This is nothing more than a standard Windows PC with a large touch screen and some flashy software. I can go to The Bridge in Westchester and do the same thing with my feet in the theater’s lobby. Exciting! This is just another stupid project from Redmond that gets traction because they don’t know what to do with all that money they have.

Microsoft even said that the price tag would come down in a few years to make it an attractive purchase option for consumers. Ha! Is there such a thing as collective senility?

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Its a nightmare of operation and integration. I will take a stab at a metaphorical description: Its like adding each version of Windows from 1.0 to 3.0 together without removing redundant elements, mixing in some UNIX but changing it so its no longer familiar, slapping an SQL database in the trunk, letting Animal from the Muppets modify the code, and then requiring that it call Richard Nixon on the phone to get the latest data.

Mad, I tell you. Mad!

I can’t help but think that the estimated 118 million users were all forced into using Lotus Notes, as we were at my office. We were shoved into it by an excruciating need of the US Federal Government to regulate enterprise via the Sarbannes-Oxley mandate in an effort to prevent another Enron. If you ask me, all of the SOX crap will just mask any such efforts and make it easier for the scum to get away with it again!

We have over 6,500 users in North America. Every single one I have spoken to (nearly 600) says something like this to me,”Have I mentioned I hate Lotus Notes?” Yes, I say. You have. Several times. I could have sworn to you that I would never string the following words together over my dead body, but here goes: I’d take Microsoft Exchange Server and Outlook over Lotus Notes any day!

Oh! Yes. I know Richard Nixon is dead.

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It’s free and available right now (but availability is limited) for any Windows Mobile version 5.0 and up device. “The code is actually written to be potentially cross-platform. But because we ship these rapid prototypes in live labs, we’re shipping it just for that operating system for now,” concluded Alex Daley, Senior Product Manager at Microsoft Live Labs.

First, they’re not giving it out any more. Second, if the code is already portable, then there shouldn’t be any reason why they can’t offer beta versions for other mobile OS now. Third, MSN Live Search sucks! Okay, so the last one is only valid if you’re me. Regardless, if Microsoft ever intended to be a cross-platform company, they would have worked a hell of a lot harder to do so already. This is lip service. Don’t expect versions for anything but MS products.

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