Vermyndax’s Lair

Tonight I decided to give the Windows Live Services beta proggies a shot. I had heard about these from Leo Laporte and Paul Thurrott, but to be brutally honest, I’ve pretty much given up on enjoying anything that Microsoft puts out.

Quite honestly, this little bag of tricks should have shipped with Windows Vista. I remember when I loaded Vista for the first time, I was expecting a lot out of the new Windows Mail client. I got nothing but a crock. The only update I could place was the borders on the windows.

The Windows Live Services beta is a little package of apps that integrate nicely together - all of them have the same feel and experience. The Windows Live Mail client actually works with IMAP well (and working with IMAP folders functions correctly for Sent Items, etc.!) and will generally replace the Mozilla apps on my Windows desktop for the time being.

Yeah, I said the time being. You Microsofties that read this blog… and I know there’s a few of you… it’s nice when you let good software slip out. Too bad these didn’t ship with Vista.

BTW, I’m posting this with MarsEdit on the Mac because I’m also giving that a shot.

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Microsoft Watch - Corporate - What Microsoft’s EU Ruling Means to You

Good work, Europeans. You’ve finally delivered what was needed. Too bad the U.S. government was too much of a wuss.

Folks in the cell phone and computer businesses need to wake up to what is going on outside of our country. Perhaps this is the first step toward that end. I congratulate the EU.

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So this morning, I’m up way-too-early again, which means… yes.. Verm is getting back on a plane. The past two years I have traveled way more than ever in my life and it’s actually starting to feel like a career.

But you know your interest is piqued when you clamor to make arrangements to fly to D.C. just for one day to see a product demo. Yes, the technology is that cool and that interesting. It’s mainly interesting for our project, but I can think of two hundred billion applications for the technology we’re looking at today.

Soon I should have some news about Entourage 2004. I’ll give you a clue: there’s a very, very important update coming soon for Entourage… likely around the middle to end of October. Stay tuned.

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I thought I’d do a quickie post and describe to you a little bit about my online life - where you can find information about me in real time, or maybe anytime later you want to check in… or if you want to completely ignore me, you know which sites to avoid.

Under the blogroll on the right-hand side of the site, you can see links to various content tendrils to latch onto. These tendrils do not have suckers, they’re merely there for you to grab at will. Okie, I’m not paid for analogies these days. Get over it.

First and foremost, you can catch me microblogging at Jaiku. If you wish to track me there, you can add me as a contact. I microblog there frequently with presence updates, but as far as pithiness goes, it’s really light.

I’m pretty involved in music and podcasting, so if you’re curious as to what makes me tick there, track me on last.fm.

I frequently experiment in the social phenomena known as Wakoopa, although I’m not sure why and should probably feel regularly violated. Truth be told I could enjoy being violated right now.

Lastly, I’ve opened a new website for the family and blogging about family-related events at Porkbuns.org. I’ve hesitated announcing this site to the general public because most of you Could Give a Damn, but… there it is.

So there you have it - where to find me and how. Have a good Tuesday.

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Bah, I had one more thought that I meant to express in that last post and I completely forgot about it. This is what happens when I don’t take notes.

Has anyone else noticed that Microsoft’s competition keeps drawing their attention away from their core business and running them in circles? Google keeps drawing them into the search fight. Apple keeps drawing them into the portable music device fight. Companies are pulling Microsoft’s meat in many different directions and they’re taking the bait. The corporate desire to be everything computing to everyone is such a disease at Redmond that they cannot resist the chum. They bite over and over, all the while chasing their tail and losing sight of the core business.

I strongly believe that’s what has happened to Vista and Office 2007. Microsoft has lost sight of these core businesses because of the resources and desire to compete in other spaces. And… well, we know what happened with Vista this year, don’t we?

Keep it up, everyone. Eventually, Microsoft will be so dizzy they won’t have a grip on the computing business at all.

…if that’s not happened already.

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Sorry about being MIA for a while. I’ve had quite a bit going on, most of which centered around work. Last week I was on the west coast for some work in San Jose.

Excuses aside, I simply had to comment on the big announcements today from the fruity people. I think it goes without saying that the devices unveiled today are compelling and beautiful. Apple continued the trend-setting posture today. I won’t bother to go over each and every device because I’m sure that by now, you’ve read about all you can read on them - perhaps even purchased one or two of them.

It shocks me just how awesomely Apple has slain the competition this year. The best part of it is that the biggest revolution of them all (Leopard) is still yet to be unleashed to the public. Apple has really stored up some fabulous work for this year and they are absolutely killing in the market.

I should point out that Microsoft suspiciously dropped the price of the Zune merely one day prior to the Apple event… on a Tuesday… when Apple had announced the media event two weeks ago… and… Microsoft says… well… they had always planned to do that and it was a regular part of its lifecycle.

Who the hell does Microsoft think they are fooling?

It’s not all roses in the Apple side of the world though. Jobs delivered quite a jolt by announcing a $200 price drop on the iPhone, which has sent pundits spinning tales and Apple fans frothing mad. In a way, I don’t blame them - historically when you were an early adopter of an Apple product, you could expect some technical issues but you didn’t expect a 1/3rd price drop 3 months later. Ouch. That’s gotta hurt. If I had bought an iPhone, I would be sleeping in the doghouse tonight. The wife would have absolutely tied me up by the toenails and flogged me with a wet Chinese mein. I’m not really sure how I feel about this, but Jobs really should do something to throw those early adopters a bone. I suspect he will do that, but just didn’t bring it up at the press event because of the possible negative tone around that discussion.

One other item I will point out. I received an 80gb video iPod last Christmas as the crowning gift and I love it. I love it so much, matter of fact, tha I cannot really justify the expenditure for one of these new and fancy iPods. While they are definitely attractive, I have my sights set on Macs themselves and need all the spare change I can get right now.

For those of you getting sucked in by the halo effect and kicking around the idea of buying a Mac… that ante probably just went up a little bit.

Finally, a parting thought.

The war for the enterprise is fought in the home.

Leopard will be waiting when your enterprise decides to convert. It will have many surprises to offer you. You won’t be sorry.

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Microsoft Allegedly Bullies and Bribes to Make Office an International Standard

While I know there’s two sides to every story, there’s enough negativity surrounding Microsoft on this issue that I just don’t care to hear their side. Sigh.

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