Google’s assault on Microsoft for the most part has not included verbal attacks against Microsoft. I think it was fairly easy for Google to take the high road while targeting Microsoft’s vulnerabilities.

great post Steve.

To extend your 2 minute drill analogy – MSFT is the Mike Nolan (SF 49ers) of head coaches. Extremely conservative, putrid play calling. MSFT fans are like 49ers fans – who keep piling into a stadium (Candlestick>>3Com>>Monster>>Candlestick) that changes its name once every several years, but sees no real structural improvements otherwise. The organization keeps making noise about a “better stadium” that’s on the horizon, and there is a lot of speculation about this alleged better stadium, but no real tangible evidence that is going to materialize. And finally, MSFT and the 9ers have in common a piece of history (decade(s) ago) that was so brilliant that the masses are willing to give the benefit of the doubt and keep lingering around for something good to happen, despite very obvious evidence that would suggest the contrary.

Much more of my work is being done in the cloud, no question. However I still have concerns around security, and how to deal with times where I am not connected, which remains a reality no matter how ubiquitous network access may be via iPhone or BlackBerry.

What will ultimately drive me to the cloud permanently? A decent photo editing application and fast uploads of RAW files. There is nothing that comes close to what I have on my laptop right now, but damn, it hurt to lose 320 GB of RAW files that represented over 2 years of daily photography to two dead (same brand) hard drives. All I have left of those are the finally edited best images stored on Flickr and Zooomr. I would store all of it there if it worked faster and better.

Like most voters who still haven’t decided between Obama and McCain, what I am looking for is a sense of confidence in the choice I make. Having Lightroom installed on the PC is something known to me; using cloud applications and storing my data there? Still a bit of a risk, despite my incredibly negative experience with the known.

One more time – personal attacks will be deleted.