Windows 7 Defender

Today's top story on CNN Money is entitled “Windows 7 Complaints Begin”. As a person who now has a Windows 7 Machine, I have to say I have about 0 complaints. But I wanted to look at what the article lists and go through the problems one by one.

It comes right out and says most problems were with upgrading, and lets face it, upgrading sucks. But you know what else sucks? Using a computer that is 5 or more years old. It is just about 2010, and the people experiencing problems upgrading are using an operating system that was released in 2001. Vista was released in 2006 people. Come on. Get with it. That being said, here are the problems:

1. “One common gripe, experienced by 9% of installers, is that the half-hour to an hour-long upgrade process gets to the "62% completed" point and then freezes.” OK, again, you should have upgraded more recently than 5 years ago. Not an issue migrating from Vista.

2. “Most common among those complaints was that basic "applet" programs, like Mail, Movie Maker and Photo Gallery, were missing. That's because Windows 7 deletes those programs and makes users download them from the Windows Live Essential Web site. IYogi said 26% of their customers were confused about that extra step.” Here is a new problem. Features removed? Why would a company do this? Could it be that governments (and by extention, the voters), sued Microsoft before for similar program bundling? No, it must be to stick it to potential customers. Also, how hard is it, on a scale of 1 to 10, to go to windows.com and click one link to download all of these programs? I'd say about a .5

3. “Others had problems getting their computers to work properly: Eight percent said their DVD drives couldn't be found and 2% couldn't sync their iPhones with Windows 7.” I forget that most users have the computer skills of a squirrel, but the new assistant in control panel helps tremendously for people who don't know the difference between Internet Explorer and Outlook. As for syncing iPhones, I believe that is Apple's job. Hear that Cupertino? Oh, your Windows support has always been a lacking, half assed attempt to port Mac programs. That's right, I remember now.

4. “One in seven users also complained that the sleek new "Aero" theme doesn't work.” Really? Have you bought a computer in the last 5 years? Because if you have, it works. What other electronics do you have that are more than 5 years old? Hows that 2^nd gen iPod working out for you?

5. Other common complaints included an inability to view file extensions, too many "mini-dumps" (memory images saved on the computer when it crashes), problems with the "Aero snap" feature, changes to custom icons and problems with the new taskbar.” File extentions are in settings. If you can't figure out how to view them you have no business using them. Mini-dumps, I feel like a broken record, but get a new computer. Apple's new OS X.6 only works on new computer for this reason. Microsoft is giving you a chance to be compatible, don't spit in their face. Aero snap is tied in with the rest of Aero. You need a computer that can run it. And the new taskbar is amazing. Some 3^rd party applications don't support its features though. That is not a problem with windows. That is a problem with your program (iTunes I am looking at you).

And that about sums up the article. Moral of the story: No shit your old computer doesn't work well. Next week I discuss the growing number of complaints that Nintendo 64's still lack DVD support and motion controls.

The Wave of the Future? or You Can't Stop the Signal

For all of this Blog's rants on the technological godsend/evil internet juggernaut that is Google, it is hard to believe that the subject of Google Wave has yet to feature prominently. Wave is Google's “revolutionary” new communication/collaborative workspace platform that is sloooooooowly being rolled out to people who signed up as early as May. While technophiles the world wide web over have been hailing it as a breakthrough, one has to wonder, is Wave really the next Gmail or Google Search?

A simple explanation of what Wave does is efficiently allow people to collaborate. Imagine being able to work on a project with other people, in different locations, and having the ability to instantly share text, pictures, sounds, and files. (And keep imagining, because the chance of you actually getting a Wave invite soon are in the mid to high 'absolutely nots'.) While it is revolutionary in a way, one of the first things I though (along with about a baker's dozen other people) is “wow, this sounds a whole lot like Microsoft Groove, just for free.” It's funny how our first intuitions are usually correct. Now, you're probably saying to yourself, “oh, ya...Microsoft Groove...I've heard of that..” Microsoft Groove is very similar to Google Wave, the main difference being Groove is PC based and Wave is Cloud based. Functionally, they are nearly identical, with the edge going to Groove for its seamless Microsoft Office integration.

Seven years ago, a similar analogy could have been made between Gmail and the number of private internet email systems that utilized Outlook. Outlook was and is the superior mail client, but who doesn't have a Gmail account? It's free why not sign up? That is the attitude that has allowed Gmail to become the largest webmail provider in the world. Wave has this factor going for it. Strike that. Wave needs this factor to be the revolution people have come to expect it to be. You see, Wave is currently in a private (or invite only) beta. Which has basically created a situation like this.

Wave's biggest hurdle is not Groove, the application you've never heard of. It is the closed beta that for some reason Google has imposed upon it. I remember the Gmail beta, where invites were about as rare as water on a boat. Wave is at the other end of the spectrum. Every time Google releases a new set of invites, Wave is a trending topic on twitter, and message boards are abuzz with people begging for invites. Some of the more desperate are even turning to eBay, where invites are now being sold.

If Google really wants Wave to be the wave of the future, they need to saturate the market, make the ability to use Wave a commodity that is able to be bought and sold.

It should also be noted that Google Wave purportedly gets its name from the show Firefly, with a Wave being any kind of transmission from one ship to another. And Firefly was awesome.