Random Curry

Another sign of the looming apocalypse in Redmond…

Microsoft cuts Vista prices to urge upgrades

Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony.

(h/t The Open Road)

Microsoft’s court testimony: people want PCs, not operating systems

Several interesting points in this post, not the least of which are Microsoft executive admissions that they really can’t control the adoption rate of their operating system and that it doesn’t matter what the OS can do for consumers. I’m interested in this point: most people buy PCs, not OSs, and Microsoft shouldn’t spend their resources on “enthusiasts”.

Well, some enthusiasts take the OS into account when making purchases. And this enthusiast has pretty well had it waiting 15 years for Windows to basically get its act together. This enthusiast is moving to Mac…

Australian girl banned from tennis club for grunting

I try to stay away from sports (one of my main passions) on this blog, but I couldn’t resist this time. This situation, and the club management response to it, reminds me so much of the legalistic attitude from management all over the world when it comes to controlling others. They tell you that if you don’t change your behavior you’re out, but when they’re called on it, they deny they said anything of the sort. Weasels…

The money quote: “No one is not allowing her to play. Sorry, I can’t say anymore than that.” Yeah, you’re not preventing her from playing, but you ARE telling her how she has to behave to play. Yeah, I know, it’s a private business, but…damn…

Another great post by Rick Sherman:

MDM: It’s Not About the Product – Part 2

One thing – he likens the search for an “MDM Product” to the quest for the Holy Grail. For those who know me, you know just where my mind went when I read that…

(updated below)

Microsoft’s massive openness pledge: APIs, protocols, data portability, community

Is this:

• Microsoft finally acknowledging the reality of the open-source revolution
• The first dying breath of a non-competitive empire
• The wolf lying in bed luring Red Riding Hood closer

Based on everything I’ve seen of Microsoft’s behavior over the last 20 years, I’m betting on this until I actually see otherwise…

(h/t The Open Road)

Update:

The blogging world is so fast – a clarification after an hour of flogging in comments:

The dust settles on the Microsoft openness pledge: What’s the reality?

Microsoft: Vista SP1 will break these programs

Backward-compatibility is always an issue, but it appears to be a huge one with Vista. Tell me again why isn’t everyone running headlong to Mac*?

* I’ve already started my migration…

…and no, I don’t mean the Viet Cong…

T-Shirts for VCs

I guess it just goes to show that there is a market for everything…

(h/t Techmeme)

This article is a few months old, but I just saw it, so therefore it’s new…

The 5 users you meet in hell (and one you’ll find in heaven)

Check the comments – I like the sixth user added – “Instant Dude.” Perhaps we can come up with a superhero outfit for him…

Brain control headset for gamers

I’ve wanted to see this for a long time. Of course, we have to take care to guard against what would happen in a movie like Brainstorm…

I always wanted to have a MIDI jack implanted in my forehead so I could just write music by thinking about it…maybe I’ll live long enough to see that happen.

As usual, Larry English is ahead of the curve…

TDWI Keynote: Larry English Takes on the Status Quo

The first person to publicly call Master Data Management technology a “silo”…Brave, but accurate. Hopefully some day I will have enough credibility to get away with a statement like that.