microsoft's comeback...

i made the switch from pc to mac in the winter of 2002. the switch was made primarily because after thousands of dollars, endless driver downloads, third party components and cold shutdowns in which i lost tons of work hours... something needed to happen.

up to that point, all i ever wanted to do on the computer was check email, surf the web and use word. now, i needed a little bit more and microsoft was unable to provide what i needed. i didn't make the switch because it was ubersexy... rather out of necessity. simply put, my new mac worked and let me edit video like i had been previously unable to do. i like to think it became hip only after i made the switch... the milthaler effect.

recently, alex bogusky took over major combat operations for microsoft in their war with mac. although, it's hard to call it a war since microsoft has been "handing it's lunch money over" without much of an argument for six years now.

i've been a bit of a fan of bogusky since he took big tobacco's settlement cash and used it to fund the ad campaign that brought in the bigger of the two guilty verdicts. the truth campaign (i think) was the final shot fired and finally swayed public opinion that cigarettes were evil and unhealthy (duh). he also has worked with vw, virgin and burger king. he's the reason the "king" has made such an unlikely comeback.

this is ironic... safari just quit on me. thank god for autosave.

good segue. over the last year or so i've started to recognize that my mac is not as stable as it used to be. you don't have to be a genius to see that much of apple's (no longer "apple computer") emphasis has shifted away from the mac to more truly mind blowing products... the ipod (which is only six years old! can you believe that?!?), iphone and the itunes store. it's not bad... but it is a change in priority. from a bottom line perspective, it's been very good to them.

microsoft has also had a focus problem. i think this all stems from the fact that bill gates simply got bored with the pc. with billions in the bank and great foundation on the front burner he had a decision to make. let's think about it... build a new computer vs. help solve the problems that plague the world... hmm? the official answer came this week when gates officially stepped down as the lead of microsoft.

so, enter bogusky. could it be that microsoft is prime to rise as the phoenix? we love underdogs.

my answer? i think that the worst apple product is still five years ahead of microsoft... so for the short term, i'll keep my macbook pro. but, who knows... my next computer may be a pc.

milthaler