* Posts by Jerry Masterson

32 publicly visible posts • joined 4 Nov 2008

Musk: 'Tesla's electric Model S cars will be less crap soon. I PROMISE'

Jerry Masterson

Re: Stopping on a journey

Have you ever been tested for narcolepsy?

Seriously, needing over an hour to recover from two hours of driving doesn't sound right. My wife would divorce me and the kids would get out and take a bus if I dragged out a trip like that. Stopping for a half hour every four or five of driving is more normal. Our vacations typically take us 1500 miles in a little over a day and a half. And that includes a nice night at a hotel.

Windows 8 ribbon entangles Microsoft

Jerry Masterson
Windows

Bad marketing

When you make a major change to a product that requires the user to relearn it, you lose any advantage you had over your competitors.

If you have to relearn Office you might as well consider OpenOffice, etc. too. A major change in Windows? consider a Mac or Linux as well. Vista was a great example. Make big changes to usability, for better or worse, and have people look at alternatives. Many of those flocked to the Mac and they ain't coming back. If M$ had cleaned up XP a little that wouldn't have happened.

Few people want change. Most just want to get the job done. We live in a world of forced upgrades. Your ten year old XP machine died and you want a replacement? Its Win7 or nothing. Which means your old, perfectly fine software will probably need replacement. Which means retraining. All of which adds up to extra cost that pisses customers off. Many are wising up and shopping elsewhere.

Ironically, the Mac version of Office (2011) can have the ribbon turned off and all the old buttons restored.

Android to overtake iPhone in 2012 - analyst

Jerry Masterson
FAIL

Gartner to publish something relevent in 2039

"The main reason for Android’s market share growth will, Gartner VP Ken Dulaney told website AppleInsider, be because “unlike Apple, they [Google] license their OS to multiple OEMs”."

Oh, so like Palm did? Or Microsoft? What's their market share now?

"Windows Mobile's share will grow from 10.3 per cent to 12.8 per cent during the same quarters, Gartner added, which will see it remain as the fourth most popular phone-based OS."

The only operators selling WM are ones that couldn't get the iPhone and needed an alternative to Palm. The only people buying WM are wintards that think having Windows on their phone is more important than usability.

X-Men helmsman to fly Battlestar Galactica

Jerry Masterson
FAIL

Well

It can't be any worse than the last re-imagining. That shite had less more talking and less action than the shopping channel.

Outlook (finally) coming to the Mac

Jerry Masterson
Thumb Down

Great

Now I'll have to remember to uncheck Outlook instead of Entourage when doing installs. How about a basic Word and Excel only version for people that want to get work done without useless crap wanted by MS fanboy sysadmins?

One of the greatest things about the Mac was that it didn't have MS Outhouse.

OpenOffice bug/feature stirs 'horde of angry chimps'

Jerry Masterson

@Timothy

"Instead of complaining, what has MS done right?"

"SQL Server" ...nope

"Windows Server 2003 R2 and 2008/2008 R2" ...NT4 was better

"Office 2007" ...interface change = retraining and lost productivity

"Power Shell" ...yawn

"Windows 7" ...they still have time to F it up.

".NET 3.5" ...too much overhead compared to vb6

"Silverlight 3.0 (wow, 64 bit support, who would have thunk??? Adobe - get a clue)" ...Silverwho?

"Exchange 2010" ...only at gunpoint

I think the point is, they haven't done anything right. Well, except marketing.

Safari 4: Apple's crash-happy shipper

Jerry Masterson
Flame

So use Firefox then

...and quit your whining.

Microsoft begins Security Essentials downloads

Jerry Masterson
FAIL

Comparison?

"it underperforms when compared to ... solutions such as Norton AntiVirus"

So it does less than nothing? Thats an achievement, even for Microsoft.

People just not that into Blu-ray

Jerry Masterson

Blu-ray changed my viewing habits

I used to buy about 50% of the DVDs I watched. Now, I don't see the reason to buy an old format and since I don't have a Blu-ray player yet there is no sense in buying the new discs. Instead, my AppleTV collection is growing. Same DRM crap but at least I can watch the movies on any computer in the house as well, instead of having to buy yet another drive. If I need to see a movie as soon as it's released on DVD (iTunes is usually a month behind) I go to TPB.

Thanks, Blu-ray. If it wasn't for your expensive players and discs I'd still be buying DVDs.

Microsoft forbids changes to Windows 7 netbook wallpaper

Jerry Masterson
Go

Think crying clowns and primary colors

So the desktop will be a photo of typical Windows users?

Women coppers eager to drop trousers

Jerry Masterson
Go

Re: uniforms

Yeah, yeah, let's get back to skirts.

If Milla Jovovich can kick ass in a skirt why can't the ladies in blue? Poor training?

Microsoft's answer to MobileMe goes public

Jerry Masterson
Coat

A great addition for WM users

My only question is if the Reg owns a WM phone, who owns the other one?

BlackBerries outselling Apple iPhones

Jerry Masterson

@Matt White

I'd have also passed on investing in Motorola.

How many die hard Motorola fans jumped ship at the moment a new shiny phone came out. Cellular users are fickle. I was using a RIM when it was the size of a jelly roll. Eventually I was "tied into the Treo ecosystem". It didn't take much for me to switch to the iPhone. Same with my company, die hard BB users until they got the Curve. Not one lasts six months with serious business usage. One by one they are being replaced with iPhones without one user complaint. Even company email works better.

It's not marketing by Verizon. It was a response from getting bitch slapped by a company that has only one phone with serious carrier restrictions. Given the choice between being number one by cutting prices or number two, keeping ridiculous profit margins, I'd pick two. Volume doesn't always win.

Jerry Masterson
Jobs Halo

err, ok

So the only way to "outsell" the iPhone is to give your product away? Now there's a company I want to buy shares in.

Microsoft Office for Mac fix falls at first hurdle

Jerry Masterson

Do the math

Keynote > Powerpoint

Pages = Wordpad < Word

Numbers = OOo Calc v1 < Excel

As much as I'd like to ditch Office, for business there is no competitor. OOo is improving but is still too far behind to justify retraining. iWork is just nasty. Keynote is good, Pages can be used if you're desperate, Numbers is a total waste.

PETA pitches for Pet Shop Animal Shelter Boys

Jerry Masterson
Unhappy

Huh?

"you would help raise awareness about the cruelty involved in the pet trade and encourage your millions of fans to consider giving a home to an abandoned or unwanted animal from an animal shelter"

When I was shopping for a dog I tried all the shelters, pounds and rescue agencies within 100 miles. I could get a purebred from a breeder for less money than a unknown breed, unknown age, unknown health and unknown temperament mutt. They complain that they need more homes for these animals but then demand over $250 for them.

Gnome answers Linux critics with 'big' vision plan

Jerry Masterson
Gates Horns

user experience

If I hear that term one more time I'm gonna barf.

I blame Gates for that load of verbal diarrhea. It's a freakin user interface, not an amusement ride. Nice to see the freetards copying M$.

iPhone 3.0 gossip lassos MMS, tethering, cut-and-paste...

Jerry Masterson
Flame

@Stuart Van Onselen

While you've been keeping your head in the sand, others have been benefiting from the iPhone's many good points.

Cut and paste? A small annoyance. Tethering? I was worried about that until I realized that with all the iPhone's features and apps I had no need to keep a laptop around. MMS? If you are over 12 years old you're big enough to use email like the big boys. What we need is a way to delete the SMS app off the phone. One app open at a time? Never noticed.

A lot of phones are available on only one network. The only phone I've found that was truly open for apps was the Treo. The app store is a lot less hassle for finding apps and keeping them updated. Why would you pay twice for the same song? Most people would take a clip of the song to use as a ringtone. You *could* pay for a ringtone, just like any other phone, if you didn't want to make one yourself, but nobody is making you do it.

Maybe if you admittedly know nothing about the iPhone, you should refrain from criticizing it.

Conspiracy theories fly around Norton forum 'Pifts' purge

Jerry Masterson
Alert

But really

How many people does this really affect? 5? 10? Maybe a dozen at the most. Can't be any more that that still using Norton crapware.

BlackBerry advert sticks it to Apple

Jerry Masterson
Thumb Down

Spending

How about RIM spending some money on quality control instead of lame ads. Can't get the freaking things to last more than six months. Even our Treos are more reliable.

Microsoft: Vista desktop key to life fulfillment

Jerry Masterson
IT Angle

But really...

if you're running Vista we know what kind of personality type you are already.

iPhoney nano found, tested in Asia

Jerry Masterson

8GB ?

"According to the back panel, the Mini comes with 8GB of storage but we couldn't find any way of accessing it - only the supplied 1GB SD card showing up in File Explorer"

Reminds me of a iPod I got from a street vendor while in China. Said 4GB on the box and player but was only 512MB. It was built well enough but they felt the need to falsely advertise it. Still worth the $5 though.

Maybe it was a typo or just chinglish. Like the Las Vegas DVD set, "Fast paged and sext!"

Speeding, driverless Nissan finally stopped by US bombers

Jerry Masterson

autodrive

We already have the capability to sit back and snooze while still getting to where we want to go. It's called a bus.

Dell launches perfume ad teaser site for Macbook Air rival

Jerry Masterson
Flame

Dell licensed to install OS X?

If not, it CAN'T BE A FREAKING MACBOOK AIR KILLER!

You're comparing apples to a pile of dog crap, or steaming pile of dog crap if it's running Vista.

Analyst predicts cut-price, updated 3G iPhone models

Jerry Masterson
Stop

Analyst predicts Rex Sox to win Super Bowl

Data Plan 'Light' est. $15/mo

Carriers Rogers

Looks like someone is smokin the bananas, again. Try $40 for 'Light' with a three year contract.

3G BlackBerry Curve said to be in the works

Jerry Masterson
Thumb Down

Perfume on a pig

If only RIM could get rid of the stupid trackball or even make a Curve that can last over six months, I'd be impressed.

We have 12 Blackberries. Only one has made it a year without repairs. We're averaging 2 repairs every 3 months for such things as trackball problems, charging issues, freezing and sync problems. Our previous Blackberries with thumbwheels had 3 failures in 3 years. How they can retain their market share while letting reliability slide is astonishing.

Apple banishes Macs to old folks home

Jerry Masterson

@Stevie

"the heaviest thing in the case (the power supply) to be secured a foot above the most delicate thing (the motherboard) so you needed three hands when dismounting it"

Most people open the door so the motherboard swings out of the way. God knows how the hell you tried to remove it. Sounds more like a neanderthal trying to work on a Porsche. And I don't like to stand next to neanderthals. They have cooties.

Linux to spend eternity in shadow of 'little blue E'

Jerry Masterson
Thumb Down

@Lionel Baden

"Guys its really is just the plain simple fact that

windows will run on 90% computers without any problems !

Unix runs on 99% of computers with problems on 95% of them

Mac runs on 3% of computer with problems on .9% of them"

Hey, the 90's called, they want their statistics back.

Fact. I have had to throw out more perfectly usable devices because of lack of driver updates for Windows than any other OS.

Fact. Unix is usable on far more systems than Windows.

Fact. None of this matters. Users don't like change. They've learned to live at the bottom of a hole and would rather put up pictures than dig themselves out.

Palm going Nova next month

Jerry Masterson

Applications not important?

"end users are still not selecting phones - or any other consumer electronics - on the basis of what applications they run."

The only reason I ditched a two month old Treo for an iPhone was because of the apps. Same with using Treos for the last three years. Once your calls are completed and your email checked, the question is what else can it do for me? This is why Apple has bitch slapped Blackberry. "Oooh, I can update Facebook from my Curve" Who really cares about an app dedicated to a site for no life wankers? If it doesn't have usable apps I'd rather have an old RAZR.

I wish Palm the best of luck with their new OS. If it came out a year ago I would have been interested.

No Zune phone at CES, says Microsoft

Jerry Masterson
Thumb Down

zunePhone? Phune?

A phone tacked onto a player that nobody wants from a company nobody cares about. Except Steve's kids. Maybe a catchy name that instills confidence will make people buy it. How about VistaPhone? Err, maybe not.

SonicWALL licensing snafu short-circuits protection

Jerry Masterson
Thumb Down

Greed

Another example of a company so concerned that someone might be getting something for free that they are willing to put their entire customer base at risk.

Analyst predicts iPhone decline

Jerry Masterson
Joke

Exclusive! Berger’s next prediction!

iPods are just a fad and demand will drop during December. Apple to cease production and divert resources to Newton replacement.