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An ode to Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, Apple, and Linux zealots

As I'm sure many of you are aware, there are a number of factions in the technology world that seem to share extreme love for one company and severe distaste for another. Some side with Bill Gates and his buddies in Redmond. Of course, that group is met by a fierce resistance that genuflects at the altar of Steve Jobs. On the other hand, there is a cadre of individuals that believe Sony is the greatest company in the world, and still others that put Shigeru Miyamoto and his gang of creations on a pedestal. And yet, no matter what you say, every group will believe you're a member of the competing zealot faction. After a while, it actually becomes quite comical.

Take for example, this article I wrote just yesterday about Sony's desperation. You'll notice that in the comments, I was called all kinds of names. And while you get used to this as a writer, some really blow your socks off. For example, one commenter went so far as to say that I and the rest of the CNET writers are "typical." Why you ask? Because the commenter needed to ask us if "Gate's butt smells fresh today." In essence, I was a Microsoft fanboy for a day -- at least in the words of the cadre of Sony fanboys.

Unfortunately, my love for Microsoft must have been fleeting. For if you read the comments from readers on this day, I am nothing more than an Apple zealot that hates Microsoft. Even better, we even got some extra "typical CNET" comments which, for some reason, didn't reference the same smelling analogy. Can I be both? Can I be all five? Can everyone be all five?

No. And this is the issue we're left with today -- why can't everyone stop being zealots and realize that we all want the same thing -- the very best performance out of every tech company. We shouldn't be apologists -- we should be asking for a company's level best.… Read more

Mark Webbink to Steve Ballmer: We have a problem and the problem is...you

I love Mark Webbink. His post today calling out Microsoft's hypocrisy on patents is classic. Black pot? Meet kettle that so far is looking bright and shiny silver, whatever Microsoft's attempts to rub some smudge onto it.

I know you are quite concerned that Red Hat is not showing due respect for your (unidentified) patents, but it strikes me as a little rich that you or Microsoft should be lecturing anyone on the proper respect for the patents of others given all of the following parties that believe that Microsoft does not respect their patents....

It's irrefragable … Read more

Google wins in blind search test

In a blind "taste test" searchers chose Google, then Microsoft and Yahoo.

That's according to the results of a poll created last week by the Google Operating System blog. Participants could try out three unidentified search engines and vote which had the best results. The results are in and 51 percent of the more than 2,000 people who voted said Google had the best results. That was followed by 35 percent for Live Search and 30 percent for Yahoo. In comments to the blog post people said they were surprised Microsoft was ahead of Yahoo, but … Read more

Microsoft launching event planner

Microsoft is jumping into the world of online event planning with Windows Live Events, scheduled to launch late Thursday.

The free social event planning service lets you invite friends to an event and creates a Web page where people can share photos and stories with blog entries after the event. It uses the same infrastructure as Windows Live Spaces and lets you use your contact list there or in Hotmail or Messenger.

It's got all the standard online invite features and allows you to include a map and customize. I'm not sure if it will dent the business … Read more

Mark Shutteworth speaks out on Ballmer

Mark Shuttleworth has reacted to Steve Ballmer's goofy Linux commentary with considerable aplomb (and not the splenetic fervor I sometimes spew :-). Microsoft can't seem to get it out of its collective mind that open-source developers care about intellectual property (even if we don't always call it that) as much as proprietary developers do. We just opt to share it rather than to horde it.

Mark says:

Intellectual property is something the free software community takes very, very seriously. There is a perception that the free software is somehow riding on the coattails of the real industry or somehow avoids intellectual property laws.

The contrary is actually the case. Mark cites Firefox and Xen as two areas where Microsoft - and the proprietary world - has actually copied the open-source world.

Which leads to Mark's most interesting comment: Microsoft is a pirate that trades on others' IP to the tune of over $1 billion each year:… Read more

Giving Microsoft a voice...and you

Given what an ardent critic of Microsoft I can be, it might be surprising that the Open Source Business Conference will feature a keynote from Brad Smith, Microsoft's General Counsel. I invited Brad to take our "footnote" slot that Clay Christensen, Eben Moglen, Geoffrey Moore, and others have held. It's our prime slot, and Brad will fill it well.

Why let Microsoft speak? For one, because I've always felt Microsoft had more to give to open source than to take from it. This is why Bill Hilf has been on the OSBC advisory board since its formation, and has done excellent work for the conference.

But also because I'm tired of the whisper campaigns and backlash (including in this blog) that has come to constitute the industry's debate between Microsoft and open source. I invited Brad to keynote because I doubt anyone else could put forward Microsoft's position more succinctly or intelligently. He's a great person and a razor-sharp lawyer.

Which is why I need you. The format for the keynote will be interesting, and should lead to true discourse: 30 minutes of Brad, 30 minutes of rigorous cross-examination by an expert panel from the open-source community, and then 30 more minutes of general Q&A.

Who do you think should be on the panel?… Read more

The UK has an unhealthy relationship with Microsoft, warns a member of Parliament

I've argued before that the UK ties up too much of its IT in the hands of too few vendors. Today, a member of the British Parliament focused the criticism a bit tighter on the UK's unhealthy reliance on Microsoft.

The current government strategy left too much in the hands of Microsoft, [John] Pugh argued, and he accused the company of "predatory pricing and stultifying competition".… Read more

Microsoft fixes Excel math bug

After discovering two weeks ago that the latest version of Excel had a problem with math, the software maker said the spreadsheet is once again ready to resume its spot at the head of the class.

Late Tuesday, Microsoft posted patches to its Web site that fix the arcane math flaw in Excel 2007 and Excel Services 2007.

"Thank you for your patience," Microsoft's David Gainer said in a blog posting announcing the fix.. The bug caused the software to display improper results when calculating numbers around 65,535 and 65,536. The company said the fix … Read more

I'm a Mac user, but not one of THOSE Mac users.

ZDNet's Adrian Kingsley-Hughes offers his thoughts on Apple Matters' Steven Leigh's 8 Reasons Windows Users Don't Switch. Both provide invaluable lessons for Apple and Mac users.

Wait, the Macalope forgot that "invaluable" is the same "valuable". He meant "not valuable".

Sorry.

As an example of what the brown and furry one is talking about, let's take a look at Kingsley-Hughes personal "reality distortion" problems.

Sure, you can drop by an Apple store and take any Mac you want for a spin, but that's not the same as … Read more