Just over two weeks ago, my ThinkPad did the unthinkable. It died. Technically, the hard drive died. All that really matters is that 1)I lost a ton of data I hadn’t backed up (BAD GEEK!), and 2)I didn’t have a computer for almost 3 days. What I did have was a Samsung Series 7 slate. A colleague had gone to the Office 2013 launch and was given a loaner device that he had lent to me for a while. Equipped…
I’m tired of talking about vapor. I’m tired of beating back rumors and gossip. The rules that follow are for both my followers as well as myself. I’ve recently been realizing how much time I waste in what I am calling “vapor debates”. These are conversations where time is forever lost because I make the mistake of commenting on vapor news, or I stupidly respond after a follower on Twitter nicely asks me my thoughts on (INSERT VAPOR). I’m done. If…
Before I begin, I will disclaim two things. First, I am not a developer. Second, I was not at Microsoft during the formative years of Windows, nor was I there for the creation of Windows 95 or NT 3.1 – I was there during the development of Windows XP and the first 2/3rds of Longhorn’s gestation into Vista. Depending on who you ask, the Windows Registry is either a necessary evil, or just plain evil. The registry was never intended…
The iPad is equipped with many things. One of those things is a double-edged sword that can reach out and cut you. The beauty of the iPad is it’s simplicity. However, when you live in a Windows world and use an iPad, you often run into places where Apple’s simplicity runs counter to getting things done. Now, many of you will snicker at what follows. Some will shake your head, and say, “WTH?”. Still others will say, “Why doesn’t he…
After I graduated from college, I briefly sold Volkswagens. As I’ve pondered the metamorphosis of Windows from a desktop-focused to a tablet-focused operating system, I keep reliving an experience with a specific customer during that time. This customer came in, and when engaged, said – perhaps unsurprisingly, “I want to buy a car”. I asked him what kind of car he was looking for. He replied, “either a VW Cabrio or a Toyota pickup”. I’d heard customers thinking of a…
I’ve spent a fair amount of time recently trying to get to know PowerShell. I’ve never been a developer, but I did write a fair amount of Windows Script Host (WSH) both at Microsoft and since then – much to the chagrin of some of the developers I worked with. The more time I’ve spent with PowerShell, Windows Server 2012, and Windows 8, the more I’ve realized that we’re at the beginning of something pretty unusual – in a way,…
Many years ago, when I worked at Microsoft, I took a trip with a person several rungs up my management chain to talk to a software vendor. The purpose of our trip was to figure out what could be achieved if we worked more closely together with them, as they were filling a gap for our customers that we did not (and couldn’t for at least the foreseeable future). I still recall at lunch that day, when one of their…
TODO: Google Search Google Reader Google Chrome Google Maps Google Analytics for the blog In my blog last weekend, I set out to discuss whether I could quit Google’s software and services. To begin, I decided to start just with using Bing instead of Google. This caused no end of amusement to friends on Twitter who mocked be because I wasn’t searching with Google, but worse, I was using their browser all the time. That, exactly, was the reason why…
If you asked me a few years ago about Google, odds are I would talk your ear off about privacy, about how Google aggregates your life together in a manner you can’t imagine. Ask any co-worker at my last job before I left Austin – it’s true. Yet while I’ve still held up my stance as someone concerned about online security and privacy… I’ve lowered my guard. I’ve used Google. I use Google a lot, actually. But Google has been…
In January of 2011, I wrote my first suppositions about “Windows 8” and the ARM processor architecture. Though we now know the version of Windows that will land on ARM will be called Windows RT, and the Windows 8 name will be reserved for editions of the operating system that will run on x86/x64 processors. In that blog post early last year, I stated: Microsoft has never sustained Windows on any platform besides x86. What would make Windows on ARM…