Looks like MS WILL be keeping classic Windows Mobile around! They will continue to support 6.x.x until demand dies out.
Thank god. I can unclench now.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Typo but it stays...
Just a little tuesday LOLz for ya...
Something hilarious happened to me last week at work. I do chat-based tech support for a huge hard drive company- I only deal with the internal employees so it's far less painful than regular tech support, and I really love my job. Last friday though, I secured my place in the company's hall of fame.
I had an employee on chat that needed his laptop reimaged due to a virus infestation. I typed this to him- "Just so I'm clear, you're needing to reinstall the OS/reimage the hard disk, right?"
Only I didn't type DISK. I typed something much worse, something that will go down in the company's history as one of the most epic typos ever. Yes, I typed DICK. I hurriedly added "DISK, sorry!" and fortunately, the user was quite professional about it. He was silent for a few minutes, no doubt laughing hysterically on his end, then replied "yes". I know why I typed that, its quite an innocent mistake. I write in Russian a lot, and the Russian S is C in english, and I'm always typing stuff like 'ctart' & whatnot on accident. But this is by far the worst typo I've ever made.
Of course, by the end of the day it was all over the company, and I was getting congratulated by all my coworkers. Even one of the IT guys found me on Gchat & said "Thanks for the laugh!". I learned that the chat logs are automatically saved into each respective service ticket, and are viewable by all! I honestly thought I was gonna get disciplined or even fired, but then I heard that the big boss laughed the hardest. This is why I love my job :D
I now am the butt of nympho jokes at work, and one of my coworkers has saved me in his phone as 'hard disk'. This incident has vastly increased my popularity at work, lol...
I honestly don't know whether to be horrified or proud of myself.
Something hilarious happened to me last week at work. I do chat-based tech support for a huge hard drive company- I only deal with the internal employees so it's far less painful than regular tech support, and I really love my job. Last friday though, I secured my place in the company's hall of fame.
I had an employee on chat that needed his laptop reimaged due to a virus infestation. I typed this to him- "Just so I'm clear, you're needing to reinstall the OS/reimage the hard disk, right?"
Only I didn't type DISK. I typed something much worse, something that will go down in the company's history as one of the most epic typos ever. Yes, I typed DICK. I hurriedly added "DISK, sorry!" and fortunately, the user was quite professional about it. He was silent for a few minutes, no doubt laughing hysterically on his end, then replied "yes". I know why I typed that, its quite an innocent mistake. I write in Russian a lot, and the Russian S is C in english, and I'm always typing stuff like 'ctart' & whatnot on accident. But this is by far the worst typo I've ever made.
Of course, by the end of the day it was all over the company, and I was getting congratulated by all my coworkers. Even one of the IT guys found me on Gchat & said "Thanks for the laugh!". I learned that the chat logs are automatically saved into each respective service ticket, and are viewable by all! I honestly thought I was gonna get disciplined or even fired, but then I heard that the big boss laughed the hardest. This is why I love my job :D
I now am the butt of nympho jokes at work, and one of my coworkers has saved me in his phone as 'hard disk'. This incident has vastly increased my popularity at work, lol...
I honestly don't know whether to be horrified or proud of myself.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Windows Phone 7- a rant.
The more I read about MS's new & "improved" version of Windows Mobile, the more I want to drink poison. I'm seeing the impending death of my favorite OS with the announcement of WM7. I hate you, Microsoft. WM7 looks like something you'd find on a Firefly, or a Nickelodeon phone aimed at pre-teens. It's completely different- no more Start menu, its all huge, brightly colored icons & 72 point fonts. No more support for legacy programs- it's not backwards compatible! No more multitasking either(but have no fear- your Twitter feeds will still update in the background, so you'll always know what Tila Tequila is up to!). Storage will be cloud based, which means you can store all your shit on remote servers & just stream whatever you want. Uh-oh, no data connection? Well then you're just fucked, buddy!
The new UI looks like something you'd see on a dumbphone thats trying to imitate a smartphone, like a Samsung Instinct. Now, the Instinct is a good phone, but if I wanted my phone to look like an Instinct, I'd have gotten an Instinct to begin with. I know they wanna win over the drooling masses with eye candy, but what about us geeks? The people who use their phones for things other than listening to top 40 & stalking their exes on Myspace? This is a HUGE step back for WM. I do not know what MS is thinking with this monstrosity & it truly hurts my heart to see them ass-raping WinMo like this. Did they not see what happened with Palm? "Wow, look how WebOS has taken over the market, and look how happy long-time Palm users are that they can't run their old apps anymore! We SO need to get in on that!" /sarcasm. Nobody even THINKS about WebOS or Palm anymore, they committed SUICIDE by killing Garnet. Microsoft is pounding the nail into the coffin of their mobile relevancy with this move, mark my words.
Windows Mobile has a HUGE geek following, and MS is just going to ensure that even more people migrate to Android & iPhone by abandoning us to cater to scenester douchebags. They'll be alienating a shit-ton of long time users, and I for one don't appreciate it. I NEVER thought I'd say this- but if MS is really gonna give the big F-U to its legacy users, or if they don't offer options to those of us who care more about functionality than cute icons & social networking, well... then Android or even the iPhone(shudder) might just be an option for me. Never thought I'd seek comfort in the arms of the enemy, but if the rumors turn out to be true, then that might just happen. And anyone who knows me knows I am a HARDCORE WinMo geek, so that is really saying something.
The real nail in the coffin is the lack of backwards compatibility. This is what's going to kill this new OS. That is why the Treo 755p was my last Palm device, cause they killed BC with the Pre. Yeah, a guy developed an emulator for old palm apps for the Pre, but how long did that take, a year? I've spent a lot of money of WM apps over the years, and I'll be damned if I'm gonna give them all up for cloud storage & animated icons.
To put it in perspective for those of you who think I'm overreacting- How would you feel if Windows(or Mac OS whatever, or Linux) was totally rewritten & came out looking like something off a Leapster? And what if you could only do one thing at a time, had far less options, and none of your favorite programs worked with it anymore? What if you had to find alternatives to every program you used to use every day? What is you were forced to learn a whole new OS & had to learn new ways to do everything? And what if they did it just to cater to all the DUMB SHITS who were too stupid to figure out how to use the old version? You'd be PISSED. You'd feel betrayed by the company. You would feel INSULTED that they think you are so stupid that you need such a simple OS. This is exactly how I feel about WM7.
I hate it when companies fix things that aren't broken. It happens every time I find something I really like- it either gets discontinued or it gets changed into something completely different. Dodge discontinued Neons in 2005. The Body Shop changed their heavenly vanilla perfume oil into some nauseating flowery crap. MAC discontinued my favorite lipstick. MIA no longer makes those cute strappy black sandals I used to love. Grandy's went out of business. Nivea discontinued my favorite toner. Et cetera, et cetera. I'm afraid to like anything anymore! Yes, WM needed UPDATING, but it didn't need to be completely redone into a whole new OS. Yeah they might eliminate some crashes, but they've also gotten rid of everything that makes WinMo great. WTF. But I guess appealing to teenagers, soccer moms, and tech-tards is more important than keeping existing customers happy & making REAL progress. I truly never thought I'd see a day when social networking would take precedence over multitasking capabilities, but apparently that day has come. I'm honestly in shock. I don't know how to feel, I'm kinda numb here. I admit I'm pretty big on social networking- I have a Myspace, a Facebook, a blog, about 10 email addresses, and various profiles in all sorts of forums. But social networking is not the MAIN THING I use my phone for! What about customization, tailored today screens, total program freedom, hacks, tweaks, and the like? Is changeable wallpaper supposed to satisfy our appetites for individuality? No. No no no no no.
This new OS is aimed at all the morons who bitched & whined that using classic WinMo is 'too hard!', but the complexity is what I love MOST about it. You can hack it till the cows come home & make it do whatever you want it to do! What's not to like about that? WHY does every company always dumb everything down?! Why not force people to LEARN rather than contribute to their ignorance by making things easier? A man will eat for a day if you give him a fish, but he will starve tomorrow unless he LEARNS to fish.
I swear- I've said it before & I'll say it again- we are hurtling toward Idiocracy at an alarming rate. When Microsoft has to reduce Windows Mobile, a powerful business-oriented, versatile mobile OS thats been around for 14 years, to a mishmash of bright colors & flashy animations just to stay on the market, then it's time to start worrying. I can't believe anyone would be okay with a 'new & improved' version of anything being DUMBED DOWN to appeal to morons. Its an insult to our collective intelligence. Even on the video(scroll down) the guy is saying this new version is not aimed at business users, but at everyone else. Translation: "Since you're all too stupid to operate regular Windows Mobile, here's a much more idiot-friendly version for ya!"
Pardon my french, but this is fucking bullshit. Windows Phone 7 makes me want to die. Seriously. If I can't have my comfortable old WinMo, then I don't see the point of going on any more. They BETTER keep 6.5 around, or I just might lose it. They need to release 7 as a separate 'consumer edition' & keep the classic version around for smart people. If they make 7 backwards compatible & give us multitasking, then I MIGHT try it, but as of now its looking like nothing more than a glorified Instinct.
Take a look at this digital abortion~
WOW!!! You can find movie listings & update your Facebook & search the web! Odd... vexing... but I can do that on my LG Lotus dumbphone too, what the hell?! And if I didn't know better I'd think they were trying to imitate the iPhone with all that pinch to zoom bullshit. Way to go, Microsoft. You really screwed the pooch this time.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH.
The new UI looks like something you'd see on a dumbphone thats trying to imitate a smartphone, like a Samsung Instinct. Now, the Instinct is a good phone, but if I wanted my phone to look like an Instinct, I'd have gotten an Instinct to begin with. I know they wanna win over the drooling masses with eye candy, but what about us geeks? The people who use their phones for things other than listening to top 40 & stalking their exes on Myspace? This is a HUGE step back for WM. I do not know what MS is thinking with this monstrosity & it truly hurts my heart to see them ass-raping WinMo like this. Did they not see what happened with Palm? "Wow, look how WebOS has taken over the market, and look how happy long-time Palm users are that they can't run their old apps anymore! We SO need to get in on that!" /sarcasm. Nobody even THINKS about WebOS or Palm anymore, they committed SUICIDE by killing Garnet. Microsoft is pounding the nail into the coffin of their mobile relevancy with this move, mark my words.
Windows Mobile has a HUGE geek following, and MS is just going to ensure that even more people migrate to Android & iPhone by abandoning us to cater to scenester douchebags. They'll be alienating a shit-ton of long time users, and I for one don't appreciate it. I NEVER thought I'd say this- but if MS is really gonna give the big F-U to its legacy users, or if they don't offer options to those of us who care more about functionality than cute icons & social networking, well... then Android or even the iPhone(shudder) might just be an option for me. Never thought I'd seek comfort in the arms of the enemy, but if the rumors turn out to be true, then that might just happen. And anyone who knows me knows I am a HARDCORE WinMo geek, so that is really saying something.
The real nail in the coffin is the lack of backwards compatibility. This is what's going to kill this new OS. That is why the Treo 755p was my last Palm device, cause they killed BC with the Pre. Yeah, a guy developed an emulator for old palm apps for the Pre, but how long did that take, a year? I've spent a lot of money of WM apps over the years, and I'll be damned if I'm gonna give them all up for cloud storage & animated icons.
To put it in perspective for those of you who think I'm overreacting- How would you feel if Windows(or Mac OS whatever, or Linux) was totally rewritten & came out looking like something off a Leapster? And what if you could only do one thing at a time, had far less options, and none of your favorite programs worked with it anymore? What if you had to find alternatives to every program you used to use every day? What is you were forced to learn a whole new OS & had to learn new ways to do everything? And what if they did it just to cater to all the DUMB SHITS who were too stupid to figure out how to use the old version? You'd be PISSED. You'd feel betrayed by the company. You would feel INSULTED that they think you are so stupid that you need such a simple OS. This is exactly how I feel about WM7.
I hate it when companies fix things that aren't broken. It happens every time I find something I really like- it either gets discontinued or it gets changed into something completely different. Dodge discontinued Neons in 2005. The Body Shop changed their heavenly vanilla perfume oil into some nauseating flowery crap. MAC discontinued my favorite lipstick. MIA no longer makes those cute strappy black sandals I used to love. Grandy's went out of business. Nivea discontinued my favorite toner. Et cetera, et cetera. I'm afraid to like anything anymore! Yes, WM needed UPDATING, but it didn't need to be completely redone into a whole new OS. Yeah they might eliminate some crashes, but they've also gotten rid of everything that makes WinMo great. WTF. But I guess appealing to teenagers, soccer moms, and tech-tards is more important than keeping existing customers happy & making REAL progress. I truly never thought I'd see a day when social networking would take precedence over multitasking capabilities, but apparently that day has come. I'm honestly in shock. I don't know how to feel, I'm kinda numb here. I admit I'm pretty big on social networking- I have a Myspace, a Facebook, a blog, about 10 email addresses, and various profiles in all sorts of forums. But social networking is not the MAIN THING I use my phone for! What about customization, tailored today screens, total program freedom, hacks, tweaks, and the like? Is changeable wallpaper supposed to satisfy our appetites for individuality? No. No no no no no.
This new OS is aimed at all the morons who bitched & whined that using classic WinMo is 'too hard!', but the complexity is what I love MOST about it. You can hack it till the cows come home & make it do whatever you want it to do! What's not to like about that? WHY does every company always dumb everything down?! Why not force people to LEARN rather than contribute to their ignorance by making things easier? A man will eat for a day if you give him a fish, but he will starve tomorrow unless he LEARNS to fish.
I swear- I've said it before & I'll say it again- we are hurtling toward Idiocracy at an alarming rate. When Microsoft has to reduce Windows Mobile, a powerful business-oriented, versatile mobile OS thats been around for 14 years, to a mishmash of bright colors & flashy animations just to stay on the market, then it's time to start worrying. I can't believe anyone would be okay with a 'new & improved' version of anything being DUMBED DOWN to appeal to morons. Its an insult to our collective intelligence. Even on the video(scroll down) the guy is saying this new version is not aimed at business users, but at everyone else. Translation: "Since you're all too stupid to operate regular Windows Mobile, here's a much more idiot-friendly version for ya!"
Pardon my french, but this is fucking bullshit. Windows Phone 7 makes me want to die. Seriously. If I can't have my comfortable old WinMo, then I don't see the point of going on any more. They BETTER keep 6.5 around, or I just might lose it. They need to release 7 as a separate 'consumer edition' & keep the classic version around for smart people. If they make 7 backwards compatible & give us multitasking, then I MIGHT try it, but as of now its looking like nothing more than a glorified Instinct.
Take a look at this digital abortion~
WOW!!! You can find movie listings & update your Facebook & search the web! Odd... vexing... but I can do that on my LG Lotus dumbphone too, what the hell?! And if I didn't know better I'd think they were trying to imitate the iPhone with all that pinch to zoom bullshit. Way to go, Microsoft. You really screwed the pooch this time.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH.
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