Thursday, April 12, 2007

Brand names: What brand are you?

Have you ever bought certain item, because it belonged to a particular brand? I have, and am sure lot of people do. Thanks to the never ending commercials that bombard the boob tube, every time you watch some thing ! I would say you are 'branded' forever. For instance, I would always grab a Pepsi can as opposed to Coke. Reason? I do not know. But am sure I always liked the Pepsi commercials and it appeared to be that Coke adverts always seem to take a dig at Pepsi. But how much this influenced my propensity for Pepsi, I cannot say for sure. And then there are instances, when I buy certain things, because I know that I will get my money's worth. I will always buy Duracell batteries, Phillips bulbs and Crompton Greaves fan, and not anything else. However, there are occasions when we stick to something that we are accustomed to, so much, that we fail to let go of it, even if we know that we are better off without it. But does that mean you should not shift to a better option, if one becomes available?

Recently I have taken a complete fondness to Google and many of its products. Of course, it does not mean that I endorse every product that Google has to offer. Google has become an integral part of every one's life, that browse the vast sea of information in the World wide web. I have heard myself say "Just Google it, man !", instead of saying search it in the Internet. And then there is Mozilla FireFox. Boy, am completely in love with Mozilla. It was love at first sight! Ever since I installed it in my computer, I have never used IE. The tabbed browsing enthralled me and I would say it was one main reason why I was totally devoted to FireFox and still am ! I know IE 7.0 has tabbed browsing, but I would like to hold on to the leader.

Speaking of which, I wanted to tell everyone the obvious, that how much IE sucks. Even though I do not use IE, some people do use IE in my computer. Few days back I noticed that this rogue anti-spyware, named SpyLocked was residing in my computer without my sanction. At first I kept hurling abuses at it, because it kept popping up every few seconds. Only when I researched more on this terrorist, I could envisage the impending catastrophe that was looming in front of me. I needed to get rid of this immediately or lose all the data forever ! The stakes were too high. So I tried one software after another, all of which claimed, that they will remove SpyLocked for free, only to realize that they do the scanning for free and I need to part with $ 39 of my hard earned money just to remove the infected files. Not willing to do that, I asked few people, and one of them suggested that I use Spybot - Search and Destroy, which comes for free. I just added this information for the benefit of all those mortals out there like me, in case your computer gets infected with SpyLocked, remove it immediately !

So why stick to IE when all it does is host uninvited guests? That brings us back to the question that I had asked earlier, "Should you shift to a better option when one becomes available?" Is it because we are used to IE so much, that we fail to recognize the flaws that always come with it. I do not want to take any credit, away from Microsoft, but then, that does not mean you risk your privacy and security, at the cost of 'brandedness'. I do not know how many of you are ardent supporters of Microsoft, but certainly am not, when it comes to safe browsing. Should you allow your brand favoritism to rule, how you make your choices? The answer is obvious and I will let you listen to your heart.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

I seriously think indra nooyi should consider making their version karumbu juice and elaneer...
btw there were tabbed browsers long before mozilla came into picture..not sure how they swept every one with their version

Anonymous said...

im a fan of microsoft! so stop dissing it ratface!

Sanky said...

I thought elaneer was already available in bottle, infact,shaped like an elaneer. I vaguley rem seeing something like tht, but I don't think its Pepsi's product. Oh yeah, if Indra Nooyi comes up wt something like tht, I would gladly embrace it.

I have used Netscape (infact was the first browser i ever used) and Opera. But never felt comfortable wt both. I wasnt aware that Opera had tabbed browsing. My bad ! To be honest most of the browsers are pretty secure, compared to IE, how many ever patches they come up wt !!

Sanky said...

Preet, you gotta understand, I am not dissing MS...I am sayin IE is a very bad browser. But I love MS office. I use MS word, Excel, PPS all the time. But did u know tht Outlooks has so many loop holes, it is easy to infect thru it. So I would definitely not compromise on my security !

Anonymous said...

how do u kno its IE's fault.....its probs ur own! doing things u shudnt! thats why u get all this weird viruses! hehe

Anonymous said...

im jokin b4 u go off on one....... IE isnt that gr8.... i mite get mozilla firebox actually... see what all the fuss is about...

Sanky said...

FireFox, not box.....:-( !!!! seriously, firefox is much much safer option, for browsing !!!! I do not know what you expect to see, so do not blame if u do not find it interesting....however, there r lots of fun stuff u can do with firfox !!!! will tell u later....