Amazing! For me, the best is this one:

Translating into English:

Weather forecast stone:

Condition      ->      Forecast

Wet stone -> Rain
Dry Stone -> Dry weather
Shadow on the floor -> Sunny day
White on the top -> Snow
You can’t see the stone -> Fog
Stone shaking -> Earthquake
The stone is not here -> Hurricane (Tornado)

Last year, for the first time we had a championship with some emotion, but this year, it was amazing. Until 5 laps to the end of the race, Lewis Hamilton was the champion. Then Massa and, inthe very last curve, Hamilton again.

Amazing!

Now that city representatives elections has ended here in Brazil (and that this candidate has been elected), we can talk about it: Caxias do Sul, one of the biggest cities in southern Brazil had a Google candidate.

Any resemblance?

Note: the sentence under the hypopotame means “It will be nice!”

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Edit 1: If anyone wants to get more information on the representative, check his website: http://www.gustavotoigo.com.br/

I didn’t post this earlier, but I am not a Microsoft Student Partner anymore: I had to resign due to potential conflicts of interest with my job.

Anyway, I believe this is a good time to get independent, since I have 2 macs, I’m trying to learn Ruby, my top wishlist gadget is an iPhone and I have an Apple sticker on my car.

The point is that I actually wanted to be free to say what I think of the technology market:

Microsoft is stuck on an old paradigm. Some time ago, Bill Gates stated that when the technology paradigm changes, the “number one” company get lost and someone takes its place. It happened to IBM and it’s happening to Microsoft right now. Software + Services is a good approach, but Cloud Computing is the future.

I see no reason for an average law student, for example, to use Microsoft Word in order to develop a simple homework: Google Docs is perfect for that. She can even share it with her colleagues and collaborate in real time! Outlook is past! GMail is far better! Windows Live Search is a joke, they are literally PAYING for you to search with their engine, but it’s not enough, since Google Search is far better and Live Search does not find relevant matches.

On the mobile field, Microsoft is really out of the game. I have a Windows Mobile cellphone (Moto Q GSM) and it really is a shame: sometimes it gets mute (I can’t hear nor be heard), so I need to RESTART and it gets back!!!!! It’s Windows 3.1 for cellphones! iPhone runs the same Mac OS X kernel that a Mac Pro runs! And it’s beautiful and it runs OpenGL 3D games! Google Android has the same idea, but with Linux!

Windows Vista is another mistake: I tried it since CTP versions older than Beta 1, and used it since November 2006 (until January 2008). Vista was the main reason that made me go back to Macs. While MS slept for FIVE long years, Apple launched 4 Releases of Mac OS X, got customer feedback and delivered the most advanced, beautiful, easy to use and powerful personal OS EVER!

Sorry, Microsoft, I really don’t mean to hurt you, but It’s impossible to ignore it. As it’s impossible to ignore the great advances you made during the last 6 years: .NET is the best programming platform ever made. C# is the language I love and I strongly believe Windows will have long life due to gaming and enterprise worlds, but it’s not enough to keep the “number one” position for a long time. Therefore, it’s obvious that the company lost its focus due to the paradigm changes that Google and Apple are causing and if you don’t focus on doing WHAT YOU KNOW, Microsoft will be just another competitor on a very heterogeneous market.

And maybe that’s the best that could happen!

Once again, this is not an empty rant, but a warning to the company that drove my aspirations since I started being a nerd (when I was 9), to the company I served for almost 4 years and that I dreamed that someday I would work for.

Farewell, Microsoft, I hope you adapt yourself for the upcoming years.

Sorry for the bad english, but I’m too lazy to review it, and it would lose the spontaneity.

1. Play poker with the devil, my soul vs. 1 billion dollars
2. Bungee jump with using a nylon fishing string
3. Play Russian roulette using a fully loaded machine gun
4. Spend vacation time in Iraq
5. Take a walk on North Korea wearing a T-shirt with the United States flag
6. Jump into a cage full of lions with a big steak wrapped on the neck
7. Go to Mecca wrapped on an Israeli flag
8. Take a nap on a railroad
9. Spend a holiday on the moon wearing a t-shirt and shorts
10. Yelling that you are a terrorist in a guided tour through The White House

Do you know other? What’s yours?