wire

Microsoft: The Good and The Bad

April 11th, 2007

I’ve been impressed by some of Microsoft’s recent projects, the Windows Live suite in particular. I’ve used FolderShare on a daily basis for the last 4 months to sync folders between my Tablet PC and my desktop machine. It’s a simple P2P tool that works.

I’m using Windows Live Writer to compose this post and I’ve been using it for about the last 3 months. It’s an enjoyable environment and definitely better than discovering that I lost an entire post because I forgot to periodically save while composing in Wordpress.

Jon Udell recently wrote an interesting post about Office Live. I found it compelling enough to try the free version. I would probably jump off a cliff if Jon recommended it. Of course, the requirement of using IE was annoying, but expected. The real problem, captured in my very first screencast, appeared after the Office Live registration process when I wanted to begin using the service. I did not alter or edit the capture at all. This occurred on my Tablet PC running Windows XP and IE 7. It completely prevented me from moving on.

This foible is an example of the downside of Microsoft and continued fodder for Apple’s Mac vs. PC commercials. Microsoft forces us into IE, but even IE 7 and Microsoft’s own sites rarely deliver an enjoyable experience.

I still to hope to revisit Office Live at some point, but for now it’s forgettable.

Entry Filed under: tools, web services