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Matt Cutts 30 day challenge for October: No Microsoft Software

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Re: Matt Cutts 30 day challenge for October: No Microsoft Software

#21

Post by patio11 »

lamnk wrote: post #11
mcav wrote: post #2

Challenge for November: No Google Software. That's where I'd have trouble.

Search: I can use Bing or Yahoo, no problem here. Mail: gmail is integrated deeply into my workflow. Hard to live without it. Money: Adsense pays for my hosting bill so can't drop them, besides there is no worthy competitor with Adsense (for small blogs) Analytics: Google's product is great and free but i would be very happy to try some alternative. Docs: don't use google docs a lot. Not important. Calendar: I have t…

I can use Bing or Yahoo, no problem here.

I tried using Bing for a month. I lasted about 48 hours. One problem was that Google dominates Bing for technical searches and searches in Japanese, both of which are sort of important to me.

A bigger problem was that my fingers will type www.google.com into my URL bar without me even asking them to any time I have a question about something. (In browser search box, what's that? I'm stuck in my ways...) The only way I could have overcome this habit would have been using my hosts file to redirect google.com to a Bing server, and I was worried that would lock me out of the Google services I need to run my business.

Re: Matt Cutts 30 day challenge for October: No Microsoft Software

#23

Post by BrandonM »

This would be tough for me. Notepad and especially Calculator are an important part of my Quick Launch bar. And I'm kind of stuck using Vista because last I checked they don't write poker software for Linux.

Before I got this new laptop, I probably went more than two years without using a Microsoft product.

Re: Matt Cutts 30 day challenge for October: No Microsoft Software

#24

Post by chrischen »

simonw wrote: post #8

What I find interesting is how incredibly easy it is to do this. I use Microsoft products maybe once or twice a month, almost exclusively for testing (or opening up the occasional Excel file, but that's just because I haven't yet bothered to install OpenOffice on my Mac). I don't even go out of my way to avoid Microsoft software, their products simply don't provide anything that I need.

Yea seriously, if you don't use windows it's not that tough. I'm a student using mac and haven't touched word this year yet, and that's about the only Microsoft app I can even use. Mac comes with text edit, calculator, even vim and bash. Great 'cause the environment is so similar to my Linux server.

Re: Matt Cutts 30 day challenge for October: No Microsoft Software

#25

Post by scythe »

lamnk wrote: post #11
mcav wrote: post #2

Challenge for November: No Google Software. That's where I'd have trouble.

Search: I can use Bing or Yahoo, no problem here. Mail: gmail is integrated deeply into my workflow. Hard to live without it. Money: Adsense pays for my hosting bill so can't drop them, besides there is no worthy competitor with Adsense (for small blogs) Analytics: Google's product is great and free but i would be very happy to try some alternative. Docs: don't use google docs a lot. Not important. Calendar: I have t…

>Money: Adsense pays for my hosting bill so can't drop them, besides there is no worthy competitor with Adsense (for small blogs)

Project Wonderful? They seem to get decent results:

http://www.blogcatalog.com/discuss/entry/project-wonderful-v...

Re: Matt Cutts 30 day challenge for October: No Microsoft Software

#27

Post by ZeroGravitas »

netsp wrote: post #17
btilly wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bad analogy. It is actually easier to quit smoking cold turkey than gradually. The reason is that a nicotine addiction comes back every time you smoke a cigarette. So if you've just tried to limit your smoking, then you are constantly in the position of craving a cigarette with a recently re-established addiction. You're drawing out the pain. By contrast when you quit cold turkey you have a rough time until the addic…

It's been three years for me. Still not over.

You're no longer chemically addicted, but you're still fighting the habit you've formed.

Some people are chemically dependant, some smoke through habit, most are a combination of both. Knowing which applies to you can really help you quit and there's questionnaires that can pinpoint which you are.

Sample questions:

Do you smoke a cigarette when you wake up? (low nicotine in the blood)

Do you smoke after a meal? (force of habit by mental connection)

Re: Matt Cutts 30 day challenge for October: No Microsoft Software

#29

Post by kiiski »

icefox wrote: post #22

Although his challenge is no software I don't get why he wont ditch his MS keyboard. There are plenty of nice keyboards out there they are not expensive so making the switch seems like a worthwhile thing to do.

Why is it worthwhile if the microsoft one is good? I've never had any problems with microsoft keyboards or mouses myself, and he clearly says that he thinks they're "very nice".

Re: Matt Cutts 30 day challenge for October: No Microsoft Software

#30

Post by petercooper »

lamnk wrote: post #11
mcav wrote: post #2

Challenge for November: No Google Software. That's where I'd have trouble.

Search: I can use Bing or Yahoo, no problem here. Mail: gmail is integrated deeply into my workflow. Hard to live without it. Money: Adsense pays for my hosting bill so can't drop them, besides there is no worthy competitor with Adsense (for small blogs) Analytics: Google's product is great and free but i would be very happy to try some alternative. Docs: don't use google docs a lot. Not important. Calendar: I have t…

besides there is no worthy competitor with Adsense (for small blogs)

If your blog has a product focus or could contextually be linked to a product (e.g. if you blog a lot about cameras, say) then I know people have had a lot of success with Chitika in this regard.

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