Microsoft and Nokia join forces in smartphone market

Of all the analysts who publicized their reactions to the Microsoft-Nokia smartphone deal announced on February 11, Blue Badge Insights founder Andrew Brust seemed to be the most rational I have seen so far. He said (in an interview with http://www.eweek.com/), "The two companies are on their respective back feet."

Brust added, "But they can certainly help each other: Microsoft gets global reach and market share from Nokia; Nokia upgrades from the somewhat stunted Symbian OS to something modern, touch-centric and contemporary in design value, through Microsoft's WP7."

Nokia president and CEO Stephen Elop and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer

Now, compare that with the vitriol and beratings mouthed by some other analysts, industry rivals and partners, and even consumers. These people seem to remain unable to forgive Microsoft for its role in the Wintel homogeny during the 1990s and early 2000s.

My Samsung S2 Portable HDD goes lights out

My one-month-old portable hard disk drive, a Samsung S2 Portable, went bonkers last week. All of sudden, and without even the slightest of premonitions, the Korean-made 320GB HDD lost its intimate partnership with my home PC, and would not even talk to my old-hand, dual-core laptop.




My one-month-old Samsung S2 Portable HDD, seconds before it stopped letting me access my data

I had a hard time trying to stifle my fear, as the worst of worries over losing data – lots of data – began rearing its head. This could not be happening to me, I told myself. This is something that happens only to those unlucky or foolish enough to place their data-storage fate in the hands of unworthy data-keeping devices and services.



My brick of a portable HDD in its full naked glory

Instead of letting me browse and open files I had stored in the portable HDD, my home PC is telling me now that the drive needs to be formatted before I can use it. Before I can use it!

Of course, the unit comes with warranty. But would even the toughest warranty be able to retrieve my gigabytes of photos, work files, movies, MP3s, and other digital souvenirs I picked up for the last two years?

I should have browsed the Web for users' opinions about this product before I decided to buy this Samsung HDD. Unfortunately for me, the thought of doing so came to my mind hours after I lost my HDD. I should have read this and this.