david

I've been using OS X and Win 7 side by side for weeks and I'm impressed with Win 7. I'd hate to be stuck with it 24/7 but it fixes most of Vista's disaster while building on the solid base that was WinXP.

I'm surprised though to hear that Microsoft copied or borrowed from Apple in terms of graphics or UI. If so Microsoft's engineers are the most incompetent copiers on earth. Windows 7 is still garish, cartoonish, and inconsistent in ways that are both laughable and sad.

The commercial was just like Seinfeld's old show - it had some interesting characters and was about nothing at all. That works on a TV show but Microsoft is trying to sell something - we already know Bill and Jerry and I for one have no desire to learn more about the shoe guy.

As a 90 second skit it works - it was entertaining and funny. As a commercial trying to brand Microsoft it was a sad failure.

In my neck of the woods we have some very good independent eating spots. But none of the Italian eateries can match Carrabbas. I used to like Applebees but the last few years the quality of food and service has taken a big nose-dive. Max & Erma's is a regional chain that used to be top notch but I'd rather grab a burger at MacDonalds these days then go there.

The deal maker for me is my iTunes rental can go onto my iPhone and/or my wife's Touch for watching on the go. This morning before leaving for a week long business trip in Europe, my wife rented and then synced four movies. XBOX cannot do this.

Sony: Failure is our specialty

NBC can take a long hike off a short pier. Their cluelessness and greed aren't my problem.

Raise your hand if you think Universal's intent is to gauge interest in DRM music. Yeah, I thought so. I guess I'll check out what music is being sold sans DRM and then if I find anything I'm interested I'll contact the artists via their websites to let them know that I've withheld purchase of their music until I can buy it DRM free at iTunes. Yes, it is petty and childish but I'm sick of the music industry's games. It is one of the few ways I can figure out to make myself heard.

Okay, so we have one TV exec saying, "You want the show to survive - watch it live." Seems reasonable at first glance but it isn't. First, it is a request all broadcast execs might reasonably make - I leave out cable execs because cable tends to rebroadcast shows at various days and times while broadcast stations tend to broadcast once. So on broadcast TV I have one shot to see a show without regard to my work or family schedule and without regard to other shows I watch. One shot, a life, and nearly 100 channels. Yeah, right.

Instead of blaming TiVo for its problems, the broadcast execs should be blessing it. Even if TiVo means some of us skip commercials (I do about 1/2 the time) that is still more commercial exposure then I'd get without TiVo. Without TiVo (and the VCR before it) I saw almost no commercials - because I didn't watch TV. I don't work 9-5.

Keeping Jericho - or any other quality show - alive isn't my problem to solve. It is television's problem to solve. And in fact, if I don't TiVo the show to watch, since my household isn't a Nielson household, CBS would never know I watch Jericho. So no, I won't be watching it live and I won't be responsible for Jericho's death either.

It is threads like this that convince me there's no intelligent life on earth

I suspect that Vienna will be released a year late and be called MS X.