Today I stumbled across an email a colleague of mine sent out last July. He referred to a YouTube video that highlighted MS Vista’s speech recognition. All I can say is that while it performs admirably at times, quite a few times I found the video both painful and funny to watch (see below). It really confirms that the usability and user experience professions are here to stay.

Microsoft Vista Speech Recognition Tested – Perl Scripting

[Runtime: 10:33 | Please make sure you have the latest version of Adobe Flash installed on your computer to watch this video. To download it, please visit: http://www.adobe.com/]

– Hat Tip: Ari Weissman

Tags: [Vista, Windows Vista, voice recognition, user experience, usability, Microsoft, Partial Recall]

Well, it looks like there’s a relatively stable way to get Microsoft and Apple to play together on a Mac. Have you been successful?

Tags: [Apple, Microsoft, onmac, intel, macbookpro, Joy of Tech, xp]

It looks as though Best Buy is offering Apple Powerbooks with what looks like the Windows 98 OS! This post may get a lot of traffic, so let me stop the speculation now by saying that Best Buy is NOT offering Powerbooks with Windows. BB simply needs to work on their Photoshopping skills.

Product here and expanded image here.
Hat Tip to Durden2.0.

Tags: [Apple, Mac, Microsoft, Windows, Microsoft Windows, Best Buy, laptop, Powerbook, MacBook, MacBook Pro, Newsvine]

So, the question is, why does this federal site, which has the authority for consolidating the business of grant funding among a majority of federal agencies, have the authority to mandate a technology that can only be used by users of one operating system? There are federal mandates such as Section 508 that provide for equal access to web applications for handicapped individuals. Shouldn’t there be an equal access technology policy too?

Back in 2003, the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) issued a report [PDF - 880 KB] in response to the Department of Homeland Security’s naming of Microsoft as the Department’s “primary security provider.” An August 28, 2003 ComputerWorld article states

The contract, awarded June 27, named Microsoft as the “primary technology provider” to the Department of Homeland Security, supplying desktop and server software critical for the agency.

In a letter yesterday to Tom Ridge, the secretary of the DHS, Ed Black, the CEO and president of the Washington-based CCIA, asked the agency to “reconsider” its decision to use Microsoft software inside an agency with critical security needs (download PDF).

From an economic and efficiency standpoint, it would be much easier for the federal government to adopt Microsoft as the defacto standard computing platform. Unfortunately, there are a few problems with this stance:

1. Security - Much like when one invests in the stock market, diversity is the key. One shouldn’t invest 100% in international stocks. Although these stocks might have a chance for a high return, if they tank you are out of luck. When investing, advisors make sure your portfolio is diversified, as a way to protect yourself if the event that stocks plummet in one part of your portfolio. Similarly, if a corporation or federal agency diversifies its technology portfolio, then it is less likely to experience a fatal security breach.
2. Innovation – Look at the innovators right now – Apple Computer, Amazon, Google, etc. These companies do not rely on one technology from one company. They innovate, in part, from using diverse technologies (hard and soft).

The federal government needs to seriously look at the technology policies it implements. I think I agree with a recent CIO article calling for a Federal Technology Czar. To combat technology and cybersecurity issues, the government should institute policies that promote technology diversity and should allow citizens to conduct business with the government using any technology available to them.

Tags: [federal government, Microsoft, Apple, CCIA, pureedge, Grants.gov, Section 508, cybersecurity, FDP, eRA]