Me with my guest badge!

So for those of  you who don’t know or follow my twitter feed, my aunt is a IT Pro Advisor at Microsoft Canada.  You may also know that my opinion of Microsoft hasn’t been the highest (as expressed often in this blog).

The purpose of my visit was to ask successful people how they got to where they are in their field, which holds my interest.  The people were incredibly kind and interesting and really let me pick their brains. Continue reading

I can’t honestly say I’m surprised, but I can say I’m dismayed as I’ve heard good things about Bing…

However, Microsoft has been found to be skewing results in it’s Bing Decision Engine, which now provides search for Yahoo as well and provides 20% of the search market.

Bing Search Tainted by Pro-Microsoft Results

In the examples given, a search for “Why is Windows so expensive?” turned up results for asking why Macs are so expensive.  Similarly, when asked if Microsoft is evil, it would link to articles where Google was portrayed as evil.  Google queries – including asking if Google was evil – did their job and returned appropriate results.

Microsoft has cleaned up these certain examples, but what worries me is Microsoft’s tampering with the results which may be as of yet unnoticed.  Could they hide a PR faux-pas?  Could they hide news of more bugs?

I had been tempted to try Bing as I’ve heard some good things about it (mostly “It’s better than Live Search”, but I’d have to give it a fair shake before knocking it) but this has trampled this temptation.  Too bad Microsoft.

No matter what you think of Microsoft or Office, this is absolutely excellent!

I’m an MS Office fan and look forward to the rumours of Firefox support I’ve heard for Office 2010’s cloud version.  Take what you may (hopefully a few laughs) from this video.

Reading the Ubuntu Planet (a aggregation of the blogs belonging to all the members of the Ubuntu Project) I stumbled across this gem:

Bold Prediction:  Bug 1 will be closed in the next 24 months

This is a reference to Ubuntu’s famed Bug 1: Microsoft has majority market share (“Microsoft has a majority market share in the new desktop PC marketplace.  This is a bug, which Ubuntu is designed to fix.”)

The writer references another writer who identifies (correctly) Linux to be at GhandiCon3 (from the famous Ghandi quote promoting non-violent revolution: “First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win.”).  Linux has certainly been ignored.  Then laughed at (“Linux?  Nothing runs on Linux!”).  When Microsoft is issuing Get the “Facts” campaigns and trying to sue Linux supporters into submission (like TomTom GPS), we’re definitely at GhandiCon3 (Then they fight you).  Whether we will win, well, that’s to be determind.  I am hopeful, however, that the Google Chrome OS will go far to helping us win.

Do I think Microsoft will lose majority market share (Note, this is not wiped out) by June 2011?  Not really.  Do I hope they do?  Yes.  Remember, it’s not just Linux that needs to make the dent, but Apple’s OS X (which poses little threat to Linux as long as it stays bound to the Apple Macintosh).  As far as crises that would percipitate this go I see US Antitrust breaking up Microsoft, Microsoft flopping with Windows7, or computer manufacturers refusing to put up with the grief that Microsoft gives them (like defining what a “netbook” is despite not actually making computers, Per-Processor Licensing Fees, and the like).  Microsoft’s market share is dependent on its stranglehold of the manufacturers and if that collapses, Microsoft would collapse (in relative terms, of course).

Until then, the open source community can just keep making the best software they can and wait for GhandiCon4.

Via Slashdot:  Microsoft Changing User’s Default Search Engine

CNet has discovered that Microsoft has taken to changing the default search engines of some Windows users with the Google Toolbar.  It’s not like it’s anything new (Microsoft also slipped in an almost-impossible-to-remove-without-breaking-everything Firefox add-on without permission), but it’s disturbing nonetheless.  What is perhaps more disturbing is that people take this lying down.  When a company is able to step into your computer, change a personal setting for its own benefit, and barely anyone notices, isn’t there a problem?  Are people letting their digital rights fall by the wayside?

People ask me why I don’t use Windows.  I have all sorts of answers from Open Source to this prime example of Microsoft’s lack of respect for its consumers.  Then I ask them why they use Windows.  They usually didn’t know there was anything else than Windows or OS X.  It’s this illusion of duopoly that keeps Microsoft in business.  In what way is Windows more advanced than, say, Linux?  It’s not.  It’s insecure, runs an ancient file system, doesn’t even have theme support, has a bloated compositor, the list goes on.  Microsoft relies on the perception of duopoly and that software only works on Windows to keep the consumer afraid of switching, and that’s really sad because a company like Microsoft surely could be innovative in its OS products.  It’s shown that it can be with their Office and gaming divisions (Whether it suffers from Microsoft’s usual launch problems or not, Natal is certainly ambitious).  Bring that to the OS and stop scaring people.  In the console race Microsoft is not the big dog and so we see them being more innovative, but Microsoft has let innovation fall by the wayside and instead of improving their products has stooped to fear and false advertising.

Aaaand it’s 12:15 in the morning and I need to sleep.  Sorry about posting so late, I won’t miss tommorow.

Just when you think that Microsoft shoveling money into a hole was the lowest that Microsoft’s marketing department could go, think again.

Here’s their new “Get the Facts” campaign, where the “Facts” only resemble “Facts” in Stalinist Russia.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/get-the-facts/browser-comparison.aspx

Okey dokey then.  Seriously?

Let’s do a step-by-step rebuttle, shall we?

Security:  Bunk.  Let’s “Get the Facts” from ArsTechnica.  Chrome is the last one standing, undefeated because of its sandboxing feature.  Safari4 fell first, then IE8, then Firefox3.whatever.  The number for IE exploits is significantly higher and they go much longer without being fixed.

Privacy:  Microsoft forgot to mention that Google Chrome and Firefox both have very good privacy features.  Infact, Chrome was first.

Ease-of-use:  This is purely subjective, but I’ll say that Chrome has that one down pat because of its simplicity and integration with search (which can be changed, not just Google).

Web Standards:  This is the thing that comedy is made of.  Honestly…  Chrome and Firefox 3.5 still both beat IE.  There’s a reason that web developers don’t use IE.  Because we spend as much time making things work in IE that work in good browsers as we do creating the codebase.

Developer Tools:  I’d say Open Sourcitude is a very big developer tool.  So are these things called extensions, which are huge in Firefox and coming for Chrome.  Of course it wins?  Because IE has worked sooooo well in the past.  And it only works, of course, on Microsoft operating systems.

Reliability:  Sure, IE *might* have both, but it also needs to use it more.  Chrome was the one that came up with multithreaded browsing, and Firefox 3.5 has both.  Even if IE has both, Chrome and Firefox still need them less.

Customizability:  It’s a tie?  IE doesn’t have themes.  Or Extensions.  And those “features” that you have to install extensions for in Firefox:  that’s the point.  Because it makes Firefox faster.  Add to that the fact that Firefox 3.5 beats IE8 feature-to-feature, and this is completely ridiculous.  And if all those features are “built in”, it’s not customizable.  Gotcha.

Compatibility:  There’s two ways to look at this – one is that it’s only compatible because Microsoft threw standards to the wind and *they’re* the ones that force developers to engage in coding voodoo.  The other is that it’s junk because modern sites are all developed for Firefox as well, and I’ve never seen problems with Chrome.  The only one that really has compatibility issues is Opera, which is because it’s so strict.

Manageability:  There are tools to manage Firefox at an enterprise scale, they just aren’t built in.  Because most people don’t need them.  That makes the browser slow.  And I’d doubt how well they work…

Performance:  This is junk.  Now, I can’t seem to find the benchmarks, but in benchmarks comparing Firefox 3.5 Beta, Google Chrome 2, Safari 4, Opera9.6 and IE8, IE8 was the loser.  It’s not a tie.  IE is significantly slower than the others.

They got away with this by running the “stable” versions of Chrome and Firefox.  That’s because IE is much much newer than these.  However, the latest testing releases of Chrome and Firefox, both very stable, blow IE away.

Microsoft:  How many people are you trying to offend by lying to your customers?  This is desperate and not befitting of a company that does make some good software (Office2007 fan here).  But you are playing dirty.  And still losing.  IE is the only browser that is actually, actively *hated*.  Think about that and how you’re contributing to that.  And stop trying to explain the existence of IE by lying about it:  build a better browser.

Microsoft’s marketing department has reached new lows.

I mean, really new lows.

You had best read it for yourself from Microsoft Australia.  You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.

http://www.microsoft.com/australia/ie8/competition/

Yes, Microsoft has decided to “hide” $10,000 on a website and post clues, but only people who download and use their Internet Explorer 8 browser will be able to participate.

Anyone thinking of the money hole right now?

Is this desperate?  Is this pathetic?  Is this pathetically desperate?  Check check and check.  Microsoft would, of course, be the only browser maker to actually shovel money at their browser.  I mean, Google is supposedly taking the unorthodox step of advertising its browser on TV, but that’s completely different from throwing money to anyone who will catch it.

But wait:  there’s more!

Let’s look at the ad copy (which is, in true Microsoft web-standards-adherence fashion, an image):

“We’ve buried $10,00 on the internet and if you’re the first one to find it you get to keep it.”

The hook

“But you’ll never find it using that browser.  (So get rid of it, or get lost.)”

The line

“If you want a serious shot at the ten grand, upgrade your browser to Windows Internet Explorer 8 now.  Then follow @tengrand_IE8 on Twitter for daily clues that point you to the buried loot”
The sinker.

Excuse me, upgrade my browser?  The only upgrading I’m doing is to Firefox 3.5.  How can you call it an upgrade with undeniably worse security, significantly slower, and iffy-at-best standards adherence?

To quote @dpogue: …”oh my! I… didn’t think Microsoft was capable of stooping *that* low o.o”

Neither did I. I mean, I knew Microsoft always won at the web browser/OS game of limbo (limbo limbo limbo! How low can you go?!?) but I never thought they’d actually throw money at people.

Besides, it’s not enough. I’d need at least $100,000 CAD to make me switch (for the record, the prize is about $9,000 CAD or $8,000 USD)

Even better:  at the bottom, it says “It’s not as stupid as it sounds”.  Yes, yes it is.  At least that crossed the mind of someone at Microsoft.  Otherwise I’d have serious doubts as to the future of Humanity.  The ironic part is that there will be the inevitable Firefox extension that will allow Open Source fans to participate.

I was at Best Buy today and looking at their netbooks when I realized “Hey.  None of these run Linux”.  I asked a clerk and they don’t carry the Linux models at all.  Seeing as Windows is a secondary option on these machines when Linux is the first, this disturbed me on several levels.

The first was that people were being denied the chance to make a choice about their OS.  Even though Linux is invariably smaller, faster, more stable, and more secure, certain stores have entered into agreements with Microsoft that forbid their selling of these products.  Prime example is Walmart, who despite the amazing success of their Linux PC lines with Everex gPC and the EeePC, pulled them off shelves at the behest of Microsoft.

If you compare features of Windows and (lets say) Ubuntu Linux, Ubuntu wins hands down.  Take a look:

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