Even though Microsoft has single-handedly made itself look dumb on numerous occasions over the past decade, the company has tried its best to change public perception and look like the good guy, while attempting to denigrate the impact major tech companies have had on the world.
And yet, Microsoft never seems to be able to get it right. It's as if Bill Gates sent a memo to employees back in 1995 and said, "Ladies and gentleman, as you know, we like to make ourselves look dumb from time to time. With that in mind, please say whatever comes to mind whenever you'd like and you will certainly enjoy a promotion, raise and corner office. Good day."
Aside from Ballmer's multitude of idiotic comments on topics ranging from the iPhone to Linux, another person has joined the party and has done his part to propel Microsoft into the realm of laughable.
... Read moreHistorically, no company in the tech industry has performed nearly as well as Apple at creating an immense amount of anticipation for its products. After all, do we really care when Sony releases its next HDTV or Dell announces a refresh to its notebook line?
And while every other company in the world gets a free pass when they quietly refresh a product line, Apple doesn't. Why is that, you ask? Simple really -- Steve Jobs has created one of the most fantastic promotion campaigns the world has ever seen and Apple is easily the very best at "selling" a product before it's even available in stores.
But lately, Apple has tried something different. Instead of amazing us with fantastic new designs (aside from the MacBook Air) and extremely important updates, the company has followed a plan where it would quietly announce a new update each Tuesday. Just over the past month, Apple has dropped the price of its iPod Shuffle, announced the release of the Apple TV Take 2 and today, refreshed its MacBook and MacBook Pro lines.
And while some may be happy to see Apple doing just that, I can't help but wonder why anyone cares. Beyond that, what happened to innovation and groundbreaking updates? Has Steve Jobs and company slowed down the innovation to focus on something else?
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When the format war was finally brought to a close, almost everyone was happy to see that we'll only need to watch one format try to survive in the Digital Age instead of two.
And while most of us were sad to see Toshiba throw in the towel and admit that it made a mistake with HD DVD, some were wondering how the house of cards crashed so swiftly. Some said it was due to the departure of some of HD DVD's retailers and rental services, some said it was poor internal operations and still others said it was due to the fact that movie studios simply had enough of the war.
But what if all of those assertions are false? What if all of those companies knew that an undercurrent continuously undermined the growth of HD DVD and helped Blu-ray cement itself as the winner?
What if Toshiba and Sony worked together to kill HD DVD?
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Dear Jerry,
Whew, things aren't going so well lately, huh? First, the company you founded and love was being pushed into turmoil by some executives, like your old buddy Semel, who had no idea how to run an organization. And then, to add insult to injury, you found a company that was marked with issues, like over-spending and too many acquisitions that caused your beloved organization to become a bloated mess.
But then, you took over and promised your shareholders and employees a new culture and a new Yahoo that would change the Internet and adapt far better to the changing needs of your customer base.
And while you succeeded in reducing expenditures and changed the culture of Yahoo by putting it on the right track with an open source initiative with your mobile products and a vastly improved home page, something much larger than even you came along and spoiled your party. And it's that organization -- Microsoft -- that will lead to your downfall unless you realize that not even you can save the company you founded.
It's time to move over, buddy.
... Read moreHave you ever wanted to play fantasy baseball, but never got around to it? Are you a fantasy baseball professional and you know exactly what it takes to take my team out?
Either way, I'm looking for you! If you're interested in joining The Digital Home Fantasy Baseball league, let me know!
So far, we have eight owners ready and willing to play and I'm looking for more.
If you think you want to play and you think you can beat my team -- The Bronx Bombers -- drop me a line at CNETdigitalhome AT Gmail.com (email link is to the right in my bio too) as soon as possible.
I look forward to taking you down, er, playing with you this season.
-Don
As the high-def format war finally runs out of steam and Blu-ray has been named the winner, some are wondering what the future of the format will look like.
Will it be the unbridled success DVD was? Will it go the way of the Laser Disc and become more a bridge format than anything else? Or will it be long forgotten as just another attempt to force people into buying the same movies all over again as they wait in anxious anticipation of whatever comes next?
If you ask me, Blu-ray will never be the success DVD was and chances are, it'll be one of the forgotten formats that people scoffed at as they continued to download their favorite films online.
... Read moreListen now: Download today's podcast
 | EPISODE 3 |
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Even though Bill Gates gave his farewell speech at CES this past January, the soon-to-be retired founder of Microsoft has been strangely vocal ever since his departure announcement. And although he's inexorably tied to his beloved software company, why hasn't he entered the twilight of his life as he said he would?
After all, doesn't he have something better to do, like take care of his Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation or water flowers in the backyard or watch the ruined Price is Right?
Obviously he doesn't think so. Instead of helping to lead the fight against diseases all over the world, ol' Billy can't seem to break the ties that bind him to his company and by the looks of things, he doesn't even want to.
And although he may take some time off to explore the world and make good on some of his charitable promises, Gates will never retire from Microsoft and if you ask me, he'll be at the helm sooner than you think.
... Read moreEven though Google told the world last year that it had no plans of releasing its own hardware and would instead focus on the software side of cell phones, very few people actually believed the assertion.
After all, with the iPhone performing well all over the world and a whole new era of cell phones having been ushered in, why wouldn't Google try to get in on the ground floor and try to build a brand?
But for months, the company has been tight-lipped about any hardware and has told anyone who will listen that Android will revolutionize the cell phone business. But according to a recent rumor from Robert X. Cringley over at PBS, Google is poised to release one of these devices by the end of this year, or early 2009.
... Read moreNow that Engadget is reporting Toshiba will wave the white flag tomorrow and finally put an end to the high-def format war once and for all, there are a whole new set of questions that must be answered.
Will Toshiba move to Blu-ray? What will the company do with the technology? Will it sell the HD DVD name to the Blu-ray folks?
But perhaps most importantly, what will Microsoft do? The company has been a staunch supported of HD DVD since the beginning and it currently offers an HD DVD add-on for its Xbox 360 console. But now that the format is dead and the rightful winner is ready to be crowned, will Microsoft ignore the format war and go about its business or try to jump on the Blu-ray bandwagon?
Trust me -- within a month, the company will announce a Blu-ray add-on for the Xbox 360.
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