12 Month Windows

I will start this by simply saying that for many years I used Microsoft's Entourage software on the Mac as my primary email, calendar and contact application. While it didn't have all the features of Outlook, I also wasn't completely aware of what I was missing since I'd not really used Outlook by that point in my life. Entourage was discontinued after the Office for Mac 2008 release. It was replaced with Outlook for Mac. It was around that time that I switched from Entourage to the Apple Mail, Calendar and Contacts system that came baked into the OS. I never really liked it as much as I liked using Entourage since everything was kept in separate containers. Sure, the various applications could talk to each other, but if I wanted to go through my contact list in any meaningful way I had to open my Contacts application instead of just checking out contacts within the software. It was also around this time that I began using Outlook quite heavily in my professional li...

I've been a user of Apple's iWork suite for quite some time. Because Pages wasn't as feature rich as MS Word, I actually preferred it over the feature rich MS suite. Pages did everything I needed it to do as a writer and made creating basic page layout documents a snap. But today I realized that in Pages 5 they stripped out something I used heavily in my work life: Mail Merge. I have a ton of documents setup to use Mail Merge from various sources. Every year I would simply update the sources and hit merge. Done. I starred agape at the notice that said "Mail Merge is not supported. Your Merge fields have been turned into plain text." How could one of the basic features of any word processor be stripped out of their productivity suite? Have they really just given up to the point of no longer caring? Have they reached the levels of hubris that Microsoft reached in the 1990s? Is Steve Jobs rolling over in his grave? I don't know the answer to that - his ...

After a hiatus, I think I'm coming back to this blog. I am still fascinated by what Windows has to offer as it tweaks and tries to perfect the Windows 8/8.1 experience. While I am still primarily a Mac OS X user, I have installed the latest version of Windows 8.1 Pro on my 15" Retina MacBook Pro. Since the original inception of my failed experiment, there are still the nuggets of gold that I saw as potential, and initially loved, about Windows 8/8.1. Now that I'm using it more as a Desktop and less like a Tablet, I have a new perspective on how it functions for millions of people, and it's not half bad. Coupled with the release of the new Surface Pro (3) and you're looking at something that is actually appealing as a Laptop/Tablet hybrid with the power of an ultra book and the portability of a tablet. Many people note that when they compared the new Surface Pro on a scale, it was to a 13" MacBook Air and not an iPad. I think those people are missing the ...

I was asked the question "Why not a windows tablet?" After publishing my last post. That ultimately boils down the the entire reason behind why the 12 Months of Windows failed for me. Windows 8 isn't what was promised. You simply cannot have a "best of both worlds" scenario with Tablets and PCs. While my initial findings were certainly interesting to me, it became more of an issue as time marched on and I began to see the chinks in the facade. Simply put, you cannot expect a PC to act like a tablet or vice versa. That's not to say that Windows 8 didn't have some great ideas, but they were hampered by Balmer's fear of moving forward too quickly. The fact that there is so much legacy support still built into Windows astounds me. Apple cut its OS install size in half when it stopped supporting the PowerPC chips.Windows could save space by losing all the extraneous crap that 99% of the world doesn't need any longer. Make the companies who need th...

I've spent quite a bit of money over the course of my life playing with various technologies and trying to find something that was the "Perfect Tool." I recently came to the conclusion that in searching for the perfect tool, we forget to make use of the tools that we have. I started  this blog with the idea that we cannot make a decision about whether or not we like something or hate it without first knowing all sides of the equation. That said, I think there were too many failures and unrealized potential within the Windows 8 package. Windows 7 is a far superior product that is not attempting to be more than what it is. Because of that, I moved back to the Mac ecosystem. Over the past six months or so I've been using an android phone and an iPhone. I've made a few comments in the past about my thoughts on Android vs. iPhone. This is more about Tablets. While I feel that Android Phones (the good ones that update quickly and don't come loaded with 2.1) ar...

There's all this noise about who hates who and why they hate them and why the other OS sucks. Well, I have an HTC One and an iPhone 5. The HTC One is through work and the iPhone is my personal device. I love both of them. I hate both of them. Here's why... In terms of simplicity and ease of use, the iPhone kills Android. I don't the word of other techies like me on this - in that instance, either one is pretty easy to figure out. What I've done is talk to people as well as attempt to look at both systems from the perspective of a non-techie. The reason that many tinkerer types don't like iOS is the reason that I would recommend it to many people of a non-tech inclination. It's easy. It really is "Point and touch." The settings are laid out in an easy to understand pattern and everything is easily explained. Barring that, you can go to your local Apple Store and receive free training on your device. Android, on the other hand, is a little ...