Why Ballmer's big mouth is good for Microsoft

[wguimb]

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer opened his big mouth again. He decided to dish on Apple, saying the company competes by providing little more than a logo and a higher price.


"Apple gained about one point, but now I think the tide has really turned back the other direction," Ballmer said in a keynote speech at Media Summit 2009, discussing Apple's recent gains in the market. "The economy is helpful. Paying an extra $500 for a computer in this environment ... to get a logo on it? I think that's a more challenging proposition for the average person than it used to be."


Read the full article at CNet.com


Why Ballmer's big mouth is good for Microsoft | The Digital Home - CNET News

 

[Romulinx2]

This was in the article.

I don't think it was a good thing to say when going to launch a new operating system. I thought that he would want to differentiate between Vista and Windows 7 ?

Discussing Vista last year at Gartner's Symposium/ITxpo conference, Ballmer said that "Windows 7 will be Vista, but a lot better," indicating his understanding of the situation: Vista was an issue from the very beginning.

 

[swarfega]

I tend to side with Ballmer regarding Apple. Over the odds prices with locked down hardware. Give me the freedom of the PC any day.

 

[jimbo45]

PC's (Windows) are used out in the field connected to hardware that a MAC wouldn't have a hope of being any use for without a serious re-write of the OS.

For example -- PC's are used to monitor equipment on Oil and Gas rigs, and measuring Earthquake/ seismodic gear, and almost any other scientific task you can think of. Fortunately because Windows has a published API hardware of every conceivable type can be made to work with it.

Until recently Apple kept everything locked up and only "Approved" hardware would be allowed.

Imagine keeping your rig at a million smackeroos a day lying idle because the hardware wasn't "compatable" and you had to wait until someone back in the Apple Labs had analysed and fixed the problem.

I've used Windows since Windows/286 (even before windows 3.0) and never had any Virus etc.

Any OS can be compromised if people don't take reasonable precautions. Most Viruses DO occur in Windows machines simply because of the sheer numbers -- what hacker would attempt to wreak havoc on 500 machines when they could do the same damage on 5 million.

But just to placate the Mac fanboys -- I do think a lot of apple gear has a very pleasing look (and even though I use Windows I'm not getting rid of my lovely and hugely expensive Apple Cinema display.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[mchief111]

I agree... I think that there's a huge disadvantage Macs have against PC's in addition to everything said before, and that is gaming. I still remember when all the major companies (anybody here remember Bungie from before Halo?) released exclusively for Macs- now, not even most gaming software (Xfire for one) even runs on Leopard or Tiger.

 

[scaramonga]

I would have sacked him years ago!

 

[napilopez]

I don't hate macs, I think they have a nice OS and all, but unless apple starts going in a new direction, they will never be anything more than some sort of an exclusive boutique kind of software thingy. Apple has always been at the forefront of product design, yet they don't seem to be able to mix that with affordability.

 

[Compaker]

Has anyone but me noticed that Mac has looked EXACTLY the same since like 4-5 years ago? My mom had a mac at her school running the earliest version of the Mac OS with the dock. I saw one at the apple store (I wanted to see an itouch.) and it looked and worked identicaly, and was five years newer. The only thing Mac dominates is looking nice, and the MP3 buisness. When i first saw zune I went... WTF? it was like a Ipod clone.

 

[napilopez]

Has anyone but me noticed that Mac has looked EXACTLY the same since like 4-5 years ago? My mom had a mac at her school running the earliest version of the Mac OS with the dock. I saw one at the apple store (I wanted to see an itouch.) and it looked and worked identicaly, and was five years newer. The only thing Mac dominates is looking nice, and the MP3 buisness. When i first saw zune I went... WTF? it was like a Ipod clone.

, Zune an Ipod clone? I don't see that at all. Maybe slightly when it comes to aesthetics, but Zune actually brought a good amont of innovations and a nice interface.

Anyways, I don't mind macs looking the same, If it aint broken, why fix it? I mean, up until 7, windows has looked fundamentally the same since 95 imo lolz. I don't have a problem with the mac OS so much as with the whole hardware expensiveness and the tight grip of apple on all things mac. While on one hand I do think apple having control over the hardware allows for super compatibility and hardware/software interaction, its just too expensive. If I need to recommend my friend whos short on money a computer, I can't recommend a mac. Not because of the operating system, but because its too expensive. Simple as that. Heck, I've wanted to buy a mac just to say I have personal experience with it for the longest time, but haven't been able to because I simply can't afford it. And no way 'm gonna buy a mac mini, which is still overpriced imo, and then have to buy a monitor for that too. Ugh apple, ugh.

If I could buy a laptop of my choice right now, it would probably be a macbook pro, just so I could install windows 7 on it

 

[Adamd]

I love my Zune! I got the 120gig version that I replaced my Ipod 5.5 gen 30gig one with!

It does everything the Ipod did, but more! Now I can do radio, wireless sync, Song tag from the radio, go on the market place right from my phone. All in all it's a more feature rich MP3 player for the same price. And not to forgot how sweet the Zune software is!


Anyways I am happy Ballmer is talking it up. He needs to open his big mouth all the time and get people talking about Microsoft and the stuff they make. Apple is like SCREAMING for attention and they are getting it and Microsoft kind of until now just sat back and watched. Never really got any window tv ad's when Gates was behind the wheel.

 

[Boris]

I thank the lord for Apple & Linux: otherwise MS would be pushing their standards down our throat nonstop. Lack of competition is no good for us as customers.

I do like apple, but atm they are to expensive for me. I dont like Balmers bigmouth. He should take a lesson from Steve Jobs, he know how to sell an overpriced product .

Dont like the closed system Apple offers, but i am running OSX on my PC anyway

 

[garysgold]

I'm not sure I agree with your assessment of Mr. Jobs sales ability. He has a product that filled a niche market. If he was such a great salesman, he'd have a much larger market share, IMO. I do agree that we need competition for MS just like we need AMD to push Intel. Monopolies are not good for the consumer.

Gary

 

[PhoneyVirus]

Who ever got a MAC your not only a Loser but you have no clue what's going on in the PC world, the OS is like Ubuntu 9.xx now then ever. When your done installing the OS, drivers, and Applications there's noting to do and there is only one way to do things just like MAC. Beside DELL came offer a better deal then MAC now Jesus! hope this helps!