundpegs in the square hole.
The one who see things differently.

They're not fond of rules.
And they have no respect for the status quo.

You can quote them,
Disagree with them,
Glorify or vilivy them.

But the only thing you can't do,
is to ignore them.

Because they change things.
They push the human race forward.

And while some may see them as the crazy ones.
We see genius.

Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world ...
... are the ones who do.

In many ways, isn't the OLPC  XO is a "round pegs" in the square hole, a "rebel", a movement in the spirit that try to change the world for the better too??

Isn't this "exactly" the "same" (or at least similar0 value system that is equally shared and by Apple too? Isn't that what the Apple brand is all about too?? To make a "dent" -- a great positive difference in the -- universe? To make the world a better place to be for the rest of our society??

In that retrospect, I really wonder what the essence of these jokes is all about?? Celebration of "blind prideness on the beauty of our Apple and Mac brand?"

For God sake, this is a $200 OLPC XO notebook being compared to a $1,500 - $2,000 MacBook/MacBook Pro laptop? And this -- shamefully -- is also a "cynical improper joke" directed towards a truly nobel cause!

• In that essence, probably we shall be "ashamed" of ourselves that we -- the "league" of Apple admirers -- ever produce this. Perhaps we shall see it through the perspective that an OLPC XO campaign is not something that we Apple people should "negatively joke about".
• OLPC XO campaign is about giving access to knowledge, education and computing to children around the world. Through it, perhaps one day thousands or millions of children around the world will start to understand the internet, know about computing that they never touch. Through it they might have a chance to become an integrated part of the world's standard.

In a way, this is perhaps a "bicycle to the mind" that Apple is always talking about!.

One day, as these children start grasphing the idea of the world at large and become proficient at it, they might start making a their own decision to buy their own computer ... and buy a Mac! But OLPC might be the catalyst that opens their mind and access to the world! Through it, no longer they ever be divided from the rest of the world. Never they get left behind anymore. OLPC XO might one day -- be it successful or not -- a hope to become these children's first enabler for them to have access to the net, and to become part of the the digital world society and digital member of the world market we are all understand and heading about!

Through it ... the world might one day never be digitally divided anymore!

In that sense, improper joke about the XO is really feels not right. Infact, it really feel against the whole great value system of the Apple brand itself.

• It's a pity that such shameful incidental joke ever being made and posted, not only once, but repeatedly in the FSJ post.
• It's a pity that such improper joke is made in the name of a value system of an Apple brand, while actually the value system of the joke is not alight at all with the Apple inner spirit to "think different" and "to change the world for the better".

I'm saddened by this. It's pitiful.It's strongly seem and feel against great universal moral standard that we are all really crave about. It's against good value systems that we all seem to always try to stand for -- be it through our expression of the Apple brand -- or through our collective mutual attempt as an "Apple admirer": (1) to "be the round peg in the square hole" ... (2) to "make a dent" in the universe ... (3) to change the world for the better!

The "Fake Steve Ballmer Blogspot"? Oh My God!!

We have been entertained ourselves with the fascinating Fake Steve Jobs (FSJ) secret diary journal and website (or call it blogs if you like). It was chic, it was fun, it was so much feel like el senor Jobso himself all along!

Yet today I discover -- hoham wala wala -- the Fake Steve Ballmer Blogspot!!!

Hwarakadah! Who on earth would spent his time faking himself as the monkey dancing king of the Microsoft empire???

Yet, once reading the blogspot, in all fairness the content is pretty crazy "fun" inspiring reading too. (Although it never change the crucial perspective that Mr. Ballmer is indeed perhaps one of the "wierdest leader" of all the annal history of the Microsoft great empire).

Here's a look at some of its content.

Hwarakadah!!! :-) :-) :-) Wierdo? Crazy huh? (Yet occassionally refreshingly "funny" -- and satirically (though not artistically) -- "true" too). :-)

I still wonder who would spend the precious living moments of their daily live, the most crucial time of their living, the most fascinating days of their dreaming, and using it  instead to everyday faking ... everyday wasting ... everyday impersonating ...  the "Fake" Steve Ballmer ???. Don't he/she/they/"it" have better "things" to doo ??? :-) :-) :-) *joking*. I mean, his/her/they/it materials indeed is entertaining us and give us "enlightment" (or "darklightment"?) on the "truest dark side" of the person being impersonated. For some very "odd reason" it could be a medium of "great inspiration and wierdest 'fun'" for us. But for the person that have to delve into it, reflect and resonate the "true" Mr. Ballmer that he/she/they/it has to impersonate? That must be the toughest, cruelest, "most ridiculed" job on earth.

Being able to stand that, to be able to overcome all nay say and obstacles ahead, and to be able to wake up, stand up, think up and come up daily (as well as  periodically) with such "hogwash cloud" act must be a really though job.

I put my salute to that someone (which could be a he, a she, a they, or an "it" may be??) that really standing up and trying to do that. He/she/they/it really got an amazing tough job.

High five!

Apple vs Microsoft: Through "Parody" See How The Two Opposing-World's Culture Are Different!

See a parody that shows how the two opposing-world of Apple and Microsoft are totally different:

• At the top is a Steve Jobs' original iPod commercial. It's cool, chic, awesome piece of advertisement that appeal to the masses.
• At the bottom is the Mr. Ballmer's monkey dance parody version -- adapted for the "zune".

See how the two world's culture (and mass-persuasion style) are different. (And have a good laugh too). :-) ... if you don't get it ... see the Mr. Baller "original monkey dance version" here first, then you'll get what the "parody" means. :-)

Apple Styling

Microsoft Doing

No offense to Mr. Ballmer, but I seriously think Microsoft recent "increasingly BAD" attitude and "ARROGANT culture" really need to change. Poooh-pooh-ing iPod and iPhone -- like Mr. Ballmer always did all the time -- simply won't help things getting better. Keep doing the "monkey dancing thing" proven to be embarrassing and demoralizing for the "old Microsoft fans", rather than helping Microsoft recover its (older) great spirit, attitude and image. It's disastrous!

If things not changed under Mr. Baller, like I said earlier, probably Microsoft really need Bill Gates to step up once more back into the stage.

I was a serious Microsoft "fans" during Gates era, at the same time I have so much respect for Steve Jobs works (Apple, Next Computer) too. They are both excellent. Microsoft during Gates was really a well attitude company at that time. A tough competitor yes, but the one with a good fighting spirit, strong-drive underdog attitude, and great ability in making things happen. They were awesome. Everybody likes them (which is one the reason they come to become the biggest player in the industry).

Under Mr. Ballmer, the whole good-humble-underdog-value-attitude collapse. How sad.

I really hope things would change for the better at Microsoft. The world would be a better place to be ... if such ever happen.

The Ticker Symbol "FAD" Continues ...

Blog-post courtesy of FSJ.

Since Sun changed its ticker symbol to JAVA, and everybody else seems eager to jump into the "ticker fad" bandwagon also, perhaps BEA system plan to change its ticker symbol too. To what? FCKD?. That's what FSJ wrote today in his blog.

Of course that statement could be a joke. (That's very typical of FSJ). But the essence is true:

People sometimes act funny and crazy. They often imitate thing without clear reason; being a herd-animal, they just try to make "things" work without clear purpose or reasoning behind it. If somebody is doing it, and everybody else is doing it too; they find a "reason" to do it too!

Sun latest move to change its ticker symbol to JAVA perhaps is driven by an attempt to make traders "feel" the "real thing" when they trade the "unreal thing".

Trader 1: "How's JAVA performance today?"

Trader 2: "Great. But tomorrow it might go down"

Trader 3: "What? JAVA can't go down. It's JAVA you know"

(then the trade goes up).

Perhaps its this kind of "fad" and "annoying logic" that some marketing-geeks hope to influence into the minds of the illogical-trader around the world. By twisting the ticker symbol, they hope they can influence the mindset and decision of the traders. Quite phenomenal indeed. But totally stupid inside.

All in all, the basis thinking of the whole ticker symbol change is crazy and un-cool anyway. It's cheap marketing that would might seem "fun and brilliant" in a short while, yet might bring greater long term consequences in the future.

Looking at these, one same question constantly pop-up again in my mind: If one day Java is no longer popular ... (taken over by PHP, Ruby, etc) ... would Jonathan change the ticker symbol again ... this time to AARGHHHH ... or HELP ... or SHIT ????

What a real strange mind that these people had.

So, we'll see whether the fad will continue. Would BEA change its logic to "FCKD" as we jokingly thought? Would other company follow through? We simply don't know.

But the funniest thing would be a thought that comes up from GirmoDe regarding the subject, when he said ...

(if BEA changed its ticker symbol to FCKD) ... BEA might have to fight SCO for that ticker.

LOL!. What a fad these actions taken by these companies and executives really are! Let's see whether they would really fight each other for that symbol. :-) If they do, everybody would be FCKD. :-) :-) :-)

 

Sun Would Like To Change Its Ticker Symbol To JAVA. >> What??

I read on Jonathan Schwartz (SUN CEO) blog today that there's a plan within the company to change SUN ticker symbol from SUNW to JAVA. One of the reason for this change is because SUN is no longer in the workstation business only anymore -- The "W" in SUNW belongs to SUN-W-orkstation -- and that people shall say "passe" to the past, and move on into the future.

Reading that really feel strange and confusing. I mean, I could understand that Jonathan would like SUN brand to be known through its software and development platform:

"StarOffice, OpenOffice, Java are all from SUN, ladies and gentleman ..."

"The hardware, storage systems are all SUN too ..."

Nice move. One day more and more people might know (and experience) SUN brand from its software, not only from its hardware and data center stuff. After all -- as the logic goes: the number of people using software -- which potential could be "all of us" -- one day could be greater from the number of IT guys tinkering with the Sun Hardware in the data center. Interesting thoughts from Jonathan.

But with all that, I still don't understand why on earth the SUN ticker symbol need to be changed from SUNW to JAVA? No matter how hard Mr Schwartz try to explain it, I still don't get the point -- and still refuse to "get" the point (probably). From any angle, this seems totally irrelevant.

Even, if JAVA seems really that important, why not changing it to SUN-J for example?. They could have announced the plan as: ... the era has changed, what used to be SUN-W (aka Sun W-orkstation) .. now become SUN-J (Sun J-ava)... Such would feel "a bit" more make sense, probably.

Jonathan Schwartz seems brilliant at time. He instrisinctly understand the powerful value of software. But if he indeed lead the company to really (and unjokingly) take this move forward, I really doubt whether he really understand the real value of a brand (and its rooted history) in its truest sense.

Imagine what happen when someday Java fades away, then PHP take over, or Ruby getting more popular, would Sir Jonathan change the SUN ticker symbol again .. this time ... to AARGH ?? :-)

Is Vista Really That Bad?? (Quick Review By PC Magazine Leader)

Below is an excerpt from latest article written by Jim Louderback, of PC Magazine, regarding Vista.

Jim Louderback *)

Maybe it was something in the water? I've been a big proponent of the new OS (Vista) over the past few months, even going so far as loading it onto most of my computers and spending hours tweaking and optimizing it. So why, nine months after launch, am I so frustrated? The litany of what doesn't work and what still frustrates me stretches on endlessly.

Take sleep mode, for example. Vista promised a new low-power sleep mode that would save energy yet enable nearly instantaneous resume. Poppycock. The brand-new dual-core system I built a few months ago totters off to sleep but never returns. I have to cold-start it to bring it back. This after replacing virtually every driver inside. It's gotten so bad that I've actually nicknamed it Chip Van Winkle. And I've nicknamed my primary Dell notebook Philip Marlowe.

But it's not just the long sleep. My home notebook acts as if it comes from Starbucks rather than HP. It used to snooze—but now, after a recent Vista update, it never goes to sleep at all. Its new nickname: Compuccino.   

Networking, too, gives me huge headaches. In XP, a simple right click on the system tray icon put me one click away from IP settings and connections status. Now that same icon brings up a menu of options that ultimately lead to the Network and Sharing center—sharing in the Sirius Cybernetics, "Share and Enjoy" obfuscation mode, not any sort of network sharing I'm familiar with. I've configured every PC on my home network to share drives and printers, yet owing to some undiscovered element, there's no guarantee that any of them will be visible at any given time.

Take my media center PC, for example. It's supposed to serve up photos, videos, and music. Instead, it often simply drops off the network for absolutely no reason. Chip Van Winkle might be able to see it, but Compuccino can't.

Another complaint: With XP, wireless network connectivity out of sleep mode was virtually instantaneous. Now it can take up to 30 seconds to reconnect, even when my systems do wake up. That's in a trusted network, a trusted zone, and a trusted system. And why does it take so long for the dialog box to pop up after I right-click on the network tray icon? Vista has replaced XP's quick reaction time with molasses. I'm always wondering if something's wrong.

I could go on and on about the lack of drivers, the bizarre wake-up rituals, the strange and nonreproducible system quirks, and more. But I won't bore you with the details. The upshot is that even after nine months, Vista just ain't cutting it. I definitely gave Microsoft too much of a free pass on this operating system: I expected it to get the kinks worked out more quickly. Boy, was I fooled! If Microsoft can't get Vista working, I might just do the unthinkable: I might move to Linux.

-- Jim Louderback was the top leader of PC Magazine and is next the CEO of Revision3, the leading Internet television network focused on developing programming for the on-demand generation. The complete referenced article is here.

Enough With The Most Retarded CEO On Planet Earth! Perhaps It's Time For Gates To Be Back? (And Make Microsoft "Cool & Love-able" Once More?)

Microsoft under Steve Balmer is really getting retarded. Ever saw that "monkey dance" that Mr. Balmer is performing during one of the event that Microsoft is doing? So uncoool.

Microsoft used to be really a great company that people love. We like the humbleness and simplicity of Mr. Gates, and the way Microsoft build software stuff that all programmer around the world willingly adopt and build-upon.

But Microsoft under Ballmer is different. When being shown an iPod, Ballmer keep "pooh-pooh" it, yet keep producing the lauzy Zune. When shown the iPhone, he said "How many millions of iPhone out there compared to millions of Windows Mobile that's already out there?". A total reflection of the "changing-crazy-arrogant Microsoft" under Balmer.

My take is this: somewhere back in the 80s, or 90s, the number of Windows user was LESS than the number of DOS user. Yet Microsoft is pursuing Windows (on top of DOS) with passion, and eventually makes one of the biggest breakthrough of the lifetime.

Saying "we already got millions ... and the 'other' guy is still puny" is never the great way to win the competition. BTW, Mr. Balmer ... a couple of years ago, the number of internet user WAS puny. But today, do you think it's still "that small"???

Perhaps need Bill Gates to be back at the helm of Microsoft. If not to keep the "underdog spirit" alive again,  at least we need him back so that no more "stupid arrogant statements" and "embarrassing acts" is ever done again on behalf of the once great lovely lovable company that we all once love and stood up for, ... a "small" company that was fighting for the good spirit and cause of creating a workable PC, ... a company which was SMALL and NEVER ARROGANT back then, ... a company which was at that time was called and named  ... Microsoft!.