This is a really interesting move. Microsoft last week with their Windows 10 system are now encouraging developers to port their Android and iOS apps to Windows. They’re going to make that easy to do via this new tool kit for Windows 10. To me, I like that Microsoft is getting really pragmatic on the fact they’re like, “Hey, we don’t have any apps for our windows mobile, we need to get some quick. Let’s make it say for people to port.” I don’t know. How does that strike you, Dirk?

From the standpoint of personal software, personal computing Microsoft has had a very specific role, one, when they were at their best, that was of crushing business dominance, a totalitarian state of forcing people out of business, crushing Netscape, and really becoming almost monopolistic in terms of their control of aspect of the market. Those things led them to have Internet Explorer become so outdated and so out of step with where software technology was going, that now it’s discontinued 20 years down the road from when it was essentially the only operating system, or 15 years; 15, 20 years. It’s the same old company trying to modernize, trying to change. You can only get so or away from that brand identity that has really defined you. Especially if what you’re trying to do is play catch up.

The virtue of what Microsoft is doing now is just that it’s in tune with how most of the rest of software, personal computing technologies are behaving as companies; the openness, the trying to get things to be easy across platforms. It’s table stakes. If Microsoft wants to change their perception, if they want to do something that really has an impact, they’re going to do something that is different, that is really putting things in a new direction, is setting a new trend, then perhaps they can shed their own skin. Until then, they’re that same, out of step, clueless behemoth just trying to pivot to remain relevant. I don’t know, it’s unsightly.

The second item, the news item that it wanted to talk about today was the Tesla company, which is known for their electric cars, has now come out with a home battery. Basically it could be used for the charging of these cars, of course, but also making solar power and the storage of solar power that much easier, hopefully. You can get your power for the sun at those peak times when the sun is available and store it in these Tesla home batteries for use at night or what have you. The price point, it’s high, but it’s certainly not prohibitive if you’re talking about building a house with solar for your main source of power. Additionally it’s this consumer facing company with a lot of cachet is putting their hat in the ring in terms of reshaping the way we’re using energy in the United States and other countries as well. What’s your take on Tesla’s move into this aspect of the energy market? It seems like a big move to me.

Then what are batteries notorious for? They’re notorious for not working anymore, they’re notorious for needing to be replaced. For me, $15,000 for this whole house battery, that’s a one percenter solution. I have no interest in it. The technology would really need to be vetted. I’d don’t know what the right time frame is, but 20 year guarantee, 30 year guarantee, and knowing that the parts are going to be replaced if it gets mucked up because it’s so much up front investment. It’s hard for people to afford, it’s hard for me to afford. There’s really no promise of it working once some time passes. The ROI just isn’t there. That’s my take as a consumer. I find it conceptually it’s interesting, it’s like, God yeah having that technology work and be affordable would be phenomenal. It’s just not accessible.

To me, I’m always astounded at the rate of progression when it comes to technologies like these, how this is becoming more and more of the conversation. To be fair, we’ve had the opportunity to use solar power for decades now, and the promise just has exceeded the actual delivered products. There is that level of skepticism. I don’t know. Inside me I got really excited about these batteries that you could power your house and be off the grid. I guess it’s romantic in a way if you lean in that direction and you want to be self contained and have all your power generated to yourself. Even maybe put power back into the grid. If those are things that you really want, then rational or not I got excited about it.

I can’t relate to a $1,400 luxury android watch in the same way that I can’t really relate very well to the high end gold plated Apple watch that they debuted. It feels very targeted no longer at the mass market, but at this higher end market. Maybe that’s where it is and maybe that’s where it’s supposed to be, but it feels like foreign territory to me. Does it feel like that to you, Dirk?

I think some people are, of course, going to buy these things, invest in these things – I think it’s enough money you have to say that – initially. The future of it, at least in our current configuration, is really questionable. Given all the hype I’ve though about it, what am I missing, why is this not appealing to me as a relativity early adopter. I’m a fast follower, I’m not a bleeding edger. This should appeal to me, it doesn’t at all. The issue for me is too many devices, in a certain way. If a watch product would make it so that my phone was either totally replaced or reduced to a small auxiliary thing that just had a role in the ecosystem that I didn’t have to handle and interact with a lot, then it starts to be more interesting. Having all of these multiple things that are very expensive, doing overlapping things, it doesn’t make any sense.

For me, for a watch to become interesting, and frankly a $1,400 watch probably would never become interesting unless it had hot swap able upgrades so I’m not having to buy a new one every year or two, for that to become interesting it really would require being a phone replacement, as opposed to a phone enhancer. Otherwise you’re just spending way too much money on these devices for these marginal, interesting upgrades that are totally non essential to my life.

What happens when those two things come together? Is this heirloom quality Android watch? I don’t get it. The reason I would buy a Swiss watch isn’t there anymore, because you introduced an operating system that’s going to change and need constant care and feeding if it’s going to last past the four year mark. I’m really curios about it, it’s such a strange combination. I don’t know what to make of it. Maybe I’m just not the audience for it. It puzzles me.