Windows 8 Launch MIA
So I sat back today to watch the live stream of the Microsoft Windows 8 launch. I was excited, this is the first Windows launch that interested me since Windows 95. And I waited for them to show me the product, its features and its pricing. And I waited, and waited, and then the show ended. Information about Windows 8 was missing in action at the launch.
Now I know that the press has had it for ages. I know I have been running a Windows 8 preview in the VM for ages, and so have most developers and corporate IT departments. And I have also used it on a Samsung tablet. But most customers have not touched, seen or played with Windows 8. Maybe I assumed, incorrectly it seems, that the launch audience was potential Windows 8 customers, just like the audiences for Apple and Google’s launches are. Maybe I assumed incorrectly that the purpose of a launch is to talk about the product and then show it off, its features and pricing. I must be incorrect because the Windows 8 launch did none of that.
Apple vs Microsoft Launch Differences
I started a post on the Windows 8 Launch which I will get back to later, because there were some very key differences between the two presentations and they really resounded with me. Some of them stylistic, some fundamental, you choose which.
Microsoft: “will”, Apple: “is”. A lot of the Microsoft presentation was all about “will”, you will be more productive, you will have more device choices, you will enjoy, you will do X better. Apple’s presentation was all about what “is”. This is how you do X better, these are your choices, this is fun. To me, a product launch is about what the product is not what it will be.
Email Etiquette
I don’t know about you, but I get a lot of emails across a lot of accounts and the time and effort to process my inbox is growing exponentially. I just wish that senders and responders on email would follow some basic etiquette rules that will make our use of email both more pleasant and more productive.
Email is a form of communication which is a reflection of you. Bad email etiquette reflects badly on you, and a record of this is kept in mailboxes over which you have no control. Good email etiquette reflects well on you, improves your public perception and persona and increases the chance of a prompt and comprehensive response. It’s not hard to maintain good email etiquette once you know what it is.
One thing before we start, before creating or responding to an email, ask yourself this: is email the right medium for this communication? If you are not sure, pick up the phone or wander over to the person and have a conversation. Email only if it is the right medium.
And always follow good etiquette. This article contains a comprehensive list of rules and recommendations learned through experience and research.
The Big 5 Windows 8 Lineups
My thoughts on announced hardware for Windows 8 being released this week.
Asus
Asus will be launching their Zenbooks with touch screens for Windows 8 in November, or really replacing the screens on their old Zenbooks with touch screens and selling them as new models.
They are updating their modular tablet to run Windows RT and calling it the Vivo Tab RT. 10.1” with a dock for the low price of $599.00, but it’s just the old transformer with bad resolution, slow CPU’s and better-than-average speakers.
There’d be something called a mini
My thoughts on today’s announcements by Apple.
13” Retina Macbook Pro
The 13” Retina Macbook Pro looks good, is priced high as expected, and is probably going to sell very very well. But the 8GB RAM limit and the lack of an external graphics card to drive the Retina display is puzzling. The 15” has an external NVIDIA GT 650M and can go up to 16GB RAM, that makes it a pro machine. The old 13” Pro had the same limitations, odd.
The myth of the wireless spectrum crisis
Great article by Tim Farrar, a real pro on Gigaom entitled The myth of the wireless spectrum crisis, presents the fact that wireless data growth has stalled because of tiered pricing, low caps and market saturation instead of growing out of control:
However, underlying the statistics are numbers that tell a far different story: in fact, there was a dramatic slowdown in wireless traffic growth during the first half of 2012. Of course, CTIA doesn’t want anyone to realize that, because it is significantly at variance with CTIA’s narrative of an impending “spectrum crunch” into which so much lobbying effort has been invested.
Huge Last Week in October 2012 for Tech
It’s going to be a huge week in tech this week, with launches and events from the big three, Microsoft, Google and Apple. Here’s what happening and my take on each.
Microsoft Windows 8 and Surface
On October 25, 2012, Microsoft will hold an event to launch their new Windows 8 Operating System for release the next day. I expect to see more demos of the system itself, a lot more Metro, er Windows UI, style applications and some great hardware that is tuned for it, especially touchable wrap-around laptops from Lenovo and Acer. It will be a good show, unless Ballmer speaks, in which case all bets are off.
Solutions born from deep experience
Comment of the Day:
[Aaron Mahnke] (on App.Net)
In response to:
I love it when my clients casually ask, “Can you teach me how to [insert knowledge that comes from supporting Macs for 20+ years] so I don’t have to [call/pay/wait for] you?” Um, sure… Have twenty years or so? [Patrick Rhone] (on App.Net)
45 Revolutions
When the Earth was in the same relative position to the sun 45 revolutions ago, a baby boy was born at the southernmost point of a continent called Africa. The Earth did not stop, or even pause as it continued its solitary journey.
Yet the baby grew up and made his own journey. Cape Town to Sydney to Tokyo to New York. Via Jerusalem, Johannesburg, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Nice, Geneva, Munich, Salzburg, Milan, Rome, Athens, Hong Kong, Melbourne, Singapore, Bangkok, Phnom Penh, Saigon, Hanoi, Vientiane, Sapporo, Kobe, Nagano, Kuala Lumpur, Borneo, Berlin, Barcelona, Prague, Budapest, Vienna, Venice, Malta, Sicily and hundreds of places in between, all filled with wonder, sights, tastes, experiences and joys.
Say NO to Spec Work
TL;DR: Spec work is delivering creative work for free to prospective clients, encouraged by a bunch of work-listing or contest-hosting services. Say NO, even if that means you have quiet times, or you’ll never become a professional.
One of the negative things about being an indie is that the consulting and project work comes in fits and starts, and there are times, like now, when we have no client work to do at all (so contact me). On a positive note, it means we have time to spend on personal projects and building our own products. To use an American phrase, it’s a wash. Client work pays the bills while we develop our own products, too much client work and our products never get done, too little client work and we cannot fund our own products.