Funny article outlining Snow Leopards upgrade problems, and singing praises for Win7...

Quoted: In a phrase, Windows 7 is darn good... very good. A huge congratulations to the dev team in Redmond --- Well done! In fact... very well done!

Quoted: You'd think that Apple would learn from Microsoft's stumble with Vista but no... they followed every bad move Vista made and then some. Do not upgrade to Apple OS X Snow Leopard!!! Wait to upgrade AFTER at least two major update release fixes from Apple ... My Macbook Pro that came preloaded with Snow Leopard kicks butt and is a screaming fast machine. I have zero complaints about my brand new MacBook Pro with Snow Leopard but when I tried to upgrade one of my "older" Macbooks, it was a fricking disaster from hell.

Quoted: Moral of the story - DO NOT TRY TO UPGRADE TO APPLE'S SNOW LEOPARD!!! You've been warned. I might try to do it again but it won't be till Apple releases at least 2 major fix updates. If you want to roll the dice and try, go ahead... your upgrade might work however random installs not working is not good for me. Lesson learned --- I'll wait. I guess Apple really wanted to catch up with Microsoft --- too bad they ran after Vista.

Unpredictable Dvorak. Another fun Microsoft bashing article. The accusation that "Microsoft is just lazy, careless, and not at all detail-oriented anymore" is a sign that he's just not paying attention.

Quoted: For all of the fanfare surrounding the new OS, Win 7 is really just a Vista martini. The operating system may have two olives instead of one this time out, but it's still made with the same cheap Microsoft vodka.

Quoted: Steve Jobs was right about Microsoft years ago when he accused the company of collectively having no taste. But now I'm not so sure. There are flashes of brilliance and good taste all over the company, but Microsoft is just lazy, careless, and not at all detail-oriented anymore. There are also indications that the employees all play a zero-sum game, hoping the guy in the next cubicle fails. This is a flaw that crept into the company long before Gates's exit.

I'm offended by that. But, ok, I'll give him the part about PR and Advertising...

Quoted: Where is the "wow?" Where is the tour-de-force? It's not going to happen with this marketing team calling the shots, so we have to assume that no matter how good or bad Windows 7 might be (it's good, but not really better than Vista SP2), the company doesn't understand the value of using better vodka.

Better Vodka? WTF? Why is this guy comparing the DNA of one of the world's most successful and innovative companies to alcohol? What an chump. Maybe Dvorak had a few too many before he wrote this article.

Wow. Awesome.

Quoted: After using pre-release versions of Windows 7 for nine months, and intensively testing the final version for the past month on many different machines, I believe it is the best version of Windows Microsoft has produced. It's a boost to productivity and a pleasure to use. Despite a few drawbacks, I can heartily recommend Windows 7 to mainstream consumers

Quoted: In recent years, I, like many other reviewers, have argued that Apple's Mac OS X operating system is much better than Windows. That's no longer true.

Quoted: Bottom line: Windows 7 is a very good, versatile operating system that should help Microsoft bury the memory of Vista and make PC users happy.

Of course "Microsoft knew what it was doing all along". ;-)

Quoted: In the No. 4 spot is the Windows 7 Launch Party instructional video. Microsoft has been relatively savvy when it comes to viral video; this one, however, seems to be of the "so inadvertently bad it's good" ilk that makes it onto the chart from time to time. It's promoting in-house Tupperware-style parties to show off the new operating system, but the cheesy, forced dialogue and awkward phrasing has made it the subject of all sorts of ridicule -- enough that it drove a half-million views. (Who knows, maybe Microsoft knew what it was doing all along.)

Very sad. This is the backyard of where I grew up. I played and hiked and camped in these hills. I know many people who live there. I wish them all to be safe.

It reminds me of a time ~18 years ago when there was another fire in this area. My very best friend and family lost their home. It was tragic.

Quoted: A deadly wildfire destroyed more than four dozen homes as it blackened a wide swath of tinder-dry Southern California forest, forced thousands of residents to flee and burned dangerously close Monday to a vital mountaintop broadcasting complex.

Quoted: Fire crews set backfires and sprayed fire retardant at Mount Wilson, home to at least 20 television transmission towers, radio and cell phone antennas, and the century-old Mount Wilson Observatory. The observatory also houses two giant telescopes and several multimillion-dollar university programs. It is both a landmark for its historic discoveries and a thriving modern center for astronomy.

Some positive news on IE8!

Quoted: Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8 again trounced rival browsers in a test of their malware-blocking abilities, catching 81% of attack-code-infected sites, according to testing company NSS Labs.

Quoted: IE8's improvement, and its dominance over competitors, could make some users reconsider decisions to abandon Microsoft's browser for one of its challengers. "Should people rethink that decision?" Moy asked. "By [this] data, absolutely."

A pretty good and entertaining review by Engadget. A few of my favorite quotes:

Quoted: With such broad aims, and such a diverse userbase, it's no wonder that there are plenty of spots where the OS still falls short, but taken as a whole it's clear that Microsoft has taken a strong step forward with Windows 7...

Quoted: Perhaps our favorite day-to-day improvement of them all, Aero Snap offers a surprisingly smart way of working with windows, using the mere power of a click and drag...

Quoted: Windows + P = magic!

Quoted: Windows Live Photo Gallery... You guessed it, another one kicked to Windows Live Essentials land, where supposedly "essential" apps go to die...

This is encouraging, and somewhat hard to believe.

Quoted: Microsoft's recent push to paint Apple as pricey is starting to work, according to data from BrandIndex.

Quoted: The perceptions of value the two brands offer has shifted dramatically in the eyes of 18- to 34-years-olds since Microsoft began running its "Laptop Hunters" campaign in late March. Apple's "value perception" has fallen considerably, while Microsoft's has risen.

My favorite quote...

Quoted: Apple continues to push the message that the Mac provides a trouble-free computing experience (though if you spend enough time around Mac users, you'll discover that yes, Macs can have issues too).

If we could only get someone like Mossberg to admit it.