I thought that the two most annoying Microsoft related events where:
– Restarting after every Windows update, which apparently happens every two days or so
– Getting a bazillion emails from Microsoft for everything, which qualifies Microsoft as a huge spammer.

But I guess we have a new winner. I received the email today, which I copy-pasted below. Apparently someone at Microsoft thought it was a brilliant idea to annoy users by restarting their machine every two hours without saving their work so that they will upgrade.

I can only imagine this meeting…. I bet they laughed so hard about how their users will get the point when the computer reboots, so they will feel compelled to upgrade the RC for Windows 7. But haven’t they stopped for a minute to think that this will be a completely frustrating experience which will just get users to start hating Windows 7 like they did with Windows Vista?

Come on Microsoft! Think of a better way. Something more user friendly, find a way to motivate people! Make them feel excited about Windows 7 so they upgrade. But don’t do something as stupid as this!

Here is the line I love from this email

Starting on March 1, 2010 your PC will begin shutting down every two hours. Your work will not be saved during the shutdown.

And here is the full email

It’s time to upgrade from the Windows 7 Release Candidate

While most people who tested Windows 7 have now moved to the final version, some are still running the Release Candidate. If you haven’t moved yet, it’s time to replace the RC.

Starting on March 1, 2010 your PC will begin shutting down every two hours. Your work will not be saved during the shutdown.

The Windows 7 RC will fully expire on June 1, 2010. Your PC running the Windows 7 RC will continue shutting down every two hours and your files won’t be saved during shutdown. In addition, your wallpaper will change to a solid black background with a persistent message on your desktop. You’ll also get periodic notifications that Windows isn’t genuine. That means your PC may no longer be able to obtain optional updates or downloads requiring genuine Windows validation.

To avoid interruption, please reinstall a prior version of Windows or move to Windows 7. In either case, you’ll need to do a custom (clean) install to replace the RC. As with any clean installation, you’ll need to back up your data then reinstall your applications and restore the data. For more details about replacing the RC, see the Knowledge Base article KB 971767. For more information, visit the Window 7 Forum.

Thanks again for helping us test Windows 7.

The Windows 7 Team

This guy summarizes some of the thoughts I’ve had in regards of how we humans have a weird way of making choices because of the “comparison factor”. What do I mean?

We make choices that most of the time don’t make sense because we always compare to something else that maybe doesn’t make sense in the first place. And business know that and they use it to their advance. Human behavior is complicated.

Any how, enjoy the video

And this one is just as great, it answers the following question: “why are we happy?”
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/dan_gilbert_asks_why_are_we_happy.html

Some quotes I like the most from this last talk:
– “Natural happiness is what we get when we get when we wanted and synthetic happiness is what we MAKE when we don’t get when we wanted”
– “What kind of economic engine will keep churning if we believe that NOT getting what we want will make us just as happy as getting what we wanted”
– “A mall full of zen monks will not be particularly profitable”

That makes me think, should I buy a new car?