WhyteRaven74: Marine1: *facepalm.jpg*

Hey, it's not like Microsoft is breaking their fine record of letting everyone else beat them out of the gate. And with the exception of the X-box, it's not exactly working out well for them.

Yes. It's not working out well for them. At all. A company with a worth on par with that of the nominal GDP of the Ukraine, which is a component of the DJIA, that sold 600 million Windows 7 licenses sold in the last 3 years, produces a solidly successful console, and saw an increase in profit to $6.37 billion last quarter (they earned enough money to buy RIM -and then some- in 90 days)... things aren't working out for them.

Do you read what you type? I mean, really. How is that company not successful? Do you not know how business works? Or is it deeper? When you go, do you shiat in the corner or do you just let it fall where it may?

Marine1: A company with a worth on par with that of the nominal GDP of the Ukraine,

Microsoft's market cap is half what it used to be. Apple has almost twice as much cash on hand. MS could've had an e-reader out on the market 9 years ago. They also could have done a lot of other cool stuff. But alas they couldn't even get Vista out the door on time. And it's turned into a horrible place to work. Not that Google minds, they've gotten a lot of very smart and skilled people thanks to that.

PanicMan: I hope you like white on white.

[cdn.arstechnica.net image 850x506]

Um, windows has had the ability to recolor most of the interface since 3.0

Actually, technically, you could do it in most late releases of DOS and DOSSHELL as well, it was just a bit harder to find the settings.

Also, in all seriousness, I would not mind a ripoff of Google Docs with some actual competent implementation. Using GD to edit a document after using word is sort of like using a manual-set wood-block printing press with no locking grid when you're used to an electric typewriter.

WhyteRaven74: Marine1: A company with a worth on par with that of the nominal GDP of the Ukraine,

Microsoft's market cap is half what it used to be. Apple has almost twice as much cash on hand. MS could've had an e-reader out on the market 9 years ago. They also could have done a lot of other cool stuff. But alas they couldn't even get Vista out the door on time. And it's turned into a horrible place to work. Not that Google minds, they've gotten a lot of very smart and skilled people thanks to that.

Herp derp

/so you do just shiat all around your cage...

Ah good old Microsoft hate, one of the staples of Fark, alongside cyclists, Duke and soccer. Steve Balmer could coach Duke to win the World Cup and they go on a victory parade on bikes and Farkers would still complain it wasn't Apple taking Notre Dame to the lacrosse champs on a Segway.

These amazing extra features they keep boasting about will be enjoyed by 5% of their users while the rest continue to use Word for text files and a bit of excel now and then for spreadsheets. Throw in some Powerpoint for the odd 90s-style presentation and that's it.

Anyone who doesn't stand to benefit from the new features or who won't receive Office free with a computer purchase should just get Open Office, which is 100% free and compatible with all Microsoft file extensions.

Theaetetus: New Windows UI:
[regmedia.co.uk image 500x292]

Inspiration:
[www.funkytemple.co.za image 744x526]

That's unbelievable. What the hell are they thinking? Are they actually going to try to force that on desktop users? Why don't they just name it BuyAMac or HaveYouTriedLinux? Or even JustFarkingGiveUpAlready.

I have to agree that the Gmail interface sucks ass right now.



Check out that Send Reply button, and the symbol on it... the arrow swooping 'up then left'. Now look directly above it. That button without text on it is the 'back to inbox' button. Look at the symbol on that button and see how similar it is to the Send Reply button.

I can't tell you how many times I've written an email and then accidentally clicked 'back to inbox' instead of 'send reply' because they look almost identical and they're RIGHT NEXT TO EACH OTHER. I wonder why I don't get a response, and then I find the email in my message drafts and realize it was never sent. Stupid, bad design. The rest of it pretty much sucks, too. Google made almost all buttons as minimal and cryptic as possible, and then hid half the shiat under men trees (like that 'more' button). They are drab little monochrome buttons and you have to mouse over most of them to figure out what the hell they do. Just use text, Google! There's no shame in having the button say 'Flag as Spam' instead of having a monochrome picture of a stop sign with an exclamation mark on it. Before I moused over that button, I assumed it meant 'Flag as Important' because of the exclamation mark (which is what Outlook uses to denote important mail).

It's pretty much the same story with Docs, Sites, etc. I use pretty much all their services, and it's hard to get better than free, but their UI design is among the worst.

Samwise Gamgee: men trees

Menu trees*

Samwise Gamgee: I have to agree that the Gmail interface sucks ass right now.

[sites.google.com image 543x236]

Check out that Send Reply button, and the symbol on it... the arrow swooping 'up then left'. Now look directly above it. That button without text on it is the 'back to inbox' button. Look at the symbol on that button and see how similar it is to the Send Reply button.

I can't tell you how many times I've written an email and then accidentally clicked 'back to inbox' instead of 'send reply' because they look almost identical and they're RIGHT NEXT TO EACH OTHER. I wonder why I don't get a response, and then I find the email in my message drafts and realize it was never sent. Stupid, bad design. The rest of it pretty much sucks, too. Google made almost all buttons as minimal and cryptic as possible, and then hid half the shiat under men trees (like that 'more' button). They are drab little monochrome buttons and you have to mouse over most of them to figure out what the hell they do. Just use text, Google! There's no shame in having the button say 'Flag as Spam' instead of having a monochrome picture of a stop sign with an exclamation mark on it. Before I moused over that button, I assumed it meant 'Flag as Important' because of the exclamation mark (which is what Outlook uses to denote important mail).

It's pretty much the same story with Docs, Sites, etc. I use pretty much all their services, and it's hard to get better than free, but their UI design is among the worst.

Sigh, and because my picture got eaten:

GAHHH! See, that's what I get for using Google to host the image :)

NOW WITH IMGUR!



Post fail on my part.

Marine1: Herp derp

Microsoft's management has turned to complete ass. They've slashed spending on stuff like whiteboards for fark's sake. They screw over their tech people left right and center.

evildwarf: Steve Balmer

He's kinda earned it. And if you read the Vanity Fair article, he really really deserves it.

WhyteRaven74: Marine1: Herp derp

Microsoft's management has turned to complete ass. They've slashed spending on stuff like whiteboards for fark's sake. They screw over their tech people left right and center.



Which is why it's rated as one of the top places to work... right?

Samwise Gamgee: GAHHH! See, that's what I get for using Google to host the image :)

NOW WITH IMGUR!

[i.imgur.com image 543x236]

Post fail on my part.

The world's confusing, isn't it?

Sylvia_Bandersnatch: Samwise Gamgee: GAHHH! See, that's what I get for using Google to host the image :)

NOW WITH IMGUR!

[i.imgur.com image 543x236]

Post fail on my part.

The world's confusing, isn't it?

Especially when drunk.

rocky_howard: Currently, Hotmail runs laps around Gmail.

Citation needed.
Hotmail + IE = Slowest way to read your email

Marine1: WhyteRaven74: Marine1: Herp derp

Microsoft's management has turned to complete ass. They've slashed spending on stuff like whiteboards for fark's sake. They screw over their tech people left right and center.



Which is why it's rated as one of the top places to work... right?

From your link:

Best international companies to work for, 2011: Microsoft #1
Best Fortune 100 companies to work for, 2012: Microsoft #76

Makes sense.

I'm not sure about this one. I work for the government, and they all use MS stuff here; however, this whole cloud thing is not going to be a hit with the military, whom puts firewalls (Crappy, terribly-programmed firewalls) on everything. They might not dig the whole, "Hey, all your 'For Official Use Only' docs are going to Microsoft's cloud somewhere! Have a great day when that thing goes down or gets hacked!"

So something tells me this whole cloud thing will be optional come release time, 'cause the DoD is a huge MS customer.

verbaltoxin: I'm not sure about this one. I work for the government, and they all use MS stuff here; however, this whole cloud thing is not going to be a hit with the military, whom puts firewalls (Crappy, terribly-programmed firewalls) on everything. They might not dig the whole, "Hey, all your 'For Official Use Only' docs are going to Microsoft's cloud somewhere! Have a great day when that thing goes down or gets hacked!"

So something tells me this whole cloud thing will be optional come release time, 'cause the DoD is a huge MS customer.

It already is optional. When the software is first installed it asks if you want to connect to your online account(s) but you can skip right past it.

Functionally, Office 2013 is no different than Office 2010. You just have to deal with the awful color scheme.

theurge14: It's nobody's fault but their own that they had a old UI for such a long time, and like Yahoo lagged behind Google in offering new features such as expanded storage space and POP3 access. And BTW since it is 2012 have they gotten around to offering IMAP access yet?

Yahoo Mail does offer IMAP access, but in my experience it's unstable as heck (frequent connection errors when I tried to use it on Mac Mail or my Droid's e-mail app). I completely gave up on it several months ago.

Of course, knowing Yahoo's incompetent management, it's entirely possible that it becomes more stable if you pay for premium service.

Marine1: Which is why it's rated as one of the top places to work... right?

Flying 10,000 salespeople to Atlanta to attend the Microsoft Global Xperience conference-slash-private concert-slash-party may make them feel good about the company they work for, but where's the business value?

poot_rootbeer: Marine1: Which is why it's rated as one of the top places to work... right?

Flying 10,000 salespeople to Atlanta to attend the Microsoft Global Xperience conference-slash-private concert-slash-party may make them feel good about the company they work for, but where's the business value?

You answered your own question. They network, learn new techniques at the conferences, and feel good about the company they work for.

Marine1: poot_rootbeer: Marine1: Which is why it's rated as one of the top places to work... right?

Flying 10,000 salespeople to Atlanta to attend the Microsoft Global Xperience conference-slash-private concert-slash-party may make them feel good about the company they work for, but where's the business value?

You answered your own question. They network, learn new techniques at the conferences, and feel good about the company they work for.

If they're like any other company they spend a weekend getting drunk and spreading gossip at some hotel on the company dime and then on Monday tell everyone in operations and support that they've got a budget freeze.

Samwise Gamgee: GAHHH! See, that's what I get for using Google to host the image :)

NOW WITH IMGUR!

[i.imgur.com image 543x236]

Post fail on my part.

Is this a trick? All of your posts had pictures.

Lsherm: Samwise Gamgee: GAHHH! See, that's what I get for using Google to host the image :)

NOW WITH IMGUR!

[i.imgur.com image 543x236]

Post fail on my part.

Is this a trick? All of your posts had pictures.

Hell if I know. The first two still aren't showing for me.