Microsoft’s Future Vision of Productivity by the Microsoft Office team

I’d love to live in a world where high-tech was this ubiquitous, even if a bit preposterous. But I agree with Gruber:

This video encapsulates everything wrong with Microsoft. Their coolest products are imaginary futuristic bullshit. Guess what, we’ve all seen Minority Report already. Imagine if they instead spent the effort that went into this movie on making something, you know, real, that you could actually go out and buy and use today.

Microsoft made a similar video two years ago. These videos demonstrate that Microsoft has a creative, compelling vision for the future. But if that vision doesn’t translate into a product I can drool over and— in the near future—buy/use, then aside from entertaining me for a few minutes, there’s really no point. Even if Microsoft actually releases the Courier and makes my fridge see-through ten years from now, that’s still ten years of brand equity and my business they’ve lost.

…on second thought, maybe they can get $8.50 from me if they turn these concept videos into a feature-length movie.

Ars Technica has a great post regarding Microsoft Australia’s online campaign against IE6. In the post, Peter Bright raises an excellent point: if Microsoft seriously wants people to stop using IE6, they should stop trash-talking it and just stop supporting it. If Google can come out with something like Chrome Frame, why can’t Microsoft create a “Standards plugin” of some sort and roll it out as a Windows Update? The plugin could be a hybrid of Dean Edwards’ IE7.js and Chrome Frame — whatever gets the job done. If users opt to upgrade, “IE9 Standards mode” would be activated by default (deactivate-able via toolbar option); if not, Microsoft could announce a discontinuation of support for their browser. The idea behind this recommendation is to enable people to continue to fallback to IE6 vanilla-display in “compatibility mode” — jargon they’ve already established in IE8 — and to force IE9 rendering by default. If the stragglers want to continue viewing their applications correctly, they can do so via compatibility mode; but this solution (1) reduces the IE6 user base to those who absolutely need IE6 rendering, and (2) eliminates IE6’s incorrect rendering for those who don’t need it. For the latter, the problem shifts from incorrect rendering to poor rendering performance, which is added incentive for upgrading to the latest version of Internet Explorer (or a different browser). That’s half the battle won. For the remaining users who need IE6 rendering, they can continue to use their webapps in compatibility mode and upgrade at their leisure. This is a win-win for them too though, since the upgrade would have the effect of significantly dropping IE6 pageviews (offering a stronger case to stop supporting it) and would give those users ways of viewing the modern web without needing to install non-Microsoft software/plugins. Take risks, Microsoft, and make some people angry — they need to be aware that times are a-changin’.
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Ars Technica has a great post regarding Microsoft Australia’s online campaign against IE6. In the post, Peter Bright raises an excellent point: if Microsoft seriously wants people to stop using IE6, they should stop trash-talking it and just stop supporting it.

If Google can come out with something like Chrome Frame, why can’t Microsoft create a “Standards plugin” of some sort and roll it out as a Windows Update? The plugin could be a hybrid of Dean Edwards’ IE7.js and Chrome Frame — whatever gets the job done. If users opt to upgrade, “IE9 Standards mode” would be activated by default (deactivate-able via toolbar option); if not, Microsoft could announce a discontinuation of support for their browser.

The idea behind this recommendation is to enable people to continue to fallback to IE6 vanilla-display in “compatibility mode” — jargon they’ve already established in IE8 — and to force IE9 rendering by default. If the stragglers want to continue viewing their applications correctly, they can do so via compatibility mode; but this solution (1) reduces the IE6 user base to those who absolutely need IE6 rendering, and (2) eliminates IE6’s incorrect rendering for those who don’t need it.

For the latter, the problem shifts from incorrect rendering to poor rendering performance, which is added incentive for upgrading to the latest version of Internet Explorer (or a different browser). That’s half the battle won.

For the remaining users who need IE6 rendering, they can continue to use their webapps in compatibility mode and upgrade at their leisure. This is a win-win for them too though, since the upgrade would have the effect of significantly dropping IE6 pageviews (offering a stronger case to stop supporting it) and would give those users ways of viewing the modern web without needing to install non-Microsoft software/plugins.

Take risks, Microsoft, and make some people angry — they need to be aware that times are a-changin’.

Microsoft confirms, kills Courier concept in one fell swoop

And the HP Slate is dead too? Damnit Microsoft - why must you pull a Joss Whedon and kill off that which we love?

/via daringfireball

Photos from Microsoft’s Chinese Sweatshop Utterly horrific. From the article: This photo and others like it were smuggled out of the KYE Systems factory at Dongguan, China, as part of a three-year investigation by the National Labour Committee, a human rights organisation which campaigns for workers across the globe. The mostly female workers, aged 18 to 25, work from 7.45am to 10.55pm, sometimes with 1,000 workers crammed into one 105ft by 105ft room. They are not allowed to talk or listen to music, are forced to eat substandard meals from the factory cafeterias, have no bathroom breaks during their shifts and must clean the toilets as discipline, according to the NLC. The workers also sleep on site, in factory dormitories, with 14 workers to a room. They must buy their own mattresses and bedding, or else sleep on 28in-wide plywood boards. They ‘shower’ with a sponge and a bucket. And many of the workers, because they are young women, are regularly sexually harassed, the NLC claimed. The organisation said that one worker was even fined for losing his finger while operating a hole punch press. /via /.
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Photos from Microsoft’s Chinese Sweatshop

Utterly horrific. From the article:

This photo and others like it were smuggled out of the KYE Systems factory at Dongguan, China, as part of a three-year investigation by the National Labour Committee, a human rights organisation which campaigns for workers across the globe.

The mostly female workers, aged 18 to 25, work from 7.45am to 10.55pm, sometimes with 1,000 workers crammed into one 105ft by 105ft room.

They are not allowed to talk or listen to music, are forced to eat substandard meals from the factory cafeterias, have no bathroom breaks during their shifts and must clean the toilets as discipline, according to the NLC.

The workers also sleep on site, in factory dormitories, with 14 workers to a room. They must buy their own mattresses and bedding, or else sleep on 28in-wide plywood boards. They ‘shower’ with a sponge and a bucket.

And many of the workers, because they are young women, are regularly sexually harassed, the NLC claimed.

The organisation said that one worker was even fined for losing his finger while operating a hole punch press.

/via /.

After Google hack, Microsoft asks users to abandon IE6, XP

Please let this be the nail in the coffin.

Microsoft Store in Mission Viejo, CA breaks out into synchronized dance for a Black Eyed Peas song (via CrunchGear)

I think this would be plenty distracting to shoppers, but that’s ok. The point is to make people happy, to show people they’re happy, and they did it quite well — every one of them looks like they’re having fun. It’s the anti-Coldstone tip song. Coupled with the uplifting commercials Microsoft has been putting out for Windows 7 recently, I would guess the dance was just one example of brand consistency over UX touchpoints. Well done, MS.