Microstiff-Microsoft Sunday Go-to-Meetin' Love-in - "Praise the Empire"

This week kicks off a Sunday ritual: "Praise the Empire". Lord knows it's easy to criticize the Softie. So...every Sunday, to provide balance to my thoughts, give credit where credit is due and be the good person I think I am or want to be...I'll dig up some "good stuff".

It will likely be more difficult for me but...do it...I will. Like the nightly news, "good stuff" can be boring so...I'll try my best to put a humorous spin on it. Here goes:

• The Softie is...well...and "old Softie" - Want to give to your favorite charity and not spend a dime? Bill "charity-is-thy-middle-name" Gates and his bevy of programmers has found a way -- Just use MSN Messenger! Sure, there's a profit motive but...how can you beat the tie-in to charity?
  
  
• If it ain't Steve Ballmer, then he's got a twin - You have to respect any Microsoftie who sticks up for his company in the face of these times of rising opposition. Kudos to this Steve Ballmer sound-a-like for hanging in there with the good words about the Softie.
  
  
• Mikey...he likes it! - You say your kid brother is a pain in the butt? You say video games are making him nuts? Microsoft has a plan: Turn him into a developer...for free! Looks like the Softie needs some Cloud Boys to do their thing. Must be the current batch, you know the 28-year-olders, are much too set in their ways to learn...the Cloud. It's all good! "Hey, Cloudboy! Go to your room. No dessert until you finish your peas AND...your code!"
  
  
• Update: Sam's Club, Vista and moi - Did I tell you I tried Vista for the first time at Sam's Club on Saturday? It was installed on all of their desktop offerings (Both of them; HP's). First impressions? You gotta like the interface! Very Hollywood. Very fade in fade out on the nicely rounded windows. Pretty face! I liked (I didn't say adored!) the gadgets to the right for calendar and time. All in all, more better pretty...more entertaining. Couldn't launch anything special nor use any drivers (where all the problems lie) but, the UI is on the right path...towards Vienna in 2009! Hey, why not wait, I say?
  
  
• "Hey...get your red hot Vista Ultimate here...only $200!" - Gotta respect the Softie for finding clever ways to get you to buy Vista at tremendously reduced prices. IMHO, sales are sooooooooo bad that they are willing to knight you as a "system builder". By their definition a "system builder" is "...an installer of software on computer systems". That'd be you...that'd be me...that'd be my cat! And hey, if you're an Aussie Uni student (attend college in Australia) you can get MS Office for $25! Who says (MSFT) isn't INNOVATIVE? Thank you, Bill.
  
  However, let me get this straight. Bill, you hate pirates (this year only; apparently they weren't a problem in years past). Yes, you hate pirates BUT...you are willing to turn people into what I call "1/2 a pirate". How? By calling them a system builder when they ain't. So, we both look at each other and wink, right? But, what about all those people who paid $400 for Ultimate? Rebate time!
  
  Oops! Sorry, I slipped back to my old "Slap the Softie" ways. Face it, folks...it's just so easy!
  
  
  I must be morphing back into Mr. Hyde. I'll Dr. Jekyll you next Sunday!
  
  
  More Updates during the day...
  

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