While reading Digg comments for the oFone, someone mentioned that the Microsoft iPod Packaging video was also created by Microsoft... I thought it was a fan-made video, personally, but here's the article from iPodObserver, and it reached around 3500 diggs on Digg, so I think it's safe to say that it's an accurate article.

The video in question, in case you haven't seen it:

I'm starting to like Microsoft a little more everyday. When people can make fun of themselves... They automatically rock.

Behold! Microsoft has decided to try their hand at designing a cell phone that will rival Apple's iPhone. Microsoft first made the announcement with this video that they presented at the Mobile and Embedded Developer Conference in Las Vegas on May 1st:

Although, before any Apple fanatics read this and blow a fuse at how Microsoft is "copying" Apple again, I need to mention that, according to the MSNBC article, Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices Division, assured everyone that the oFone is just a silly parody video they made and that there are absolutely no plans to release such a thing.

Still, it's funny reading all the comments by Apple fanatics on Engadget and Digg.

And, of course, with my increased usage of the phrase "Apple fanatic", I must say that I don't mean Apple users in general, but the Apple users who go out of their way to plug Macs and rip Windows at every possible moment because they're sad, bitter little boys. I know my fair share of Apple users who don't act like rabid fanatics.

So I was talking with someone... Let's call him "MisterMan". I just came back from a college class where we were supposed to give presentations on different operating systems and one of them gave a presentation about OS X Leopard... Of course, I knew at least one of them would.

We get all the way through the presentation, and then the typical Apple elitism strikes and there's a video with all the stuff Vista "copied" from Apple. You know... Important stuff like calendar applications and mailing applications and instant search. Yeah. If Apple has to point fingers at Microsoft and say "you copied our calendar!" Then you go right ahead. I didn't know you owned the concept of a calendar, but if you think you do, then by all means, continue thinking that, and if that's all you got on Microsoft as far as copying goes, then I think you're just being whiny.

Anyway, so I told this MisterMan guy that the first thing I noticed about the video was that everyone in that audience was laughing and pointing fingers at how silly and stupid their competition was. That's just typical for Apple... And so this IM conversation ensued:

(9:27:38 PM) GermanShepherd: Microsoft doesn't mock... EVER NOTICE THAT?!
(9:27:46 PM) GermanShepherd: They just do their thing and make their products stand on its own merit.
(9:28:05 PM) MISTERMAN: would you mock if you owned 90% of the world?
(9:28:23 PM) GermanShepherd: would you mock if you owned 5% of the world?
(9:28:35 PM) MISTERMAN: to make myself feel better, yep

Perfect! Just... perfect. Apple's the low-end of the computer market share and they're just trying to make themselves feel big and bad by pointing out all the things Microsoft ripped off of them. (Things like an RSS reader in the bundled internet browser. Aww, poor Apple. Microsoft put an RSS reader in Internet Explorer... They copied your hard work... Did Firefox copy you, too?)

Anyway, this is just one of my random rants.

Oh, oh! I have the perfect set of animals that Apple can use for their next chain of operating systems! They can use birds! Yeah! And they can start with the MOCKINGBIRD, hahaha. Ahem.

...but really more like anti-whineybutt.

I've been seeing lots of comments about Microsoft's new version of Windows (and previous versions) and how they like to close up their operating system and make it hard to change advanced options. Oh, the options are there, but they're hard to find. Linux fanboys make comments along the lines of "the Linux idea of security is keeping intruders out of your computer, and the Microsoft idea of security is keeping YOU out of your computer." Yes, that's accurate. But why is that?

Let's remember that Windows has a gargantuan market share. It's been around for a very long time, the company is very large, and you can ask anyone what "Windows" is and they'll probably tell you it's something that runs on your computer. It's easy to use, which was the purpose of its design, probably to a fault, and most people you talk to will probably be using it. I mean, that's just a fact that nobody can ignore, though some people don't like to remember that.

As we all know, the majority of the human race are total retards. They don't want to bother learning, but think they know everything already and they're just naturally destructive in their arrogance. This is who Windows is designed to work with. The total morons out there who love poke around where they shouldn't. Now, you may be placing yourself in this group and getting all offended by what I'm saying, but I'm not meaning the people who make an effort to learn and know when something they're looking at sounds dangerous and they don't understand it, so they stop messing around. I'm talking about the people who just can't help themselves and/or try to show off and/or just plain don't care.

Windows is designed to work with the morons of the world. It's hard to get into options that the user can screw up their computer with, because most people who use Windows WOULD use it to screw up their computer. Maybe I'm playing devil's advocate here, but that's how I see it. I tend to see the lighter side of Microsoft while everyone else only looks at possible ulterior motives. Of course, there are viruses and security holes that make it easy to screw things up, but that's another topic entirely.

Windows isn't designed for people who like to customize the heck out of their computers. That's what Linux is for. That's why you're using Linux instead of Windows. Are you WANTING to use Windows? Is that why you're making fun of it for not being what you want? I mean, you're using Linux and you profess to hate Windows, and you keep throwing rocks at it because it's... well... I guess because it's there.

If you put a total loser down in front of Linux, he'll start poking around and screw things up. Root passwords and prompts aside, they'll manage to break their computer regardless, if not just erase all their data. Sure, there might not be viruses, but who needs viruses when you have an OS that lets you do anything and a stupid-head sitting at the keyboard?

So, in closing. Windows doesn't suit your tastes. Fine. So stop whining about it. It doesn't suit your niche tastes, and they're not going to change, so just leave it alone. You have your flavors of Linux that number the stars in the sky, so just be quiet and go compile the latest programs from open source code and leave everyone alone who prefers an OS that's just plain easy to use.

So there's this really big bug that Microsoft found in their new version of Windows. It was scheduled to hit the disc manufacturing lines on October 25th, I guess, but it's been pushed back to November 8th now. What's the bug? They don't say exactly, and, frankly, it doesn't even matter! They did say that the bug they found caused a complete crash of Vista and you had to reinstall the entire operating system.

Anti-Microsoft fanatics are, of course, going ballistic over the "horrible bug" they found. Let's forget the fact that they found it. Let's forget the fact that they're FIXING it. No, see, it's Microsoft. They're evil. Not like Apple. Not like Linux. For some reason, people expect Microsoft Windows to be completely and 100% bug free. But you know what? They obviously don't know anything about debugging... much less debugging an entire OPERATING SYSTEM with an INFINITE AMOUNT OF CONFIGURATIONS. You try to make something like that 100% perfect. It's just not possible.

Anyway, I just wanted to point out that all the creeps on Slashdot are laughing their butts off at Microsoft's "blunder". (As if it was something they've already bought that Microsoft let leak through. Microsoft caught the bug and they're fixing it. What more can you ask? It's not even in a program you can BUY, yet!) They're laughing at Microsoft for some bug they don't know anything about. Like a few comments said, it could be a bug that nobody anywhere would ever come across. It could've been this one person who did some insanely crazy set of commands that totally borked the system. Nobody knows, so everyone just needs to cut the Microsoft bashing whenever something comes up.

Seriously... Microsoft can't do anything good without it somehow being bad in the eyes of the rabid Linux community. But, oh! Let's totally forget that Ubuntu has a serious and common bug (Digg) during it's upgrade process. Linux is far from being user friendly and this bug shows exactly that. Perhaps it's easy to fix (for some), but it doesn't matter. It wrecks your system. Apparently there was even an instance where Ubuntu erased your Home folder on upgrade. For those of you who don't know, your Home folder in Linux is where you put EVERYTHING that you ever save to disk. Photos, music, documents. It's like your "My Documents" folder. I can't find any official articles on it, but I've seen several comments regarding it. Goes to show you how often massive Linux bugs get announced.

But that bug was already fixed, you say?

WELL SO IS THE BUG THAT MICROSOFT FOUND!!

Stupid hypocrites.

So I've picked out the kinds of TVs I want, right? 720p/1080i Samsung... got the model all picked out, just debating on sizes and waiting for prices to decline in the meantime.

Wrong!

In a sudden twist of cruel fate, Microsoft has decided to upgrade their console to output 1080p! Great! There goes my entire reasoning for choosing a 720p TV! Juuust perfect. Back to the drawing board, as they say. I may still just get a 720p TV, but... blah. It seems that 1080p is being adopted faster than I realized and the future where I'll need one is also approaching faster than I realized.

Hey, look! It's TW! Well, actually, it's John Carmack, from id Software. They make Doom. (...and lots of awesome old DOS games away back in the day. Commander Keen, anyone?)

He talked about game developing.
He said the Playstation 3 is really hard to make games for.
He said it's almost twice as hard!
He's one of many developers who's said this.
He says the Xbox360 is a lot easier to code for.

Lots of developers are saying the PS3 might be uber-powerful, but it's uber-hard to write games for. The Xbox has been criticized by players for being too much like a computer. However, you must realize that because of that, the Xbox is one of the easiest consoles to make games for, because it's essentially a Windows computer.

Sony is sacrificing their developers to make a super strong console. That's not smart.