Something entirely unrelated: Star Trek
Ugh. I saw STID 1 this evening at the National Air & Space Mueum Udvar-Hazy IMAX, which happens to be the biggest screen in Virginia, apparently 2 . As a Smithsonian member, I get a discount on movie tickets, and I really do enjoy that theatre. However...
In the “What are They Smoking” Dept: Staying centered – The Official Microsoft Blog
Wow...
It appears that some analysts have compared Windy 8 to New Coke (or Pepsi Blue, according to this article in The Motley Fool). Frank X. Shaw seems to think that touting the "selling [of] 100 million copies" of the ill-conceived (IMO) OS is some great achievement; however, what he doesn't break out is the percentage of those sales which are forced on consumers simply by nature of the fact that the OS comes pre-installed on a new device, and that Windy 8 runs on both tablets and PCs (so we can't even tell how many PCs ended up with 8 on them, or how many people opted to then "downgrade" to 7 upon delivery). Typical nonsense from Redmond, and as an OS/2 user who recalls when the "NT" in "Windows NT" stood for "Not There," it seems to me I've heard this song before. 
Read the full response from the link below:
Staying centered - The Official Microsoft Blog - Site Home - TechNet Blogs.
Cloud adoption brings unexpected costs, KPMG survey says
I don't know what might ever sway my opinion of the utter uselessness of "moving to the Cloud" (ever see a cloud with a floor under it?)... Indeed, there are uses for everything, and even I have an Evernote account. However, that does not mean that I am not careful about exactly what I store in my cloud-based notebook, including the potential risks to privacy and matters of a critical nature, to which should I lose access for any period of time, it could mean a considerable inconvenience or worse.
A Little Windows 8 Humor
Sorry, I just couldn't resist. The following was linked from Windows 8 ads hit US screens: Death Metal, exploding laptops and I just had to share it. Those of you who think as I should truly enjoy it, and for everyone else, please take it as good natured fun:
Group chat showdown: Which instant messaging service is best for your business? | PCWorld
Group chat showdown: Which instant messaging service is best for your business? | PCWorld.
Didn't any of these people ever hear of IRC? What about XMPP (Jabber)?
More cloud disasters
I can't stand it...
What is so hard for people to understand? Hosted services are a greater security and stability risk than applications and data maintained in-house.
There, I've said it. Please feel free to disagree and provide examples.
Why I still use OS/2 (eComStation)
As a consultant, I look at computers and operating systems from a "best tool for the job" perspective. Some systems are better suited to some things than others. I wouldn't expect to play modern computer games, written for Win32 or Win64 on Linux or OS/2, no matter how far advanced Wine or Odin was/were. Likewise, I wouldn't consider running a web server on the Win32 or Win64 platform vs Linux or OS/2.
Along with other suitability considerations, I factor in my own (or the client's own) comfortability factor with a particular environment. The Mac object oriented desktop is quite nice, though it's not my environment of choice. On Linux, I prefer KDE to Gnome, but neither of those nor the Mac desktop nor Windows Explorer approaches the level of comfort, familiarity, or ease-of-use which I experience using the Workplace Shell, which is - for me, at least - the main reason I stick with eCS.
Stability concerns? These affect all platforms at one time or another. Unless the problems are inherent to the overall system design (Windows' weak security model and the dangers of the single registry paradigm), such things need to be considered in the course of business. that is to say, they happen. Cars break down, too, but I'm not quite ready to go back to a horse and cart (and carts break - ever change a wagon wheel?).