Windows Vista is dead, long live Windows 7!
That was the sentiment back at CES 2009, when Microsoft pulled the wraps off of a new and improved Windows (in beta form). And while Windows 7 looks to fix most, if not all, of the shortcomings of Windows Vista, one important topic of discussion persists, and that is whether to split up the Windows OS UI based on target markets.
“What the hell does that mean,” you may ask? “Enough with the business speak, already.” What that means is that there are proponents of the idea that Microsoft differentiate Windows not by a certain feature set but rather by the user interface. This has been a long-standing topic, with roots going all the way back to July 2008 when Paul Thurrott brought up his support of the idea on Windows Weekly episode 67.
But I haven’t even told you what the hell I’m talking about:
Specifically, the proponents of this idea suggest that Microsoft should ship two major versions of Windows: one for home use and one for business use. Doesn’t that already exist today? Yes – with Vista Home Premium and Vista Business. But the supporters of this idea go even further: they suggest that Windows should be differentiated not by its feature set, but the two major versions of Windows should be distinguished by completely different user interfaces.
The idea is that businesses would be able to hang on to an old and trusted OS + interface (think XP). This will give Microsoft the freedom to innovate on the consumer side of the OS and make radical improvements (and changes) to the UI – something businesses don’t welcome with open arms (think Office 2007 vs. 2003). Makes good sense, right?
Wrong. I think it’s a horrible idea. Here are four reasons why: Read more »
Posted in
Apple,
Business,
Decisions,
Marketing,
Microsoft,
Operating Systems
Left to right: Lizette Gagné, Gary Vaynerchuk, Alex Luft
Yesterday, regular TNWR podcast contributor and geekanista Lizette Gagne posted an audio recording of Gary Vaynerchuk’s presentation at FOWA Miami on Tuesday Feb. 24. As she was recording the presentation, I was burning through the keyboard on my MacBook – typing notes of Gary’s tips and advice. Why would I do that? Well, as with so many other speeches, I have a problem of long-term memory: I think I know what the speaker talked about, but after I wake up a week after the speech, it seems like I forgot more than half of the talk and only remember that the presentation was awesome, but can’t seem to remember why.
So here is some advice that you can walk away with and store in your “advice notebook” (you have one, don’t you?): here are my notes on Gary’s presentation (expletives included for full effect):
Posted in
Events,
FOWA Miami 2009,
Inspiration,
Marketing,
Success
To all those who have been patiently awaiting the day when it would be easy to switch to Gmail and migrate your mail and contacts from your old mail provider, your time has come! A post on the Google Operating System blog reports that users of other popular email services such as AOL, Yahoo! Mail, Hotmail, and other mail services provided by ISPs will soon be able to switch to Gmail and take their emails and contacts with them; in other words, they will soon have the option to have their cake and eat it, too! Read more »
Posted in
Google
Podcast: Download
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
–Participants–
Jon Wheatley
www.dailybooth.com
Twitter – jonweatley
Alex Luft
Twitter – sashok
www.alexluft.com
Read more »
Posted in
Featured,
Podcast
Link to pop-out window:
Click Here
Posted in
Live Coverage
Podcast: Download
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
–Participants–
Adam Debreczeni – BarCamp presenter whose presentation we live-blogged http://technestreport.com/blog/2009/02/22/live-coverage-bar-camp-live-designing-for-teens/
Twitter - heyadam
www.heyad.am
www.crosswirestudio.com
App – Random facts
Lizette Gagne
Twitter – lizettegagne
www.labslab.com
www.lizettegagne.com
Alex Luft
Twitter – sashok
Trivia fact: sashok is the nickname for Alexander in Russian (pronounced sashók – accent on the “o”)
www.alexluft.com
–House Keeping–
I mentioned on the quick announcement that the format of the show will be changing to AAC. As much as I would love to do that, I’ve run into some issues with the flash player playing AACs. So never mind: going back to MP3.
Our Delicious feed where you can let us know what you want us to talk about http://www.delicious.com/TechNestReport
please tag as TNWR_ideas and the episode number
Call the show on Skype: technestreport (all one word)
TechNest Weekly Report is recorded every Sunday at noon. Next week we should be on UStream. More info on the blog and on twitter (sashok and technestreport)
–Topics–
iPhone to include a CDMA chip to be on Verizon?
http://www.itexaminer.com/apple-to-allow-verizon-connections.aspx Read more »
Posted in
Podcast
Podcast: Download
Just a little quick note about what I’ll be up to here at the TechNest Weekly Report throughout the coming week.
PS: I’ve changed the feed file format to AAC: every episode beginning with this little announcement will be in AAC.
The reason for switching? AAC sounds so much better at a smaller file size. Plus it can handle chapters and artwork much better. If you don’t like this, let me know. But any device (as far as I know) is capable of playing AAC.
Posted in
Podcast
It’s tax time. And it’s also “economy-in-the-toilet” time. So it would only make sense that people are looking for ways to track their income and expenses, and perhaps even some ways to save. Traditionally, software such as Intuit Quicken and Microsoft Money dominated the market for budgeting software. They were traditional in that they were local apps: they had to be installed (via a floppy/CD or with a downloadable package). With today’s growing popularity of web apps, however, the space for personal finance software is quickly heating up. As with all web apps, the benefits of having one’s financial software live in the cloud is (mostly) two-fold:
- It eliminates the need for backups
- It allows for anywhere, anytime access
Yet web-based financial apps have one other major upside over their local counterparts, one that really jives in this space: the ability to seamlessly communicate with the various financial institutions the user is involved with and keep the user’s financial status always up-to-date. This is something that was a hassle to do with desktop software, no matter how much Quicken and Microsoft tried. It was always a monotonous process that required steps like these: logging into the financial institution, downloading the right format of statements that the Quicken/Money understand, and importing the file into the software. Personally, I thank web apps every day for relieving me of this uneventful (and often stress-inducing) task.
Today’s arena for web-dwelling budgeting apps is comprised of (in no particular order) Mint, Buxfer, Quicken online, Wesabe, Geezeo, Yodlee, Expensr, and Green Sherpa (please let me know if I missed your budgeting web app of choice).
Quicken on the desktop has been one of the most popular choices for dedicated budgeting software (the “undedicated version” is an good-ol spreadsheet). Early in 2008, Quicken released the first hosted version of Quicken and dubbed it QuickenOnline. It was a paid service initially ($2.99/month), but a few months later was changed to a free service (business model still unclear, thankyouverymuch). Personally, I have been a loyal user of Mint, but after finding out about QuickenOnline and its non-existent price tag, I signed up for a free account to see how the two web apps compare. Don’t fear, I am not going to turn this post into a review.
Rather, I would like to point out that I signed up for an account with Quicken Online and began using the app all from the comfort of my favorite browser: Firefox. What’s the big deal, you may ask. Well, I find it ironic that Quicken Online works perfectly in Firefox and other non-IE browsers, but the company’s business-oriented QuickBooks Online is an Internet Explorer-only solution (or rather, lack thereof). In other words, Intuit (the maker of Quicken and QuickBooks) designed Quicken online – the consumer budgeting tool – to be compatible across all browsers, but built QuickBooks online – the bookkeeping app for businesses – using technologies available only in IE (Active-X, anyone?).
That I find… ironic. And I won’t even go into detail about how ridiculous it is to require IE in this day and age, with things such as Web Standards and AJAX, among other cross-platform/cross-browser technologies.
Here’s to hoping that Intuit has enough brain power to make some staffing changes and shuffle those guys at the Quicken Online department over to the QuickBooks online office, which hopefully will result in a version of QuickBooks Online that works across all browsers.
One more thing: as for the developers who decided to write QuickBooks for IE only… throw them out. Even Microsoft understands that IE is not the only browser in town anymore.
Posted in
Cloud Computing,
Decisions,
Financial,
Intuit,
Web standards
