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In today's business podcast, we will discuss Microsoft's Vista, Second Life and Hannah Montana, and what business lessons we can learn and apply from all three of them.

Have you seen the Apple commercials making fun of Vista lately? Just to funny. But oh so appropriate. The article I read on the internet stated that Vista may be great in the future, but you should wait until you get a new computer before you venture there.

Ask PC why you should wait for Vista - according to Apple, it's like making your computer undergo serious surgery.

Why does this not surprise me, as anything Big Brother Microsoft wants to do, it does, without asking the customer. Sure, go ahead and upgrade. Nothing will work right without having to reformat, reboot, rebuild and re-install everything - without the promise that anything will work THEN.

That leads us to IE7, and Big Brother Microsofts forceful suggestion (actually forced upgrading from 6 to 7) - could they find any more ways to alienate customers???

Oh, yes, they could - they could NOT give you IE if you don't have a genuine copy of Windows on your computer. Uh, what do they think was on my Dell computer when I purchased it? Mac operating system? If my computer crashes, and someone else fixes it, and they install a version of the OS on my computer, Microsoft will never play with me again. It wasn't enough that I paid for it once with my computer. Now I have to pay for it again? I don't think so.

Then there's Second Life - reminiscent of the Sims, and being copied by Disney for Hannah Montana fans.

Virtual reality is coming at us, but it's a little hard to load, and causes computer crashes. As the Forbes article mentions, a lot of people check Second Life out, but few come back (me being one of those people at this point). I know you will be surprised to hear this, but I don't use the internet for fun - only business. So if it's not productive, even for networking, it's not really worth it for me. I do have hopes for it, though. I actually bought a year's membership, so I can build something.

Is Miley Cyrus destined to follow the ruinous footsteps of Lindsay Lohan and Brittany Spears?

No one can say as of yet, but Disney is definitely helping her chart a course into a virtual reality world. They are introducing virtual reality worlds to children, so teen and adult versions can't be far behind. This is probably the way that business will be conducted in the future as well - you'll hear my thoughts on that later.

So, I definitely get on a roll this week, but you'll have to listen in to find out about what. <smile>

In the meanwhile, for any of you women business owners, please check out my new "home away from home", the Women In Business Podcast Directory. If you are a woman entrepreneur with information for other women entrepreneurs, please bring your expertise, articles, blogs and podcasts, and join us. Any questions, just contact penny@1stpod.com, ok?

Penny Haynes, 1st Podcast Publishing & Women In Business Podcast Directory