An Open Letter to Microsoft (who else?)

Dearest Microsoft [sic],

Some twenty-two years ago, you introduced Windows 1.0. Since then, you’ve released five major updates to the Windows kernel, including Windows NT, which changed everything. However, I’ve noticed lately that you’ve been doing a lot more with Windows.

Let’s get one thing straight: Windows is a business desktop operating system. It performs excellently in offices, stores, point-of-sale applications, etc. However, it is not a real consumer operating system. The Windows NT complexity built into Windows XP and Vista has complicated things beyond redemption for end users. Most people don’t even have a network in their home, never mind a server. Most people would be much happier with Mac OS X, if only it were a smidgen cheaper. (You hear me, Apple!?)

Furthermore, Windows is not a server operating system. Nor is it a developer’s operating system. For years upon years Linux has served the best servers and developers. Linux simply is better at this kind of stuff. It’s faster, simpler, more modular. And it’s open source and free – a developer’s dream. Most servers and developers don’t need the kind of functionality Windows provides. Most servers and developers would be happier with Linux. (Are you beginning to see a pattern, Microsoft?)

There’s one more thing, Microsoft, as Steve Jobs would say. There’s one more thing. Windows is not – has never been, will never be – a mobile operating system. Period. There’s not so much to say here – as of yet, there aren’t really any superb mobile operating systems out there. Perhaps Android is the next big thing; perhaps it’s the iPhone’s operating system. Who knows; maybe it’s even Symbian. It’s not Windows Mobile, that’s for sure.

Please, Microsoft, leave Windows on the business desktop, where it belongs, and start developing cross-platform software for those smarter people out there who’ve already abandoned Windows. I’d love to see .Net go truly cross-platform. Don’t port Internet Explorer, though. It just wouldn’t be worth the effort.

Affectionately Yours, [sic]

Ian Sinke

The 2008 Software Company Number-Of-Products Showdown

Maybe this will become an annual event. Maybe it won’t. Whatever. The point is, many software companies have too many products. This year’s contenders are Microsoft, Apple, and Google. Which will win?

Microsoft Announces Office Live Workspaces, rips off Google Docs

Today I got a notification by email of the beta launch of Microsoft Office Live Workspaces. I, of course, clicked the link and read more about it, before signing up for the beta. (I’m on the waiting list right now, of course.) You know, it seems to be a blatant ripoff of Google Docs – to save me time, I just cut and pasted this from the beta website:

Anywhere Access

• Store 1000+ Microsoft Office documents in one place
• Access them from almost any computer with a Web browser
• No more flash drives or sending yourself documents via e-mail

Share With Others

• Invite people to your workspace
• You control who can view, comment, and edit your documents
• Stop manually merging versions from multiple people

Works With Microsoft Office

• Open and save files directly from Word, Excel, and PowerPoint
• Synchronize contact, task, and event lists with Outlook
• No need to learn a new program

Hmm. “Anywhere Access.” “Share with others.” “Invite people to your workspace.” Where, oh where have I seen that before?

Microsoft Popfly, Part 2: Mashups

(If you haven’t read Part 1 of my review yet, you might want to.)

The second, much more exciting half of Popfly is the Mashup creator. Mashups pull data from one or more web services and mash it together, using one web service to parse the data, or another to output the data, to create a unique web service.

Since I have very little experience with mashups, I simply followed the Popfly tutorial to create a Windows Live Local map with the last 10 twitter posts on it. I found the tutorial to be simple and easy to follow. I think I will be using Popfly to create mashups in the future, if I ever need to.

To create a mashup, you have to select “Create a mashup” on the Popfly home page, which brings you straight to the mashup designer.

To the left of the Mashup designer is the toolbox. You can drag and drop items from the toolbox onto the designer surface, and then connect them with lines using the pencil tool. After you drag and drop items onto the designer surface, you can change their settings or connect them to other blocks with lines. Here I have dropped a Twitter block onto the surface and am changing its settings.

Finally, when you’re finished, you can save your mashup to your account. Once again, whatever space your mashup takes up comes off your 25 MB of disk space.