Microsoft's Plea

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Microsoft is now begging women to get a Windows PC instead of a tablet/phone/Mac. Be forewarned, the following videos are kinda pathetic. This ain't what I'd call a pretty sight.









Look, I have nothing against Microsoft. I've been a loyal customer for more than 20 years. By my count, I have no less than 3 legit Windows licenses in the house. What I resent is the fact that Windows is a flaky product and requires constant fixing and updating. I guess the ability to fix a computer is a source professional pride when I was young. In my old age, however, Windows is giving me ulcers.

Case to the point, when my new Windows 7 PC arrived nearly 2 years ago, my scanner instantly quit working. It was purchased back in '02, and there wasn't a new driver available. My printer from '04 worked, but the stock driver from the OS package was weird. Today, it prints, but not all functions are supported.

And don't even get me started on the graphic card. I struggled, oh, how I struggled to slay that beast. On the same note, I will not mention the BIOS updates and driver upgrades. Those memories are too painful, so I will bury them in some dark recess of my psyche.

So, after putting in countless hours fighting this machine, it is now fully domesticated and works PERFECTLY. But therein lies the problem - it should work perfectly right out of the box. This failure to work right out of a box highlights what's wrong with the PC industry as a whole. Nobody gives a rat's ass whether or not the system works. And now that I've put in the time and the energy to finish off the engineering job, tell me, Mr. Ballmer, what is my incentive to buy a new PC? So I can do this all over again? I'll hang on to this machine 'till the end of days, thank you very much.

Which brings us back to the ads. Let's be honest, the stereotypical female computer shoppers are no engineers. Is it any wonder that they are fleeing to Apple? And so, Microsoft now begs. How nice. You know what I'd rather see? Ballmer comes out on TV and GUARANTEES that every PC will work right out of the box. No blue screen. No driver incompatibility. No crapware. No nothing. Just pure computing bliss.

Wouldn't that be something?