[Insert introductory complaint about weather here] The Weather Channel is predicting 3 inches of rain over night, so after a few days of being taunted with beautiful weather, what has to be one of the more dismal summers in recent New England history continues. I apologize to the readers of this blog for the repetitiveness of each day's introduction, but as tedious as it is to read about my professions of boredom, just imagine what it would be like to live it. With any luck, my return to USC in three weeks will bring about more exciting (or at least mildly interesting) Daily occurrences. But until then I'll rely on world events in my efforts to entertain you. Which brings us to today's Daily Topic: MICROSOFT
At this point, you almost have to feel sorry for Microsoft. And while founder Bill Gates has offered very high praises of this blog, calling it "the best creation since the Internet," Microsoft's recent string of failures are just too easy of a target. Microsoft's fourth quarter revenue fell 17% and the company marked its first full-year revenue decline in its 34 year history. In January, Microsoft underwent large-scale layoffs for the first time and has focused on cost-cutting in a deteriorating PC market. And while the economic downturn is in part to blame, I think that the root causes are deeper. In reality, Microsoft's products, marketing and image is outdated and and out of touch with a majority of tech consumers. First, there was the Zune. This clearly failed attempt at an MP3 player was Microsoft's response to the wild popularity of the iPod. I can safely say that almost everyone I know owns an iPod and I couldn't name a single person who owns a Zune. Additionally, the 2007 to 2008 revenues for Zune were a miniscule $85 million compared to $3.37 billion of iPod earnings in the same time period. Next there was the highly anticipated Vista operating system that turned out to be a flop. Next there was the "I'm a PC" campaign, trying to entice customers by showing celebrities and pro athletes in their commercials, along with every other demographic imaginable. Yet Apple's Mac v. PC advertisements remained more effective. Then there was Bing!, Microsoft's albeit valiant attempt to rival Google in the realm of search engines. They launched an enthusiastic advertising campaign, claiming to give more relavant and specific search results. However, too little and MUCH too late. Google has established itself, for years, as the dominant search engine and, no matter how useful it is or how many exclamation points it adds, Bing! will not be able to change peoples' search habits. In fact, Google has become a major part of society and even become a common verb. And now Microsoft has announced that they will be opening retail stores instead of selling their products through stores such as WalMart. The stores will open this fall but only time will tell if they can match the sleek and bright simplicity of the Apple stores that have such mass appeal, especially among the younger generation. However, it is my belief that Microsoft's time has come to pass and that Apple's popularity will only continue to grow. That being said, tuck that Zune away and sell it on eBay in 20 years, and check out the latest knockoffs of Apple products when the Microsoft stores open this fall.
-ROF
Daily Food: Flank Steak
Daily Activity: Divesting in Microsoft
Daily Attire: Sweats
Daily News Everyone Should Care About: Dow Rises Above 9,000 for First Time Since January
Daily Life Goal: Revisit Africa
Daily Complaint: Ignorance
Daily Drink: Coke
Daily Movie: Prom Night In Mississippi - HBO Originial DocumentaryDaily Book: Manhunt - The 12 Day Search For Lincoln's Killer
