Steve Ballmer the MSFT CEO shares synergy blame on this missed opportunity! The MSFT stock was flatlined for a decade while Ballmer did nothing to expand the firms narkets.
Exactly! Microsoft should have fired Steve Ballmer years ago. I blame him more than anyone. He never took his competition seriously. Just look at Zune, iPhone, the Mac, iPad....all things he laughed at and basically said well Microsoft is on top right now and that's what matters to me. With that attitude, you won't be on top forever and look where they are today. Quite frankly, the guy was an idiot and didn't know how to run a tech company.
Microsoft was far too late to the game with Windows Phone. I think it was a nice OS and it proved you COULD make a mobile OS differently from what Apple did with iOS. Its just a shame it was far too late. The app market was already off and running and developers weren't really interested in making apps for 3 completely different platforms with little to no return on 2 of the 3. I really wish Microsoft would have released Windows phone earlier than it did. I think it could have given iOS a run for its money back in the day.
Arrogance sank MS under Balmer. But they are making a STRONG comeback! Their new support for open standards and open source is something Apple needs to keep a close eye on.
Apple needs to re-evaluate their Mac mini offering and provide a friendlier price.
Apple never has and never will be in a race to the bottom with pricing its products. They've always been more expensive than others and always will be. Selling a $300-400 Mac mini isn't going to save Apple (Macs) by any means.
If you cannot afford a Mac, then you simply cannot afford it. I want cars I cannot afford but I'm not in automobile forums pissing and moaning about the price of them either.
Was Windows Mobile (or its predecessor) free from the outset or did MS at first charge handset mfrs for it?
I'm sure manufacturers had to pay a license of some sort to use Windows Phone OS. Microsoft wouldn't really make any money at all otherwise unless they were banking on App Store sales which would have been a terrible bet judging on the size of the store and lack of developer support.
It seems that what he is saying is that Apple creates a product and the market only demands one non-apple copycat alternative. Seemingly aware of the significant amount of IP that Microsoft had copied for Windows.
Now I ask (again), what is stopping other companies with coming up with original ideas? Apple does not have a monopoly on ideas. We clearly see this happen in markets which Apple does not operate, so why are tech companies, with their billions, so afraid to make a genuine effort and create a new product.
Blows my fu**ing mind. It happens with everything Apple releases. Look at Apple Stores and AirPods now.
Was Windows Mobile (or its predecessor) free from the outset or did MS at first charge handset mfrs for it?
WinCE was pretty much tied to the phone, and there were only minor upgrades (.x) available from the carrier. There was a site that had builds with different components (Solitaire, telnet, other WinCE apps from Microsoft) built in for the various handsets, but they were technically "illegal". I was a Microsoft Partner at the time, and I asked one of the Windows Mobile people about that, and he admitted they knew about the site, but the developers there downloaded some of the builds, and pretty much used it as a "see what people like" test bed.
For the Windows 8 type phones, my wife tried one out, and she liked it. It wasn't the iPhone, but it wasn't a horrible phone. It did help explain why Windows 8 was the way it was.
Gates makes it sound like it was theirs to take. Nobody wanted Windows 8 or their equivalent Mobile OS with the lousey tile based interface - both have been killed off. They still try to push the sliding tiles in the MS Windows menu - just get rid of it, already. Unless Microsoft has an unfair advantage, or blatantly copies or acquires technology from others, they rarely succeed.
Gates makes it sound like it was theirs to take. Nobody wanted Windows 8 or their equivalent Mobile OS with the lousey tile based interface - both have been killed off. They still try to push the sliding tiles in the MS Windows menu - just get rid of it, already. Unless Microsoft has an unfair advantage, or blatantly copies or acquires technology from others, they rarely succeed.
At least the tiles were unique.
Today it's easy to confuse a fake iPhone with a real one. Zero creativity just copy-paste.
Gates makes it sound like it was theirs to take. Nobody wanted Windows 8 or their equivalent Mobile OS with the lousey tile based interface - both have been killed off. They still try to push the sliding tiles in the MS Windows menu - just get rid of it, already. Unless Microsoft has an unfair advantage, or blatantly copies or acquires technology from others, they rarely succeed.
At least the tiles were unique.
Today it's easy to confuse a fake iPhone with a real one. Zero creativity just copy-paste.
Yes it proves you CAN make a mobile phone OS with a UI that is completely different from iOS. Everyone else just chooses to make cheap knock-offs of iOS and ripoff its features.
Gates makes it sound like it was theirs to take. Nobody wanted Windows 8 or their equivalent Mobile OS with the lousey tile based interface - both have been killed off. They still try to push the sliding tiles in the MS Windows menu - just get rid of it, already. Unless Microsoft has an unfair advantage, or blatantly copies or acquires technology from others, they rarely succeed.
At least the tiles were unique.
Today it's easy to confuse a fake iPhone with a real one. Zero creativity just copy-paste.
Yes it proves you CAN make a mobile phone OS with a UI that is completely different from iOS. Everyone else just chooses to make cheap knock-offs of iOS and ripoff its features.
Which blows my mind.
What blows my mind more is iKnockoff users in denial. As if Android was an original invention independent of Apple.
Either way glad to see Apple haters in a fragmented mess. Android phone, Fire tablet, Bose headphones, Windows machine, Fitbit Watch, Roku box, Soundmates Airpods knockoffs.
It seems that what he is saying is that Apple creates a product and the market only demands one non-apple copycat alternative. Seemingly aware of the significant amount of IP that Microsoft had copied for Windows.
Now I ask (again), what is stopping other companies with coming up with original ideas? Apple does not have a monopoly on ideas. We clearly see this happen in markets which Apple does not operate, so why are tech companies, with their billions, so afraid to make a genuine effort and create a new product.
It should be noted that Microsoft and Apple have a longstanding patent sharing agreement in place. They don’t share everything obviously, but they manage to avoid a lot of costly legal conflicts due to this arrangement.
Gates makes it sound like it was theirs to take. Nobody wanted Windows 8 or their equivalent Mobile OS with the lousey tile based interface - both have been killed off. They still try to push the sliding tiles in the MS Windows menu - just get rid of it, already. Unless Microsoft has an unfair advantage, or blatantly copies or acquires technology from others, they rarely succeed.
It WAS theirs to take. The Windows foothold in the enterprise world was (and still is) MASSIVE. Had they managed to convince their enterprise customers to adopt Windows Phone (by, you know, actually building a compelling product instead of focussing on "Windows Everywhere") then Gates is right and they would have been in Android's position right now.
The touchscreen technology wasn't available in the late 90s when WinCE was developed, but MS made the mistake of thinking the hardware was good enough to run a kludge of Windows and that transferring a desktop UI to such tiny screens was the right move. They could have just copied Simple Finder from the Mac and gotten a better result, but no. They thought they had enough time to iterate on their initial design and wait for the hardware to improve (the way it did in desktop PCs and laptops) so that they could keep using the Windows codebase.
I think Ballmer deserves a little more credit than he's being given here. Despite the strategic mistakes he made, he still kept the money rolling in for MS and did his best to increase market share.
Remember, he was a sales guy more than an engineer - and Steve's quote about letting the sales guys take charge is apropos.
I think the reality is, this was bigger than Bill Gates; Microsoft missed the importance of data becoming mobile. Expecting Microsoft to be serious about the trend away from stationery devices, is like expecting IBM to serious about developing PCs when the trend was data moving from mainframes.
Microsoft, like most companies, wasn't willing to "knife the baby" - they couldn't let go of Windows desktop as the center of the universe and paid the price.
Apple has embraced their products being eclipsed by the natural follow on - and ensured they were eclipsed by another Apple product. Witness iPod to iPhone. Microsoft just couldn't get their head wrapped around that and they paid the price for it with Windows, Windows, Windows!
That's why Satya Nadella was a much needed change. He got Microsoft back into being a software company and not a Windows company.
Microsoft as a software company is not a company I'd bet against. Back in the day, much of the best Mac software came from Microsoft.
Fun Fact: Samsung could have had Android for all to themselves in mid-Dec 2004, but they pretty much laughed Rubin and Danger out of the room when they visited Korea to pitch it. No interest, waste of time. By the first week of January 2005 tho it was Google who approached Danger and ultimately purchasing them in February 2005.
...And there went Windows Mobile.
What makes you think Samsung could have done anything more with Danger's JavaVM OS than it did with Bada or Tizen?
Fun Fact: Samsung could have had Android for all to themselves in mid-Dec 2004, but they pretty much laughed Rubin and Danger out of the room when they visited Korea to pitch it. No interest, waste of time. By the first week of January 2005 tho it was Google who approached Danger and ultimately purchasing them in February 2005.
...And there went Windows Mobile.
What makes you think Samsung could have done anything more with Danger's JavaVM OS than it did with Bada or Tizen?
Ummm... I didn't. In fact I'm implying that had Samsung bought them instead of Google then WinMo would have had a longer life.
Comments
Microsoft was far too late to the game with Windows Phone. I think it was a nice OS and it proved you COULD make a mobile OS differently from what Apple did with iOS. Its just a shame it was far too late. The app market was already off and running and developers weren't really interested in making apps for 3 completely different platforms with little to no return on 2 of the 3. I really wish Microsoft would have released Windows phone earlier than it did. I think it could have given iOS a run for its money back in the day.
Apple never has and never will be in a race to the bottom with pricing its products. They've always been more expensive than others and always will be. Selling a $300-400 Mac mini isn't going to save Apple (Macs) by any means.
If you cannot afford a Mac, then you simply cannot afford it. I want cars I cannot afford but I'm not in automobile forums pissing and moaning about the price of them either.
Blows my fu**ing mind. It happens with everything Apple releases. Look at Apple Stores and AirPods now.
Today it's easy to confuse a fake iPhone with a real one. Zero creativity just copy-paste.
Which blows my mind.
What blows my mind more is iKnockoff users in denial. As if Android was an original invention independent of Apple.
Either way glad to see Apple haters in a fragmented mess. Android phone, Fire tablet, Bose headphones, Windows machine, Fitbit Watch, Roku box, Soundmates Airpods knockoffs.
The touchscreen technology wasn't available in the late 90s when WinCE was developed, but MS made the mistake of thinking the hardware was good enough to run a kludge of Windows and that transferring a desktop UI to such tiny screens was the right move. They could have just copied Simple Finder from the Mac and gotten a better result, but no. They thought they had enough time to iterate on their initial design and wait for the hardware to improve (the way it did in desktop PCs and laptops) so that they could keep using the Windows codebase.
Could'a, should'a, would'a, Bill.
Remember, he was a sales guy more than an engineer - and Steve's quote about letting the sales guys take charge is apropos.
Apple has embraced their products being eclipsed by the natural follow on - and ensured they were eclipsed by another Apple product. Witness iPod to iPhone. Microsoft just couldn't get their head wrapped around that and they paid the price for it with Windows, Windows, Windows!
Microsoft as a software company is not a company I'd bet against. Back in the day, much of the best Mac software came from Microsoft.
They are afraid of "Osborneing" their existing products.
Seriously, what the fuck was that?? Gates seemed so embarrassed. Ballmer was having a ball.