I’ve been playing around with Microsoft’s search engine LIve.com and books.live.com and just find the whole direction Microsoft is taking to be wrong-headed. But far worse is the miserable new Q$A system the company has set up called QnA. Oh brother what a turkey. I think I’ll do my PC Magazine online column on this clunker. Click on the image below to see an example of the “usefulness” of this dog.
I ask a simple question at the top. The answer I get is a joke and the related questions (suggested in case the answers are in there) are incredibly weird.
I noticed that Google has a similar offering that seems more adult-like and useful. Microsoft not only copies everything Google does (poorly) but has now adopted the crazy practice of tagging everything “beta” just the way Google does. This company is getting seriously pathetic.
Microsoft not only copies everything Google does (poorly) but has now adopted the crazy practice of tagging everything “beta” just the way Google does
John, why does this surprise you. M$ has a long history of ripping off the competition. Vista is simply a rip off of OSX and again, badly done.
Just further proof that M$ is basically a 2 trick pony, Windows and Office. With everything else they seem to fail.
#0: “…and the related questions (suggested in case the answers are in there) are incredibly weird.”
John, your initials are J.C. (Jesus Christ) Dvorak. Computers can only find patterns, they have no real intelligence.
Intrestingly enough Google actually discountinued Google Answers last year. This is actually one of the things the guys over at Yahoo are really good at. I always look for Yahoo Answers-answers when I do googling, they’re often actually very good.
M$ doesn’t seem to get it right though…
A useful and sad look into MSoft. A corporate structure with size, talent, buck$ and little or no leadership. Even though Bill and Ballmer are still there.
Jobs was business-savvy enough to hire talented design staff, marketing people who get the job done. And that’s no big deal. Even our resident Apple-haters should understand that’s what a good CEO should do.
What’s MSoft’s excuse? Damned if I know. From the outside, it looks like questions of succession post-Bill drive Ballmer’s barmy army. Apple and Google are looking ahead in increments of years – working at trying to understand what will be driving computing technology (and software). MSoft is looking back over it’s collective shoulder, listening to approaching hoofbeats.
The problem I see here is the lack of community aspect. To moderate such a site you either have to pay insane amounts of cash to hire people, or create a community, like Wikipedia.
It’s obvious that MS just doesn’t care about building websites. They are a company that creates mostly technology and software.
It looks to me like an exact copy of Yahoo Answers.
The problem for me with Yahoo Answers and other like it is, how do you know answer you get is correct? It seems they are just opinions and you know everyone has one, right?
So why bother waiting for days to get something you can find in a few minutes on the Internet. Duh…
What a waste of time is my answer, but there you go.
One the subject of MS bashing aren’t we all missing the point?
My answer (opinion) is everyone is quick to point out how absurd it is to have just two (or more) competing formats like HD-DVD and BlueRay., mobile phone formats and the old Betamax and VHS – BTW where’s my 8 track?.
How about trying to choose between 5 or 6 (or more) operating systems which aren’t compatible with each other both in software AND hardware? (EH Eh Linux runs on a PC so you can dual boot with Windows)
Would we have the hardware we have today?
Would we have the software selection as well?
My answer is we would still be using Faxes – if only they could talk to each other!!! But NOoooooooooooo!!! (As John Belushi would say)
And what do you do with your hardware which only runs with a particular OS and they go bust? Throw it the garage next to the Betamax I suppose…
Maybe you would like to switch to another OS but hardware you have will work with it? Or all the software? The garage is getting full…
Sounds crazy? Well until recently Apple boxes only ran Apple OS. It was Apple or nothing.
Now Apple uses Intel so Apple users can use Windows? Gee, that is odd, why would they want to? Maybe the range of software for Windows is better maybe? I can’t be for the two button mouse…
So we ended up with Windows and Bill.
So what, at least be thankful for the advantages that it brought.
But NOoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
IMHO…:)
Cheers
TIHZ_HO;
Time to join the rest of us in the 21st Century, brother.
“Now Apple uses Intel so Apple users can use Windows? Gee, that is odd, why would they want to?”
They think they do when they first purchase the box – then, as has been shown, they use OS X for a while, and Windows gradually fades into an unpleasant memory…
“Maybe the range of software for Windows is better maybe?”
Not for many years, my man. Well over 90% of all users use six or fewer apps on their PeeCee. What difference does it make that there’s four or ten or twenty times as many crappy, buggy apps that they’re never going to use anyway – they’re gonna use Office, QuickBooks, the same shit everyone else uses. You really need to retire that “more software” crap. It was irrelevant when true and it is no longer true.
“It can’t be for the two button mouse…” No, since Macs have two button mouses. You’re waaaay behind the times there, amigo. Do some homework and we’ll talk later, mmm?
•••••••••••••••
Ah, John C? That whole thing about MS’s offering being pathetic? Think there’s any connection between the fact that Yahoo and Google will pay what’s necessary to get top people in their fields, while Billy G and Co. still love cheap, replaceable labor?
The only areas where MS will grudgingly pay competitive salaries are in Legal and Marketing – the company’s Corp Of Bullshitters. Bullshit is lower cost and longer-lasting than well-designed and executed user applications (or OSes).
Experts in natural-language processing cost too much. Cuts into profits. Pretty clear that most of MS’s woes of the last few years come from that same cheesy, outmoded “corporate philosophy”, which in English means “the way Bill and Steve want things done.”
#9 Hey Lauren the Ghoti
Oh I am… have a look here
http://tinyurl.com/2pkw4j
Then we can talk and pick at it.
Still you haven’t really answered why Apple even bothered with Macs running Windows. Surely its not just to assure Mac users they made the right choice…as you implied.
BTW I wasn’t really intending to attack Macs – I intended to support my point about multiple mainstream OSs holding back development.
If PeeCees are so useless why then are they so…well…mainstream? I had to ask…here it comes…
Cheers 🙂
If PeeCees are so useless why then are they so…well…mainstream? I had to ask…here it comes…
So is Herpes. Doesn’t mean its good or that I want it.
#13,
Apple only wish they had Herpes numbers.
gquaglia –
EXcellent…
TIHZ old boy (mind if I call you TIHZ? ‘TIHZ_HO’ just seems so stuffy and formal) –
Who said they’re useless? Boat anchors, doorstops, paperweights, there’s no end to their usefulness… 🙂
The article at the other end of your link there is, as such articles usually are, but moreso every day, riddled with defensiveness and inconsequential nitpicking… so sad.
To show how full o’ shit they are, they repeat the same nonsense you did – about one mouse button, ancient history. I haven’t seen anyone use a one-button mouse on their Mac since, oh, maybe 1995…
As Vista goes spinning around and down the toilet bowl, more sour-grapes ego-defense crap will continue to be cranked out by people like that. Hope it makes ’em happy, ’cause by now they’re only preaching to their dwindling choir. 🙂
pedro, there you go talking out your ass again.
Between 50 and 80% of adult Americans have herpes.
You’re as misinformed about epidemiology as about computers, it seems… 🙂
“The article at the other end of your link there is, as such articles usually are, but moreso every day, riddled with defensiveness and inconsequential nitpicking… so sad.”
Um, that was the whole strategy of the recent “Im a mac, and Im a PC” advertising campaign…
Of course it was…
#15 Well as a rather informal person and I wouldn’t mind otherwise but I do prefer “THIZ_HO” it has a different meaning from just “TIHZ” if you get the meaning. 😉
Gee whiz, I know many graphic designers and people in the advertising industry who use a Mac at work (they have too) but have a PC at home as their preference. Are they closet PeeCeers afraid to be outed? Or do they like the freedom a PC offers?
On to the misinformation. “Finder” were they wrong about that? The DELETE key – they were wrong about that? Is it all all ancient history? You still haven’t highlighted where exactly they were incorrect.
Vista going down the toilet? Who knows? Lets all hope not!
With the security issues of PCs (and Vista) being the number one target for viruses as a reason to move over to a Mac is not a good reason at all. If it were, then Americans ought to be moving to Australia in droves as America is the number one target for terrorists. Don’t see many Americans giving up on their country of choice.
Why is America a terrorist target and why shouldn’t we give up on her?
America stands for liberty, freedom, and the pursuit of happiness…so do PeeCees! Show the terrorists we will not lie down and surrender, we will fight the good fight get a PC today, For FREEDOM! (fade, fighters flyby and inspirational patriotic music)
There, I thought a new spin on the issue would stir things up…a bit
#17 Yes you are correct! GOOD point! Apple started the nit picking with “I’m a Mac” but then it seems Apple users can’t accept it when the tables are turned around …so sad.
#18 Lauren…So you ARE agreeing that the “I’m a Mac” campaign was misinformed nit picking…and so sad? So…then…you are saying that BOTH sides are misinformed as one is not really better than the other as it is just a matter of personal choice.
Ok…then…very good, recall the fighters…
Cheers 🙂
#20 , #16
Are we talking about genital herpes? According to the link Lauren was so nice to post
“…as many as 90 percent are unaware that they have the virus”
Which that means 10% do know they have herpes (Mac users) and the other 90% believe they dont.
So pedro you were correct – Good One!
If however you were referring to the oral variety of herpes, Lauren was correct that most everyone has it . However the link provided by Lauren in support of this claim also states…
“At least a quarter of people with oral herpes experience recurrences.”
Therefore at least 75% may not realize they have herpes at all as there has been a outbreak recurrence and in addition…
“The frequency of recurrences varies from person to person and tends to decrease over time”
Therefore the number of people who believe they have herpes reduces as recurrences or outbreaks have diminished (Mac users running Windows) and they are ‘cured’.
So once again pedro you are correct – Well Done!
Cheers
#1: “…M$ has a long history of ripping off the competition…”
Yup: Zune == iPod & Vista Aero == MacOS X Aqua. But also IE == Mosaic and Windows == MacOS – Both of these were once top of their game (now waning).
You shoot enough bullets, you’ll hit the barn once in a while.
Every time I must check something on MSDN I use Google, because MS own search tools simply can’t find anything.
Questions without answers:
1. When is Bill Gates really leaving? The more I look at the Ray Ozzie move, the more I see Bill putting a pushover in his place… allowing Bill to come and go as he pleases, doing whatever he wants. This never works out well for companies that have to invent to evolve.
2. When are the layoffs coming? This crew is in need of a serious shakeup, but the IBM-of-our-day appears to be too large to make any move in one direction or another.
3. When will the company start to throw cutting edge devices at the public? The only creative thing they’ve come up with is Spaces (that table top thing), but by their own admission it’s 5 years away from retail.
I’m starting to get the impression that history is going to view the period of time when M$ was strong and Apple was all-but-dead as a hiccup in the overall progression of Apple as the world’s dominant hardware company. Even as an Apple fan, I find this concerning.
“Microsoft not only copies everything Google does (poorly) but has now adopted the crazy practice of tagging everything “beta” just the way Google does”
Business if business. Once a new product comes out and proves to be popular everyone else is NOT going to say “Aww shoot, dang – now we can’t do that!” Its a free market and it drives development. If someone (like MS) does a poor job of it…well its a choice for consumers to make.
What is great is the informed criticism from people in the industry (JCD) which cuts though the marketing hype so the consumer can make a more informed choice.
EG: JCD in his PC Mag column years ago pointed out that with Vonage you could travel with the Vonage router and get (and make) all your calls in your hotel for free even if you are overseas. I am in Shanghai and I have my Vonage phone. Clients in the States can’t believe I am in China it works so well (and its free!) Thanks John! 😉
Personally I think that for some things MS is so far behind the leaders they think the are the leaders.
#23 Fábio Too Right! Google does do that rather well.
Cheers
Why all the vitriol? The major rift between mac and PC users tends to be the smug holier than thou attitude of Macheads. Shouldn’t we be all one happy computer using family? Its a tool like any other. If you’ve found one that works for the way you compute, then more power to you.
I recently got a Macbook pro for work after a 15 year hiatus from macs. You know what I discovered? I like both. Each os brings something nice to the table and each has unfortunate drawbacks. Neither is the end all/be all.
Just to teach/remind everyone, there is a major reason why Microsoft pulled ahead so much, they treat their developers really well. I have worked on a bunch of platforms and nobody treats their developers better. If I had to put it in two words: Visual Basic.
If apple GAVE away a visual studio / sql server equivalent to developers with tons of documentation and examples (specifically including exploiting OSX specific features), they would have had a chance. Java/Eclipse may help the situation, but that could be run on any platform.
Americans are brand crazy! Whatever brand they buy and like, they then bash all the other brands. Ford vs. Chevrolet, Mercedes vs. Lexus, Apple vs. PC, etc.
What an utter and complete waste of time. I ask a question and it gets answered by a bunch of nobodies on the Internet? Look at some of the questions that are on there — who stole the cookies from the cookie jar?
This is what the internet has come to? Microsoft for the love of Christ please stop!
I think all of these question answerers are crap. I look through Wikipedia for that sort of thing.
#28 hhopper “Americans are brand crazy!”
You are TOO right on that!
JCD on Cranky Geeks asks Robert Scoble why he wants an iPhone. RS replies “…because its got a Apple logo on it.”
That just about sums it right up.
Brand loyalty is one of the foundations of successful marketing.
Here is an interesting twist on brand loyalty. Can one ascribe American patriotism to marketing? Everywhere you turn in the States there is a flag this and American that. Living there it wouldn’t be noticed so much but to visitors its “wow what’s going on here?”
Just a thought 😉
Cheers
TIHZ_HO – you still there?
Here’s a little something a bit less full of shit. A tad more relevant, objective information, somewhat less “Microsoft’s On Your Team” bootlicking…
Yes Lauren I am still here. Interesting link but…
If I might make some comments…
“Even little children are able to use Macs. A kid can open up ‘Johnny’s folder,’ and there are Johnny’s little docs and applications,”
So if you are kinda dumb and stupid use a Mac?
I can find as many articles to support Windows is ‘better’ than Macs as you can find articles to the contrary.
Until now you still HAVE NOT even addressed my simple questions or any of the 32 reasons PCs are better than Macs – you have a Mac so you should be able to answer at least one or two.
OS X – ‘Finder’ Can you simply press the delete key to delete a file?
Cheers
PS I have to run to a meeting but I’ll be back 😉
How sad, considering that OS X is now a certified true UNIX, whereas Linux is not.
Specious reasoning going on there, considering that no one has to use Apple’s front end…