Microsoft will, probably forever, maintain the title of The Darkside. Whether it was their aggressive actions in the 90’s, their inability to maintain a connection to their supporters (which could easily be described as arrogance), or simply the refusal to be more open with their development, the moniker, despite having lost a lot of the truth it once held, is tattooed to the software giant square on its forehead. For some reason, I am a Microsoft supporter, of sorts. They seem to take a lot of flack for what they do, and the company doesn’t seem to get the respect it deserves. I understand we live in a ‘what have you done for me lately’ society, which begs the question: What has Microsoft done for us lately?

The recent releases include Vista, Office 2007, Surface computing, the Zune, and the Xbox, to name a few. Having used Office 2007 for a few months before being forced back to its predecessor, I am amazed at how much I appreciate the changes that I seemed to fight with initially. I remember the same feeling when I went to Windows XP, and I’m sure I’d find the same thing with Vista. The Zune, Xbox, and Surface computers are obviously quite a different story, straying away from the software roots, but create an interesting package of products. The Xbox has quickly become a force in the console market, although the 360 (and PS3) definitely underestimated the Wii. The Zune is a great little product, but was too late in the game and missed the hype. Critics attacked the device and failed to highlight the fact that the Zune attempted to innovate the mp3 world with its embedded wireless technology. The future of the Zune will lie in a Zune phone version and its ability to compete against, among others, the iPhone. The Surface computer is too fresh in the market to really say for sure, but needless to say its release to the world will create a wave of knock-off devices coming to a store near you.

With so much press focussing on Microsoft vs. Google, Google is almost always declared the unanimous champion, but with so much invested outside of the Internet, it’s difficult to suggest that the decision isn’t short sighted or one-dimensional. Longevity is key to any business, and Microsoft has proven that with 30 years in a cut throat Industry. With so many critics continuing to kick dirt on the Darkside, it is almost like beating a dead horse, except the company is anything but dead. Changes made in the last few years should start to come to fruition in the next 6 months to a year, and I expect good things from this dead horse.

I came across a link to 10 Things We Love About Microsoft. After a year and a half, the article doesn’t need to be changed one bit, which is amazing in itself.

Paul Kedrosky had a link to the comments to a post comparing Windows XP and Vista security. As mentioned in the Infectious Greed article, the article actually created intense back-and-forth banter within the comments of the article. The final comment that I’ve seen was made by Roger A. Grimes, who not only made some interesting points that go against the original article, he also points out an interesting stat:

If you look at the number of found vulnerabilities in Windows XP (28) vs. Vista (11) this year, Vista wins again. If that seems like a lot, don’t forget Mac OS X has had 101 in the same time period. Cute commercials, but not necessarily a stellar reason to dog Microsoft about.

I cannot verify the accuracy of the statement, but I’m quite sure the idea, that Vista has had fewer vulnerabilities than OS X since the begining of the year, is probably true. For more fun, check out the Feline Infectcious Greed.

I guess this is another part of Amazon’s portfolio that was overlooked, under utilized, and in the end, will probably be realized too late to capitlize on. Earlier this week, Google made waves with the announcement that they had added street-level imaging in some major cities in the United States with more cities to be added. The new feature was met with a very positive response, and it is, of course, a great feature and should be, but this is something that Amazon had years ago!

The feature seems to be turned off now, for whatever reason, but this is just another piece to the online puzzle that Amazon failed to see the value of, much like Alexa. With a healthy online sales business, Amazon quietly compiled a variety of different web services and properties that could have been further developed and monetized, but instead were left stagnant and forgotten. In the posts I read about the Google release, none of them even mentioned the Amazon offering, instead comparing Google’s recent release as trumping Microsoft’s Live Maps. Microsoft, whether coincidentally or in response/anticipation of the Google release, Windows Live Search Maps has added to the number of cities that have 3-D viewing available.