Now that Bill Gates is giving his money away he’s Mr. Nice Guy. Truth is he got there by being a ruthless bully, putting start up competitors out of business (and relentlessly holding onto his money for two decades so that he could bully companies out of business). Now Steve Jobs is taking his place, from his petty stance on Adobe Flash to his convoluted restrictions on app analytics.

The result, as we all experience every day, is truly lousy software. Would you buy a car that crashed every time it hit a pebble? Why do we continue to buy Microsoft products? Why do we continue to run like star struck lemmings to Apple? Why do we continue to query Google when it can’t give us the answer to our query? Why do we share our lives on Facebook when they relentlessly leverage our dignity for their gain?

Why is it OK for companies to give us somewhat functional products that deliver a modicum of efficiency? Why do we give them a pass? Our monopoly laws only bruise these behemoths, none truly stop them in their path.

In the meantime, we all lose and we lose big. Competition is stifled so we pay too much for too little. Innovation is snuffed out and great new ideas never see the light of day.

I am really disgusted with Apple, Google, Facebook and Microsoft – but that does not compare to my disgust with our hapless, toothless government. All talk, no action while the marketplace delivers garbage and our lives, community and the world are gutted.

It is time to chose and to chose critically. Ask yourself: do I really need this software? Is free really free? What is Facebook really good for? Should I really be paying to advertise here? Will I really get the results I need for my business? Is what I am doing, right now, for me, my company, my community, honorable?

Question. Question to discover what will make our world truly more productive.

An Apple devotee for decades and the IPud launch leaves me with this:

No camera. Does this make sense? With all the cool Iphone apps that rely on a camera, Apple comes out with a new dohicky without a camera. That means no cool Augmented Reality games or Augmented Reality GPS apps, NADA!

The obnoxious video on the Apple site. Opening line uttered by an unshaven overly hip, bald, bug-eyed Brit looking inhumanly earnest:
“You know it is true, when something exceeds your ability to understand how it works it sort of becomes magical. And that’s exactly what the Ipad is.”

Magical???? I’m not sure how my fridge works, but it keeps my food cold – no frisson there. An overgrown Iphone with no camera leaves me cold. And a pretentious Brit who claims stupidity is aspirational insults my intellect.