Why upgrade your copy of Office when you can use OpenOffice for free?

openoffice.org

Dusk Eagle on September 14, 2008 at 10:10 PM

True. And never buy Microsoft Works when OpenOffice is so much better, and shares files with Microsoft Office better than Microsoft Works.

That’s right. Microsoft Works is incompatible with Microsoft Office, even though both are made by Microsoft.

Really?

I bought Vista Ultimate Retail(That came with the 32bit, and 64bit DVD’s) a week after it was released.

I got a pretty go good deal on the internet(not as cheap as it is not, but at the time the best deal to be had.. this license can be transferred to any machine, ran in a virtual machine or anything, pretty sweet. )

Chakra Hammer on September 13, 2008 at 4:23 AM

You’re definitely not normal….

openoffice.org

Needed to be said

I liked it. It’s good to be easily amused.

Self-consciously precious. Ugh.

Cicero43 on September 12, 2008 at 6:27 PM

That sums up why I stopped watching “Seinfeld” at about the time they started pitching a “show about nothing” to the network. Caught the series finale, though: one of the biggest disappointments in series finales in TV history, IMHO.

As for Vista, it’s a disaster. Sure, you can quote impressive sales figures. But few of those people bought Vista. They bought laptops and desktops, and were literally forced to buy Vista with them.

theregoestheneighborhood on September 13, 2008 at 3:49 AM

Really?

I bought Vista Ultimate Retail(That came with the 32bit, and 64bit DVD’s) a week after it was released.

I got a pretty go good deal on the internet(not as cheap as it is not, but at the time the best deal to be had.. this license can be transferred to any machine, ran in a virtual machine or anything, pretty sweet. )

I hate to tell you but just because more people own or use something doesn’t necessarily make it better. People think they only have one option and, in many cases, are too scared to try something different.

I switched to Apple a little over a year ago and have kicked myself ever since for not doing it sooner. Once you go Mac, you never go back…

Anyway, I think this commercial is just as bad as the other one.

David Alison posted this earlier. It’s a friends half of a chat they were having about this commercial. The friend is a Windows user:

Jeff: here’s my take
Jeff: Mac commercials – plain, simple, easy to make sense of, not too many moving parts
Jeff: Win commercials – no f&^#%! g clue what they’re doing, long, bloated, inscrutable, stuff happening everywhere and you can’t relate it to anything that makes sense
Jeff: I think that about sums up the OSes as well
Jeff: I swear I want to by a Mac just as a protest against these moronic commercials

As for Vista, it’s a disaster. Sure, you can quote impressive sales figures. But few of those people bought Vista. They bought laptops and desktops, and were literally forced to buy Vista with them.

The key to Microsoft’s success has always been to sign every PC maker to a contract where they pay Microsoft based NOT on how many PC’s they sell with MS software, but how many PC’s they sell PERIOD. This effectively crowds out all competition, because if they sold a laptop with, say, BeOS or OS/2 or Linux or FreeBSD or Solaris installed, they STILL pay Microsoft the same fee for Windows, even though Windows is not installed.

Most companies take the path of least resistance and simply don’t offer anything else but Windows, which leaves Microsoft in complete control of what they can sell. And guess what: if you buy a new PC but specify you want Windows XP instead of Vista, you still get Vista, and the company just downgrades you to Windows XP. So every PC being sold now with Windows XP on it is counted as a Vista sale.

And yet, Vista has been so badly received that Microsoft is launching this ad campaign, and commercials about “the Mojave Experiment” (basic theme: Vista isn’t as bad as you think!). And on top of that, it’s in the news now that Microsoft will hire and pay “Windows Guru’s” to work at Best Buy and Circuit City stores across the country. Their job will be to offer help, encouragement, and sales of Windows Vista at these stores.

Yes, the position is actually “Windows Guru.” A fairly obvious imitation of the Apple Store and their “Apple Genius” people.

These are not the actions of a huge company with a product that everyone wants. You’ll notice they aren’t taking these kinds of drastic steps to promote Office. That’s because Office is doing well. Vista is doing horribly, so they have to either give up on it or promote it harder.

Is all that really so hard to believe? Have we forgotten already the fiasco that was Windows Me?

You know what is funny? Geraldo falling face down on a seawall during a hurricane. Any hurricane. That’s what sells operating systems.

That’s only because it’s prebundled.

ViperPilot on September 12, 2008 at 8:40 PM

Ummm.. Is OSX Not prebundled?

AAPL and GOOG know how to monetize beyond software. Microsoft had better acquire someone who does–hope Ballmer didn’t toss away Jerry Yang’s phone number.

re: commercial. Thought Gates has been funny. Don’t have any idea how they’d chop that thing into a 30 second spot. Guess that isn’t the point.

funny.

but I think Gwyneth Paltrow is pretty so I am completely out of step with this crowd

tlynch001 on September 12, 2008 at 10:34 PM

/agree on Paltrow. She’s super cute and sexy. Loved her in Ironman.

Commercial (?) was enjoyable. My favorite line was something to the effect of, “It’s okay, there’s a fireball.”

Also, OS stability is largely a function of the user. Software engineer here… my XP and Vista boxes tend to run weeks without need of a reboot. XP32 at work is very stable. XP32 at home is more stable. Vista 64 is plentifully stable, better after SP1. No pr0n + no toolbars + no warez + bit of mojo = stable box :D

but what a country…I’m allowed to not like it, and change the channel, or turn off the tv. so much for the fairness doctrine.

lame

disturbing

sort of like the Burbs movie with John Belushi.