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| Science & Technology |
| Ballmer Says "Windows Era" Everlasting |
| 2011-11-17 |
| [An Nahar] File under "hubris," I think... Microsoft ...producers of Windows, Office, and the late Microsoft Bob, contributed $852,167 to the 2008 Obama campaign... chief Steve Ballmer proclaimed an everlasting "Windows Era" as the software giant's board easily won re-election at an annual meeting of shareholders on Tuesday. Ballmer along with Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings and six others saw their positions on the Microsoft board secured with more than 92 percent of votes cast by investors. In response to a question from a stockholder, Ballmer downplayed the notion of a "post PC-era" marked by smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices supplanting desktop or laptop machines powered by Microsoft Windows software. "We are in the Windows Era," Ballmer said. "We were, we are, and we always will be." While the types of computing devices people use evolves so does Windows, he said regarding the operating software at the heart of Microsoft's empire. "One of the remarkable things about Windows over the years is that is has adapted," Ballmer said. "It will be a tablet machine; a reading machine, and a note-taking machine," he said. "We are going to have to push Windows into more form factors." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #28 Test: ♪ |
| Posted by: Barbara 2011-11-17 22:22 |
| #27 Use windows at work. It blows. Use Word at work it blows as well. I use Lotus Notes at work. Good god it blows. How is it this stuff isn't better by now. We've had computers for decades. |
| Posted by: Rjschwarz 2011-11-17 21:23 |
| #26 The Cloud will obsolete the desktop and the servers. The thing that most people don't get about the Cloud, is everything only needs to be done once. The age of thousands of developers doing basically the same thing is over. And that is the market Microsoft dominates. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2011-11-17 21:19 |
| #25 ..no wait, that's Ceiling Cat. Oh dear. The trailing daughters were amazed that I knew about Ceiling Cat... ;-) |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2011-11-17 17:54 |
| #24 I should have been clearer and said "Linux on the desktop". I love linux but I gave up on it a long time ago. |
| Posted by: gromky 2011-11-17 17:50 |
| #23 If Linux was going to be here, it would have been here by now. It ain't. I surf, read and write in Fedora Linux every day. I have a Windows machine for games, about the only thing it is good for. |
| Posted by: badanov 2011-11-17 17:29 |
| #22 If Linux was going to be here, it would have been here by now. It ain't. Oh, it's here all right. You just don't see it. It's in your smart phones. It's in my Mom's fancy flat-screen TV, it is in the servers running the interwebs. It is the development platform at a whole bunch of companies. It is even in the ceiling watching you...no wait, that's Ceiling Cat. Microsoft still owns the desktop, but there is a whole lot of linuxing going on. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2011-11-17 16:37 |
| #21 RE: "Steve Ballmer - Developers " Looks embarrassing BUT it's the real core strategy of the company. Make it EASIER than any other platform to write apps that run on the PC, and you'll attract customers who want to use those apps. That simply is THE MicrosSoft strategy. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2011-11-17 14:52 |
| #20 I still run Windows, but in a virtual machine running under Linux. It's mostly for Fireworks, which I like better than Inkscape, and XNews for newgroups. |
| Posted by: Fred 2011-11-17 14:35 |
| #19 |
| Posted by: Mullah Richard 2011-11-17 13:24 |
| #18 There is no tablet that can replace my beast of a laptop. And the little app games do not take the place of a dedicated gaming laptop or PC. So my laptop will be around alot longer, especially since I wind up doing so much for work on it as well. I really should charge Halliburton a laptop use fee. |
| Posted by: Silentbrick - Halliburton Lost Drill Bit Division 2011-11-17 12:27 |
| #17 ask yourself a question |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2011-11-17 12:02 |
| #16 For those who work in big enterprises, as yourself a question: Have you EVER met a CIO or CTO who is a fanboi? |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2011-11-17 12:02 |
| #15 Good points Darth. Microsoft pretty much 'owns' the network/server area nowdays. But lets not forget the integration of technologies. From Cloud, SQL Server to Sharepoint to Office and .NET - it is all easily integrated - which isn't something many others can claim. Microsoft also has a deep research and development area as well. Also seems pretty darn committed to security. One weakness I see is that they are trying to be everything to everyone. I don't think anyone has ever managed that trick. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2011-11-17 11:50 |
| #14 1 more! LOL http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvsboPUjrGc |
| Posted by: Creregum Glolump8403 2011-11-17 11:35 |
| #13 Here's my fav of Balmer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8To-6VIJZRE |
| Posted by: Creregum Glolump8403 2011-11-17 11:31 |
| #12 One word - MSNBC. |
| Posted by: Iblis 2011-11-17 11:20 |
| #11 How many use Dvorak keyboards? User interface standards...are. Even the hellish ones. |
| Posted by: QWERTY 2011-11-17 10:50 |
| #10 You might want to read Steven Green's review of the iCloud before going to an iPad. My career has me working with all three OS technologies and each have their place and niche. Ballmer is right... for now. Where windows shines is the network/server infrastructure. There simply isn't anything that is as robust, easy to use and secure (as you can get at least.). Microsoft's cloud and cloud services are lightyears ahead of Apple and actually works. Very well in fact. Seeing SQL tear through some data mining on the Cloud in 30 seconds where it took 1 hour on a single server before is a really amazing thing to see. Apple has the ease of use casual technology toys market wrapped up. That is a market Microsoft tried to get into and failed. Multiple times. Looks like Amazon might have a winner with their Kindle Fire, but it is still in the "We'll See" stage. Where Microsoft will lose business is in the laptop market. Tablets and smart phones are the wave of the future and really there isn't a Microsoft product out there that can compete. Tablets and smart phones (they will merge in the future) will get more and more powerful, and with a working Cloud to do a lot of the CPU horsepower number crunching and sending it to the user there will be little need for laptops or desktops at home. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2011-11-17 10:43 |
| #9 Computer users can be divided roughly into content consumers and content creators. Most home computers are used for content consuming. Surfing the web, watching videos, listening to music. You might write a bit but that's not the main use of the computer. Tablets and smart phones and the like are already proving you don't need a full computer for this stuff. If you create music, or software code, or video editing or whatever you'll probably find you still need far more horsepower than a smartphone or tablet can offer. Microsoft will see their marketshare contract and a lot of their business will be fighting for laptop shares which is a bit more balanced between Apple and Microsoft than the desktop world is. Laptop shares and home servers to link up those tablets and smart phones and both Apple and MIcrosoft need to work on that side of things a bit. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2011-11-17 10:34 |
| #8 Don't forget the imfamous "'640K of memory should be enough for anybody." from none other than Bill Gates. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2011-11-17 10:25 |
| #7 If Linux was going to be here, it would have been here by now. It ain't. |
| Posted by: gromky 2011-11-17 10:17 |
| #6 Let's see, didn't Thomas Watson say that the market for computers was only 8 or 9 machines in the world? Generally prophecies such as this mean the person speaking is waaaaay behind the curve and doom is approaching. |
| Posted by: JimK 2011-11-17 10:08 |
| #5 For all their annoying certitude in their ideas, the CATO institute has done some very interesting research into the concept of "monopolization in markets, government involvement in creating and sustaining it, or ending it." Microsoft exists in its current form, despite pretensions of being a group activity, because of Bill Gates unique, and rather ruthless, understanding of the business. And while ruthlessness is easy, doing it effectively is not. Microsoft has some terrible organizational problems. After the success of Win98SE, they had the double disaster of Win2000 and WinME, before hitting again with WinXP. But Vista was mediocre at best, and Win7 appears to be good, though it is showing signs of being bloated and sluggish. This creates a huge opening for a Linux based system by being faster, smaller, more flexible and user oriented. Microsoft has become far too willing to add "millstones" to its product because other corporations want them, even if those "features" are not consumer friendly. So market forces could break up Microsoft, or the government. It is not invulnerable. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2011-11-17 09:50 |
| #4 I think he's permanently at the Ballmer Peak. Shall we rename him Baghdad Steve? |
| Posted by: Eric Jablow 2011-11-17 09:06 |
| #3 Funny you should say that. I too am thinking of going Mac in the future. |
| Posted by: Kelly 2011-11-17 08:05 |
| #2 Just read this on the first Mac device I've ever owned, an iPad II I just bought last week and which I already love. Didn't GM used to think like this guy? |
| Posted by: no mo uro 2011-11-17 08:02 |
| #1 Well, I just did a restart, and he might be right. |
| Posted by: Grunter 2011-11-17 07:27 |