Tag competition

Typeracer

Addicted! What a great way to vent some steam. My performance typically ranges from 90 - 100wpm (my best is 112wpm and my worst is 91), which puts me firmly into the megaracer category, but is peanuts compared to some of the guys (and gals) on the site. Wanna join us? =)

Νοσταλγώντας τα €0.85/λίτρο.

Θυμάμαι σαν εχθές τη στιγμή που κατέφθασα στην Πάτρα, τον Ιούνιο του 2005. Είχα μπροστά μου έναν γεμάτο μήνα: μετά από επτά χρόνια διαμονής στο Ηνωμένο Βασίλειο, έπρεπε να μαζέψω και να αποστείλλω τα πράγματά μου — ένα ολόκληρο σπίτι — στην Ελλάδα, να χαιρετήσω τους φίλους και γνωστούς μου, να απολαύσω το Λονδίνο μαζί […]

On the Motorola Droid

It should be no surprise that Verizon would invest in Android, given the onslaught that AT&T’s exclusivity with the iPhone has brought to everyone, despite the fact that Verizon’s network is superior to AT&T’s, the fact that it has a number of popular handsets and services etc. And while Europe remains the place where mobile […]

No Upgrades Here.

I'm not sure if this is a political stunt by Microsoft, or if they are really going to go forward with it. If they are it is insane: By not giving Europeans the capability to upgrade their operating system, like it has done for more than twenty years and at the same time trying to put the blame on the European Commission for doing so (while not providing any specific reasons for doing so), Microsoft is really shooting itself in the foot; from a PR point of view it's a pretty bad strategy that's almost certainly going to backfire. At any rate, I feel so sorry for all those people that are going to want to upgrade from a poor OS like Vista to a mediocre one like Windows 7 and having to do a full reinstall [let alone pay the premium of getting the full version].

Το Τριπλό Παράδοξο

Στις αρχές του 2007 έγραφα για τις αστείες, τότε, διαφημίσεις της Forthnet που μιλούσαν για Triple Play όταν ούτε καν Double Play δεν ήταν διαθέσιμο, για τη τραγική κατάσταση της ευρυζωνικότητος στην Ελλάδα σε σχέση με προηγμένες — στον τομέα — χώρες και, εν ολίγοις, το γεγονός πως εταιρίες και κυβερνήσεις των οποίων η ρητορική […]

Steps Towards Irrelevance

Mary Jo Foley, Microsoftphile and tech writer (since the company's early years) writes, when asked about the future of Microsoft's leadership once Bill Gates retires:
There's always been this dichotomy between "Bill's guys" and "Steve's guys." Steve's guys have MBAs and their roots are in sales. Bill's guys have been traditional technologists. The people who are more like Steve will probably get more power and will run the show, so I wonder who's going to be the tech champion for Bill's guys. I think that's going to be a big cultural and noticeable change once Gates is out from his day-to-day duties.
That's funny. Microsoft has been pretty much excellent in marketing and sales for many years, but mediocre (or even poor in some cases) in engineering and technology. If "Bill's guys" have been running the show all these years, how will "Steve's guys" help Microsoft overcome its pretty obvious technological problems without squandering its strategy? I'm guessing if Steve Ballmer is going to stay --- which he probably is --- Microsoft will probably move a bit faster, but still quite gradually, towards irrelevance. It's not salesmen and marketers that make or break a company like this. It's not technologists either. It's visionaries, pioneers and innovators. Microsoft never really had many of those in positions of power, and it desperately needs them to compete in today's market. Innovation and a solid vision for the future have always been at the fringes of corporate policy at Microsoft or in Bill Gates' books and lectures. Sadly, I doubt the 'MBAs' and 'salespeople' that are going to run the show in Redmond for the next few years have any clue as to what any of that mean.