the j. botter weblog

- I must admit, Battlefield 2 for the XBox 360 is actually quite fun and addicting. I’ve been hearing about the Battlefield series for years but never had a computer powerful enough to play them, but Schoon has a 360, so we picked it up and haven’t really stopped playing it very much since then. My XBox Live Gamertag is rockstarsoldier, if anyone wants to play Battlefield, Ghost Recon, or Fight Night. I’m warning you, though — you’ll never know what you’re up against if you decide to jump into a Fight Night match with me. I’m undefeated, and I’m good.

- What could be better than Lego Star Wars? The original trilogy done with Legos, of course.

- Google’s being accused of profiting from child pornography. I don’t think the lawsuit has any merit whatsoever, and I’m not sure what grounds that the accusers think they have to stand on. And of course, they just have to mix in references to Google’s deal with the Chinese government as proof that they’ll stoop to any level imagineable in order to make money.

- Robert Scoble continues to prove why he’s a major force behind Microsoft’s recent resurgence as a “cool company” that understands tech and seems to be pushing towards customer care rather than shabby products. Robert says he won’t link to any Windows Live services that don’t support Firefox, and I think that’s a great first step. If Microsoft is to survive the Google onslaught and still be existing in ten years, they’re gonna have to totally change the game again. They have to rewrite the rules and make sure people understand that the old schemes and dreams just won’t cut it today.

I use Google for 90% of my online productivity. Why? Because the programs are great. Gmail is Gmail, of course, and it’ll always be my choice for email solutions. Google Calendar’s only been out a few weeks, and it’s already indispensable (something I never thought would happen with 30boxes, but it did). In order for Live to truly make headway, they need to make the tools they release as cool as Google’s stuff. It needs to work with a simplicity that makes people sit back and wonder where Microsoft has been all their lives.

It’s a new game. Microsoft has every intention of winning the game. But they have to learn to play differently.