I was able to finally upgrade to a Samsung Focus, one of the new Windows Phone 7 devices from AT&T. Earlier in the week I upgraded my wife’s phone to a LG Quantum.

Despite the detractors, I am compelled to state that I love this phone! It offers so much more than my previous devices (which were two different Windows Mobile devices and before that, a Treo 650).

Maybe I’m not demanding as others, however, I will admit that I expect much for any piece of hardware that I’m spending my hard earned money on. This phone does many things although, like all devices in this category, it’s not going to make everyone happy.

What amazes me is that this device is supposed to win the hearts and minds of all consumers in the short time it’s been in the market (the first devices debuting just a few months ago). Because the new platform has not overtaken or even challenged the supposidly unshakable Apple, let’s not forget that the Android platform debuted in October of 2008.  Phones running the Android OS did not jump in the charts until 2010 and 2011.

I can only say that Microsoft and their partners did it right this time. It’s not perfect, but it’s right. I’m Lovin’ my Windows Phone 7.

The Right to Vote. Overrated?

As I look at the calendar (and the Voters’ guide sitting on my pile of “stuff” on my desk), I feel the nagging approach of Election day. I would like to think of myself as a patriot, someone who believes in the electoral system, someone who believes that the best thing any citizen can do is to vote.

And then, there’s the harsh reality that reveals many questions…

Why do we vote? How can we vote when we truly don’t know who or what to vote for? Are we truly knowledgable about candidates or ballot measures when all we have are sound bites on the news, mud-slinging commercials or what ever might spew out of the mouths of pundits during the latest airing of “scream TV”?

It takes a considerable amount of research online to hunt down the facts, to weigh the possible outcomes of ballot measures, to stack up one candidate to the other. Sadly, in the end, due to the way the media works and how campaigns play to them, finding the truth even after researching is almost impossible.

Which might bring a person to a conclusion that matches the majority; voting is a process of picking the lessor of the two evils. 

At least that’s better than flipping a coin…for now.

There’s no “I” in “Team”? Far from it.

It’s been a common saying in the business world that individuality is unacceptable and that the most successful business is one that thrives on teamwork.  However, reality demonstrates that for the most part, this concept is a contradiction to what we experience in the real world.

The idea that team members get equal credit is a fallacy when we all know and have experienced the situation in which one person, the “I” from that person’s perspective, is given more credit than the others. Not only do we see this in the work place but also from team sports. When was the last time you watched any team sport and not see someone within a team get singled out for good performance during a game? For the all the attention this player receives, it makes you wonder how relevant the rest of the team was.

In the end, we all have to retain our individuality within a team and make sure to remind ourselves that eventually, in the end, it will come down to whoever is the “last man standing”. And there is an “I” in “survive”.

Microsoft on the rise…

It’s safe to say that for the past decade, us users of Microsoft products have been in a love/hate relationship. Windows itself has gone through many changes, even going through a “dark time” of Vista hatred and aversion (I never completely understood  that issue since I was pleased with Vista).

For me, the end of last year was a good one in terms of how I felt about Microsoft. In the age of “look at all the cool things Apple puts out”, I found a strange sense of unique individuality in owning and using Microsoft technology e.g. Windows 7 on my two computers, a Zune HD (and loving it), and Windows Mobile 6.5 (quirky but cool too). I love using Bing on my computers and Windows Mobile phone as well.

2010 promises to be another good year although I have to be patient with the group in Redmond. Office 2010 is now out; Office online apps is now, well, online; Windows Live Wave 4 is in beta with an upcoming release later this year (Edit: October 2010 – now out of beta) and lastly but what I feel is most importantly, Windows Phone 7 is on the horizon and looks like a great new phone. An iPhone buster? Probably not, but definitely a step in the right direction for us Windows mobile users.

It’s nice for once to feel part of something that is, dare I say, on the rise? Does that even fit in the world of Microsoft. In this case, I think it does.