We’re only talking about the world’s biggest software company and the future of computers. So far, it’s still basically irrelevant.

To Microsoft’s credit, Windows 8 and Windows Phone seem like solid products. There are some Windows features I’d like to pluck for Apple’s iOS. And there are some places in the world — even big, relatively important places like India — where Windows Phone is doing better than it is here.

But the U.S. is crucial for Microsoft if it’s going to matter in mobile. And mattering in mobile still seems like something Microsoft had better do.

Meanwhile, comScore’s numbers continue to show very little U.S. interest in Windows Phone. It hasn’t tanked as bad as BlackBerry, but Windows Phone subscribers are barely growing. (At least they’re not still shrinking at the moment.)

Still, the momentum Microsoft needs isn’t here. And it doesn’t look like the Surface tablet is helping, either.

A Year Ago: Microsoft’s Mobile User Base Is Actually Shrinking

Facebook unveiled its long-awaited mobile phone platform today. It is, as assumed, a Facebook “layer” on top of Google Android. I haven’t had a chance to use it yet, or even take a detailed look at the presentation. But I can already see where it might be useful and popular.

• I don’t expect many happy iPhone users to bolt to Facebook phones — not yet, at least. Apple still has a big lead in hardware and OS quality, apps, media, and customer service.
• I also don’t expect hardcore Android users — the type of people who buy and love Samsung Galaxy Notes, or Google Nexus devices — to jump to Facebook devices. That’s not the target audience.

But that’s hardly the entire phone market. It’s actually only a fraction of it.

• What about those millions of people who have bought Android phones — and some iPhones, probably — who don’t really care that they’re Android phones, or even smartphones?
• The types of people who, every couple of years, go into the Verizon or AT&T shop and walk out with whatever newish thing the store rep says they should buy? (All those people who buy Android phones but don’t really show up in usage logs.)
• Or even first-time smartphone buyers?

My guess is that many — most? — of these people are Facebook users, and could easily see some utility in having Facebook features highlighted on their phones. And — bonus — Facebook’s software looks good. Much better than the junk that ships with typical low-end Android devices.

Boom. Done. Easy, defensible purchase, assuming the price is right.

Facebook isn’t likely to MySpace Android or iOS any time soon. But this is a smart, ambitious project for Facebook. I like it.

LinkedIn asked me to write a post about my most important, must-have business tool for its “Things I Carry” series. I wrote about Twitter, which I am probably unhealthily addicted to. This stuff might seem obvious to the regular SplatF reader, but I’m surprised how often I have to explain Twitter’s benefits to people who still think it’s a useless toy. I’ve republished my post below. Btw, you can follow me on LinkedIn here and/or Twitter here.

You can have my iPad and keep my phone. But don’t dare take my Twitter.

Since I joined the site more than 5 years ago, nothing has had a more dramatic effect on the way I work. Beyond the obvious basics like email and the web, Twitter has become the single most-important service I use every day. Seriously.

Why?

It’s the best way to stay on top of what’s going on in the world. Tweets are concise and immediate. Almost everyone worth listening to is broadcasting on Twitter now, including news organizations, CEOs, college friends, and Jose Canseco. Following the right mix of Twitter accounts provides not only facts, but context and commentary. And it’s faster and more efficient than any other medium. How this helped me: When the US Airways plane crash-landed in the Hudson, a quick Twitter search helped me become the first journalist to publish Janis Krums’ famous eyewitness photo.

It’s a great way to grow your professional reputation and following. This is, perhaps, more relevant to me — a journalist and startup founder — than to any random person. But sharing my work — and the rest of my life — on Twitter has helped build my audience and reputation more than any other tool I’ve used. (Although, as you can see, LinkedIn is now trying to capture some of that power, too!) Important note: Don’t be boring. If I only tweeted my work, I’d consider myself a nuisance.

It’s an excellent way to get help. Twitter has become a large-enough collective stream of consciousness that few things have gone un-tweeted. Have a question about your new iPhone or an app? Maybe someone has tweeted the same thing, and received a solid answer. Want real-time reviews of that new restaurant? Search Twitter! When I recently launched a new version of my company’s New York city guide app, I asked my Twitter audience for feedback. The suggestions I’ve received — privately, mostly — have been excellent. And free!

It’s entertaining. Sure, it’s informative. But with the right mix, it can also be very fun, funny, and engaging. Whether it’s gags during a big live-TV event like the presidential election, or something industry-specific, like an Apple keynote, commentary on Twitter is generally as good as it gets. I haven’t had a boring trip to the restroom in years, thanks to Twitter. (When you follow 2,000+ accounts around the world, as I do, there’s rarely a time you can’t refresh and get new tweets.)

Like many of you, I laughed at Twitter the first time I saw it. But that has now become one of my few professional regrets: Not taking it more seriously sooner.

To be fair, Twitter did take a while to get good — and it’s understandable why people may have once been skeptical about it. But it has now become something I wouldn’t want to live and work without — an essential part of my professional toolkit. (Join me!)

If you can see this, you’ve made it — I moved SplatF to a new host on Wednesday.

Long story short, Dreamhost — which has actually been a solid, reliable host for my personal sites for almost a decade — wasn’t cutting it anymore for this site. Too much downtime and flakiness for what I was paying them for a virtual private server. So I’m trying out a new server at Linode, which I hope will be more reliable and faster.

Thanks for your patience, and apologies in advance if there are any quirks.

Clarity is important to me. (Well, it’s no. 7 on my list of 10 steps to better writing.) I don’t expect everyone to understand everything on this site — some level of business and technical fluency is probably necessary — but I consciously try to avoid jargon, clichés, and business-speak.

Anyway, this “Bizspeak Blacklist” by Bryan A. Garner at Harvard Business Review is pretty great. I already avoid almost all of these terms, such as “core competency” and “impactful” and “at the end of the day”. (Although I have a personal fondness for “paradigm shift” after reading Thomas S. Kuhn’s Structure of Scientific Revolutions twice in 2000, during a weird part of my life.)

But I’d like to add a few more:

• “bullish” and “bearish” (Tired, obscure.)
• “latest and greatest”
• “value proposition”
• “lifestyle business” (Easy way to sound like a jerk.)
• “it is what it is”
• “tipping point”
• “hockey stick” (Referring to growth.)
• “killer app”
• “remains to be seen” (Though I probably say “We’ll see” and “Who knows” too much.)
• “fanboy”

I won’t pretend I’m perfect, but please yell at me if I write any of these. And I’m sure I’ll be adding to this list over time.

Update: Here’s another list from the Washington Post, via Jim Romenesko, via Paul Oswald.

Related: 10 Steps To Better Writing