Well, I never...!

A colleague's email to me after I requested changes...

(He doesn't put cover sheets on his TPS reports, either.)

Holy Cow

Microsoft Makes 44.6 Billion Dollar Bid for Yahoo!

As far as big news on a day I take off from work (terrorist attacks, shuttle explosion), this is rather tame.

I don't know what to think... I guess really the only thing I disliked about Yahoo! was its name. Yahoo! actually owns two products (they didn't create themselves, just purchased) that I do pay money for enhanced versions of - Flickr and LaunchCast.

Now, Microsoft... I'm not sure why, but I like Microsoft. I mean, I like Google better. Microsoft makes web products that are so bloated they eventually become useless (Messenger, Hotmail, Internet Explorer) and their design is always so heavy and clunky. They take something (backgrounds with a gradient) and run them into the ground. I keep wanting Microsoft to get it, with all the great examples (to name two, here and here) but they keep not getting it.

Yeah, I know that's one-sided, comparing everyone's favorite cute little kitten, Apple, against the big mean fatcat, Microsoft, but I think it's still doable. Apple has (as Joel says above) has a culture, or at least a cohesive face. Microsoft doesn't. And what it does isn't pretty. It would require a seachange and a lot of patience to make Microsoft look different. Maybe merging MSN into Yahoo! and keeping the Yahoo! look and feel online won't last. Would that ever happen? Doubtful, Microsoft seems to be a very proud company and there's a lot of overlap between MSN and Yahoo!, and you have to think they'd keep the MSN version in any head-to-head, even if it were the inferior product.

Maybe I like Microsoft because of my home-team rule. (The Home-Team rule says you must cheer for the home team because this is your home. I hate it when people blab on and on about a sports team from where they used to live. Love it so much? Go back there. College students are exempted from the rule because they may just be long-term visitors.)

But I'd like to see Microsoft do well. It'd be an uphill fight against the common public opinion. As with everything, yeah, you gotta do things well, but more than anything, you gotta have style and you gotta have excellent marketing chops. Leopard has more flaws and virus vulnerabilities than Vista. But people are paying serious money for "point revision" upgrades to Leopard... it works. Vista apparently doesn't. And that's just sad.

C'mon, Microsoft. It's time for a change. Use Yahoo! to slingshot yourself. Protect Yahoo! from the bad Microsoft culture while designing something brand new that picks the best from both while leaving the bad behind.

Not Quite Getting It: US Postal Service

Sometimes I just don't understand how something so simple becomes so complicated. Submitted on the USPS.com website...

Suggestion: Would be nice to be able to renew P.O. Boxes online. (I've misplaced my form which means I have to go stand in line on Saturday. Not so much fun.)

I don't need a reply back. Thank you!

They respond... at 7:30 am on a Sunday. (They won't bring me mail on a Sunday but they're paying someone to respond to emails on Sundays?)

Response (Ethel G) 01/27/2008 07:37 AM
DearJames Lamb,

Thank you for contacting us regarding in the future to renew po boxes online..

I have sent this information to your local Post Office™ for immediate attention. If you need to contact me again regarding this issue, please refer to the following confirmation number, CV35921326.

If I can be of assistance to you in the future, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Thank you for choosing the United States Postal Service®.

Regards,

Denise G.

As if that wasn't enough, someone also called today. They were surprised to have gotten voicemail, based on their "Oh. (laugh) Uh..." start to their voicemail. It sounded to me like it was someone here at the local post office. (A local post officer?)

Ultimate Lazy

This is even too lazy for me. But not as quite bad as pre-toasted bread (drop in microwave for 15 seconds). (If you can't see this well enough, it's hot dogs and hot dog buns packaged together. But, it's not completely useful... it doesn't appear to come with ketchup and mustard and relish packages, and you still have to find a microwave. It ought to come with break-and-use heat packs.

Multimedia message

Work for Ceridian?

If you work for Ceridian, you should be ashamed of yourself for forcing a half-baked product out on people. There's absolutely no reason your program should fail to work on Firefox. It's not like you do anything fancy at all. Or, at worst, how about an accurate, readable and relevant error message? While you're at it, you could use a designer as well. Much as there's no reason for the poor usability, there's no reason that it should be an affront to people who are visually unimpaired. I mean, even your corporate website is at least passable and appears to work on all browsers.

Beautiful 43

I had to run some errands at lunch time today. I opted to leave my jacket in my cube at work. It wasn't warm by any stretch of the imagination, but it was certainly warm enough. I wore my short sleeved Hawaiian shirt. At Borders, the woman asked me if I was feeling optimistic. I didn't understand it until I got back to work and someone asked me if I thought spring had arrived. I don't get these people. They didn't spend 10 years away. (I can't use that much longer... I got my tab renewal and it's already time for another smog check on my car. Dang it all.) So, yes, why not. Sure, let's call it Spring. Spring has sprung. And it was a beautiful day.

Of course, I got in the car for the drive home and it was 36 and by the time I got home, it had dropped to 32. And Accuweather is predicting snow in the near future.