Categories
Uncategorized

Wired’s “Rebuilding Microsoft” article now available

As noted in a previous post on Ray Ozzie on connecting with customers and partners, the article I mentioned is new up on Wired.com: 



Rebuilding Microsoft: Bill Gates is on his way out. Now it’s up to Ray Ozzie to revive the flagging giant — and get it ready for the post-desktop era. By Fred Vogelstein from Wired

Categories
Uncategorized

New Study Results: PCs rate lower than other CE products

News.com reported today that the the University of Michigan released their latest update to the American Customer Satisfaction Index, which is “a uniform and independent measure of household consumption experience.” According to the News article on ACSI’s study…



“…customers still rate PCs lower than several other consumer product categories, including cars and appliances.


“Even though servicing a car or dishwasher can induce the same kinds of headaches as PC technical support does, car and appliance makers have done a better job of simplifying their products and reducing the amount of maintenance needed to keep their products going, while PC users continue to flood help lines when faced with complicated problems…


(In some cases, sure. But I’ve had more expensive problems and repairs with a family car recently. And unlike the situation with my car, I was able to self diagnose a recent firewall problem on one PC using on-line and application help in 20 minutes… a feature my car dealer doesn’t offer.)


The ACSI’s latest study results are available on the ACSI web site here.


Apple Computer was in the lead, followed by Dell,  HP brand, Gateway then HP-Compaq. Apple improved over their score last year, and it was reported that Dell’s score rose. The ACSI also rated Google, Yahoo and AOL:



“Google has a strong lead over all other search engines with a score of 81. That was actually down a little bit from last year, but no other search provider made a run at Google during 2006. Google is the most widely used search engine, followed by Yahoo and MSN, according to comScore Networks.”

Tags: , , .

Categories
Uncategorized

Correction: Media Center up to 14M units

With respect to my post today re: Slate on “The Myth of the Living-Room PC” I was sent a note via the blog email feature, reminding me of Matt Goyer’s Media Center blog and his post noting that MCE is now at 14 million units. (Matt points to an interview in the Seattle PI with Robbie Bach, in which he updates that “we have Media Center with over 14 million units and growing around the world.”)


I enjoy Matt’s blog and would like to say thanks to Jennifer for the pointer.


Tags: , , .

Categories
Uncategorized

Of interest for fliers: New FAQ from the TSA

Courtesy of Slate.com, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has updated their FAQs for airline passengers, with the updated new rules on what you may and may not bring in your carry-on luggage in the States:



“The rules are so new, and were apparently assembled in such haste, that not even TSA seems very clear about what they are. The FAQ reprinted below, copied on Aug. 10 from the TSA Web site, raises nearly as many questions as it answers. The FAQ has since been redesigned (click here to see it), with one feature that allows readers to request updates and another that invites readers to vote on how responsive a particular answer is.”


Tags: , , .

Categories
Uncategorized

For fun: Blue Angels over Lake Washington today

There’s something about some high-powered aircraft buzzing a couple of hundred feet over your house, followed by an amazing boom. The Navy’s Blue Angels performed (click for pic) this weekend for Seafair and the show was great. We took our boys to see them live down at the local beach and then saw the show this afternoon on TV.


Just awesome.


(The offical site for the Angels is here.)


Added 080706: You can also find royalty-free, hi-res photos of the Blue Angels on the Navy’s Photo Site… one example of the Blue Angels in formation is here.