Dave Adlard is a regular computer user. Microsoft XP, Outlook, Office. And a number of software packages not available on Mac or Linux.
He’s not sure why I’m so irked, always railing against the evil from Redmond. No major complaints from him. Perhaps it’s mainly Apple fan boys complaining about products they rarely use.
… I’ll put together a dedicated post on why Microsoft is evil.
For today, a related topic. I’m so convinced that the dinosaur is dying that I rarely give a second thought to what they SHOULD do. Two things:
First, focus on Gaming. It’s a huge and growing market and Microsoft is one of the top 3 players along with Sony and Nintendo.
Next, leverage their HUGE advantage in email. Here’s the post that got me thinking:
Bill Tancer has a great post about Microsoft plus Yahoo!’s combined share in applications. The thing that jumps out at me is just how dominant the combination would be in web-based email. …
Add in Microsoft’s incredible dominance in corporate email with Exchange and Outlook. Now think about all the possibilities that are starting to be explored in the area of email data as a source of information about users, and a locus for building new services for those users. (Of course, you might also think about the anti-trust implications of this combination….)
Email hasn’t changed significantly in years. As I’ve written previously, there’s a huge opportunity in building a next generation address book. … I want tools that augment my ability to remember, manage, and communicate with all the people I deal with every day, in both personal and business contexts. …
EVERYONE uses email. It’s a huge, compelling reason to use Microsoft or MicroHoo products. Even I am using Microsoft Entourage.
My alternatives (Apple Mail and Apple iCal), (Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Gears) are not much stronger.
Sadly no matter how many brilliant people, no matter how much money MS throws at any project, they seem incapable at building it with the USER in mind.
I’ll probably have to wait until Apple, or Google, or someone else builds a truly great email system.
If Microsoft can solve the SPAM problem, as Bill Gates promised Jan. 24, 2004, they can win. But Bill failed, as usual, to deliver then. Why should I believe Microsoft will solve SPAM in 2008?
Rick McCharles 