November 27, 2007
I will ship back OneNote 2007 for a refind from Amazon. Why? Let me list the reasons. The main one: I must type in a 25-character product code that does not exist.
25 characters! Do you know how many mistakes you can make when typing 25 characters? Even credit cards require only 16.
But in fact I made no errors. The product code is supposedly on the little strip of sticky paper on top of the plastic box. There are several sets of numbers on that tape. The "type in the product code" box rejects all of them. None of them had 25 characters.
To open the box takes either a hammer or a mechanically gifted wife. My wife can fix anything mechanical. It took her five minutes to open the box. In doing so, she initially thought she had to strip off the sticky paper with the "not product code" numbers on it. She tossed the strip in the trash. I had to retrieve it.
There was no user's manual.
There was no DVD showing how to use it.
There was nothing except bounce-back advertising flyers: "Buy! Buy! Buy!"
After 25 boot-ups, the program will lock up until I find and type in the 25-character product code. Maybe you can find it. I couldn't.
Microsoft tells us: "Like it or lump it."
Lump it. Go www.EverNote.com and downloaded the free program that does everything OneNote 2007 does -- I think. No product code required!
I guess I'll wait to use OneNote 2007 until I buy a Tablet PC with Microsoft Vista installed. You get OneNote 2007 with Vista: no product code to type in. I hope.
OneNote 2007 is a doomed stand-alone product. It comes free in Vista. It comes free in Microsoft office. So, who will buy it? Die-hard Windows XP users who refuse to buy Office. That's a narrow audience.
So, what did the secure-packaging fanatics do? They killed the product. Why? My opinion: to stop Asian software pirates.
That policy is also doomed. Asian software pirates can beat anything Microsoft does to block piracy. In any case, Microsoft's only hope in Asia is to ignore pirates. Pirates will give Microsoft market share. Microsoft can sell upgrades when the Chinese users get rich.
Meanwhile, the Linux operating system (free) and Open Office (free) are spreading fast in Asia. Why pay Microsoft? The installed base will not belong to Microsoft.
When companies get fat and sassy, they get short-sighted. They get overconfident. Then they get stupid.
The only thing about OneNote 2007 that makes sense is that it's manufactured in Puerto Rico, thereby escaping the U.S. income tax code. That is the wonderful thing about Puerto Rico: no U.S. corporate income taxes on items sold in the U.S. if you employ five Puerto Ricans.
Final note on OneNote: somehow, I closed the box. So, I had to take it to my wife again to get her to open it, so that I could insert the CD-ROM to ship it back.
My personal fantasy is to imagine that Bill Gates has to ask Melinda to open his Microsoft products.
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