For a "Mac Old Timer", your history of Apple is a little fuzzy. (Guess that comes with age. ) MS didn't just hand over 150 million dollars to Apple in capital. MS invested in 150 million dollars worth of AAPL (non voting) shares. Apple at the time, had no debt and a couple of billion dollars in cash. Apple didn't need any "bail out" money. Apple could have lost 150 million dollars a quarter and still survive for several years.
What Apple really needed was MS assurance that they would continue making MS Word and Excel for Macs. Steve Jobs (interim CEO at the time) knew that future Mac sales depended on these two apps. And it wasn't MS money that was important to Apple. But MS gesture, to the tune of 150 million dollars, that Apple was still a viable company worth investing in.
It's actually MS that got the better of the deal. There was no way that MS would let Apple fall because of their monopoly status with the DOJ. Without Apple, the DOJ would most likely have broken up MS into two or three companies. It was already in MS best interest to make sure Apple survives. Plus MS Mac Businness Unit was (and still is) very profitable.
Also in the deal was a 5 years agreement to share each other technology. With this agreement, Apple dropped the long standing lawsuit that contends that MS stole their GUI for Windows.
And last but not least. When MS invested that 150 million dollars in AAPL. AAPL was at about $21. MS later sold those shares for about $28. MS made about $50,000,000 profit in the transaction. That's more profit than what their Xbox division has made so far. And if they had kept their shares, they would be worth over $2,500,000,000 today.
Exactly right. It is so annoying to hear that crap, over and over, about MS bailing Apple out. Thank you putting the facts out there.
MS now breaks even on their hardware - despite striping out a bunch of the features from the PS3 (including backwards compatibility - d'oh!) they are still loosing money on hardware. Microsoft's attach rate has been the highest of all the consoles, with the Wii and PS3 jockying for 2nd - with the Wii on top of the PS3 more.
So Sony's not gonna find relief from software sales either. I dunno, for me the one word for the PS3 is "bungled".
Bungie has two games in development for the Xbox 360 at the moment - Halo Wars and Halo 3: ODST. Expansion packs are planned for both. I don't see Bungie moving back to MacOS any time soon, but the Nintendo DS and iPhone are definite possibilities.
Actually Ensemble Studios is behind Halo Wars, which seems funny considering Halo started out as a Bungie RTS on the Mac; Microsoft will dissolve the studio when they're finished, which is a pity because Ensemble makes some of the best RTSs around.
Halo 3: ODST will be a different story/perspective, but I believe it's running on the same engine. I wonder how well it will sell and how it will sell, i.e., disc or download.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RichL
I'd disagree. Part of the appeal of the Xbox to the gaming community has always been Xbox Live, which is easily the best online console service. It's also the most expensive, but as Mac users we all know that cheap doesn't always mean good value.
Except that it doesn't cost them anything to provide online multiplayer. That's why online play is free on PS3, Wii, DS, PSP, and PC. Microsoft can't charge for Live on Windows because PC gamers know better. The only reason they get away with charging for it on 360 is because console gamers either don't realize it doesn't cost Microsoft squat, or people (like me) will reluctantly pay for it to play online.
Xbox Live didn't use to have any real competition (at least not on the console side), but the PS3's PSN has evolved into a very competent rival. The PS3 even has a nice UI that's not littered with ads, while Microsoft shoves them in front of us, their paying Live subscribers.
Ummm, Sony messed up with the PS3 actually and have admitted to it, while the PS3 came with all you would ever want in a console, it was damn $$$$, and some people just wanted to play games and did not need to pay the premium for the BD.
The PS3 is not more expensive. This is just like the Overpriced Mac Myth.
Let's compare the launch systems.
The 360 had two SKUs: the hard drive-lacking Core for $300 and the 20GB Premium for $400.
The PS3 had two SKUs: the 20GB base model for $500 and 60GB high-end model for $600.
Both 360 SKUs lacked HD movie playback, HDMI, Bluetooth, and WiFi. So while we can't add the former three, WiFi was a $100 add-on. So now the hard drive-lacking Core is $400 and the 20GB Premium is $500. Now add a hard drive to the Core for $150, that's $550.
So now the 360 Premium is $500, has the same storage space as the base PS3, lacks BT, HD movie playback, and HDMI. Where are the savings?
The 360 Core is $550. Interesting how their cheaper model ends up being the more expensive SKU, isn't it? It's $50 more than the base PS3, while still lacking HDMI, BT, and HD movie playback. It's only $50 less than the high-end PS3 that has 3x the hard drive storage, memory card slots, HDMI, BT, and HD movie playback.
When Sony (finally) drops the price on the base PS3 to $300, which seems quite possible now, it will make Microsoft's corner cutting stand out much more. I'm not even factoring in the annual $50 Xbox Live Tax.
Ballmer reacts the to unveiling of iPhone in 2007.
Ballmer also said he believes the market for portable media players is in decline and will be replaced with general purpose devices like the iPhone and iPod touch.
When Steve Jobs was younger and seemed more arrogant, his product focus genius was obscured by his overbearing manner with his employees. Time, however, has brought out the wisdom of having a clear product strategy and executing it consistently. Go back and watch the intro of the FIRST iPod on YouTube when the audience had NO IDEA of its' importance.
Steve Ballmer on the other hand, has only provided laughter with his maniac dance, NO innovations or original ideas and redefines the term hubris . . .
If Steve Ballmer's head was any bigger, it would be in danger of exploding and would be regarded as a WMD device . . . (either Weapon of Mass Destruction OR Windows Mass Destruction - which ever applies to your situation . . .)
The day Ballmer's head explodes, we will all be watching on YouTube . . .
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Each one of my Macs have outlasted my PC computers by 2X-3X times their useful lifetime, and the tight integration of the Mac software makes it a joy to use . . . I have 2 Macs and 2 PCs networked together , . .
Comments
I despise Ballmer and Microsoft. But I wish they would make a Zune phone, I need something more to laugh at.
A brown one with a 'rude noise' app from the 'iZune Store' would be a huge success I'd have thought.
For a "Mac Old Timer", your history of Apple is a little fuzzy. (Guess that comes with age.
What Apple really needed was MS assurance that they would continue making MS Word and Excel for Macs. Steve Jobs (interim CEO at the time) knew that future Mac sales depended on these two apps. And it wasn't MS money that was important to Apple. But MS gesture, to the tune of 150 million dollars, that Apple was still a viable company worth investing in.
It's actually MS that got the better of the deal. There was no way that MS would let Apple fall because of their monopoly status with the DOJ. Without Apple, the DOJ would most likely have broken up MS into two or three companies. It was already in MS best interest to make sure Apple survives. Plus MS Mac Businness Unit was (and still is) very profitable.
Also in the deal was a 5 years agreement to share each other technology. With this agreement, Apple dropped the long standing lawsuit that contends that MS stole their GUI for Windows.
And last but not least. When MS invested that 150 million dollars in AAPL. AAPL was at about $21. MS later sold those shares for about $28. MS made about $50,000,000 profit in the transaction. That's more profit than what their Xbox division has made so far. And if they had kept their shares, they would be worth over $2,500,000,000 today.
Exactly right. It is so annoying to hear that crap, over and over, about MS bailing Apple out. Thank you putting the facts out there.
At least the Xbox is beating the pants off of the Playstation 3 so far.
And the Wii is crushing both, so it really doesn't matter.
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Xbox 360 is still in the red.
They have been profitable since October of 2007.
MS now breaks even on their hardware - despite striping out a bunch of the features from the PS3 (including backwards compatibility - d'oh!) they are still loosing money on hardware. Microsoft's attach rate has been the highest of all the consoles, with the Wii and PS3 jockying for 2nd - with the Wii on top of the PS3 more.
So Sony's not gonna find relief from software sales either. I dunno, for me the one word for the PS3 is "bungled".
Bungie has two games in development for the Xbox 360 at the moment - Halo Wars and Halo 3: ODST. Expansion packs are planned for both. I don't see Bungie moving back to MacOS any time soon, but the Nintendo DS and iPhone are definite possibilities.
Actually Ensemble Studios is behind Halo Wars, which seems funny considering Halo started out as a Bungie RTS on the Mac; Microsoft will dissolve the studio when they're finished, which is a pity because Ensemble makes some of the best RTSs around.
Halo 3: ODST will be a different story/perspective, but I believe it's running on the same engine. I wonder how well it will sell and how it will sell, i.e., disc or download.
I'd disagree. Part of the appeal of the Xbox to the gaming community has always been Xbox Live, which is easily the best online console service. It's also the most expensive, but as Mac users we all know that cheap doesn't always mean good value.
Except that it doesn't cost them anything to provide online multiplayer. That's why online play is free on PS3, Wii, DS, PSP, and PC. Microsoft can't charge for Live on Windows because PC gamers know better. The only reason they get away with charging for it on 360 is because console gamers either don't realize it doesn't cost Microsoft squat, or people (like me) will reluctantly pay for it to play online.
Xbox Live didn't use to have any real competition (at least not on the console side), but the PS3's PSN has evolved into a very competent rival. The PS3 even has a nice UI that's not littered with ads, while Microsoft shoves them in front of us, their paying Live subscribers.
Ummm, Sony messed up with the PS3 actually and have admitted to it, while the PS3 came with all you would ever want in a console, it was damn $$$$, and some people just wanted to play games and did not need to pay the premium for the BD.
The PS3 is not more expensive. This is just like the Overpriced Mac Myth.
Let's compare the launch systems.
The 360 had two SKUs: the hard drive-lacking Core for $300 and the 20GB Premium for $400.
The PS3 had two SKUs: the 20GB base model for $500 and 60GB high-end model for $600.
Both 360 SKUs lacked HD movie playback, HDMI, Bluetooth, and WiFi. So while we can't add the former three, WiFi was a $100 add-on. So now the hard drive-lacking Core is $400 and the 20GB Premium is $500. Now add a hard drive to the Core for $150, that's $550.
So now the 360 Premium is $500, has the same storage space as the base PS3, lacks BT, HD movie playback, and HDMI. Where are the savings?
The 360 Core is $550. Interesting how their cheaper model ends up being the more expensive SKU, isn't it? It's $50 more than the base PS3, while still lacking HDMI, BT, and HD movie playback. It's only $50 less than the high-end PS3 that has 3x the hard drive storage, memory card slots, HDMI, BT, and HD movie playback.
When Sony (finally) drops the price on the base PS3 to $300, which seems quite possible now, it will make Microsoft's corner cutting stand out much more. I'm not even factoring in the annual $50 Xbox Live Tax.
Ballmer also said he believes the market for portable media players is in decline and will be replaced with general purpose devices like the iPhone and iPod touch.
[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]
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When Steve Jobs was younger and seemed more arrogant, his product focus genius was obscured by his overbearing manner with his employees. Time, however, has brought out the wisdom of having a clear product strategy and executing it consistently. Go back and watch the intro of the FIRST iPod on YouTube when the audience had NO IDEA of its' importance.
Steve Ballmer on the other hand, has only provided laughter with his maniac dance, NO innovations or original ideas and redefines the term hubris . . .
If Steve Ballmer's head was any bigger, it would be in danger of exploding and would be regarded as a WMD device . . . (either Weapon of Mass Destruction OR Windows Mass Destruction - which ever applies to your situation . . .)
The day Ballmer's head explodes, we will all be watching on YouTube . . .
--------
Each one of my Macs have outlasted my PC computers by 2X-3X times their useful lifetime, and the tight integration of the Mac software makes it a joy to use . . . I have 2 Macs and 2 PCs networked together , . .