Windows (and Microsoft) 30 Years Later

Windows 1.0 was released 30 years ago this year (albeit announced two years earlier), marking 2015 as a fairly significant milestone in the history of the technology industry. Love Windows or hate it, nobody can argue its impact on personal computing–and although a few months remain until its official anniversary in November, Microsoft is doing […]

Microsoft’s Strategy in 628 Words

Twitter is great for teaching a person to be short and sweet in their writing. Unless you continue tweets, which I never do, you’re stuck with 140 characters or less to convey complete thoughts. That’s a challenge for any writer, and if nothing else Twitter has taught me to be more concise when the need […]

Amazon’s Kindle App: Everything That’s Wrong with Windows Phone

As I’ve mentioned before, I prefer Windows Phone. I like its workflow, as epitomized by the People hub where I can access all relevant information about a person, from the typical contact info to their social media updates to our entire contact history, all in one place. I like the at-a-glance information provided by the […]

Truly Unbelievable Line at London Apple Store

I devoted quite a few words to my contention that Apple is today’s haute technology, arguing that many people buy Apple products at least in part because they believe that doing so marks them as possessing better taste than those who don’t. Then there’s the group mentality, about which I said the following: “Many people […]

Apple’s iPhone 6 Pricing is Brilliant Marketing

Apple’s new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus have been very well-received, for the most part. Design, functionality, features, build quality, etc. have all been up to Apple’s typical standards (comparisons to Android and Windows Phone alternatives notwithstanding). One area that’s been a point of contention, though, is pricing and specifications, particularly Apple’s decision to offer a […]

Apple: Haute Technology?

Update: This is a rather long piece, admittedly. So, here’s a short version (tl;dr as the kids say). Apple has made itself into a very successful consumer technology company, with a core group of highly dedicated fans who see themselves as better equipped intellectually and aesthetically to appreciate Apple products than non-Apple fans. This core group drives […]

No, I Don’t Hate Apple

As the Apple event kicks off (and the live stream has problems), I just want to say: in spite of my Twitter rant this morning about Apple and in particular their public relations machine, I need to stress that I don’t hate Apple. They actually make some great machines, of which I own a couple […]

Is Apple’s 9/9/2014 Event “Historic”?

I was going to write a heated post about ABC News characterizing today’s Apple event as “historic,” but my friend Adam (@DeadTechnology) beat me to the punch with this Tumblr post (I’m copying more than I usually would, with his permission): Last night, ABC news posted a teaser video in which it declared that their anchor, David Muir, will […]

The Motley Fool Misunderstands Microsoft’s Strategy

  Microsoft just can’t catch a break. Consider The Motley Fool, writing about Microsoft’s decision to release an Office for iPad: For perspective, Microsoft recently broke down and allowed Microsoft Office on the iPad. For years that was one of its largest selling points for its Surface line of tablets. These are two fascinating sentences. First, […]

Windows Phones and the Carrier Effect

Neowin chatted with a few carriers and sought recommendations for a new smartphone, to see how Windows Phone would fare. Unfortunately, the struggling mobile platform didn’t do all that well, with sales reps to a person pushing Windows Phone aside in favor of iOS and Android. Their findings: As you can see from the conversations, […]