Category: MSFT

  • The future of Microsoft Office is not pretty

    You almost have to laugh when Microsoft unveils screen shots of its next update in the creaky Office franchise. Just wait, just wait one more year, and we’ll make Word really great. Really, really great. We promise. Based on the screen shots, it look more likely to cause head aches than upgrades. Somehow this mishmash…

  • Comparing Windows Vista and Mac OS X

    The ever-thoughtful Paul Thurrott has a typically thoughtful and nuanced comparison of Windows Vista Beta 1 and Mac OS X Tiger. I don’t agree with everything he says, but it’s a useful and informative essay.

  • Google saves Outlook email search

    Like many Mac users, I suppose, I must make do with a Windows XP box at work. Blah. But the true horror is being forced to use Microsoft Outlook, likely the worst email program I have ever seen. One of the very worst features is the brain-damaged search function that works like a snail in…

  • Google gains from MSN ads…

    As I noted here a few months ago when Microsoft started running pretty generic TV ads for its search service, such a move by an upstart can have the effect of helping the market leader. Surprise, surprise, as the Wall Street Journal notes today (subscription required): “Bill Gates has talked a lot about how Microsoft…

  • MSN’s Search ads will help Google

    Some years ago, I was interviewing Bob Pittman, the now-departed chief operating officer of America Online and he gave me a golden nugget of marketing advice. Before coming to AOL, he ran the theme park operator Six Flags. When did Disney World have its best year for attendance, he asked me. The year that Six…