More on Microsoft

There are so many afterthoughts and each could be a brief article by itself. Most are my comments in forums.

Ballmer’s leaving

If Ballmer's leaving means billions to Microsoft's market cap (and it also boosts his own retirement account via the stock options), he should leave.

I own some MSFT stocks and it is still a buy to me. However, they have many challenges. The free Office-like software from Google is a challenge and it reminds me of the days Microsoft did the same to its competitors. The next version of Play Station is coming. Buggy Windows (should have two separate versions) kills many updates... Time is running out.

Kicking out a sleepy CEO would not fix all the problems.

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Most new CEOs do not know their industries. A good looking, presentable guy could bring a company down just like JCP. A Pepsi guy almost bankrupted Apple. History is being repeated itself many, many times. Now a car guy for a software company! Counting money is not innovative and visionary.

I hate listening to a CEO who does not really know about his company but how to improve profit in his dream. If I want fantasy, I go to Disneyland. If I want to boost up my spirit, I watch a feel-good movie. If I want my stock grow, I need someone that can make it grow. Simple logic!

Gates today is not Gates 30 years ago. It is all explained in my Coconut Theory. In a nutshell, when you've more coconuts to last for generations, you do not sweat and take chances in planting more coconut trees. It is human nature.

Dreaming how to spend your bonuses in the afternoon laps is more fun to make more money. It is another case of consumption over production.

Laptop vs. iPad

I just bought a $400 HP laptop with a 17” screen. It costs $100 less than my iPad.

I use the laptop 8 hours a day and at least 5 days a week (yes, I'm typing this article with my laptop). I use my iPad about 1 hour a day. I bought my iPad on my last vacation. It was handy for e-mails.

All my important tasks such as researching stocks are done on my laptop. I play one favorite game and watch movies / YouTube for the better quality on the iPad.

I used to look at Facebook and mail using my iPad after working hours due to taking too long to boot my laptop. With the new Windows, the boot-up time has been cut substantially that I do not use iPad for these tasks.

I rest my case.

P.S. I believe that Windows and the processors will not improve a lot to our business and everyday life based on the advances in the last few years. It does not improve my productivity in using Word, Excel and surfing the net to me after upgrading my PC and Office. However, robots and similar devices based on better CPUs, ICs… have been more practical and useful today and even better in years to come.

A beautiful woman will do you no good.

I spent $120 for Microsoft's Office (compared to $400 on the laptop). It is almost 100% profit to Microsoft after the cut from Staples and the expenses from research and development.

I could have spent a day in figuring out how to 'steal' the software or 'copy' my Office from the old laptop, but my time is more valuable than the $120. The option is Open Office which is free.

Most of my software on investing require Internet Explorer. A beautiful woman (iPad) who does not satisfy your needs will do you no good.

How advanced the interface, the OS... does not mean ANYTHING as long as your dinosaur software WORKS!

The ‘better’ Windows has more holes than Swiss cheese.

If they give me $100 for each bug I can find (and I can do it in less than an hour), I would be an instant millionaire.

Do they have a QC team? If they do, they must be blind, sleep and/or drink during work.

 
It is about time for the fat and stupid management team to wake up and do something constructive besides sleeping all day long dreaming on their bonuses and stock options. Rushing the products before their times (Google and many others too) is not good for the company’s reputation and the loyalties from their customers.

If they're the 'best', I have strong doubt about our education system and the future of our once-great country.

I’m sure the following bugs will be eventually fixed. I believe most of them are due to the same operating system supporting both the tablet and the PC and no one inside Microsoft wants to point the problems that are so obvious. I mentioned it somewhere else in this book. I have to enter them again as it has decreased by productivity by years.

·         The fonts are enlarged or reduced without my interaction.

·         Most of the time I cannot move an object from one part of the window to another.

·         The PDF reader problems. Cannot print and had a nice time to print my tax return. Now I found that you need to right click – where is the documentation?

·         Cannot return to Desktop without calling Task Manager.

·         It displays another application without my interaction.

·         For no warning, Windows starts to update itself.

·         I got informing me that Windows has a problem in upgrading the system. It happened several times now.

·         Several times my internet is not automatically connected.

·         They bring down the system even with 11% power left. What happens to the 11%?

Computing in the cloud is building castle in the sky.

The cloud computing is very important now to the companies investing in this technology and the programmers are flocking to it.

I do not believe it will work for the following reasons:

A lot of time I cannot depend on the internet such as working during a cruise or making an important presentation.

I do not want to put my personal data in the cloud – the security is too cloudy to me even without the NSA.

IBM and similar companies still are looking for a way to make money. Currently the storage company and the routers are making good money.

Viruses love Windows

Click here for why we have viruses in Windows.

http://tonyp4idea.blogspot.com/2012/11/virus-and-marketing.html