In last company meeting, Ballmer calls Apple 'fashionable,' says Microsoft about 'doing more'

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Comments

  • Reply 61 of 147
    MS has done a great job on the backend products (server etc) as well as Office. The problem is in their pricing structure. It's really heavy on connection licenses (CALS) and maintenance (SA) agreements. Smart phones and tablets are attacking the front end and Linux is gaining in the server space. They have become IBM, entrenched, trying to hold on to business.

    Balmer has missed on seemingly every prediction he's made. Which, in the end, makes Steve the guy, with the luckiest dorm assignment, in the history of Harvard.
  • Reply 62 of 147

    Forget Ballmer and his irrelevant comments.  He's toast and history and not the future of Microsoft.

     

    But also recognize that Microsoft has enormous resources, a still-domomnant position in the computer world, and many, many very talented but leaderless people.  

     

    Scenario 1 - Steve Jobs is magically resurrected to come back and lead Microsoft.  Where do you think they would be five years from now?  Terrifying thought.  Okay, no chance.

     

    Scenario 2 - The find somebody who is maybe 1/2 x SJ to be CEO.  Somebody with vision, leadership, energy, etc.  And there are some of those kind of people around.  So put that bloke in charge and where do you think Microsoft will be five years from now?  This could happen.

     

    As a long time Apple man (still have a running Apple 2+) I'm sincerely sorry to see Mr. B. go.  He was very good for Apple.  And I hope the MS board continues to perform incompetently and fail to find that SJ/2.

     

    But, it could happen...

  • Reply 63 of 147
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by StruckPaper View Post

     

     

    Well, we can always define just the right context so that we are never wrong, can't we? That's ok.


     

    Yes, I noticed you did that. How clever of you.

  • Reply 64 of 147
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by aderutter View Post

     

    MS has a big role to play in the future of computing? That's what is unbelievable.


     

    Their big role in the future of computing is as an industry case study of how to have the world and then lose it because management is complacent, arrogant and stupid.

  • Reply 65 of 147
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by CustomTB View Post





    I'll bite... How exactly is Microsoft about "doing more"? What more are they doing than Apple?

     

    They are writing down more losses than Apple for one.

  • Reply 66 of 147
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by StruckPaper View Post

     

    Look past the condescending, misguided metaphor of "fashionable" and there is some truth to what he is saying. But you have to have the intellectual curiosity and wherewithal to look past your own biased filter, too.


     

    So, why don't you look past, with your terrific intellectual curiosity and your unbiased filter, and tell us what you see?

  • Reply 67 of 147
    Originally Posted by WelshDog View Post

    Or even better, he's a lame rapper who can't put two words together, yet he constantly boasts how his rhymes are better than all the other MCs.

     

     

    Imagine them beat-boxing in these shots.

  • Reply 68 of 147
    Thanks for asking.

    Assuming the *quote* is correct, he didn't say Microsoft was doing more. He said Microsoft was "about doing more". Likewise, he didn't say Google knew more (do you really think he would concede that?); he said they were "about knowing more".

    Think about it his metaphors:

    Apple = fashionable
    Amazon = cheap
    Google = about knowing more
    Microsoft = about doing more

    A different way of wording it:

    Apple = design-driven 
    Amazon = price-driven 
    Google = aggregating information (search, book-scanning, ...)
    Microsoft = providing productivity (Office, CRM, SQL Server, ...)

    Is that really a wrong way of differentiating the business models of the Four Horsemen? Of course people here are incapable and in fact unwilling to see it that way. They prefer to mock his appearance instead. After the guffaws, how intelligent and insightful does one really feel?

    I doubt that he meant that. Ballmer has a history of knocking down the competition (see idevice funerals).
  • Reply 69 of 147
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by StruckPaper View Post

     

     

    A different way of wording it:

     

    Apple = design-driven 

    Amazon = price-driven 

    Google = aggregating information (search, book-scanning, ...)

    Microsoft = providing productivity (Office, CRM, SQL Server, ...)

     

    Is that really a wrong way of differentiating the business models of the Four Horsemen? Of course people here are incapable and in fact unwilling to see it that way. They prefer to mock his appearance instead. After the guffaws, how intelligent and insightful does one really feel?


     

    Your rewording is just as equally wrong since for Apple it ignores iWork and iLife of which both exist on iOS and OS X. There are also all the professional multimedia applications they provide as well.

  • Reply 70 of 147
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by StruckPaper View Post

     

     

    Thanks for asking.

     

    Assuming the *quote* is correct, he didn't say Microsoft was doing more. He said Microsoft was "about doing more". Likewise, he didn't say Google knew more (do you really think he would concede that?); he said they were "about knowing more".

     

    Think about his metaphors:

     

    Apple = fashionable

    Amazon = cheap

    Google = about knowing more

    Microsoft = about doing more

     

    A different way of wording it:

     

    Apple = design-driven 

    Amazon = price-driven 

    Google = aggregating information (search, book-scanning, ...)

    Microsoft = providing productivity (Office, CRM, SQL Server, ...)

     

    Is that really a wrong way of differentiating the business models of the Four Horsemen? Of course people here are incapable and in fact unwilling to see it that way. They prefer to mock his appearance instead. After the guffaws, how intelligent and insightful does one really feel?


     

    Just possibly, you might want to consider climbing down off of your own high horse and lose the condescension. You're liable to get an intellectual nose bleed from the altitude, otherwise.

     

    By striking the tone you have so far with your comments, whatever message you may be attempting to convey is getting lost in the background noise of your own arrogance. You could be exactly right, the smartest person since Stephen Hawking came along, but you're never, ever going to prove it by sneering at faceless message board postings.

     

    I have the feeling that you'll just content yourself with hugging your superiority to yourself like a snug little blanket and coast on, having "done your part" in trying to illuminate the unwashed heathen inhabiting this region. It's obviously not your fault if no one here is intelligent enough to step back from their petty little viewpoints long enough to grasp your brilliant insights.

  • Reply 71 of 147
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by jungmark View Post





    I doubt that he meant that. Ballmer has a history of knocking down the competition (see idevice funerals).

    You don't know that. Your doubt just means you use filters to fit your narrative.

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by MikeJones View Post

     

     

    Your rewording is just as equally wrong since for Apple it ignores iWork and iLife of which both exist on iOS and OS X. There are also all the professional multimedia applications they provide as well.


     

    Design-driven ? not producing any productivity apps

     

    But you want to pigeon-hole someone else's words to a low enough level that you can criticize. That's ok. It simply shows intellectual laziness that is common. 

  • Reply 72 of 147
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Dave MacLachlan View Post

     

     

    Just possibly, you might want to consider climbing down off of your own high horse and lose the condescension. You're liable to get an intellectual nose bleed from the altitude, otherwise.

     

    By striking the tone you have so far with your comments, whatever message you may be attempting to convey is getting lost in the background noise of your own arrogance. You could be exactly right, the smartest person since Stephen Hawking came along, but you're never, ever going to prove it by sneering at faceless message board postings.

     

    I have the feeling that you'll just content yourself with hugging your superiority to yourself like a snug little blanket and coast on, having "done your part" in trying to illuminate the unwashed heathen inhabiting this region. It's obviously not your fault if no one here is intelligent enough to step back from their petty little viewpoints long enough to grasp your brilliant insights.


     

    I am condescending because I think it is juvenile to mock someone's appearance? Hmmm .... I really need to better myself. You're of course justified to side with those who use invectives like "monkey face". We are defined by the sides of the fence we choose.

  • Reply 73 of 147
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by StruckPaper View Post

     

    Design-driven ? not producing any productivity apps

     

    But you want to pigeon-hole someone else's words to a low enough level that you can criticize. That's ok. It simply shows intellectual laziness that is common. 


     

    Of course it's wrong. So then why did you specifically reword it that way? You're own post said:

     

    Quote:

    Apple = design-driven

    Microsoft = providing productivity (Office, CRM, SQL Server, ...) 



     

    Your post clearly implied that Apple is not providing productivity because you specifically used that point as a differentiation for Microsoft:

     

    Quote:

    Is that really a wrong way of differentiating the business models of the Four Horsemen?


     

    Lame backpedaling is lame. I didn't pigeonhole anything since those were your own words.

  • Reply 74 of 147
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by anantksundaram View Post

     

     

    So, why don't you look past, with your terrific intellectual curiosity and your unbiased filter, and tell us what you see?


     

    I did. Key word: "about".

     

    Unlike others, you do not need another clue.

  • Reply 75 of 147
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by MikeJones View Post

     

     

    Of course it's wrong. So then why did you specifically reword it that way? You're own post said:

     

     

    Your post clearly implied that Apple is not providing productivity because you specifically used that point as a differentiation for Microsoft:

     

     

    Lame backpedaling is lame. I didn't pidgeonhole anything. I used your own words exactly as you posted.


     

    Differentiation = not doing anything in common at all?

     

    Yeah, no pigeonholing at all.

     

    Enough. I am wrong. You're right. Ok? 

  • Reply 76 of 147
    zabazaba Posts: 226member
    With a hideous OS, pointless tablets, and worst suite of software ever (office suite), how can they possibly proclaim they have a bright future. The only thing they have is deep pockets, but that won't last forever. The desktop will not die but with windows 8, they are trying to murder it. They need to reinvest in the desktop OS and bring out a modern suite of software, they still have a stronghold in the non consumer market for which they need to focus and blossom otherwise they are doomed. They will never break the mobile market, too little too late.
  • Reply 77 of 147

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by StruckPaper View Post

     

    Differentiation = not doing anything in common at all?


     

    You specifically said after you made your "reworded" version that those attributes were how each business differentiated themselves. So, no, if two companies do the same thing that can not be a differentiating business model between the two of them. But keep backpedaling and claiming that you meant something other than what you explicitly said. It's quite amusing.

  • Reply 78 of 147
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by StruckPaper View Post

     

     

    I am condescending because I think it is juvenile to mock someone's appearance? Hmmm .... I really need to better myself. You're of course justified to side with those who call use invectives like "monkey face".


     

    You might want to re-read the post I actually wrote. I don't care what your point was, I was responding to your approach... and that was the point. You're losing people by being a smug, smarter-than-thou, "Papa Knows Best," stereotype. You've successfully placed yourself squarely at one end of the message board character type extremes.

     

    This is rapidly devolving to one of those classic "XKCD" comics, where the protagonist can't step away from the computer, because "someone is WRONG on the Internet!"

  • Reply 79 of 147
    Too bad he is leaving; with the new CEO, Apple may face real competition.
    He played a big role in decelerating MS allowing Apple to make an spectacular come back.
    Besides, he was one of a kind cheerleader, we'll miss you Steve.
  • Reply 80 of 147
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by JakeSun View Post



    Too bad he is leaving; with the new CEO, Apple may face real competition.

    He played a big role in decelerating MS allowing Apple to make an spectacular come back.

    Besides, he was one of a kind cheerleader, we'll miss you Steve.

     

    Who knows? If Elsop becomes the new CEO, they might be in for more of the same... Unless he truly was some kind of Trojan-Horse all along :)

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