iamphilipsun

So as I Google around the web searching for freebie clip arts to use on my soon to use promotional posters, I come across (actually.. first query result) Microsoft’s own Office Online graphic repository.  Seems rather harmless, let’s give it a shot!

Oh the misery that ensued.

After using a rather weak search function (why is ‘Search’ such a difficult endeavor for MS?), I take my picks and add them to my basket.  Then comes the kicker (in the crotch)… the whole point of this was to get users to use MS’s Clip Organizer bloatware, which I wasn’t even aware I had.

The best part of all, is that after the download, Microsoft’s Clip Organizer threw a ‘catastrophic failure’.  Even forgoing the trusty awesomeness that is Mozilla’s FireFox, and ‘downgrading’ to use Microsoft’s very own POS Internet Explorer… ‘catastrophic failure’ x2.

Honestly.  How difficult is it… to download <1MB of clip art?

Microsoft = 0x8000FFFF

Why is Hotmail so bad at what they do?

It’s excruciatingly frustrating dealing with MSN when it comes to customer service… because there is none.

So I’ve been in a “I’m not junkmail goddammit!” battle against MSN for over a month now, and progress has been nil.  To make a long story short, the shared server which I’m hosted on had a bad apple (read: punkass bxtch) who decided to spam Microsoft/MSN/Hotmail… thereby resulting in what appears to be a blanket blacklist of all of Site5.com as a whole.

Emails originated from Site5.com hosted sites initially get rebounded back as failed deliveries (which sadly I prefer.. you’ll see why in a sec), and currently, get sent straight to Hotmail’s Junk-Folder… bounding the email to the bermuda triangle of electronic deliveries.  *poof  (sender has no clue of misdelivery, receiver has no clue of receiving).

Now I’d be happy if Hotmail at least did a good job at filtering honest to god spam.  But while regular (read: MY PERSONAL) sites are being shot straight to junk, my Inbox is still flooded with Middle Eastern Princes selling Viagra and ExtenZe bundle packages.

I’ve been a long term user of Hotmail.  My very first email account since middle school was Hotmail.  But once Gmail popped up, I jumped ship.

I suppose to make a long story short, and at the risk of negative karma or whatever other booboo repercussions may be:

Screw you Hotmail.  You guys suck donkey balls.  Hard.

Alas.  This wasn’t the point of this blog post.  Nonono.  Not a frustration driven vent.  I wanted to explore the possibilities of why Microsoft has been such an epic fail in… oh… the last 7 years or so in pretty much all endeavours attempted.

Vista sucked.
Hotmail still sucks.
Pretty much every “Windows Live” venture sucked.
Every new release of Messenger sucked.
Updated MediaPlayer sucked.

all in effect pushing PC users towards the abyss that is the Mac.

Hell.  I’m even considering a Mac.

Gah this is all too frustrating to keep profanity clean.  Point in case… here’s my commercial:

I’m a miserable PC, but not ready to switch to Mac.

Edit 1:

So I found and ran Microsoft’s own Sender ID Framework wizard to build a new SPF Record for my domains.  The generated code is the one that I was given by Site5′s tech, which I’ve been using… which does not work.

GG MSN.  GG.

Through pain and suffering I pull through, stronger and more beautiful than ever before. Reborn, I spread the long forgotten wings upon my back and take effervescent flight.

Vincero. I will not lose.