::: bisonium.com :::

Part of my job here at Microsoft is leading the visual design and branding efforts for the Windows Server division.  That includes icon design and branding graphics such as autorun screens, boot screens, desktop wallpapers and more.  I was recently asked by one of our UX Evangelists, Scott Barnes, to explain some thinking behind our icon design here at Microsoft.  I tackled it together with my counterpart on the Windows Client team, Brittnie Hervey (she leads the icon design for Vista, IE, Live.com, etc), and here was the result: Microsoft Mix Blog.

Maybe I should have been a Ninja for Halloween this year?  :-)

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Technorati Tags: Microsoft

Posted by Frank Bisono at 4:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Oh the joy of pulling pranks @ work.  Recently I pulled a fast one on one of my friends at work.  Well, Sophia being the Fast-n-Furious (she's into cars), smart ass and gamer chick that she is...she figured a little payback was in order.  The story was posted on our Microsoft games blog at Gamerscoreblog.  The short of it...several thousand post-its and a couple hours later, my Mustang was lookin like a mighty fine Viva Pinata ride.  :-)  Moral of the story...hell hath no fury like a scorned gamer chick...

Technorati Tags: Automobiles, Gaming, Humor, Microsoft

Posted by Frank Bisono at 5:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Welcome readers from the Technical Careers website at Microsoft!  For my regular readers wondering what the heck I am talking about, I recently had the opportunity to be a guest blogger on one of our recruiting blogs at Microsoft.  The post is mainly about learning what UX is and describing a little of what I do at Microsoft.  You can read the full post here (link goes live on 4/11/07):

http://blogs.msdn.com/jobsblog/archive/2007/04/04/what-is-this-thing-we-call-ux.aspx

For any of you who have more questions about User Experience or what it means to be a UX Designer at Microsoft, please feel free to leave a comment and I'll try to answer your questions to the best of my ability. 

Posted by Frank Bisono at 3:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

PHOTO CREDIT: MIKE SIEGEL / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Wow, so today is Tuesday, December 19, 2006 and I am back in south FL to finish packing the house and get my family.  What a crazy past few days it has been.  Just as I was wrapping up my third week at Microsoft, we got hit with an insane storm that has devastated the Puget Sound region.  We're talking about winds over 90mph and devastation the likes of a hurricane in south FL.  People at work are poking fun at me that I brought the shitty FL weather with me.  In the three weeks that I have been living in Seattle, there has been flooding due to higher than average rainfall, snow - and lots of it, as well as the nutty wind storm which have led to massive power outages throughout the region.

Last Thursday I lost power at about 9pm.  By morning, I was still without power.  I decided that if anyone has power, it had to be Microsoft.  Nope.  Got there and power was out everywhere.  Card readers didn't work and access to buildings was impossible unless someone let you in.  I managed to get a cell phone signal (most towers everywhere were out, but we have like 22 just on the Microsoft campus alone).  I got into my email via my Cingular 8525 (more on that one to come) and saw that facilities had sent everyone an email saying we were down.  Everyone that could get on email was canceling meetings for the day.  Since I had nothing better to do and my flight home wasn't until 10:30pm, I figured I would just hang out and power would be on soon.  Not a chance, three hours later, power was still out.  After getting tired of that routine, I headed out to Woodinville to check on my new house.  What a mess.  Trees, power lines, you name it, it came down in Woodinville.  The picture above was taken right down the street from my new home.  Hell of a day to take care of business out there.

I did what I needed to do and headed back to Bellevue to my corporate apartment.  The entire drive there I had cell coverage and was trying to get my wife to book an airport shuttle for me, but I didn't have my corporate apartment address on me.  I figured I would call her back when I got to the apartment.  Only one problem.  It seems the power, phone service AND cell towers were all down at the apartment.  Talk about being blasted back to the stone ages.  It was pure madness.  I decided to go down the mountain and see if I could get better cell coverage and get a call out to my wife.  Nothing.  By now I was starting to panic since I really didn't want to leave my car at the airport for two weeks.  I already had permission to leave my car in the Microsoft garage at my building, so I figured I would head out to the campus and catch a bus or cab to the airport from there.  So back to the apartment I went to get my gear.  Just as I pull into my parking space, my new neighbor starts up a conversation with me about my Mustang.  One thing led to another and the next thing I knew, he was giving me a ride to the airport!  Try THAT here in Miami.  Someone was definitely watching over me.  I got to the airport with time to spare and made a new friend in the process.  Pete didn't even accept my money for gas, what a guy I tell you.  If you ever read this - thanks a million Pete!  A full blown BBQ at my new house is in order, and Pete is my guest of honor.

One thing I have to mention, in the face if this madness, the people in Seattle generally maintained their composure and remained civil.  It wasn't like here in Miami where the looters come out to rob you blind.  The grocery stores were open with basic power to run registers, and people still maintained law and order while they shopped for what they needed.  They didn't abuse the system and were thoughtful of the others around them that were also in need.  Here in Miami, some idiot would wipe out the entire water aisle or ice machine, just because he could.  That's the kind of people in Miami and exactly the reason I am getting the hell out of this place.

So now I am getting ready to have the packers arrive tomorrow and Thursday, and loading the truck on Friday.  On Xmas morning we are heading out on our 3,300+ mile adventure and driving to Seattle with my wife, daughter and dog.  THAT's gonna be interesting.  ;-)  I'll try to take pics and blog periodically on our journey.  Unfortunately we can't take the scenic route for fear of ending up like James Kim (poor guy).  The shortest and most scenic route would take us through some pretty heavy snow areas, so we are taking the boring route along I-10 through the desert to I-5 in Los Angeles and heading north to Seattle from there.

Our best wishes to you and your families, have a great holiday and I'll be back once we are on the road!

Technorati Tags: General, Microsoft, Seattle

Posted by Frank Bisono at 2:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I know I have been slacking pretty hard on posts lately, but I am just getting around to catching up on my feeds.  I have to hand it to my buddy Jody, he finds some great stuff out there.  Here's another website you are gonna love.  Just sit back and watch, this is absolutely hilarious...

Clearification: http://clearification.com/

Technorati Tags: Cool Sites, Humor, Microsoft, Stoner, Web Design

Posted by Frank Bisono at 11:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Wow.  That is the only way to summarize the past two weeks.  First, we finally got our house! That's our new home up above. It is in a little town called Woodinville. It's just a few miles north of Redmond, where I will be working at Microsoft. A little known fact about this tiny town: There are no less than 30 - count 'em - THIRTY wineries and numerous brew houses in Woodinville. Check out the full list at: http://www.winesnw.com/woodinville.html

I suspect my wife and I are going to have some fun weekends up here. ;-) Aside from turning into winos, we are less than 30 minutes drive (east) to several ski resorts for you snow bunnies, approx. 20 minutes to downtown Seattle, and only a couple hours drive from Portland, OR to the south or Vancouver, B.C. to the north. I can't wait to get out and explore more.

If you haven't read about Week 1, just roll back to the post before this one for that story.  Week two was pretty interesting.  Things at Microsoft can get pretty overwhelming VERY quickly.  For most people, just trying to get the hang of how to find anything on this massive campus can be a daunting task.  The building I am in was designed like a maze for rats.  Add to that that there are really three or four buildings connected and throw in an underground parking garage that is several levels deep and covers all the buildings...lets just say you can lose your car (and your mind) pretty easily if you don't take a mental note of where the hell you parked.  But on the flip side, this place just simply rocks.  In my building I have TWO kitchens on every floor.  Each fully stocked with tons of drinks and a Starbucks machine that grinds and brews fresh coffee on demand.  It just doesn't get any better.  I have been warned about the "Microsoft 20" though.  That is apparently the term used for the 20 pounds you will gain when you first come to Microsoft!  I can certainly understand how.  There is a common cafeteria (1 of 23+ that I know of) that serves the 3 or 4 buildings in my little area and the food is not too bad.  And last, there are things like foos-ball, billiard tables and ping-pong tables all over the place for those impromptu sessions while you exercise your brains.

So back to the job.  My team wasted no time and threw me right into the mix.  It's like someone opened up a fire hose and I am sitting right in front of it with my mouth wide open.  I have been in meeting after meeting after meeting after meeting.  Hell, I have been in meetings about meetings.  There is one thing you can bet on around Microsoft, they get damn good use of their conference rooms!  My head is still spinning.  With all that information being thrown at you, you better be good at taking notes.  Everyone is really good about summarizing things though.  Usually a Program Manager will send out a re-cap of the important stuff and we have just massive amounts of resources internally.  Anything critical is posted on our internal team sites.  So finding things isn't too bad as long as you have somewhere to start from.  Another thing that Microsoft knows how to do well is usability studies.  Man, we have got some wicked nice labs. I have been in a bunch of usability studies this week working on a prototype for a very cool application.  There's just no better way to get this kind of feedback before going too far down the development process, and having a lab this well equipped is a dream. To the left you see my Usability Engineer conducting one of our sessions (our subject is behind the mirror and up on the plasma in the small window to the right.

I have to admit, I had no clue how complicated of a process it is to actually ship a piece of software at this level.  There are a million meetings because there is just literally an insane amount of work and coordination across teams that has to happen for all of this to work.  This makes web development pale in comparison.  The good thing is that you are given EVERYTHING you need to succeed.  And believe me, you get EVERYTHING.  I have been working off of my desktop for most of the week and I just got my new laptop yesterday (yes, most of us have 2 or more systems on our desks) and I have to admit, it's taking a bit of getting used to.  After so many years of schlepping around a Powerbook, it just feels weird to carry a PC.  But on the other hand, I actually forgot some of the nicer things about a PC.  First, let me start off by saying that I drank the Kool-Aid pretty damn hard this week.  My Apple peeps may need to sit down for this.  I can't believe I am going to say it....but...wait for it....wait...shhhhh: <whisper> Windows Vista is actually pretty COOL! </whisper>.  Wow.  There.  I said it.  Yes folks.  It's true.  Microsoft did a damn good job on Vista and I sincerely believe that it will sell well once people see it.  Office 2007 is nothing short of AMAZING.  I have been searching for a complete suite of tools that does everything I want for quite some time on the Mac, and there just really hasn't been a solution that met my needs.  I finally found it - Office 2007 Enterprise ROCKS.  Not only does it look good, but it works like a dream.  I can't believe how much I missed Outlook!

There is soooo much cool technology at this company that you just seriously have to sit back and just shake your head sometimes. Perfect example is my first all-hands meeting this week.  We have this HUGE conference center that has a multitude of...well, conference rooms!  But I am talking the BIG kind with full A/V capabilities like streaming the session across the entire campus.  And this isn't just any little meeting, it was fully catered with tasty eats and again, insane selection of beverages, some which left me saying "wow - we can drink that at work, and for free?!?!?!"  Just take a look at the conference room (to the right) where we had our groups quarterly update meeting.  Not only do you have pristine wireless access everywhere, the conference room has killer chairs and a desk with power outlet so you can actually be productive.  This is the way everything is done around this company.  I can't tell you how great it feels to work someplace that just "gets it."  I know some of you may be saying they DON'T get it, and that may be true in certain aspects, but they get how business should be done and how to treat their employees.

The amount of information just internally on our intranet sites is mind blowing.  And the sickest part is that you can install and play with just about anything.  UNLIKE Apple, exploration and "dogfooding" is encouraged at this company.  You are privy to internal confidential software and information that you would NEVER have access to at Apple.  You are trusted to use good judgement and treated as a professional, not like a 2 year old that will spill the beans if told a secret.  The culture is so awesome that it has literally made me stop and think to myself "WTF were you thinking Frank?"  I have no idea why I was so hung up on Apple as if it were the only place to work in the universe.  I got news for you people, there is life outside of and after Apple and it's pretty damn good!  That being said, Apple is still a great company to work for.  It's just a different culture, and they definitely "Think Different", but in a good way.  I just happen to like this new-found culture better.  Like anything else, a lot has to do with the team you work with, so your milage can vary at either company. I am VERY fortunate to be on what I believe (and have been told by many) is one of the best groups and teams within all of Microsoft.  I have great leadership and my peers are a hell of a bunch.  I would be completely and utterly lost if it weren't for my peer mentor.  Microsoft really makes it a point to make sure your "onboarding" process is a good one and you are brought up to speed and not just left to figure things out on your own.

So going back to the technology...here's one thing that Apple hasn't figured out...mobile devices.  I am tired of waiting for Apple to release what we have been asking for, the Apple Smartphone.  So tell ya what...my happy ass is going down to Cingular tomorrow and picking up what I think is one of the coolest phones on the market right now, the Cingular 8525 (HTC TyTN).  Yes, it runs Windows Mobile 5, and yes - it is WAY cool, and thanks to the Missing Sync, I can even sync it with my Mac's at home.  Internally we have access to not only a wealth of information on these mobile devices, we have tons of cool applications not available to the outside world.  My Palm Treo 650 is a bonafide P.O.S. compared to these Windows based phones.  And the added bonus for me will be having the ability to check email and calendar info at work without opening my laptop or PC.  I get real-time push email from Exchange Server to my phone and since the entire campus is WiFi enabled, I can even jump on internal websites and pull down anything I need access to.  The uber geek factor is high folks.

I'll end with today's Town Hall meeting.  This is very similar to what Apple does and is meant to give the troops a state-of-the-union of how the company is doing.  I finally got to see Steve Ballmer up close and in person for the first time.  The best way I can describe him is "animated."  Boy, he sure gets fired up and truly excited about this company.  :-)  I guess that's a good thing.  After sitting through the presentation and hearing about all the different things we are doing as a company, I can't help but feel that I really made the right decision.  Not that I have questioned it, but it is just simply reassuring to know that this company is doing well and heading in a good direction.  We have so many cool new things coming out that people will have no option but to take notice.  It's a great time to be a Microsoftie and apparently I am not the only one who feels that way.  Todays headline in the tech world is about well known Infoworld author John Udell.  He apparently drank the same Kool-Aid that I did and has now been assimilated by the borg as well.  This is a huge huge huge win for Microsoft and I can't wait to see what he does when he comes onboard.  His new boss, Jeff Sandquist (Rober Scoble's old boss), has a blurb about it here.  To hear the story straight from John's mouth, click here. For those of you who think I am nuts or sold out, I encourage you to re-evaluate your idea of what's important in today's world of technology. There is more than enough room for both Apple and Microsoft, and the other players in the world, to co-exist peacefully and work quite well together. There are tons of job openings here and if you think you can make a difference and want to give it a shot, drop me a line and I will see what I can do. I am loving my new gig, I'm sure you would too!

Technorati Tags: Microsoft, General, Seattle

Posted by Frank Bisono at 12:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Ok...I know what you are saying...WTF is that logo doing on your site Frank?  Ummm hmmmm.  Boy, that's a great question.  One for which my fellow Apple peeps need to make sure they are sitting down for the answer.  Before I continue, please make sure you are not holding any hot objects or consuming liquids of any sort while you read the following few paragraphs.  You have been warned.

As you can probably guess by now, there is a disturbance in the force.  The dark side has been calling for about the last six months or so now and I have been making the rounds at the mother-ship.  Not THAT mother-ship in Cupertino.....oh noooo.  Yes, the OTHER mother-ship also known as the Redmond Giant.  Yes people, it has happened.  I have been officially assimilated by the Borg!  For those of you less-than-geek types, I am talking about Microsoft.

I have been sitting on this for a week now, but I can officially release the news that I have accepted an offer at Microsoft as a User Experience Designer with the Windows Server Management Experience (WSMX) Group.  Before you all have a heart attack and start throwing daggers and the pigmy's come running to hunt me down with axes, hear me out. 

This is a GOOD thing.  It was the best move for my family, and to be quite honest, one HELL of a career opportunity that anyone would be brain-dead not to accept.  And if you are wondering if I have to move to Seattle, the answer is a resounding YES!  Rather than re-hash what I have already gone into great detail about elsewhere, follow the link and read the first post on my other "new" blog on Windows Live Spaces (and I don't wanna hear any wise cracks about using Spaces, remember where I work now) ::: UX Design by Frank: http://uxdesign.spaces.live.com

I know this is a shocker to some of you, but you'll understand that things aren't always what they seem from the outside.  You have to dig deep and peel back all the layers to reveal the truth about anything.  I did my homework, I liked what I saw, I took the gig.  It's really that simple.  Now get on over to my other blog and get the full scoop...

Technorati Tags: Design, Microsoft

Posted by Frank Bisono at 8:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Rumors and speculation about Microsoft's new iPod-killer have been floating around for some time now, but today Microsoft announced the Zune officially.  So is it the iPod killer Microsoft claims it to be?  My initial reactions are mixed.  First strike against the Zune is the design.  This thing is just straight-up UGLY.  Not really sure what someone was thinking releasing a brown version, but so be it.  I can hear the jokes about the brown one already.  I can say a few things about it too, but we won't go there. ;-)  I think part of the appeal of the iPod is it's sexiness.  The Zune just doesn't ooze with that sexiness of the iPod.  Maybe it's the black wheel sticking out of the center, and that horrid bezel surrounding the scroll wheel and screen.  I dunno.  My second beef is something that's hard to ding Microsoft on, no integration with iTunes or music purchased from the iTMS.  Again, this is a major problem for ALL manufacturers, not just Microsoft.  Apple has a lock on iTMS and they aren't about to let the other kiddies play in the sandbox.  One question I have for the Microsoft folks is why such a small hard drive (30GB)?  I suspect it was to keep initial costs down, but this could really be an issue for media junkies like me who have over 80GB of content sitting in my iTunes.  I would really like to see a model in the 80-120GB capacity.  So what else am I griping about?  Sit down...this is unexpected...but NOTHING else seems to be a deal-breaker on the Zune so far.

So what did Microsoft do right?  Plenty.  Can this really kill the iPod?  I suspect YES.  It's not going to be an easy battle, but with future iterations of the product, as the user feedback pours in and the product team assimilates that feedback, I suspect we will see a modified form factor, much like Apple has refined the iPod from what it was when they first released it.  Folks, this is a serious piece of hardware and Apple should be SCARED.  REAL SCARED.  Here's the things that Microsoft LISTENED to their users and not only took away, but actually IMPLEMENTED them into their product:

1. WiFi - You can share your media with friends now.  iPod users have been asking for this for ages.
2. Built-in FM Tuner - Yet another feature the iPod community has been screaming for.
3. Widescreen QVGA Screen - this was a no-brainer.  What has Apple been thinking lately?
4. Formats Gallore - the Zune supports h.264, MP3, AAC and WMA.  Choices.  Fancy that?
5. Multi-formats in the Media Manager - The media manager will also handle photos!  Nice.

Other key features include Microsoft's Zune Marketplace.  Details are sketchy, but Microsoft claims that there will be millions of songs to choose from in a variety of formats.  You will be able to import your media from iTunes and Windows Media Player, with the exception of items purchased on the iTunes Music Store.  As I mentioned before, that's a real bummer, but beyond Microsoft's control.  The Zune WILL however allow you to share full-length songs with your friends via the WiFi connection.  Shared songs can be played for up to three days, and if you like the tunes, you can flag it for purchase and connect directly to the Zune Marketplace to purchase the song.  Way cool.  The Zune will come pre-loaded with a bunch of tunes and Microsoft will be offering an all-you-can-eat option called a Zune Pass subscription.  No word on pricing for the Zune or anything else for that matter.  Part of the Microsoft PR and full pics after the jump..

Technorati Tags: Cool Gear, Microsoft, Mobility, Peripherals, Portable Audio, Portable Devices, Zune

Continue reading "It's Official: Microsoft Zune is out!" »

Posted by Frank Bisono at 2:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I know I know....where have I been, blah blah blah.  I won't bore you with excuses, just know I have been up to some interesting things around here lately.  Hopefully I will be able to post about that soon and you will fully understand why life had come to a grinding halt for the last month and a half.

In the meantime, I had to post something about this.  I have always been a hard-core Sony fan, although I may not always like the proprietary nature of some of their hardware.  However, when it comes to sleek, sexy electronics, you can't beat Sony.  Sony recently started shipping what I think is one of the absolutely coolest devices on the planet, the UX-50.  This thing is incredible.  The full power of Windows (no wise cracks, yeah - windows), in the palm of your hand, and I don't mean a Windows mobile device either.  Sony claims that the UX50 is Vista ready as well (they know something I don't know? - I would love to see Vista Beta 2 on this device).  The guys over at MicroPCtalk.com have documented the unboxing of their UX50 in what is probably the most thorough display of ultimate geekdom I have seen yet.  Over 180 images of the entire process.  I love it.  Now if Sony would only come back to planet earth and make that price point a little more realistic...they might have a chance at selling a few of these.

What really intrigues me about this device is that lately, I really haven't been using my laptop for anything more than email, basic surfing the web, and reading my RSS feeds.  For the heavy-duty design work, I stick to my Dual 2.5 G5 at home, which just cranks beyond any laptop out there at the moment.  So my big beef right now is with portability and not having to lug around a huge laptop case when I go to the local Starbucks. I love my Powerbook, but lugging that 15" machine around, with accessories, can become a bit much at times.  Having this UX-50 would allow me to carry a simple messenger bag with things like the computer, a book and misc. odds and ends, while keeping the weight to a minimum.  I'm all about portability right now.  Not even a tablet can offer this kind of flexibility.  This little device connects to the online world in almost any way you can think of (Wifi, Bluetooth, WWLAN, etc).  That WWLAN is an interesting feature too (only available on the higher-end UX180P).  Provided you fork over the cash for Cingular's data plan, when you aren't within reach of a Wifi Access Point, you can use Cingular's Edge Network to connect to cyberspace from anywhere you can get a cell phone signal.  Lets not forget there's also EVDO out there, which is even faster (although I haven't read all the specs on the UX-50 to see if it can handle PCMCIA cards).

So now the real questions will start to flow concerning this new trend in Micro PC's.  How will this affect design trends for the future?  As these devices become more popular, will users demand content formatted to fit within these devices screen constraints?  How will the User Experience and overall usability be affected? Just when you thought you were making progress with going beyond 1024x768 designs, are we going back to the retro small screen real estate of yesteryear?  Or now with all the new Web 2.0 sites and CSS making huge progress on the web, will designers have to "think different" in how they present content to their users?  In theory, if the site has been coded correctly, we could address this issue with something as simple as a Micro PC style-sheet.  But who is going to determine what those Micro PC standard screen sizes will be?  Will the rest of the industry follow Sony and adopt their screen size as the new standard for Micro PC's?  How will banking and other critical sites render on these smaller devices? I suspect a lot of these questions will start floating around the design scene within the next year as more players come to market with similar devices.  I think it's safe to say that even software vendors should take a good hard look at their applications and see if they can incorporate an option to run an alternative UI based on the device you are using.  Imagine something like Outlook on that tiny screen.  Yes, you can connect an external monitor to the device when you are in the office, but the whole point of the Micro PC is to get AWAY from the office while still maintaining productivity.  Could Microsoft feasibly create alternate UI's for these devices?  I suspect the answer is yes, but the question there is whether there will be enough user demand for the feature.  You gotta love technology, it gets more interesting every day!  Until next time...

Technorati Tags: Mobility, Portable Devices, Design, UMPC, PC, Windows

Posted by Frank Bisono at 11:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Robert Scoble chimes in on the rumors that Vista's ship date has slipped again.  I think Robert is finally wising up to the ways of the world when it comes to quoting release dates.  Doing such a thing usually ends up doing more harm than good.  What I don't get is why people are making such a boo hoo over this anymore.  The fact is, Vista's launch date has slipped, yes - we all know it and Microsoft has acknowledged it.  It is what it is people.  At this point it really doesn't matter when it is released, the important thing is that Microsoft gets it right when they finally do release it.

As much as I am an Apple supporter, I think it is vital for the industry that there be competition, and options for people.  OS X is not going to be everything for everyone, so those people in the enterprise are more than likely going to keep running Windows and that's just the way it is.  If they are going to run Windows, then they need it to not only work, but have it be bullet-proof.  It would be a good thing for everyone, including Mac users, given the level of interoperability I am seeing for both home users and in the enterprise.  I would personally rather see Vista delayed another year (or more) if it means getting it right.  In my opinion, that means putting back the features that have been stripped out in the name of hitting a release date.  A release date is something that should be an approximation at the beginning of a project, but not written in stone.  You can't account for unforeseen circumstances and on a project of this magnitude, I think most people could clearly understand the reason for using something like the Scrum methodology.  It's too late to scrap the whole thing and start over from scratch as some people have suggested.  I too think that maybe the next version of Windows needs to start from a complete re-write, but for the time being, you can't expect MSFT (or any other company in their shoes) to completely discard what they have been working on.  I think the shareholders might have a little something to say about that if it were to happen.

I say the heck with these "analysts" that don't have a clue.  Who really cares what they think?  These folks have no crystal ball, are not clairvoyant, and are more often WRONG than right.  If an investor needs to get facts about a company, just ask the company PR person or go to the website and stop relying on "analysts" that don't know any better than Skippy next door who spends all day reading blogs (not that there's anything wrong with that). ;-) I think the best thing for people to do at this stage is stop the flame throwing and start offering suggestions on how to improve things.  If you can't do either, just sit back, hold tight and go along for the ride as Vista evolves into a gold master.  After all, your world hasn't come to a stop because you don't have Vista right?

[ via the Scobelizer ]

Vista, on track or not?:


Gartner is saying that Windows Vista may be delayed again. Microsoft reacted, ComputerWorld says in an article that gives both sides of the story (Microsoft says that Gartner is wrong).


More on Memeorandum.


A bunch of people have been emailing me asking for my opinions. I'm staying out of this one cause I've learned over and over that I can't accurately predict shipping dates in the software industry. I will say that I'm enjoying the latest builds of Windows Vista and things are looking good, so I have no reason to doubt Microsoft's spokespeople on this one.
Again, I'd rather pressure the Windows team to get it right, and don't ship unless it's ready. Dana Epp, security expert, says the same thing.


They are talking about it over on Channel 9 too.


Update: Ed Bott says that Gartner isn't very accurate with its own predictions on software dates.

Technorati Tags: Microsoft, Windows

Posted by Frank Bisono at 12:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well here's something you don't see everyday.  Here's a very cool insider view of the MacBu @ MSFT.

[ via O'Reilly MacDevCenter.com ]

Microsoft's David Weiss gives a tour of the Microsoft Mac Lab:

Microsoft's David Weiss provides a A Tour of Microsoft's Mac Lab. Lots of interesting information and good photos from the home of Mactopia.com.

Technorati Tags: Macintosh, Microsoft

Posted by Frank Bisono at 10:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's been another hectic and busy week with little time for catching up on the blogsphere happenings, but I just HAD to take the time to post this.  If Microsoft thinks they have problems now, they 'aint seen nuttin yet.  Today Apple announced a new "feature" that will be available in OS X v10.5 (a.k.a. Leopard), called Boot Camp.  This "feature" will allow Intel based Macs to boot natively into Windows XP.  Yes - you read correctly, Windows XP running NATIVELY on your Mac.  Full PR after the jump or at Apple.com.

Technorati Tags: Apple, OS X, Windows

Continue reading "Macs Do Windows Too!" »

Posted by Frank Bisono at 11:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Boy 'oh boy...all hell is breaking loose up in Redmond, and I bet these boys aren't doing the vista boogie now.  If you haven't already seen the reports, Microsoft has announced yet another slip in it's launch date of Vista.  You will now have to wait until at least early 2007 before getting a PC with Vista as the factory installed OS. 

It seems that there are quite a few MSFT employees that are ticked off and not drinking the kool-aide.  Check out the comments in this post..

[ via Mini Microsoft ]

It certainly sounded like Microsoft leadership committed to us, our customers, our partners, and our shareholders that Vista would be out in 2006.

Slip!

We should have asked for more details around the "or else" part of that commitment.

I was upset at missing the back-to-school market. Now we're missing the holiday sales market. All of those laptops and PCs are going to have XP on it. What percentage will upgrade to Vista? Well, I guess that's the little dream that I need to give up on. Vista's deployment is going to come from people buying CPUs with the OS pre-installed, not dancing down the CompUSA aisle as they clutch that boxed version of Vista to their loving chest. So not only did we miss last year's opportunity, we're missing this year's opportunity, too. With the convergence of high-tech media, this holiday season would have been an explosive nodal point to get Vista out for a compounded effect...

[ Full Story: Mini-Microsoft: Vista 2007. Fire the leadership now! ]

Technorati Tags: Microsoft, Windows

Posted by Frank Bisono at 11:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Fast Company is running an article about how the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and others, want to change American Schools.  This is something that I can honestly say I commend Bill Gates on.  I don't however think that they can change everything or make a significant impact by just throwing money at it, as the author of this article implies.

"A couple of years ago, high schools were not on anybody's [to-do] list," says Frederick M. Hess, director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute. Now, suddenly, they are: With a boost from Gates's money, 472 new small high schools have opened in New York, Chicago, and elsewhere. Almost 400 more will open by 2009. The foundation has also backed the restructuring of almost 700 existing high schools, often by breaking them up into smaller "learning communities" focused around such themes as science, art, or technology.

Why? "America's high schools are obsolete," Bill Gates declared in a speech earlier this year. "Our high schools--even when they're working exactly as designed--cannot teach our kids what they need to know today." Fewer than 60% of Hispanic and African-American students entering ninth grade ever graduate. And many of those who do earn diplomas emerge ill-equipped for college or work. Gates's ambitious goal: 80% of all students graduating college-ready in 20 years, versus a third today.

As someone who has worked in the K-12 education system, trying to implement technology solutions in to the curriculum and seen first hand the problems they face every day, there is a lot more that needs to be done than just throw money at the problem and solve the issues through the use of technology.  This isn't an Apple vs. Microsoft thing we are dealing with anymore.  One of the main problems that nobody seems to want to speak about is the parents.  No matter what you do or how much these kids get the opportunity to excel, it all starts at home.  If parents don't start to accept responsibility for raising their children properly by getting involved and teaching them right from wrong, NOTHING in the world is going to change those kids pre-determined paths and behaviors.

What some of these organizations need to do is spend some of that money in educating PARENTS, not the students.  In most of these inner-city schools, the kids are simply products of their environment.  If the parents themselves are criminals, act like animals and set a poor example, can you really expect a different outcome from the children?  It all starts at home folks.  Until the government and school system acknowledge that and try to change the behavior at home through education and incentives like free tuition, no amount of money or technology will help these kids (or parents) succeed. And if the parents don't want to improve their lives and take the initiative to educate themselves and get off of public assistance (ie. Welfare), well then...you can pretty much figure out the rest.

I think a goal of 80% of students graduating college-ready is completely unrealistic.  Take it for what it is, there will always be folks at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder and that won't ever change.  Stop throwing money into programs and places where it won't do any good, and start spending it where the kids are on the borderline and can go one way or the other.  If you can save those kids and push them over the edge into the right direction, then we have accomplished something indeed.

Magnet programs are a great start.  As the article implies, creating programs centered around specific themes (what we call magnet programs), the kids seem to get more involved, learn more, and overall turn out better than those students who don't have that opportunity.  If you can capture a kids interests, and get them involved in something they care about, you have won half the battle.  And THAT my friends is where I jump on my Apple soap-box.  Apple just plain and simply gets it.  NOBODY else has the resources in education and can implement a magnet program in the arts like Apple does.  I applaud Bill and Melinda Gates for their efforts, they are certainly on the right track, but the missing element is what Apple seems to do best - CREATE and INNOVATE.

Full Story @ Fast Company | The Gates Effect:

Technorati Tags: Education, Microsoft, Bill Gates, Charity

Posted by Frank Bisono at 10:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hmmmm, I dunno whether to cry or be elated.  I think this is potentially the secret trojan horse that Apple needs to be honest.  The perfect machine - you get to pick your platform of choice. Doesnt get much better...

[ via Engadget ]

Video: OS X 10.4.3 dual-booted on a Thinkpad:

Posted by Frank Bisono at 2:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sometimes there are people in this world that just don't get it.  Jeremy seems to be one of those folks here.  Now this is ok, because the poor soul is just temporarily misguided, and just needs someone to find his hot button and push it a few times. 

Yawn @ Apple:

"Between Google's "big announcement" of Google Video + Google Pack, and Apple's non-announcement's this week at Macworld (yes, I watched the whole presentation), I'm incredibly surprised there hasn't been a mass exodus of PC, Google and Mac users to something more exciting. Like Libyan Midget Volleyball."

I can understand the disappointment of the keynote, after all, even we die-hard Mac fanatics were expecting something with a litle more OOOOMPH, like say.....a 50" Plasma iMac?  Apple could very well still be working on this, or it could be total bunk.  Only time will tell.  One thing is for certain though, they WILL get there.  Now back to the main point here...

I need to try and communicate a few things to Jeremy that maybe he just hasn't been made aware of.  Apple didn't just make Unix or Linux cool, that was a side effect.  Apple made unix FRIENDLY and USABLE by anyone.  There is a HUGE difference. 

Jeremy made some comments about how Apple just announced some Widgets and fixed some broken apps.  What planet are you on Jeremy?  Apple added new widgets, which was barely mentioned, and they made MAJOR upgrades to an already incredible suite of products, which happen to ship for FREE with every single Mac.

Jeremy also seems to think that Apple's industrial design will be wiped away in the next few years, and OS X will be made moot by Vista.  Man, I gotta tell you...Jeremy is really smoking some good shit today.  NOBODY in the industry has been able to successfully emulate Apple's industrial design.  They are quite simply BAD IMITATIONS.  There is a difference between imitating someone elses design, and actually INNOVATING by not only coming up with never before used designs, but designing the hardware and technology to go in those designs, while at the same time making it all look elegant and sexy.  Apple has pioneered almost every single technology used in a PC today, from the floppy drive to wireless and firewire, Apple was the INNOVATOR.

One of the best statements by Jeremy was how Steve Jobs didn't show him any VISION.  No vision huh?  That's pretty interesting.  It seems to me that the ONLY person / company showing any vision these days is Apple and Steve Jobs.  Again, Apple was the first to demonstrate vision with the iPod and even HD.  Apple's iMovie has had HD capabilities for over a year now. 

The best quote of all has to be...

"I was disappointed. I know, a Windows guy disappointed at a Mac announcement. For shame. But, really, the only thing worth looking at that came out of the announcement was the new hardware. And it wasn’t even all that nice. Especially when you consider that you get the same hardware from any PC manufacturer for 800$ less."

Now I am really dumbfounded by this statement.  Apparently Apple is NEVER going to win over certain folks.  Now that we are not only on par, but FASTER than most PC's, they are still bitching about something.  I'd LOVE to see an $800 laptop and what specs it brings for that money.  And I bet it looks just dandy to boot.  It would never look like a 50lb plastic boat anchor now would it?  A quick peruse of Dell's website begs to differ.  WHATEVER.

Jeremy, it's ok to be a happy Windows user.  Everyone has a personal preference and taste.  But PLEASE don't make silly comments and rant about what you have no idea about.  I really honestly wish someone with knowledge of how YOU work and what YOUR needs are, would take the time to just see how a Mac could make your life better.  Everyone is different, so it could be that you just haven't seen what you need to see to make that light-bulb go off in your head.  Maybe a Mac truly isn't for you, and thats ok - they aren't for everyone.  But I used to be sitting on that side of the fence at one time, until a Libyan Midget Six Pack hit me across the side of the head and knocked me to my ass.  At that point, I screamed EUREKA, and saw the light.  The rest is history.  It can happen to you too... :-)

Read Jeremy's rant after the jump...

Continue reading "Jeremy Wright Doesn't Get It" »

Posted by Frank Bisono at 8:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Wow.  Either user demand was so great on the server that it crashed it, or someone screwed the pooch big time at MSFT.  Looks like xbox.com is completely down.  I mean toast - not down for maintenance, not being upgraded, I mean DOWN.  Ouch...

Posted by Frank Bisono at 12:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

This is hands-down the best article I have read on the Windows Vista disaster.  I am glad to see that the people within Microsoft are dropping their archaic ways of thinking and learning to code in much better and more effective ways.  As much as I am a proponent of Apple and OS X, I would love to see MSFT get their act together and offer a QUALITY alternative.  People should have a choice and if these changes pull through and Windows is for once a decent product, then everyone will have to be on top of their game to deliver the best products possible.  The winners will end up being the consumers.  And THAT is how it should be in ANY industry.

[ via OSViews.com ]

Why Vista Had To Be Rebuilt From Scratch:

The Wall Street Journal has a long front-page article describing how Jim Allchin approached Bill Gates in July, 2004, with the news that then-Longhorn, now-Vista, was 'so complex that its writers would never be able to make it run properly.'

Also, the article says, 'Throughout its history, Microsoft had let thousands of programmers each produce their own piece of computer code, then stitched it together into one sprawling program. Now, Mr. Allchin argued, the jig was up. Microsoft needed to start over.' And start over they did. The article is astonishing for its frank comments from the principles, including Allchin and Gates, as well as for its description of Microsoft's cowboy spaghetti code culture.

Posted by Frank Bisono at 4:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

What a great clip. A must watch! Thanks to TUAW (and GUIdebook)for the link!

CTRL-ALT-DEL inventor mocks Bill Gates:

The good folks at the MacObserver (some of whom I met at Macworld Boston) have posted a story about this funny video clip. David Bradely, the inventor of CTRL-ALT-DEL was talking about why he created it during a panel celebrating the 20th anniversary of the IBM PC which included Bill Gates.

Mr. Bradely said, 'I may have invented CTRL-ALT-DEL, but Bill Gates made it famous,' which just about brought the house down. The funniest part is the expression, or lack thereof, on the face of Bill.&nbsp; He wasn't too pleased, not even when Bradely said, 'I was talking about the Windows NT login..'

Give it a watch and it will give you a chuckle.

Windows NT Login Box courtesy GUIdebook.

Posted by Frank Bisono at 1:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Steve Balmer's iPod Commercial

Steve Balmer's iPod Commercial (from macubergeek)
[Your Mac Life]

Posted by Frank Bisono at 11:15 AM | Permalink

I just found this video...nothing new, but absolutely HILARIOUS! Developers!!!

Posted by Frank Bisono at 2:53 PM | Permalink

This is too much...pure GENIUS. I haven't laughed this hard in a while.

Get on your feet! [The Register]

The link to the WORKING video is here: [iPod Monkey Boy]

For those of you who have never seen Steve Ballmer's (Microsoft's CEO) do his Monkey Boy dance, you can see it here: Monkey Boy It will all make sense after you see that...

Posted by Frank Bisono at 3:51 PM | Permalink