Chinese IME?

Way back when, I used Richwin and NJStar, both were not freeware. They have awful compatibility with Windows compared to now. Not really their fault... just a lack of unicode. One day, Microsoft introduced their IME and finally rendered Richwin and NJStar obsolete. I didn't mind Microsoft's IME, it got the job done, a word at a time.

Then a few years ago, while on a trip in China, my cousin said, "Why are you using this awful IME?" I responded, "Show me why your IME is better and I'll use it." So I got introduced to Sogou. I loved it. The user interface was beautiful (though I don't particularly care for the skins. I didn't mind having the option of turning things pink or flowery). It had an ever evolving dictionary for easy phrase typing and even fuzzy sounds! What could go wrong?

As with most Chinese softwares, the more popular it gets, the more they start bundling "junk." I'm sure if you're a regular user, you could care less about the extra bundled features. I tried overlooking the news alert pop-ups (could turn it off in preferences), I tried overlooking the new installation of skin manager, but I got pushed over the edge by the browser. The second I got bundled that, I knew it's time to break up with Sogou. I'm sorry, but I like my browsing history to be private, and I already have good lite browsers, no need for a bloated one.

So I went on a search for a new IME. So the 4 IMEs are Sogou, QQ, Google, and Microsoft. The contest is really just between Sogou and QQ in terms of market share. But as I know with QQ, it's probably one of the most invasive, shadowy software in the world. So I went with Google IME. It seemed perfect, the lite form of Sogou I wanted to have. It looks like Sogou, feels like Sogou, and even uses the same dictionaries. However, after I toggled it off and on, the control panel disappeared on me... to forever not come back (I tried reconfiguring, reinstalling, unplugging my 2nd monitor, etc, etc).  It's probably a bug on my computer, but I had to say good bye to Google IME and move onto the final contestant Microsoft IME 2010. Did not have high hopes.

To my surprise, Microsoft IME has come a long way. The new user interface borrowed from Sogou, not as configurable, is definitely prettier than the olden days. Their dictionary is still subpar compared to the other IMEs, but an improvement nevertheless (really should try using the open dictionaries instead of sticking to Microsoft's own dictionary). Finally, no compatibility issues. So what can I say? After all these years, I'm back using Microsoft IME.

All in all, if Sogou wasn't bloated, I'd pick it any day. If Google wasn't bugged on my computer, I'd pick it. But at least Microsoft IME 2010 isn't unacceptable and it doesn't have the issues of the previous two, so why not?