I’ve been wondering for years when this product would be released. I have a beta DVD iso laying around from some time last year. Looking back at Paul Thurott’s “Vista 2005” page, he notes how he started posting about Vista back in January 2002 about features he’s already seen or heard of in Vista. That article also notes that Vista was supposed to ship late 2004. Now about a year and a half late, they’re saying its not supposed to ship until 2007.

A PCWorld article writes about how Windows XP was planned to release on October 25, 2001; SP2 for XP was released on August 25, 2004. This means we haven’t had a new OS from Microsoft in 5 years, and no major updates in one and a half years.

As far as mylsef (a regular user) and most Microsoft employees are concerned, this is a horrible life cycle. Windows Vista should have been voted #1 in Wired Mag’s vaporware of the year. It made #4, but should be at the top.

On a Microsoft blog, employees are calling for a mass firing of the leadership, and rightly so. They’re now going to miss the holiday season again. PC makers are suffering since nobody will be buying new computers with Vista this holiday season. They’re not only hurting themselves and PC makers, but lowering the company morale, and turning consumers away.

Will Microsoft make it? I’m not so sure. I think they’ve gotten too big and with poor leadership are inefficent. Their product base is too large and poorly coded. If they could write a program that was secure and didn’t have large holes like the current exploit in Internet Explorer, they might have time to spend developing (and completing) new products. Thats hard to do with vulnerabilities always being reported.

Time magazine did a brief photo essay on life inside the Googleplex. 11 cool pictures of what its like to work for Google.

Apparently Microsoft’s marketing department came up with a mock iPod box to show the pitfalls of their horrendus branding and clutter filled boxes. It was on You Tube for a while and is now on Google Video. Its a pretty funny video, they were accurate in how it would be if Microsoft branded it.

via [Geekpress]

Via email… so bad, but so true.

One day a father gets out of work and on his way home he remembers that
it’s his daughter’s birthday. He pulls over to a toy store and asks the salesperson,
“How much is the Barbie on the display window?”

The salesperson answers, “Which one? We have: Work out Barbie for
$19.95, Shopping Barbie for $19.95 Beach Barbie for $19.95, Disco Barbie
for $1995, Divorced Barbie for $265.95″

The amazed father asks: “What? Why is the Divorced Barbie $265.95 and
the others only $19.95?”

The salesperson annoyingly answers:

“Sir…Divorced Barbie comes with: Ken’s Car, Ken’s House, Ken’s Boat,
Ken’s Furniture, Ken’s Computer and…One of Ken’s Friends”

I found it ironic that everytime I opened my google homepage today, the stocks were always in the green. I did check a few times to make sure they were all gains and that google wasn’t playing some cruel trick. Maybe its a little Saint Patties day magic.

I hate public utilities. Apparently York county is a wasteland when it comes to communications and utilities.

After disconnecting my cable service with Comcast, I spent another 20 minutes trying to get transfered to a call center that serviced my area. I kept getting stuck in New Jersey. I finally gave up and called again only to find out that Comcast doesn’t service that area. The guy gave me the name of 3 companies that do and transferred me to the one he thought serviced my new address. I finally got signed up for service again… after 50 minutes on the phone! I actually just got off the phone with my realtor and she thought it was a fourth company that serviced us for cable.

I also called to get my electric turned off with PPL. They informed me that they also do not service the new area. I’m only moving 15 miles away! I called the other service provider in the area only to get a dope on the phone who couldn’t find the address. When on the phone with my realtor she also informed me that its neither company and she was waiting to get the information from the other realtor. I’m about ready to jump out the window. I’ve been on the phone for about two hours today just trying to get this done!

I read this article and almost crapped myself. Its one thing to cut it off and another to throw it at someone.

Before cops threw the book at him, Jakub Fik threw something unusual at them — his penis.

Fik, 33, cut off his own penis during a Northwest Side rampage Wednesday morning. When confronted by police, Fik hurled several knives and his severed organ at the officers, police said. Officers stunned him with a Taser and took him into custody.

“We took him out without any serious injury, with the exception of his own,” said Chicago Police Sgt. Edward Dolan of the 16th District.

Doctors at Northwestern Memorial Hospital reattached Fik’s penis Wednesday, sources said. He was listed in good condition Thursday, according to hospital spokesman Andrew Buchanan, who declined to comment further.

I think they should re-attach to his hand it in place of his index finger. That way if he wants to point at somebody, he has to stroke it first.

[Man severs own penis, throws it at officers] – suntimes.com

Not sure if you’ve seen this before or where it came from. I had it passed to me in an email and found it pretty funny.

The True Origin of the Internet…..

In ancient Israel, it came to pass that a trader by the name of Abraham Com did take unto himself a young wife by the name of Dot

And Dot Com was a comely woman, broad of shoulder and long of leg. Indeed, she had been called ‘Amazon Dot Com’

And she said unto Abraham, her husband, “Why dost thou travel far from town to town with thy goods when thou can trade without ever leaving thy tent?”

And Abraham did look at her as though she were several saddle bags short of a camel load, but simply said, “How, dear?” And Dot replied, “I will place drums in all the towns and drums in between to send messages saying what you have for sale and they will reply telling you which hath the best price. And the sale can be made on the drums and delivery made by Uriah’s Pony Stable (UPS).”

Abraham thought long and decided he would let Dot have her way with the drums. And the drums rang out and were an immediate success. Abraham sold all the goods he had at the top price, without ever moving from his tent.

But this success did arouse envy. A man named Maccabia did secret himself inside Abraham’s drum and was accused of insider trading. And the young man did take to Dot Com’s trading as doth the greedy horsefly take to camel dung. They were called Nomadic Ecclesiastical Rich Dominican Siderites, or NERDS for short.

And lo, the land was so feverish with joy at the new riches and the deafening sound of drums that no one noticed that the real riches were
going to the drum maker, one Brother William of Gates, who bought up every drum company in the land. And indeed did insist on making drums that would work only with Brother Gates’ drumheads and drumsticks.

And Dot did say, “Oh, Abraham, what we have started is being taken over by others.”

And as Abraham looked out over the Bay of Ezekiel, or as it came to be known “eBay” he said, “We need a name that reflects what we are.”

And Dot replied, “Young Ambitious Hebrew Owner Operators.”

“YAHOO,” said Abraham.

And that is how it all began.

It wasn’t Al Gore after all.

I came across this auction on eBay the other night when going to leave feedback for someone that bought something from me. I went to leave him feedback and noticed he was no longer a member. Looking at his feedback he had recieved a negative strike for an auction he refused to pay for… understandably so. The shipping cost was $892.88!

The auction ended at $102.50. This is one of the worst auctions I’ve ever seen and this seller should be smacked for being this dumb. Had they started it at $0.01 or $0.99, they might have gotten alot more for it. Their “suggested retail” is $990.50 and the winning bidder placed a bid 4 seconds before auction close. This should teach you to look in advance and not place a bid unless you know all the terms of the auction and there isn’t some outrageous shipping fee.

I’ve included 2 pictures of the “details” for when the auction link is finally dead.

I found this cool shot over at Daily Dose of Imagery. It looks like a shot of a Miniature city, but its really a tilt-shift lens that he later went back and blurred to get the cool effect.