In other news…

I have two interests that I rarely write about. The first, sports, I don’t write about because as much as I like it I always find that my knowledge of sports pales in comparison to the real ‘die-hards’ out there, and also because it’s written into the ground already. The second, technology, I don’t write about because I have no inside information about it, and because the pace of it renders opinions about what happend today obsolete by next Thursday.

That said, I do have two small bits of “other news” to pass on today, and they happen to be unrelated items about sports and technology.

Item #1: The BCS system is crap, and Utah has the most legitimate claim to the title, “National Champion.”

For a more entertaining argument than I can provide, please see the following: No Question, Utah is the National Champion.

Item #2: Apple’s 2009 software lineup looks amazing, best in class across the board.

Check out apple.com, especially the 2009 iWork package.

Personally, I believe that Apple is on the verge of replacing Microsoft as the ‘default’ system choice for most users. This won’t happen over night, but the last iron grip on a software segment is Microsoft’s Office suite, and software like Open Office and iWork is really catching up, plus companies like Google and Adobe are releasing solid competition that runs in your browser…

I think Apple is going to be the segment leader here because of the tight integration between their excellent hardware and software. The approach they demonstrated with OS X: modest advance on a regular schedule (about 12-18 months between new versions of the software) has proven to be more effective than Microsoft’s once-a-generation approach. By applying that mindset to iWork, (Apple has released 3 or 4 editions of the software, each at a fraction of the price of Office, since it launched. In the same time Microsoft has made one update to its office suite), Apple has produced software that works better for most average users than Microsoft’s. Only the high-end enterprise features need further work at this point, and thus far the iPhone has been a pretty big indicator that Apple will work to accomodate that market.

Anyway, I think it’s worth noticing the new stuff. Take a look and see for yourself!