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1. 
   Review - Apple iTunes for Windows

   8.0.1.11 (Oct 6, 2008)

   iTunes is a reasonable player that does work well with iPods. But then it should Apple aren't having to get dozens of other devices to play nicely so it should be trivial to get it right.
   
   Coverflow is still attractive but the user should be able to click on a cover to have it flip and show the album info and song lists as the Harmony player does. Nice visualisations but they all get old fast no matter how good they are.
   
   I am annoyed that once iTunes started adding a folder at my request the dialogue stole my focus and could not be closed until it ran through without aborting the process. I dont remember that in previous editions. Even Windows Media Player is better than that.
   
   Not skinnable, dull interface that was fresh 5 years ago. It is getting to be a big application now but thats why we have so much RAM and fast multicored CPUs these days isn't it? And bandwidth is cheap right?

2. Comment - Betanews readers offer mixed reactions to IE9

   8.0.1.11 (Sep 22, 2010 - 7:36 AM)

   IE 9 is growing on me. I like the much improved speed and the clean lines but then I also prefer Chrome over other browsers. I have used Opera Firefox and Safari but some time in the last year lost interest, probably soon after I started using Chrome. I still like to use Firefox on my Mac, just beacause I can. I dont have any need for the vast majority of plugins so am possibly not a typical user.
   
   After some of the comments here I have been somewhat surprised to find that my external connection to our corporate Citrix Server is intact under IE9 beta. The organisation uses IE 6 on XP clients as the browser for our primary distributed application solutions. Clearly everyones' mileage will vary however the fact that many larger organisations run XP with older versions of IE is going to slow adoption until the applications they rely on can be upgraded to run on more modern browsers. Not particularly likely in the next two or three years given ongoing effects of the reccession.
   
   Running SunSpider benchmarks for IE8, IE9 beta and Chrome on different desktop and laptop hardware Chrome 6.0.472.62 is faster than IE9 beta by between 9% and 22% while they are both streets ahead of IE8. The results vary greatly even for the same browser on different hardware, 24 to 35%.

3. Comment - Microsoft Confessions: 'Deeply dysfunctional family'

   8.0.1.11 (Feb 5, 2010 - 10:45 PM)

   Joe I dont think that there is any doubt that 'Fred' can be identified within minutes by anyone in Microsoft who wishes to. I dont see this as a bitter commentary, rather this fits in with other sources to paint a picture of an organisation that is so big that the control systems are byzantine in their complexity and conservatism. I work in an organisation of 5,000 individuals and the politics end up being pretty much the same. Getting things done is like swimming in tar. Those that succeed tend to do so by the force of their will and determination, perhaps more than the validity of their ideas
   
   Layoffs in any big organisation seem to me to be part dead wood clearing, part unfortunate collateral damage and part 'payback' by petty game playing managers who had their ideas and pet projects questioned by someone with brains and integrity but who didn't play the game. Now THAT is a bitter comment.

4. Comment - Windows Mobile 6.5 made official, but not for older devices

   8.0.1.11 (Feb 17, 2009 - 3:59 AM)

   There isn't much to go on here at all. Would have to play with it for a bit but not impressed with this snippet. Hexagons? Clumsy when the iPhone interface seems to attract the kiddies well enough with a standard grid layout. Windows Mobile 7 is going to have to be something special but that would require substantial real innovation from our favourite punching bag. Still Windows 7 looks the goods so maybe 7 will be the magic number before we all migrate to the cloud.

5. Comment - Apple strengthens its position in PC market in February

   8.0.1.11 (Mar 19, 2008 - 4:45 AM)

   Excellent! Crank up the heat on Microsoft... lets see what they're really capable of. Yes Apple still have a substantially smaller share of the OS market than Microsoft but if I was an Apple Exec or shareholder I'd be as happy as a pig in straw.
   
   If I had any advice for the Steves it would be to strip back Vista's base services to make it at least 10 to 15% faster and get Win7 to market in 2010: "Under promise and over deliver" boys.
   
   The problem is that too much time, money and effort has gone in to Vista to just abandon ship and move on quickly.
   
   First that is an admission of defeat and those guys didn't get where they are today by taking a backward step to anyone.
   
   Second there is the psycho/economic concept of "sunk cost". (read Jared Diamond: Collapse: How Societies choose to Fail or Survive)
   
   "Sunk Cost" example: You live on Easter Island, you need trees to make boats that can be used to fish off-shore and to trade because your inshore fishing is poor and the island hasn't really got everything you need to survive comfortably. You cut down trees to help you make and move culturally important statues around. Eventually you cut down almost all the trees. What to do? Stop, rethink, cut your losses and cultivate your last trees so that you can continue to trade and eat fish? Hell no! Lets cut down the last trees, it's what we know, it supports our culture and our whole structure and view of ourselves as people. Oops! What if we rip out all our stores and crops and buy Yahoo as well? Yeah that'll work.
   
   This message typed from a Vista PC in an XP home network where every one of the 5 computers has been built by me. Try doing that with Apple. My next computer may well be a Mac.