Ballmer: Microsoft's brand 'means something' to users] - Page 2

Yeah, and we chose our water company, electric company, and garbage collectors because their "brands" and performance mean so much to us!

He never sounds like he actually spends a lot of time in the real world...

Has it?
Announced (not the same as "out in the open") 9 months ago, released 5 months ago.

Not sure what that means. Steve, is that you?

But like I said, the people here prefer the delusion so they can attack MS, instead of the reality. Remember, MS is a priori evil and bad, Apple is perfect. Thus, even the false statements about MS are fodder for attack.

for even thinking what I'm thinking!

oh ya, I forgot viruses!

And he actually said it all with a straight face. He's so thoroughly convinced himself that what he says is actually true I bet he could even pass a lie detector test.,

Throw in that the only potential competitor to the iPad that's actually shipping is more expensive, smaller, and has a lower build quality and suddenly Apple is no longer the "high-end" choice.

Nope, this article pretty much sums up everything that's wrong at Microsoft.

Choice? Why would I choose a phone with a slide-out keyboard in landscape mode when most of the OS doesn't rotate? If all those "choices" out there don't make sense, then there's not much choice after all is there? And it's quite rich that he's implying that Apple hardware is "least common denominator" given that all Microsoft OS's target just that.

Unless something changes significantly at Microsoft, their days of domination are over. They're slowly becoming the next IBM - relevant only to business.

I think Ina's tag line says it pretty well: During her years at CNET News, Ina Fried has changed beats several times, changed genders once, and covered both of the Pirates of Silicon Valley. These days, most of her attention is focused on Microsoft.

Probably shouldn't spout off stupid crap when you haven't bothered to check out the information.

So the government mandated that 95% of the customers buy a Windows PC? That's news to me.

Wow, what a complete non answer. You are new here, but you have mastered the old "let us change the topic of the post so we can say something bad about MS" trick quite well.

The OP said that Apple is all about the mid to high end customer, while Android and MS are all about the low end customer.

However, all of the phones cost the same, and you can even buy the 3GS for $99 which is cheaper than any of the announced WP7 phones.

So, given that price is not the differentiating factor between low and high end customers, I asked what is the determining factor.

Talking about tablets and choice, and phones with keyboards is irrelevant to my post, but like I said it does allow you to say bad things about MS.

There's another possibility: he has to defend his products. He has no other choice. I mean, he can't just come out and say, "yeah, we got nothin folks so you can all go run back to your iPhones and iPads." No CEO could say that in public. It's his job to sell what Microsoft brung to the market. If he doesn't defend Microsoft in public, the Board will certainly have grounds to fire him.

Still, I miss the sweaty "monkey boy dance" of classic Ballmer, when they were on top of the world.

Reality check for Steve:

AAPL $298.54
MSFT $24.83

Eat your heart our Steve!

Maybe you should learn to read then, as the headline does not reflect what he said.

Yeah Microsoft means something to me. Microsoft = piece of shit.

His exposure to Apple is limited to questions from the press, and his employee's iPhones that seem to always end up under his shoe in bits and pieces.

Ballmer is seriously out of touch with reality. This is what happens to CEO's who insulate themselves too long. Same thing happened with Scott McNealy at Sun. Until Microsoft's BOD takes decisive action, they will continue to hobble along with a broken strategy. The corks must be popping in Cupertino!

When he says, the Microsoft name means something, he is right. To me it means: Stay away from it as far as you can.

As far as tablet computers go: We tried to use them at one of my previous employers as a product for our clients. We had iPaqs (Compaq/HP) running WinCE, then renamed to PocketPC, then renamed to Windoze Mobile - never caught on, too flaky, much too heavy on battery.
Next, we introduced Tablet PCs from Toshiba and several others in a 10'' screen format with stylus and keyboard (remeber those fancy laptops where the screen could turn around 180° and you could have that flat laptop with the screen facing outward?). Never caught on either.

Years passed and the only PDA that ever worked was the Newton. Then, the iPad arrived and suddenly, everybody and his brother scrambles to make a copy. So far, nobody got one that works and I doubt, they'll get it right. Android OS? Nah, that's just Linux on with a pretty face and the face isn't pretty enough to hide all the issues (battery life, speed, applications, crashes, just to name a few that I see daily from my co-workers with their Droids and HTCs and Samsungs and such).

And now, Windows Phone 7 .... aw{ful|some} - to be determined, but from what I've seen so far, I'm not impressed, I'll stick to my iPhone 4.

Afterthought: Will I be able to synch data with my Mac or via MobileMe with that phone from Micro$oft or am I left in the dark and have to find some expensive non-functioning 3rd party solution once again? At least, with Android, I can synch via Google...

Agreed about the quotes taken out of context.

On another note, the statement that there are more ipads than he'd like to see is classless. It is a sad state when you need a competitor to fail in order for you to succeed

Perhaps my post was too subtle: I was agreeing with you and extending your question/thought to the tablet market as well.


Since when does one have to post two separate posts to get one's points across? I agreed with your assessment (price isn't a factor), then I expanded to include my other thoughts.

You need to take a deep breath and relax.

I don't even know what to say. This is like trying to respond to someone who tells you with a straight face that 2AM in the morning is when the sun is at its brightest but 2PM in the afternoon is pitch black.

No this is like someone telling you it is 2 AM in the morning, and you are insisting it is 2 PM.

The headline in no way describes what Ballmer said. Beyond that, if you actually go read the CNET interview, Ballmer extensively talks about Google and Android and fragmentation, etc.

Well in a way he's not lying. If one is a MS user then the MS brand means something and Apple not much, but he's still an idiot.

Sorry, I misread your post.

I'm one of them...If Apple doesn't make it, I will pass and do without. In fact, I'm trying to simplify my digital life...since buying the iPhone 4, I've either sold or given away all my old iPhones, camera, iPods, ext. HD and my desk, file cabinet and chair.

All I want is my iPhone 4, the cloud (mobileMe, DropBox) and an iPad 3Gs....got rid of my flat screen TV (cable was too expensive and sucked), sold my first gen., AppleTV.

Will probably buy the new iteration of the MBA and sell my original iMac intel 20" desktop.

Best!

EDIT: nvm.

it means it's boring....

It's quite obvious what it means. People using Windows PC's don't use it because Windows is made by Microsoft. They use it because there's no alternative. You want to play games on your PC, you gotta use Windows. You want to use Microsoft Office (the full version, not the mac version), you gotta use Windows.

Many people buying Apple products, know in many ways that they are actually paying a premium over PC boxes, that can practically do the same thing their macs do in different ways. But they buy Apple because they like the brand and what it stands for. If anything Microsoft stands for reboots crashes and blue screens. The company actually has a bad reputation among its customers, most people who use Windows, hate it, and yet they still use it because they don't have an alternative. So Ballmer's words are really nonsense. Apple is actually a primary example in brand name in textbooks. Apple brand is like a cult, and it's mocked a lot, in forums like this even, that whatever Apple makes is immediately golden because of it. That's how much power the brand name has.

Here is a link to the interview.

http://cnettv.cnet.com/ballmer-talks...-50094357.html


No where does he say anything about Apple's brand not meaning anything.

The bare fact that a device is sold in a larger quantity than another one doesn't mean automatically that it is a better choice or product. I guess Ferrari is a good exemple of this for the sake of discussion. ( without any bad intent)

Do I go with the "At last proof that Steve Balmer lives in Bizzaroland" comment, or with the "well, he didn't say that Microsofts brand means something POSITIVE..." comment? Decisions, decisions.

No, but many many companies have mandated that their workers buy or use a Windows PC.

Except its not in this case.

The programs people want to use are on windows. Hence they buy windows, no matter what they actually think about the product, its the one that enables them to use the product they want.

steve ballmer is a true freak of nature and quite frankly an embarrassment to himself and his company. i really don't know why anyone has any interest in what he has to say. i'd rather watch fox and listen to their crap. ... ok, maybe not that. i think if i were steve jobs and had the constipation, all i'd need to do is watch this video... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvsboPUjrGc

or the iPod?

"Did you fall down and smack your little head on the pavement?"

There's not promoting your competitors, and then there's groundless trash talk that makes you look like an idiot. Other CEOs seem to have a more respectful stump time along the lines of "We respect what X are doing, but thing Y is a better direction for what our consumers want"

Agreed its not just about numbers. Ferrari being a terrific brand doesn't take anything away from Toyota though.