microsoft

After a couple of years without a dedicated Windows box (I used my previous MacBook Pro for everything) I got a new PC when Microsoft released the public Windows 7 release candidate ultimate evaluation download version thingamabob doohickey. The rig was built primarily so I could catch up on all the games I missed out on during my self-imposed sabbatical from the platform (thanks, in no small part, to the terrors of Windows Vista). Secondary applications include it being my .NET development environment which barely sees any use any more and more recently it has also morphed into a file-server/RAID. For the next couple of months the days were full of work on the new MacBook Pro and the nights were a flurry of Fallout 3, Mass Effect and Team Fortress 2.

I have had to run OS X and Windows side by side and shuffle between them before. It is jarring when I switch from one to the other: things are in the wrong place, I keep trying to trigger Expose or get to the desktop by using Active Screen Corners, finding applications in the goddamn Start menu takes an age, I stare blankly at the Control Panel trying to figure out what the hell the icons mean (they renamed Add/Remove Programs for God’s sake), the hideous system tray stretching out to infinity chills my very soul. You get the point.

What I realized during this heavy-duty play is that much of this annoying nonsense that Windows XP humbly began and Windows Vista took to unfathomable depths was magically fixed in Windows 7. In my view the last good operating system out of Redmond, WA was Windows 2000. That is until, they switched back to actual version numbers.

Microsoft, true to form, fixed Vista by flat out copying OS X. Now, contrary to the traditional Mac fanboy’s reaction to this, I am a a firm believer in stealing everything you can get away with. After all, Apple is no stranger to this sort of “borrowing” of ideas. Remember when they ripped the still-beating heart out of Xerox PARC and sold it as Mac OS back in 1984?

So the new Taskbar in Windows 7 looks more like the Mac OS Dock than the old Taskbar. You can even rearrange the icons while the program is running ala OS X. I don’t use the Start menu any more, and even then I’ve taken to using it like I do Spotlight on the Mac. Even the system tray has monochrome icons now, I wonder which other OS uses monochrome icons in the tray? And look! moving your mouse into the bottom right corner shows the desktop just like Active Corners! You don’t quite get Expose but hovering over an application icon in the Taskbar allows you to see the windows that are open in the app. It’s a nice touch (that Snow Leopard promptly copied, by the way).

It is also stable. Sure apps crash and I’ve seen a couple of blue screens, but really I’ve seen about the same number of grey screens on my Mac. Compatibility with older apps hasn’t been much of a problem for me. Games have all worked really well. I can’t remember having downloaded any drivers other than the usual video card stuff. UAC is still a little annoying but it seems to behave itself and doesn’t constantly ask you incredibly stupid questions. In other words, Windows 7 is what Windows Vista should have been in the first place.

It is the first time since Windows 2000 that I have enjoyed using a Microsoft OS. And that boys and girls, is what a good operating system is all about. Making your computer fun to use by being easy, intuitive and responsive. I’m not giving up my Mac any time soon but at least I don’t cringe if I have to work in Windows any more.

I am a very satisfied customer of Sony’s Playstation 3. I find it to be an enormously reliable and high-quality example of consumer electronics. The fit and finish, build quality and engineering are all top-notch. It does exactly what it claims to do and does it very well.

By comparison, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 has been plagued by a 30% failure rate (and even that number doesn’t seem right, everyone I know has had to have theirs replaced because of the dreaded Red Ring of Death). This has forced Microsoft to increase the warranty to 3 years.

Why then, is the PS3 languishing at the absolute bottom of the list in terms of console sales this holiday season?

As the Ars article shows, The Nintendo Wii is destroying everything as it rips up the holiday landscape with accessible games and the promise of fitness in front of a TV. However, I consider them to be cheating. They couldn’t compete in terms of pure horsepower so they just went and found a new market. They don’t address my needs, which is to say, the needs of a veteran gamer. What’s galling is the gap between the PS3 and the Xbox 360. 

Everyone says the gap is because of the spectacular number of third-party titles on the Xbox 360. This is undoubtedly a big factor but I think the real reason is a little deeper than that. I think the big problem is that Sony is a hardware company and Microsoft is a software company. This handily explains why the Xbox 360 hardware sucks, but more importantly, it also explains why Microsoft is trouncing Sony when it comes to supporting third-party games. Microsoft understands the way software development works, they knows how to build the tools to support developers and, above all, they understand the software distribution business.

Nothing demonstrates this gap in software expertise more clearly than Playstation Home which is now in open beta on the PS3. When Microsoft needed to revamp the Xbox 360 Dashboard they unveiled the New Xbox Experience. The new Dash iterated on the interface, made things clearer, reorganized menus, tightly integrated with Xbox Live and added big features like Netflix support and install to hard drive. It is generally regarded as a major step up for the platform. Sony’s retort is Home.

At first, Home didn’t let me in claiming that “You are not old enough to play home”. Unless Home is being billed as the killer octogenarian app I didn’t see how this could be the case. Turns out my profile is probably screwed up because it is a sub-account, logging in on another let me in. After customizing your appearance and clothing from the extremely limited options, you are placed in a stark apartment with a great view. If you want to leave your apartment you have to download additional content of the central plaza. A 22 megabyte download. I have decent broadband but it still took a few minutes during which time you are essentially trapped in this apartment with nothing to do. Score 1 for a shitty experience. I found myself trying out the various dance emotes. Why they didn’t just download the central plaza with the initial content is beyond me. Why would you willfully force me to download content within the first 5 minutes of playing the bloody thing?

Anyway, the central plaza finally loaded up and I walked out into a sea of transparent people (the textures take a while to download, twenty minutes in I still saw transparent people). They all seemed to be bored stiff. Typing on the dualshock is not quite the ideal chatting experience so conversing with another person is a really tedious process. You can apparently use a headset and just say what you want (which some people took to mean screaming “Fuck you!” over and over again). Clearly, some kind of censorship will be necessary. So, what can you do within the game world?

1. You can play an arcade mini game as long as nobody else is playing it. So if someone wants to hog the machine you’re fresh out of luck. Why they would introduce real-world annoyances in a virtual world is beyond me.
2. You can go into a theatre and watch a trailer. Eventually this will be replaced by full-length movies, but I shudder to think how annoying it’s going to be to watch a movie with idiots dancing in front of the screen and yelling obscenities. 
3. You can buy, and by buy I mean spend your standard Earth currency, on virtual clothes for your avatar. Seriously. That’s why the initial clothing options are limited.
4. That’s about it.

The end result is a 3D world wrapped around some very lackluster arcade games and a movie trailer screening service. I see nothing here that couldn’t have been handled with a couple of additional menu options. Judging by the aimless wandering and disco dancing of everyone playing, nobody has any idea what to do with this thing. I doubt Sony does either.

Tycho pretty much sums it up when he says:

“This is the terrible secret that roils beneath their false universe: it is nothing more than a cumbersome menu, a rampart over which you must hoist yourself to accomplish the most basic tasks.”

What really annoys me is resources that could have been spent on much needed improvements to the XMB have instead been diverted to this insane marketing ploy.

About 2 weeks ago Microsoft posted this security bulletin to warn of a bug in virtually every single piece of software they make that allows remote execution of code when a JPEG file is loaded. The usual unchecked buffer overflow is to blame.

The implications are far reaching since you would essentially get the virus by simply opening a web page. I can think of no parallel for such nastiness. It didn’t take too long but there is now a virus that takes advantage of this exploit. Needless to say this is some really really bad stuff. It’s only a matter of time before some spam merchant starts bulk mailing this stuff to all the addresses in his spambook.

I await the global internet catastrophe and demise of Microsoft with baited breath.