Microsloth vs. Quick like a Fox
I was talking with My-Girl-Sqweezil about what I like about small internet companies.
The thing is, they're quick, and constantly moving. Take LJ, for example. In the last couple weeks, they've added easy-image embedding, nudges for people who don't update enough, and just now they've given me my own subdomain: deadringrancor.livejournal.com.
Meanwhile, you've got Microsoft's Internet Explorer, which hasn't been updated in going on 7 years now, and was only prompted to update after Firefox started eating its market share. And listen to this: Windows Media Player 11 isn't going to have RSS support, which means a year after it's available on Winamp and iTunes, M$ still won't be able to catch podcasts. Hotmail hasn't been touched in about 6 years, and the only significant change was larger inbox (1/10th the size of gMail, of course) and bigger attachments. I can't believe I still have to wait for a page to load to read my mail, when M$ was the fucking inventor of XMLHTTP (AJAX - the technology used to make comment boxes appear on the same page in LJ).
These small companies add these features like buttering bread. Easy, seamless, with little fanfare. The a decade later the big guys catch up and tout it like they've done something wonderful (once again, I give you Microsloth).
The thing is, they're quick, and constantly moving. Take LJ, for example. In the last couple weeks, they've added easy-image embedding, nudges for people who don't update enough, and just now they've given me my own subdomain: deadringrancor.livejournal.com.
Meanwhile, you've got Microsoft's Internet Explorer, which hasn't been updated in going on 7 years now, and was only prompted to update after Firefox started eating its market share. And listen to this: Windows Media Player 11 isn't going to have RSS support, which means a year after it's available on Winamp and iTunes, M$ still won't be able to catch podcasts. Hotmail hasn't been touched in about 6 years, and the only significant change was larger inbox (1/10th the size of gMail, of course) and bigger attachments. I can't believe I still have to wait for a page to load to read my mail, when M$ was the fucking inventor of XMLHTTP (AJAX - the technology used to make comment boxes appear on the same page in LJ).
These small companies add these features like buttering bread. Easy, seamless, with little fanfare. The a decade later the big guys catch up and tout it like they've done something wonderful (once again, I give you Microsloth).