Oh yes, its time…
I have been wanting to write this post for a while now, actually, ever since I started bloging. Over the course of the past 10 years, I have had several, let's say, interesting experiences when it comes to Microsoft. Very many "interesting" experiences. My regular readers may know that I hold a grudge against Microsoft and the long-time readers will know a bit about why I hold this grudge. I hope to shine a bit of light upon how this grudge came about in this post.
This post consists of two parts:
1) My many interesting experiences + a bit of history.
2) Facts (Wait for this one...)
So, lets get started. To cover The history bit: Microsoft developed programs for the early macs then stole everything from Apple. Got it? A short and sweet "History of Microsoft in a Nutshell". Moving on to my "interesting" experiences (you will see why i am using that phrase repeatedly soon).
You will never believe it, but I was a hard core Microsoft fan. ITS TRUE! Back when I was 7 [life was so simple back then] my dad gave me his old Windows 95 machine, and I loved it. I had no connection to the Internet, as my family were (and still are) technically slow, but I played games like Thomas The Tank Engine on there for hours at a time. I learned how to use a Windows machine from a very early age on a widely used, arguably one of the most reliable, operating system of the time. One would have thought that I had become a Windows junkie, and I did.
When my parents moved, we decided we would invest in Wi-Fi technology, which was relatively new in 2006/7 and an iMac, which had recently received an upgrade to the Intel Core 2 Duo chipsets and the new Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard operating system. I was strongly against the purchasing of the iMac, VERY strongly against, ironically. I threw tantrums, as far as I can remember, and complained that we could get an amazing Vista computer for half the price (notice the joke here). My mum bought the damned iMac anyway.
Having sold the old family computer, I was allowed to get a laptop for my schoolwork with the money we got. I bought myself a Dell Inspiron 1525 in 2007 with a 160gb HDD, 1.6ghz core 2 duo processor and 2gb RAM. A decent laptop for what it needed to be able to do. So, after a few months of using Vista, I noticed its flaws. It crashed, it checked EVERY action with me, it was slow, but most annoyingly, my £400 laptop after 5 months took 3 hours to load iTunes! 3 HOURS? I checked the register, I cleared and fragged the disk, I even checked with Dell support, who had operators that were telling me to put a blanket over the screen to get rid of the blue screen of death. Even after that, nothing. I dealt with that piece of doodoo (I will refrain from swearing) for the next few months, mainly using the now beloved iMac for my computing needs. After a year, the Dell CrapTop (as my good friend calls it) was a now a useless piece of doodoo.
I also had an XP machine, which was an old computer that we "beefed up"'. I used that as my casual gaming PC, but even that beefed up computer running a reliable operating system crashed constantly. So, after these horrible experiences, I bought a MacBook Pro in the summer of 2009. Since then, my life was broken windows free.
Now I am an Apple junkie and am in the process of convincing the family to buy a Mac. I only have my uncle to go...
Progressing onto point 2. Facts.
I am a tech enthusiast, as you can see. Therefore, I follow many tech news feeds and stories that interest me. The following piece of text has been compiled based on these stories and personal experience. For once, there will be no (or very little) opinion here, just hard fact (now I am sounding like Steve Jobs!).
To start: Vista. As the vista users know, it sucked. It will remain the unsolved mystery of the century why Microsoft released it. It could have been that they were under pressure to come out with something new, or the fact that they are money grabbing business people, which is more likely. Anyway, the timely release of Mac OS X 10.5 and an array of new, shiny mac machines stole users away from Microsoft, including me.
Next: xBox. This is good. Nothing to say here except that I prefer the xBox to the PS3, as I hate Sony (see my previous post). Kinect along with the xBox will remain strong products for Microsoft. There is always some good within all evil.
On a neutral point of view: Windows Phone 7. I like the setup. I like the user interface. I like the fact that it is the only worthy iPhone competitor. The only problem is that Microsoft were way, way too late. Android, iOS and Blackberry OS had already grabbed the smartphone market. If you were considering buying a smartphone, would you choose a glitchy newcomer or a long time player?
Back to negative, Tablets. Microsoft are developing Windows 8 now, which is meant to be tablet compatible. At the moment, the tablet Market is growing faster than the smartphone one did in 2007. Microsoft are saying that the new OS won't be available until late 2012! Are we supposed to wait, Microsoft? If and when they do release a tablet, the price will be ridiculously high, as Microsoft charge a lot for licences, and there will be a lack of apps. So, you tell me, want to wait until 2012 for an overpriced Microsoft tablet or buy a reasonably priced iPad?
And finally: Zune. This was a complete and utter failure. The Zune was meant to be the iPod slyer, the next generation MP3 player, but alas, it was just another one of Microsofts over-hyped products, like the Kin. The Zune was pulled from the shelves last month, after weak initial sales were reported. The technology "developed" for the Zune player will one day find its way into the Windows Phone 7 OS.
To sum up, Microsoft is too late. Being their disconnected self, they completely missed the advancements in consumer tech away from the desk. For me, the 2 new players will be Apple and Google, especially as Google are about to release chrome OS. Microsoft will one day in the far future rot away (after Apple lower their prices for businesses and server tech), as with MySpace and the Flip camcorder, as more open source software, like OpenOffice, become available. I guess it goes to show: the crooks never win.
