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That and it's hilarious!
Microsoft is trying to reinvent itself as hip, and they are doing a reasonably good job, but the fact is it will take a long time before a lot of IT people start to accept the goodness as true goodness and not just the latest ploy. It took a Sun a while to convince people they were "good" now, and it will take Microsoft even longer.
Put simply:
* Mac fans LOVE to buy Apple stuff.
* Microsoft users often hate to buy even more Microsoft stuff but do it because they have to.
Very funny stuff. Just slightly exaggerated to be funny, but very on target. Really shows the difference in corporate philosophies.
By the way, MS is not all that bad at designing boxes. Office:mac's packaging is designed extremely well. The box is cool, and the CD/DVD case is spiffy too.
Why? because they go more simplistic on it, and leave out as much extra writing as possible - only write on back. I think that's a great combination... simplicity on the front, details on back, or seperate.
iPod Home - only 100 songs allowed. Same as regular iPod just with control lock (which will be hacked).
iPod Professional Edition - Vague add'ons and unlimited songs. But looks corporate. Brooding stock-photography Office-looking pictures on the packaging.
iPod Readers Edition - Same as regular iPod, just with a CD sampling of Audio Books, and a few included Audio Books and some Shakespearean looking packaging.
iPod Sports Edition - Added program to monitor heartbeat and calculate miles jogged. And cute sports-themes added.
iPod Plus! Edition - Same as regular iPod just with more eye-candy and theme makers and totally k-rad PC quality 3D screen savers (which will render your iPod comatose).
iPod Mobile Edition - An Activesync-like program to sync with Windows Mobile 2005 and Smartphones and the odd 'Plays for Sure' devices.
iPod Ultimate Edition - Regular iPod just bigger HD, with all Plus!, Reader and Mobile Edition add-on's. Costs nearly twice as much, and eventually comes in differing colors. The only model with real good support levels. And the only Edition avail for firmware upgrades.
their magazine advertisments are usually simple too.
though I hate how often on their website and even on their website for Vista, like a lot of corporate websites, they have useless photographs of people smiling that have nothing to do with the products and just make things look dopey in an insincere and unauthentic way
iPod Starter Edition - Flash-sticked Nano'isms. Cartoonish-color themes. Marketed at 'Developing' Markets, aka, teens.
iPod Home Premium - Now with 150 songs, and a few solitare games.
iPod Enterprise Edition - Wifi, but only hooks into Exchange servers. A lame attempt at push-email that won't really work.
iPod SPOT Edition - Just a bigger and more ugly version of the SPOT watch, but can play around 40 mp3's too.
iPod Office Edition - SmartPhone-like Outlook contact/calendar functionality, worse than a toothache in terms of usability.
This is You Tube, send us there!
Jesus, weren't you whining the other day about people ripping off your content?
What are you that desperate for hits or something that you need to route us through that pathetic site?
Lapytsh
Most Valuable Student for Microsoft
http://www.lapytsh.com
iPod Media Center Edition - The SKU with Video and Photos, comes with a customized interface. Pen support not avail. with Media Center Edition.
iPod Pen Edition - Touch-screen functionality, separate isolated SKU. Ultimate and Ultimate Media Center Edition does not include Pen Support. Pen not avail. with Photo or Video Editions. Has iNote program, for taking and inking notes. Eventually Pen and Media center will fold into the next version of iPod, but only if you have the Ulitmate bundle will you be able to upgrade your firmware.
iPod Live Edition - Monthly fee-portable Web-based iPod, allows you to sync your regular iPod songs to an online site, for times when not carrying an iPod, yet have web access and want to listen to your playlists. Requires iPod to work, cannot sync songs direct without the iPod. Limit of 4 syncs or 40 songs per month (whichever comes first). No collaboration or sharing features. Requires security key token and specialized SecureID login.
iPod Gamer Edition - Full solitaire suite with Pac Man and MS Arcade Pinball.
iPod SmartPhone Edition and iPod SmartPhone Video Edition - TBA. But has a secret viral-marketing countdown website pointed at by key Microsoft bloggers.
Simplify, simplify, simplify.
http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2006/02/how_to_prev...
Read point 9
Ipod size bloated to 60 times its volume,
using polystyrene foam and bubble packs.
Oh, and the manuals: reference guide, user's
manual, quick start guide, registration pack
written in every conceivable language, and
special offer pamphlets on associated products,
like "cutting-edge belt clips", "real leatherette
case" and "glow-in-the-dark skins".
2005 Pro Human Ear Edition.
That was cool and true.
But I got to tell ya - asp.net is my ipod and it's just as cool.
Doug Engelbart's co-evolution of tools and human systems is the way we should go!
-b
I know I'd rather the car drive itself. Why go with the MS product? I'd probably have to track down the latest drivers for the car before I was even able to get it on the road! There's a lot to be said for making things simple. Doing so is a lot harder than it may first seem.
I don't find this to be true at all. Maybe you don't let yourself become a high performance knowledge worker.
A simple search of Apple's knowledge base or their help system or about 20 different web sites will reveal all that's needed. Does Apple prevent you from using search or the web?
Met: you might want to read my blog before commenting. I already linked to that post by Guy Kawasaki and even pointed out #9. Yesterday.
Having a sense of humour never hurts.
I started using Office Live as a portal for all my sites but some functions are less than user friendly (too many steps).
I will stop by the SEOS in New York on Wednesday morning.
Will you be around?
Having time to meet?
Let me know
P.S: I do like using CoComment
Serge
Business Site:
http://www.njconcierges.com
Blog:
http://sergetheconcierge.typepad.com
Hint: the primary source is youtube and the channel9 link is to YouTube so my question is (still) why the fck did we have to stop at the lame Channel 9 site?
ANd I didn't say anything about copyright. Can you take a hint -- I mean "read"?
Thanks.
Why link to Channel 9? Cause I run this blog. Not you. Deal. It took you a total of 10 seconds to click twice. It's the cost of reading my blog. If that bothers you you can always decide not to read my blog.
1. It's Mac, unless you're talking about the address.
2. How do they assume users are incapable of doing anything complicated? They publish full frameworks of just about every core OS feature. Not to mention that there's a whole unixy underbelly for power users.
Don't allow? You're full of shit.
My answer would be :
Front row, the front row remote.
iPod not having an equaliser, not having on the go song deletion (I am not sure whether they've added this)
Macs not having a right mouse button (uptil this year)
customizable desktop on OSX (Windows allows you to movie things around, customize clicks, etc more).
Multiple ways to do something, e.g close an active window.
Apple never releases anything half-baked - but that also means they are not aggressive in advancing technology - what changes has happened to the iPod in the past 5 years ?
I know many people who bought an iPod not knowing it doesn't come with a charger :)
But they wouldn't dare say that out loud coz they would be frowned upon.
I'd take a bit more transparency in this case. If your product is mostly sold online and in your own stores, you have the freedom to reduce to data on the box.
But I would rather have more data on something I buy from Frys or Bestbuy - and on something I have no idea about (like a GPS device, for e.g)
As for throwing boxes away, I've kept my iPod boxes for all five generations. Many people do. They've even been sold on eBay.
Apple is not aggressive in advancing technology? Where have you been for the past 30 years?!? Apple have been innovative since day dot.
What was the gist of this internal meeting? How to be more like Apple? How to learn from Apple? :)
I'm not bothered by your hypocrisy; I've been experiencing it for over 3 years. I'm just pointing it out: you bitch and whine when someone grabs your content or don't cite true original sources, and now you pass us through Channel 9 for no reason to get hits. When I ask you why, you don't answer: you just say it's my blog, fck off.
Sure, it's your blog. But why are you passing us through a site that has nothing to do with this video?
By the way, I'm pretty certain I'm close to proving that this was not done by Microsoft: neither the Channel 9 poster or the YouTube poster work for Microsoft to begin with.
You making the absurd claim that Microsoft produced I think needs to be defended. Otherwise, I'll have to keep harassing you about it like the money you owe me for welching on our bet.
1. front row: it's a 1.0 product and is meant to be simple. The "Pro" Mac solution was to install Salling Clicker on your phone 3 years ago.
2. iPod does have an equalizer, but it is a simple one. But the "pro" solution is to have music that is produced properly equalized, not to bump some settings around because you think distorting bass is "pro", it's actually "amateur."
3. Mac OS X has been around for over 5 years and has always had right click. Prior to it, numerous mouse manufacturers supported it and or you could program it with apps like QuickKeys. Is that too "pro" for you?
4. There are numerous customizations you clearly aren't aware that are quite exposed by Apple. There are many, many more that can be done with simple plist hacks and other tricks. There are many apps to modify the desktop. There are numerous skins. I can think of 4 ways to close a window.
As I said, Apple doesn't stop you from being a "pro"; you have stopped yourself.
I want to have a right click button on my powerbook.
If frontrow is meant to be simple it is not supposed to be compared to media center.
:)
the stupid disclaimer any mac user has to put up forward : I also own a powerbook, I like it for what it is - and hate it for some of what it is.
And to the person who said that Apple is at the forefront of innovations (of course they are doing stuff in areas where they have to fight - thats why the company is still alive).
What have they done to the iPod in the past 3 years that was so innovative?
Now think if Apple were in MS's position, what kind of innovation would they be doing?
But you said you wanted to be able to behave as a pro, and not you want to act as an amateur? (btw, you get bass and treble control starting today.)
"I want to have a right click button on my powerbook."
This has nothing to do with the "being allowed to be a pro" though...
"If frontrow is meant to be simple it is not supposed to be compared to media center."
Correct. It doesn't. Apple doesn't. Silly fools who "love" Media Centers, but really know it's not very good make the comparison because they know that when Apple has a full offering it will be better.
Met's problem is rather obvious. Despite owning Apple products, he doesn't know much about them. I suspect that if he owned Microsoft products, he would not know much about them either.
you cannot seriously compare the command line environments of Windows and OS X and say that OS X "doesn't allow"you to be a pro.
You cannot overlook that OS X lets you install a fully functional X11 environment, which MS doesn't ship standard with XP, and say that OS X "doesn't allow" you to be a pro.
Apple *GIVES AWAY* all of its dev tools, and you get them with the OS distribution. MS gives you? Keep waiting on that. But in your world, OS X "doesn't allow" you to be a pro user?
You imply that until the Mighty Mouse, there was no support for multiple mouse buttons, which is incorrect.
You say that Apple doesn't let you move things around, completely ignoring that you can with ease, move the dock on three sides of your screen, and with a single defaults command, put it on the top of your screen. You overlook that you can easily not have drive icons of any kind on your desk if you don't want. you overlook dozens of ways to customize the UI that ship with the OS.
If you own a Mac, have you actually used it, or is it still in the box?
Proof yet again that the truth hurts! :)
Hey met, is your name an acronym for "Microsoft Educational Team?"
You sound a lot like one of my coworkers who does training: He gives way too much information, confusing and (in many cases) hurting the heads of those he teaches. (It's a bad sign when they're willing to pay for - or bring in their own - headache medicine, and it's only the first week or two.) They, in turn, do sloppy and unprofessional work at a slower pace. This, in turn, I often have to help clean up.
Microsoft often does the same thing, and oftentimes I get questions from people who forget that I mainly operate a Mac. (Nothing against PC's, but I don't have the money or time for both, and the Macs I have are old.) There have been plenty of cases where they were confused about something on the packaging, and went to get something worse. (Yes, folks, there's worse things than Microsoft.) When they finally realize that they still must buy said MS product, who get's the complaints?
No folks, that video is only part of the picture. Though I wish Apple would do something new, I'm glad they're the ones doing the iPod and not MS. MS may have did right with the XBox, but they still have a lot to learn.
Greetings advanced beings,
I am one of those unfortunates at the bottom of the top class, so to speak. I scraped into grammar school in 1951 and into a well-known hi-IQ association in 1981. It has always been a privilege, therefore, to stand in the same room as the high-flyers. Sadly, sometimes I forget to keep my mouth shut (right now, I am risking it).
I merely wish to say that I bet I would not have understand a word of the above if I had read it. I did not understand the first line or two at the top so I pulled that thing down at the right to get to the end and am writing this.
I just want to say that I honour and respect all you guys who can do computing easily. I do not resent you one bit. Good luck to you all, bless your hearts. And when I curse at the machine with sarcasm and really rude words, it is neither any of you nor Mr Gates himself that I am getting at.
Who is it? I suppose it is myself.
Why do I still bother trying?
I expect it is my sad, pathetic attempt to get a life and bask in the periferal glory of the great ones as I lurk in the shadows, shyly hoping for, I don't know, a thwack on the nut from a meatless bone? At least it would be attention.
Sorry to have bothered you.
Your humble borderline case, Cy
PS:
Have a look at my attempt at a web thingie. I call it 'Earth Base One' having thought of the title in 1989. I hoped to set up a space education centre and it seemed like a good name. (I tried in Southport, Truro, Plymouth and Hounslow West before volunteering for Space School at Brunel and crashing in flames.)
Now I see there are a whole lot of mentions of the name 'Earth Base One' on the Google results. I am astonished. It cannot have started from me, huh? Someone else must have thought of the name, ya?
(I bet I am contravening etiquette by advertising my web log thingie here. Let me know quickly, please, if so. Then I can stop it. Apologies in advance.)
I thought I was the first :) should be visiting your forum more often...
If you'd like something else funny about Microsoft look at that http://akhater.wordpress.com/2006/03/01/microso...
Redmond is filled to the gills with way too many young, inexperienced middle-managers in charge of approving marketing and design by committee. Their only role is to spend their annual budget or else lose it the next year, so they beat every piece of marketing to death to validate their position. I can tell you 1,000 stories of their incompetence, but here's one that comes to mind immediately: I once sat in a two hour Friday-night conference call with upwards of 10 marketing managers in Redmond who argued amongst themselves for the first 45 minutes of the call over what a brochure should be called--by their internal team. Not the headline, or concept, mind you, but what the actual initiative was going to be named. Asinine. If Bill Gates knew how much of his cash they were frittering away, he'd fire half his marketing and sales staff.
I would like to concur with previous posters that Mac OS X as an environment, including playing together with applications by third party manufacturers, is inspiringly configurable. And better yet, coherent.
J
I wonder how many teams of lawyers were responsible for that? I counted at least four different company's trademarks being used there.
"Jokes are really half-meant." I wonder what that other half of the truth is?
There is a comment about computer design regarding the Cray Supercomputers of a few decades ago: After CDC produced the CDC 6600 designed by Seymour Cray, I.B.M.'s chairman Thomas J. Watson Jr., wrote a memo to his staff noting that the 6600 team totaled only 34 people, "including the janitor," and asked how I.B.M. had let such a small team offer the world's most powerful computer. The answer is simply that a small team can do things in an elegant way that a large team cannot.
It is interesting that both Cray and Jobs have a design ethic to simplicity. There are volumes of information available about Cray on the Web. http://www.businessweek.com/1989-94/pre88/b3157... is one example. Understanding Cray's work and design vis a vi IBM has a number of parallels to Microsoft and Apple.
Thx btw ill never sheet whit that one's for me only mac counts,win sucks ok!
Apple good design is not because they small, you don't call 10000 employees small. It's the organization that provide the means to be that efficient.