Steve Ballmer laughs off Google's Chrome OS threat

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  • Reply 121 of 143
    xwiredtvaxwiredtva Posts: 389member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by CurtisEMayle View Post


    Though I used all the evolving apps since '80 (having access to them all as head of a university CS department), memory is best augmented with more reliable sources for info vs. opinion.



    I do remember Sybase and Ashton-Tate being involved in the early SQL server, but don't recall why the naming delay as I'd long gone the Oracle route by then.



    Sybase requirements on naming scheme until MS changed enough of the baseline code and/or added to it...
  • Reply 122 of 143
    hezekiahbhezekiahb Posts: 448member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by melgross View Post


    Yes, their apps are clean. They are easy to use.



    But, and this is the point I'm trying to make, is it what people want?



    There isn't any evidence to show this yet. So far, cloud computing hasn't taken off. Will it take off? No one knows.



    Google is making a bet, with Chrome, that it will. But they don't know either.



    MS is also covering it's ***, just in case, but they also don't know.



    So what I'm saying is that we have a new lightweight OS that may come out in no less than a year from now, that no one knows much about, using cloud based apps that no one knows if people will want to use.



    Is this a good bet?



    iPhone started with only web based apps but has obviously progressed far beyond that. In the end I think we'll just have to agree to disagree as I still say this is actually the opportune time for them to head this direction. Ultimately we won't really know until a year or so. The web thus far has had a great impact on pushing companies like MS into supporting standards.



    As web standards continue to progress it is my prediction we will begin seeing an even sharper curve towards cloud computing. Do I have much evidence to support the popularity of cloud computing? No, but we do have plenty of evidence that web standards have gained a lot of ground in recent years.



    All this said, cloud computing is still a tiny fraction of the market but a lot of big companies are buying into it's potential & I gotta believe that is enough evidence to show it has great potential.
  • Reply 123 of 143
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hezekiahb View Post


    iPhone started with only web based apps but has obviously progressed far beyond that. In the end I think we'll just have to agree to disagree as I still say this is actually the opportune time for them to head this direction. Ultimately we won't really know until a year or so. The web thus far has had a great impact on pushing companies like MS into supporting standards.



    As web standards continue to progress it is my prediction we will begin seeing an even sharper curve towards cloud computing. Do I have much evidence to support the popularity of cloud computing? No, but we do have plenty of evidence that web standards have gained a lot of ground in recent years.



    All this said, cloud computing is still a tiny fraction of the market but a lot of big companies are buying into it's potential & I gotta believe that is enough evidence to show it has great potential.



    I've seen a lot of things over the years that had a lot of potential and seems to be making progress, only to die out. I'm not saying it will die out, just that we don't yet know if it will be a success. I'm expressing an ambivalent attitude towards something that we know very little about. You're expressing a strong confidence in the same thing.



    Google is making it very clear that the entire point to this is that it is a cloud computing OS and that's it.



    A year from now, we mat be expressing opposite beliefs about this still, but out positions may be reversed.



    I'm just saying that we should wait before pronouncing something so new and unformed as a major force to be reckoned with.



    It's very possible, assuming that Google goes through with this that it will be a category for the cheapest of machines, and nothing else, even though Google is expressing that it may even take over desktops.
  • Reply 124 of 143
    tilttilt Posts: 396member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by IQ78 View Post


    Integrated Suite

    -------------------

    AppleWorks (for the //e), first integrated package... Amazing product.



    Individual Applications:

    ---------------------------

    VisaCalc (first spreadsheet.... yes Lotus123 was a COMPLETE ripoff of VisaCalc)

    AppleWriter, Wordstar (dedicated processor), ScreenWriter (nasty copy protection)

    Hardard Graphics (good one!)

    File Cabinet (for Apple ][ integer basic..even before MS wrote FP Basic for apple ii)



    VisiCalc was the first ever computer-based spreadsheet application.



    If you are talking about a suite of products, I think it was WordStar, DataStar and CalcStar (from a company called MicroPro) for 8 bit 8080 CPU-based CP/M computers with 64K RAM.



    Then SuperCalc came in from a company that was later to become Computer Associates. SuperCalc was the number one spreadsheet for 8-bit CP/M computers in those days. Then Mitch Kapor came up with a new rip-off of SuperCalc and VisiCalc called Lotus 1-2-3, again for 8 bit CP/M computers.



    In those days it was impossible to dethrone SuperCalc, but Lotus Corporation managed to do it finally. Then came Windows and though there were versions of Wordstar and SuperCalc for Windows, Lotus ran away with that market.



    I have used all above products extensively and actually enjoyed using those, especially WordStar with all its Control-Keys!



    By the way, I think WordPerfect existed a while before WordStar did (it was the leading and the most powerful word processor in those days). MicroSoft (yes, in those days the S was capitalised) did have Word for DOS (I remember the Blue screen with White letters) before it existed for Apple's computers.



    Excel was first written for Apple and then ported over to Windows.



    I think Harvard Graphics existed long before Powerpoint did. Was it not the first ever presentation software, just like VisiCalc was the first ever spreadsheet?



    Mosaic was the first ever graphical browser (I don't think the World-wide Web existed in those days and therefore Mosaic was never called a web browser). I don't know if Microsoft bought Mosaic and renamed it to Internet Explorer or if they just used the underlying technology.



    Incidentally all this is from what is still in my failing memory, so I am not really sure about the accuracy of my information.



    Cheers
  • Reply 125 of 143
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by tilt View Post


    VisiCalc was the first ever computer-based spreadsheet application.



    If you are talking about a suite of products, I think it was WordStar, DataStar and CalcStar (from a company called MicroPro) for 8 bit 8080 CPU-based CP/M computers with 64K RAM.



    Then SuperCalc came in from a company that was later to become Computer Associates. SuperCalc was the number one spreadsheet for 8-bit CP/M computers in those days. Then Mitch Kapor came up with a new rip-off of SuperCalc and VisiCalc called Lotus 1-2-3, again for 8 bit CP/M computers.



    In those days it was impossible to dethrone SuperCalc, but Lotus Corporation managed to do it finally. Then came Windows and though there were versions of Wordstar and SuperCalc for Windows, Lotus ran away with that market.



    I have used all above products extensively and actually enjoyed using those, especially WordStar with all its Control-Keys!



    By the way, I think WordPerfect existed a while before WordStar did (it was the leading and the most powerful word processor in those days). MicroSoft (yes, in those days the S was capitalised) did have Word for DOS (I remember the Blue screen with White letters) before it existed for Apple's computers.



    Excel was first written for Apple and then ported over to Windows.



    I think Harvard Graphics existed long before Powerpoint did. Was it not the first ever presentation software, just like VisiCalc was the first ever spreadsheet?



    Mosaic was the first ever graphical browser (I don't think the World-wide Web existed in those days and therefore Mosaic was never called a web browser). I don't know if Microsoft bought Mosaic and renamed it to Internet Explorer or if they just used the underlying technology.



    Incidentally all this is from what is still in my failing memory, so I am not really sure about the accuracy of my information.



    Cheers



    Electric Pencil was one of the first word processors also.



    I could never remember all of those two key combos for WordStar. You really needed to go take a course for that, and they used to offer them for secretarial staff.



    I still have the key layovers for the three versions of Wordperfect I used. One, for PC's, two, for my Atari St, and three, for my Mac.



    MS bought the right to use Mosaic from the University, I think it was, or possibly from the company that was later formed.
  • Reply 126 of 143
    anantksundaramanantksundaram Posts: 20,403member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by tilt View Post


    Mosaic was the first ever graphical browser (I don't think the World-wide Web existed in those days and therefore Mosaic was never called a web browser). I don't know if Microsoft bought Mosaic and renamed it to Internet Explorer or if they just used the underlying technology.



    They bought the underlying technology from Spyglass, the company which was created and subsequently IPO-ed by the one of the founders of Mosaic! (I am forgetting his name; the other founder of Mosiac was, of course, Marc Andreessen, of Netscape fame).
  • Reply 127 of 143
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by anantksundaram View Post


    They bought the underlying technology from Spyglass, the company which was created and subsequently IPO-ed by the one of the founders of Mosaic! (I am forgetting his name; the other founder of Mosiac was, of course, Marc Andreessen, of Netscape fame).



    I just looked it up. Tim Krauskopf
  • Reply 128 of 143
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by melgross View Post


    I just looked it up. Tim Krauskopf



    Cool.



    Ah, I am probably sounding like an old fart now, but those were the days..... somehow, twitter does not quite feel like the same revolution. \
  • Reply 129 of 143
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by anantksundaram View Post


    Cool.



    Ah, I am probably sounding like an old fart now, but those were the days..... somehow, twitter does not quite feel like the same revolution. \



    I remember them very well. We are so jaded these days. The biggest developments now seem so trivial.



    I used Compuserve at 300 baud. I could read the letters as they popped on the screen.



    I remember going to a computer convention and was taken into a room with some new machines where they showed me that their machines were so fast that I couldn't keep up with the words appearing on the screen. That was big time. An 8 bit machine with 48 KB RAM and no video cards. Wow! I bought the amber monitor for my Atari 800 because it was better than the green ones, which were cheaper. A full 320 x 240 rez in composite no less!!! And it had an anti glare screen made of a fine mesh glued to the screen. Only the best - Amdek.



    Boy, the older computers I had were toast!
  • Reply 130 of 143
    abbatiabbati Posts: 7member
    Ballmer's underestimating google at his own peril, i mean i just watched the keynote introducing the Google Wave and i must say what they showed was simply amazing this new wave platform could just as well redefine the way we communicate on the internet... by conjecture am sure they'll integrate it with the new Chrome OS, am sure it'll give microsoft a run for their money..

  • Reply 131 of 143
    axualaxual Posts: 244member
    Microsoft and Ballmer have become caricatures of themselves; and if they are not careful, they will lose in a major major way. Ballmer forgets there are still millions of people out there like my mother who don't care how slick the Aero interface is or how innovative the browser can be. They just want their computers to work and not have to spend so much time patching, keeping up with security updates, trying figure out why their Hotmail works differently now than yesterday, the list goes on.



    MS may end up as the Digital Equipment Corporation of the 21st century.



    Perhaps laughter is just how Ballmer shows he's nervous. [/QUOTE]
  • Reply 132 of 143
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by aplnub View Post


    When Steve Ballmer laughs something off, it bites him in the ass every time! Way to go Steve, now Google is destined to succeed.



    My thinking exactly. Now is the time to invest heavily in Google.
  • Reply 133 of 143
    doorman.doorman. Posts: 159member
    Perhaps laughter is just how Ballmer shows he's nervous.
  • Reply 134 of 143
    emacs72emacs72 Posts: 356member
    it's somewhat dangerous to be dismissive toward any company nowadays. things can and do change relatively quickly in the technology sector.
  • Reply 135 of 143
    addaboxaddabox Posts: 12,665member
    I particularly like Ballmer's little tell when he's asked a question about a successful competitor: he leans forward and narrows his eyes and sort of cocks his head, as if he can't believe the nonsense he's hearing and wonders if the interviewer is crazy. Then he does his short barking laugh, then he condescendingly explains why MS has no worries on that front, on account of their awesomeness.



    Being subsequently shown to be completely clueless doesn't seem to make him any more circumspect the next time. That's the interesting thing about Ballmer-- he's just permanently pugnacious on every topic and doesn't know the meaning of being tempered by experience.
  • Reply 136 of 143
    emacs72emacs72 Posts: 356member
    the RC of Chrome OS appears to be near and a release in November 2010 a possibility

    http://techcrunch.com/2010/10/11/chrome-os-release/
  • Reply 137 of 143
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvsboPUjrGc



    Cocaine is a wonderful drug
  • Reply 138 of 143
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bobertoq View Post


    Just like he laughed at the iPhone?



    umm the iphone is probably the butt of every joke out there, so he kinda hit the nail on the head when he "rigorously lol'd" at apple
  • Reply 139 of 143
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Doorman. View Post


    Perhaps laughter is just how Ballmer shows he's nervous.



    Edited out crudeness.



    If you want to write like that, do it elsewhere.
  • Reply 140 of 143
    Hello, my name is Steve Ballmer. I am fourty years old, i am divorced and i LIVE IN A VAN DOWN BY THE RIVER!!!
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