[geeks] Ya-HoooooO!

[Shannon Hendrix]

On Feb 1, 2008, at 11:12 AM, Doug McLaren wrote:

> On Fri, Feb 01, 2008 at 09:00:33AM -0500, hike wrote:
>
> | everything M$ touches ends up sucking
>
> I realize that it's popular to say this, perhaps especially here, but
> you do have to be aware that it's not really true, right?

They started making vacuum cleaners?

> -- I was very happy with my Microsoft Z-80 card.  It let me use Turbo
>   Pascal on my Apple ][+!

Did they really make that?

Yes, it worked well.  Simpler times though.

> -- Their computer mice are generally high quality and inexpensive.
>
> -- Their computer gaming hardware (joysticks, joypads, etc.) is
>   generally good to high quality as well.
>
> -- I never cared for their keyboards, but others love them.

The keyboards suck just like almost all others.

The mice are OK.

I don't think they actually make any of it though.  I met a guy a few  
years ago that worked for a company and I asked him why I'd never seen  
their brand and he said, "Oh, we are Microsoft's peripheral shop.  We  
design and make it, they put their name on it."

> -- People like to bash the Xbox and Xbox 360, but in general I'd say
>   the Xbox 360 (and related things like Xbox Live) seems to be doing
>   well.  Not perfectly, but well.

They sell well because they have games people like.

The majority of the hard work was done by outside companies, not  
Microsoft.

In the end, the XBox is just a crippled PC, and it was the first  
console to have consistently buggy software releases, and introduce  
the console market to their draconian content restrictions and other  
stupid crap.

Points system anyone?

Of course, the rest of the consoles aren't much better.  Expensive,  
deliberately crippled, and the software is dumbed down and expensive.

> -- Many of the games, both computer and console, that have come out of
>   Microsoft (or companies they have acquired) have been very good.

They don't write any of that, and they have ruined many good games by  
forcing idiotic changes to them.

They have also canceled support for other platforms and crippled or  
destroyed several of the companies they took over.

> -- The Zune doesn't suck.  It's just mediocre compared to it's
>   competition.

A mediocre player that is as expensive as a good one doesn't suck?

> I guess as long as you avoid Microsoft Windows/Vista, you're good!
> (and without Windows, you can't run Office, the source of most of the
> rest of Microsoft's suckage.)

You can run it on the Mac!

As an added Bonus! the new Mac release is even buggier than the  
Windows release.


-- 
Shannon Hendrix
shannon at widomaker.com