Comments on: McLuhan Does Windows 7 http://newmediatheory.net/2009/02/21/the-windows-7-experience/ McLuhan meets Raymond Sat, 31 Jul 2010 11:42:57 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2 By: admin http://newmediatheory.net/2009/02/21/the-windows-7-experience/#comment-4816 admin Wed, 25 Feb 2009 03:47:22 +0000 http://newmediatheory.net/2009/02/21/the-windows-7-experience/#comment-4816 Well, George Soros treats his back aches as market tips. Right now I have a big fat black Aussie raven hanging about saying Awwwwwwwwwwww - like he's complaining he has been on the dole all his life. Well, George Soros treats his back aches as market tips. Right now I have a big fat black Aussie raven hanging about saying Awwwwwwwwwwww - like he’s complaining he has been on the dole all his life.

]]> By: Tom Veitch http://newmediatheory.net/2009/02/21/the-windows-7-experience/#comment-4806 Tom Veitch Tue, 24 Feb 2009 18:09:22 +0000 http://newmediatheory.net/2009/02/21/the-windows-7-experience/#comment-4806 Hey, let me tell ya a little story. The time is 1976 and I am attending a little "computer faire" in Palo Alto, CA. A young hippie kid and his buddy are sitting at a table showing their new motherboard, which they call an "Apple Computer." The kid starts working the crowd and eventually buttonholes me. His sales rap and the pressure he applies is just astonishing. "This guy is a great salesman," I think. "But what is he on?" ...I don't buy, mainly because I don't have any money and I am there to look. He turns away with a look of disgust on his face. Leaving the place (I believe it was a Holiday Inn) I hear loud twittering. I look up and a little bird on a branch is looking straight at me and chirping like crazy. "This is some kind of message," I think, laughing. Tom Hey, let me tell ya a little story. The time is 1976 and I am attending a little “computer faire” in Palo Alto, CA.

A young hippie kid and his buddy are sitting at a table showing their new motherboard, which they call an “Apple Computer.”

The kid starts working the crowd and eventually buttonholes me. His sales rap and the pressure he applies is just astonishing. “This guy is a great salesman,” I think. “But what is he on?” …I don’t buy, mainly because I don’t have any money and I am there to look. He turns away with a look of disgust on his face.

Leaving the place (I believe it was a Holiday Inn) I hear loud twittering. I look up and a little bird on a branch is looking straight at me and chirping like crazy.

“This is some kind of message,” I think, laughing.

Tom

]]> By: admin http://newmediatheory.net/2009/02/21/the-windows-7-experience/#comment-4802 admin Tue, 24 Feb 2009 12:32:17 +0000 http://newmediatheory.net/2009/02/21/the-windows-7-experience/#comment-4802 Tom I have to admit I forgot Gates and the CD Rom thing - gave me a chuckle to remember. Being a Linux fan boy I have always been amazed that MS saw no threat to themselves from the upstart OS until into Balmer's ascendancy. I hadn't thought in terms of ego inflation but I agree it is certainly present. I think there is a certain style which industrial age 'captains of industry' fall prey to and that Bill Gates (and Balmer for that mater) are typical examples. Compare the control freakery of a Steve Jobs as an example of post industrial ego inflation. ;-) Tom
I have to admit I forgot Gates and the CD Rom thing - gave me a chuckle to remember. Being a Linux fan boy I have always been amazed that MS saw no threat to themselves from the upstart OS until into Balmer’s ascendancy. I hadn’t thought in terms of ego inflation but I agree it is certainly present. I think there is a certain style which industrial age ‘captains of industry’ fall prey to and that Bill Gates (and Balmer for that mater) are typical examples. Compare the control freakery of a Steve Jobs as an example of post industrial ego inflation. ;-)

]]> By: admin http://newmediatheory.net/2009/02/21/the-windows-7-experience/#comment-4798 admin Tue, 24 Feb 2009 12:07:25 +0000 http://newmediatheory.net/2009/02/21/the-windows-7-experience/#comment-4798 Julian, Yes, I think you hit the nail on the head with 'risk adverse'. It is hard to imagine such a large computer company playing out a scenario where they fail to lay on sufficient server capacity working out in their favor. Julian,

Yes, I think you hit the nail on the head with ‘risk adverse’. It is hard to imagine such a large computer company playing out a scenario where they fail to lay on sufficient server capacity working out in their favor.

]]> By: Tom Veitch http://newmediatheory.net/2009/02/21/the-windows-7-experience/#comment-4788 Tom Veitch Tue, 24 Feb 2009 04:15:31 +0000 http://newmediatheory.net/2009/02/21/the-windows-7-experience/#comment-4788 Well said, L. Who can forget that Gates predicted in the 1990s that CD-Roms were going to be the next big thing, all the while missing the importance of the internet?! I remember haunting the BBS's in the late 1980s and then learning that the internet was on its way and just salivating at the thought. For me computers were always about communication. For Gates they were (and still are) about top down control, i.e. a pyramid-shaped power trip. Jung identified the disease as ego inflation. That kind of mental mistake will be with us for a long time, I fear. Tom PS -- not sure if you got my last email a week ago. I know yours keep showing up in the spam box. Well said, L. Who can forget that Gates predicted in the 1990s that CD-Roms were going to be the next big thing, all the while missing the importance of the internet?!

I remember haunting the BBS’s in the late 1980s and then learning that the internet was on its way and just salivating at the thought. For me computers were always about communication. For Gates they were (and still are) about top down control, i.e. a pyramid-shaped power trip. Jung identified the disease as ego inflation. That kind of mental mistake will be with us for a long time, I fear.

Tom

PS — not sure if you got my last email a week ago. I know yours keep showing up in the spam box.

]]> By: Julian Seery Gude http://newmediatheory.net/2009/02/21/the-windows-7-experience/#comment-4730 Julian Seery Gude Sat, 21 Feb 2009 14:57:07 +0000 http://newmediatheory.net/2009/02/21/the-windows-7-experience/#comment-4730 Although I brought up the potential that Microsoft was throttling supply to increase demand I think in the final analysis your assessment is the correct one. I believe your point is further supported by the fact that Microsoft has never pulled off a marketing move of this deftness. They are marketing dolts. Someday, someone at Microsoft is going to change that but it probably won't happen until their business starts losing huge amounts of revenue and that loss frees them up to be less risk adverse. Although I brought up the potential that Microsoft was throttling supply to increase demand I think in the final analysis your assessment is the correct one.

I believe your point is further supported by the fact that Microsoft has never pulled off a marketing move of this deftness. They are marketing dolts.

Someday, someone at Microsoft is going to change that but it probably won’t happen until their business starts losing huge amounts of revenue and that loss frees them up to be less risk adverse.

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