Thank you for clarifying that. However, it would appear that “Kumo” is now simply a code-name for what is the soon-to-be-released “Bing”. Which then, unless that means “Better Than Google” in Japanese…means really nothing at all…it just sounds catchy…and even Microsoft can’t get that right. “Yeah, just Bing-it”…doesn’t sound as catchy to me as “yeah, just Google-it”…but I guess I’m being subjective.

At any rate, I’ve been reading more and more about the release of Windows 7 and there are a lot of Windows fanatics touting that it’s basically going to destroy OS X. The “taskbar” is better than the dock. You can be far more productive now in Windows 7 than you can in OS X. Somehow. I can’t say I was more productive with it in a VirtualBox virtualization of Win 7 Beta. Perhaps the RC cleaned some issued up, but I found that some things placed in the taskbar weren’t staying there or weren’t working at all. The system tray notification system was also very screwy too.

They also go on to continue their philosophy on how OS X is a toy and Windows is a power-user’s OS. I am alright with WinXP. I use it regularly on my girlfriend’s old Dell Dimension 2400 and it does just fine…I just have to babysit it sometimes to make sure no malware/viruses pop up. However, it is really far from a power-user’s OS in my mind. It’s very dumbed down for the average consumer…it looks prettier than any previous version of Windows (and I’ve used them all the way back to 3.1.1), but when all is said and done…it’s just Windows 2000 with a sugar coating. Vista/7 is basically XP with more sugar coating than is necessary and a flawed security roadblock that the user can disable.

The idea that Windows is a power user’s OS is kind of funny to me because when you think about it…99% of the 90% of Window’s market share is the average consumer…John Q. Public. Most average consumers only use Windows to play games, surf the web, and get their email. Most of them aren’t overclocking their processor (which I believe isn’t even a feature of Windows…it’s a feature of the BIOS) and most of them aren’t messing with registry hacks/tweaks. In fact, most of them aren’t doing anything remotely “power user-ish” at all. It’s that lonely little 1% that does all this stuff.

However, on the other end of the spectrum…we have OS X with 10%-15% market share (the numbers seem to fluctuate from source to source). OS X comes with tons of productivity built right in…key commands…AppleScript…Automator…Expose…Spaces…the list probably goes on for a long while. The thing to note about these features is that they actually indirectly make the average consumer computer user into a power-user. You can practically use the system without a mouse (and be more efficient without the mouse in many cases). You can write simple scripts/applications to do just about anything repetitive. You can get to all of your various windows with the push of a key/click of a mouse button/cursor to a corner…things you still really can’t do (or do properly) in Windows…even with it’s new and improved, super sugar coated interface (which requires you spend the money to upgrade your hardware to use…the “MS Tax”). I would say that probably about 75% of the 10%-15% of OS X’s market share are power-users without even knowing it.

So Microsoft basically sells a dumbed down IT/Enterprise level operating system (what I believe is their true audience) to the consumer through licensing from consumer level PC manufacturers. The reason for most people switching? Probably because most people are sick of Microsoft not really knowing who it’s real audience is. For example, the whole Vista Ready/Capable debacle. I think that was really more for IT people to haggle over rather than the average consumer who doesn’t really care much about what it can do so much as if it works. MS’s “Laptop Hunters” ads are an indication of this. “I want a laptop with a big screen and a fast processor”…not knowing anything about screen resolution or GHz. They just know that 2GHz is pretty good and that at least 1GB of RAM is decent. 17″ inch screens are also a must…a big heavy must. The problem was that IT people are smarter than the average computer user…they saw right through the “Ready/Capable” BS and probably knew it would be a hardware nightmare to upgrade the machines they were already getting along fine with XP/2000 onboard.

Microsoft will win over the Windows fanatics of course…but I think a lot of the XP users are scared after what happened with Vista…the Vista users are pissed they won’t get 7 for free…and Apple will continue to see more people flocking to a real power user’s OS who’s only sugar coating is that it’s dead simple to use.

Sunny Guy

It seems like MS likes throwing away vast amounts of money in markets where it has no business being. Apple is successful because it knows how to do what it does very well and when it steps into a new market, it prepares itself accordingly by watching what everyone else is doing and then does something else radically different…and it works. MS tries to do the same thing…but they don’t pay attention to what makes the competition so great…they just simply make a device that kind if copies it and then hope people will go for it.

Perhaps MS should just simply stick to business & entetprise software and get back to their roots and get back to having a decent reputation. Continue to make Windows for the consumer but don’t try so hard at beating Apple with eye candy. OS X is a beautiful system with just enough eye candy to make it fun yet elegant. Vista/7 is just loaded with useless eye candy in an effort to stem the flow of switchers…but useless eye candy won’t stop them cause that’s not the issue…the issue is that Windows is slow, clunky, cumbersome, et cetera. Sure OS X crashes from time to time, but at least it doesn’t drag the whole system into the crapper with it.

I’m interested in hearing you talk but I don’t like sitting through the rest to get there.

That’s what the fast forward button is for. :b

Could you please post a direct link to the audio file like all the archived Podcasts? Many people do not enjoy or have access to iTunes or may prefer accessing media by more open means.

Thank You.