C# 411
A new study by Gartner shows that 94% of newly purchased PCs run Microsoft Windows 7, four percent run Apple OS X, and two percent run Linux. This number is boosted by corporate IT departments, which are conducting massive rollouts of Windows 7. Many enterprises are still running Windows XP because they had decided to skip over Windows Vista, which was widely panned due to software incompatibilities and overzealous security.
We’ve discussed before the “21 Laws of Computer Programming.” Now PC World has come up with “35 Unwritten Laws of Technology.” Here are some of my favorites:
The likelihood that Windows will automatically install time-sucking critical updates is directly proportional to your need to get your PC started. — Steve Fox, PC World
Your backup plan is only as good as your last successful restore. — Michael Fisher, ElephantDrive.com via HARO
Fix a computer for a friend or family member, and you’ll be tech support for life. — Danny Allen, PC World
Your laptop’s battery life is inversely proportional to the amount of work you need to get done on a single charge. — Blair Hanley Frank, Macworld
iTunes will crash. That’s it. No, really. — Darren Gladstone, PC World
Microsoft is apparently tired of being portrayed as a dumpy has-been in Apple’s "Hello, I’m a Mac" commercials. The software giant has just launched a new $300 million ad campaign with Jerry Seinfeld as its celebrity pitchman. Seinfeld will appear in the some of the ads with Microsoft founder and chairman Bill Gates and will receive about $10 million in payment. The ad campaign will debut September 4 and is one of the largest in the company’s history.
The new ads will use the slogan "Windows, Not Walls," which really speaks to me as a computer user because I’m always running into walls and… wait, WTF does that mean? Apparently the point is to break down the barriers that prevent people and ideas from connecting. Hmm, hasn’t Microsoft ever heard of that thing called "The Internet?" As Homer Simpson once said, "Oh, they have the Internet on computers now."
Apple’s share of the U.S. PC market jumped to 8.1% in the third quarter of 2007, a 37% increase from the previous year. One reason for Apple’s surging success is its catchy “Hello, I’m a Mac” commercials starring Justin Long as “Mac” and John Hodgman as “PC”:
As you might expect, these successful Mac vs. PC commercials have spawned a legion of spin-offs and parodies.
