Possibly the Worst EVER Microsoft Commercial

A good candidate for "Worst Commercial Ever", as well. Microsoft, what were you thinking?!

Caffeine: Google's New Search Engine

Seems like Google is feeling a bit of pressure. Two weeks after the Microsoft-Yahoo search deal, Google is announcing a new-renewed search engine, code named Caffeine.

Although Google claims this is NOT a counter-move that comes as a response to any other company, it seems a bit more than a coincidence that the might search giant has chosen to release its new search engine now.

Google's logo in 1998

Google has been having some problems lately - some of its services weren't a big success and were closed; Google's image as a censor doesn't help either; AdSense and AdWords users are reporting problems and clashes with Google; Twitter is getting stronger and Google has no real answer to real-time searches - and much more.

The new Google search engine is still in Beta version, and Google claims that regular users might not notice the difference between the old Google and the new Caffeine. Power users, however, might see the differences in speed, accuracy, relevancy and more. Google invites users to send it feedback regarding the new search engine.

A bit of testing and tinkering with Google's new search engine revealed the following:

• Caffeine is faster than the regular Google search. That might change after the entire internet will knock on its doors.
• The results are displayed differently - there are more images, clips and news.
• Much more Site Links.
• Rankings are different. I am regularly monitoring some search terms (both in Hebrew and in English), and I could see some significant changes. SEO experts are in trouble - it seems that at least some modifications will need to be made.

The war just got more intense. It will be interesting to watch, of course.

Some relevant links regarding the new Google search engine:

• Caffeine - The new Google Search Engine
• Matt Cutts writes about the new Google search engine
• A post in Google's Webmasters Blog about Caffeine
• The Twitter Buzz about the new engine
  

Vista - the Fiasco is Complete

Almost any computer user that had an encounter with Vista has some horror stories to tell - from slow computers, to annoying user interface; from driver incompatibility to software problems. Everything goes. The conclusion was clear, even at the very beginning - Vista is a piece of shit.

Now, studies carried out by Gartner and IDC have found that because older software is often incompatible with Vista, many consumers are trying to get used computers with XP installed, rather than buying a new PC with Vista and downgrading. Yes, that's how bad it is - businesses now prefer to buy USED computers, just to avoid Vista.

Even firms like Intel announced XP would remain the dominant OS within the company for the foreseeable future.

This proves (as if we needed more proof) that Vista is a total failure, but it also emphasizes a very important notion - Don't rush into upgrading. There are many cases in which the old version of a software or OS is better and faster. Upgrading doesn't necessarily means you are getting a better product. In fact, in many cases - upgrading is completely not needed, and might even cause problems.

Staying with your current version of a certain software might not only save you some money, but also save you a whole bunch of trouble.

Thinking of Installing IE8? Think AGAIN!

I know you are smarter than that. You don't REALLY want to install a BETA product by the all-damaging Microsoft. But say, for a second, that you had to much to drink and you you are SERIOUSLY considering installing IE8 Beta. Well - RECONSIDER.

According to Microsoft itself, you might not be able to uninstall Internet Explorer 8 once you have it on your PC. How so? Well, for Windows XP users with IE8 Beta 1 already installed, Windows XP Service Pack 3 and IE8 Beta 2 would become permanent. You would be able to upgrade IE8 but you won't be able to downgrade or remove it. Why? Who knows why? That's Microsoft for you.

IE8 Beta 2 will not work with several key services, applications and add-on programs, including certain versions of the Windows Live Mail. IE8 Beta 2 users also are currently unable to view movies on demand from Netflix.

According to Microsoft, IE8 Beta 1 was only intended for use by developers. Consumers running Windows XP need not worry about downloading IE8 Beta 2 so long as they did not install Beta 1.

Confused yet? Yeah, me too. Not that I am thinking about installing that thing on my precious computer, anyway. I'll stick with Firefox 3 and IE6 - if you don't mind, that is. You have been warned, folks. Now don't you go and do dumb things.

Yet More Proof that Vista is a Piece of Shit

The hell that a simple computer user goes through with Vista is hard to describe. A while back, a friend of mine needed my help - his laptop was sluggish and buggy, although it was a new one. The obvious culprit was Vista. After a long, hard battle, I managed to get his computer to a manageable level.

The troubles didn't end there. He wasn't the only one with Vista problems. Complaints about the new Microsoft junk-OS are all over the place - friends, colleagues, bloggers, surfers - all tell the tale of the Vista Horror Show. My friend and his laptop finally gave up. I "upgraded" him back to XP, and all is well, for now.

And lo and behold - even Microsoft employees can't handle the piece of crap that's Vista. Internal e-mails of Microsoft employees, published online by The New York Times, reveal that corporate vice president for Windows product management Mike Nash, says he "got burned" after purchasing a notebook computer advertised as "Vista Capable" that was actually incapable of running Vista.

Nash wasn't the only one - Microsoft's chief operating officer, Jon Shirley, chose not to install Vista after discovering it was not compatible with his printer and two scanners.

So, even Microsoft can't handle Vista. Why should we, then?

How can you tell for sure that Vista is a failure?

A small item I came across (Thanks to the Mixx Community!) states that Microsoft reports that the counterfeit rate of Vista is half that of XP. Microsoft is basing their statement on Windows Genuine Advantage validation failures, along with other internal data.

Microsoft, of course, attributes this success to the "robust security" of Vista. They are almost claiming that the war on piracy has been won.

I think there must be a different reason as to why Vista is not pirated as Windows XP - it's because Vista is such a terrible OS, that very few actually want to try it out - even as a pirated version. After a very annoying expericnce with Vista a while ago, I wouldn't install this horrible thing on a computer of mine, even if Bill Gates himself offers it to me for free.

There are more and more options out there to those who want a good operating system - a lot of them are free or close to it. If you insist on a Microsoft product, my advice to you is the rule of thumb I always give: Never install a new Microsoft product. Wait AT LEAST two years for most of the bugs to die. And even then - reconsider.

Vista: Mostly Annoying

A friend of mine dropped by for dinner the other day. We had a lot of fun, and he also brought his Lenovo laptop for the rider. He's been having some problems with the Vista operating system and I offered to help.

I don't use Vista myself. I have no intentions of doing so in the near future, either. I have seen Vista on other people's computers, and I knew instantly it would be a mistake to install it. The different horror-reviews I have seen all over the net only made me more confident in my decision. I have XP on my laptop and Windows 2000 on my desktop - ironclad OS that runs smoothly.

My friend's laptop is brand new - about a month old. He didn't install anything horrible on it (except some sort of a Symantec Anti-Virus, which we will remove ASAP). He has 1 GB of RAM. It's not an expensive computer, but it should do its job. Basic stuff like surfing the net, creating presentations and storing pictures. Nothing fancy, right?

Well, wrong. The computer is slow, annoying and full of stupid little bugs - all because of the not-so-wonderful Vista.

First thing we tried to do, was connect to my home wireless network. Denied. The computer connected to the net but I couldn't use the internet. Since we didn't have much time to play with TCP/IP settings, I decided to try and make the laptop a bit faster and more convenient, by removing some unneeded features and tweaking the interface.

The annoying Vista kept bugging me with "are you sure" kind of questions, for every little move. The pseudo-friendly names for the different elements in the control-panel aren't making things easier - I had to scan the list a few times in order to understand where are the settings I need to handle. Installing drivers for something simple as a Disk-On-Key seemed to take ages. The graphics and effects are redundant, resource-consuming and silly (the "Gadgets" thing on the desktop is especially moronic), and the main feeling is that Vista thinks it's smarter than the average human, and can solve all its problems by itself.

Well, it couldn't. It didn't solve the wireless problem (other computers connected perfectly), it didn't help to improve the system's performance and most of all - it makes the probing and tweaking very difficult.

Since that little meeting with Vista, I had gone online and did some research on how to tweak it and force it into something a normal human can enjoy. I'm going to recommend to my friend to format and install XP. If he doesn't feel like it, I'll do my best to help fix all of the problems, but I'm pretty sure it will be far from perfect.

I have been warning people from Vista from the moment it came out. Not because I tried and tested it, but because of a simple rule - Never install a new Microsoft product. Wait AT LEAST two years for most of the bugs to die. And even then - reconsider. My little meetings with Vista only proved me right. The fact the Microsoft is silently "allowing" vendors to sell PCs with XP again, just fortifies the claim - Vista is far from being the OS of the future. It's just another bad Microsoft product.

The ZunePhone Commercial

It's not an easy thing to make me giggle in the morning, so Kudos to the makers of this clip: