The Plot!
Monday, June 4th, 2007Ah ha, just a quick note for you all here. I’ve just figured something out.
While hanging out with Tony for his birthday on Saturday, we found ourselves in Best Buy, looking at computers with Windows Vista installed. On one of the computers, I noticed that Microsoft’s answer to Apple’s Widgets (Microsoft calls them Gadgets) were up on one of the screens. I pointed these out to Tony, sure that he would think they are an interesting feature. Instead, he remarked that Gadgets are huge hogs of system resources. In fact, he said that the only time you would want to use them is if you had a computer that was too fast.
And just now, I realized what evil plot Microsoft has. First, they blatantly copy a unique and helpful feature that Apples has in their operating system (we will selectively ignore the fact that Widgets are not something Apple invented, though right now the name of the original program escapes me). Then, they make it absolutely horrible. There is no reason a tiny little HTML program should hog system resources. Who are they kidding? Then, when people use Vista, they discover that the feature doesn’t work, so when an Apple person tries to use it as a pitch to that person, they disregard the feature totally. So the Dashboard, an awesome little feature in Mac OS X, becomes a stupid, useless, and probably functionless piece of junk for any potential Vista switcher.
Brilliant, Bill Gates, just brilliant.