Studies
I’m just really glad the week is over. 3 tests and a project though the project was pretty easy and I had a very co-operative group. Thursday must have been my most hardcore studying day as I just completed a Maths test and a South Asia test. Both of which I am positive and optimistic on. So that leaves me with 1 more project, 1 more Maths test and then the finals. Really glad the end of the road is in sight and I can focus better that way. This semester has not been too difficult but just tedious, especially when you want to put your best in every thing you do. I have to say that the left behind or least regarded module is my maths module basically because it commanded too much effort needed for a L1 breadth module. I’m going to make the best of it and see how things go. Economics, South Asia, Geography and my GEK module have been pretty smooth sailing. There’s a lot of reading and analysis to be done but I enjoy that far more than sitting in a corner and doing bloody mathematical sums (I don’t understand how most of the world like that!). So I’m going to take a break today and just relax before starting my final exam preparations next week.
Windows 7 Launch
Hats off the Microsoft, the Vista lesson really taught them well. I believe the Windows 7 launch has been the largest since the launch of Windows 95 which at that point in time was a revolution in terms of its GUI. Windows 7 doesn’t provide too large a graphical change from Vista because Vista was in fact the supposed revolution. Vista was a rushed product that was not optimized. I was part of the rush and I remember splurging $300 on the OEM fresh installation copy of Vista Ultimate. Got myself burnt there. In every software development cycle, especially in that of an Operating System, code optimization is key as other programs run on top of it. The role of an OS is massive an any flaw would be multiplied in large degrees if you (MS) screw up one bit. That was the lesson MS learn from that.
Many critics argue that Windows 7 is simply what Vista should have been. They are right. But let’s not cry over split milk and hope that MS would give it to you free. Mac’s Snow Leopard is no different, seasoned Mac users have given feedback that SL was simply a service pack as well. For those who skipped Vista, Windows 7 would provide them with an experience so optimized I actually got a Pentium 2 PC running faster than it ever had. I swapped my OS from Vista to Win 7 on my laptop and got the same result, with better battery life and really quick boot up and shut down times. Programs run faster, etc. I’ve never been enthusiastic over an OS till 7 because it was heartening to see a much em battered company like MS and a product like Windows being finally given the embrace it rightly deserved.
MS took a very different approach with Win 7 due to the Vista backlash. It listened to the consumers a hell lot more. To have 8 million willing beta testers tells you something, especially those who campaign for Ubuntu and Linux. Windows 7 was built for the consumer with great input from the consumer and that is what a free market economy is about. The Vista lesson would prove to be a boon for the software consumer market as MS is now seeing a massive turn in fortunes with a better product and…
… A really awesome marketing approach. Steve Balmer is no Steve Jobs. He sounds dead and boring but the entire publicity machine does not run on him unlike the case of Apple. Apple has a cult leader but when he goes, you can’t be sure the company can progress in the same manner continuing a tradition of Mac cult loyalists. I would not go into the Windows vs Mac debate because most arguments have not shown the capability to delineate that fact the Windows should be compared to the Mac OS and not Mac on the whole and arguing with a cult faithful is of no use. The facts speak for themselves. Apple’s closed approach in their OS will hurt them if it has not already been. People are running Windows on Macs and that resonates loudly in market share echoes. MS did what it had always left out, use software and push hardware. That was what Mac was always about. The deals that MS managed to pull off with HP, etc are incredible. SGD$1,500 approx for a desktop, laptop and a netbook with a router setup is nothing short of insane. To be frank the very laptop I’m using now costs way more than that. And the best way they coined it, get 3 PCs for the price of a Mac and it works a damn lot faster too with better compatibility.
Microsoft got both its product and marketing approach right and the crowd has responded. The beauty of the free market economy is that if you suck, you’re out and with the tables now turned, consumers watch what Apple’s next move would be.