Ballmer Indicates Microsoft Becoming More Like Apple

[dgingeri]

I have to elaborate on the above statement.

1. This takes the control of the data away from the people who actually use it and opens it up to exploitation by other entities, such as hackers or the government. This is not a good thing.

2. The people who are taking advantage of this are the same people who think they can get good stuff for free. These are the same people who get infected by hidden malware and viruses, fall for ponzi schemes, and allow the government to have more control over our daily lives. (It's my belief that these same people are the ones who go 40 and merge slowly on the highways because they think it's safer, while it really endangers everyone far more than normal speeders.) I bet these people are the same ones behind the decision of continuing to use McAfee or Norton as a corporate anti-virus solution. These are not good decisions.

3. These same people who make these decisions are constantly holding us all back, making us more vulnerable day by day. Is it a good thing to leave these people in charge? Think of what you can do about it.

 

[ddpruitt]

Microsoft's strength was always business users. By getting businesses to use MS products home users followed. By getting away from that they're going to lose more and more of their core business. I never really liked Gates but the man knew how to run a company. Since Ballmer's been in charge things have been going downhill. If they MS starts doing software as a service they will become like Apple and relegate themselves to a niche player instead of a industry leader.

 

[jweathe]

As usual a bunch of morons rush to comment negatively on Microsoft without any real reason, and feel so clever replacing the S with a $ (cause no other big company makes profits). So how is offering the OPTION of a complete ecosystem a closed direction? You can still buy Windows and install it on your desktop, and open development for the platform itself has never been encouraged at this level before. A Windows store is a great idea for bringing some centralization to Windows software. Is this not something that Linux users have been bashing Windows about for some time, that the platform lacks an "official" software repository?

 

[lradunovic77]

Microsoft is so obsessed with Apple that they lost a touch with reality and they came up with product called Windows 8 which is going to be end of MS. Windows 8 will never be able to compete in mobile market and i don't know why MS is so upset about the fact that they lost the battle there. Who cares, Apple/Google can have that market but stick with what was good so far with and that is Businesses and Home Users (Desktops / Laptops). Windows 8 will ultimately drive people toward Apple or Google. I can understand Windows 8 on Phone and Table in form of Metro (which is Btw nothing but shit, i would like to meet an idiot who said that Metro 'in general' is perfect way of designing things), but why the f... mess Desktops. After a month of trying Windows 8 on Desktop, that shit is simply unusable.

 

[gimmeausername]

"Ballmer Indicates Microsoft Becoming More Like Apple"

And this is the bane of Microsoft. I guess Ballmer lost his mind and forgot that for decades, Microsoft has been standing strong because of its diverse portfolio of software. This new direction into Apple's model of restrictive and controlling content consumption has a very slim chance of success. Even Apple's users are realizing that they paid too much for too little and Android has taken over to be the standard.

It has been a long and good run, Microsoft! You will be missed!

 

[nebun]

[citation][nom]tburns1[/nom]I love how every picture of him we see makes him look like a crazed whacko.[/citation]
he is very enthusiastic about his job

 

[enewmen]

PCs - 95%, Apple - 5%.
Why will Microsoft want to be like Apple?

 

[kanoobie]

[citation][nom]tburns1[/nom]I love how every picture of him we see makes him look like a crazed whacko.[/citation]
then you will love this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8To-6VIJZRE

 

[spartanmk2]

Microsoft needs to take a bite out of their logo, then they'll be more like Apple.

 

[Kami3k]

Bill Gates, despite Ballmar being a good friend of yours REMOVE HIM AS CEO!

For the love of Microsoft do it!

 

[CaedenV]

[citation][nom]ddpruitt[/nom]Microsoft's strength was always business users. By getting businesses to use MS products home users followed. By getting away from that they're going to lose more and more of their core business. I never really liked Gates but the man knew how to run a company. Since Ballmer's been in charge things have been going downhill. If they MS starts doing software as a service they will become like Apple and relegate themselves to a niche player instead of a industry leader.[/citation]
In the old days your first computer was the machine at work, and so when you finally saved up your pennies to buy one for home you would buy what you knew.
Today we see a wierd and opposite thing happening: Now everyone has a computing device at home be it android/linux, ios/OSX, or Win/WP. This lack of a unified user base is now causing more and more businesses to go with linux and OSX on the work machines because less and less people are using Windows as their daily driver at home.

So now MS has appropriately changed their target audience and is hoping that win8/WP8 will recapture interest in the platform so that they can keep their business users. The question is if this is simply too little, too late, or if the dramatic changes will simply offend both the home and the business users, which would allow for a major Linux distro to creep into the business and home enviornments.

My main issue with Linux is the lack of support. Software companies have hap-hazard support for the platform, and most distros are maintained by someone doing it on their free time instead of taking it as a serious career path, and hiring a staff of people to actively take it and make it something special. I would love to see someone come in and take the basic Linux OS, and make a real package with a no-compromise suite of programs, and support. Sell that package for $25-30 each, get OEM support to gain a mass user base, and show software developers like Adobe that there is a real market there so that we can get big-name software and tools to run on it.

The open source community plays a pivotal role in the development of computing, but they will never have the resources or reach to make any sizable dent in the win/OSX dominated market without some profit motive involved.

 

[Guest]

"Software as a service", this was exactly what happened when mainframe ruled the computing scene. Then personal computing came along and "revolutionized" the way people were getting software by selling "installed software". The whole PC industry thrived due to this novel concept. If software had been rental based all along, it is doubtful PC industry would have become what it is today. But installed software, after several version changes and upgrades, has become so good that a lot of people found no compelling reason to upgrade. And hence the software companies now want to turn their business into subscription model again. But I guess they have forgotten one thing, software, is not an essential part of life, especially not when there is still people writing freeware and cost nothing to use. Subscription models could work with business, but will never work with home users, especially not with the rental costs companies like Microsoft is planning to charge now.

If Windows 8 turns out to be a failure as well, I doubt Ballmer will be with Microsoft for long.

 

[Dax corrin]

I'm sticking with Windows 7. Does everything I need, I don't have a touchscreen. That picture makes him look like he just did a couple of lines of blow just before hitting the stage.

 

[ojas]

[citation][nom]axehand13[/nom]Hmm, I wonder if Linux will become the major operating system now?[/citation]
No...not yet, no...just like someone here said, it won't catch on till it's as easy to use as Windows. There's just too much mucking around before it works properly.

And i'm an above average computer user. But total Linux noob. This even with familiarity with CLIs.

Most people are barely able to comprehend basic Windows concepts like the file system and its layout...expecting more than 10% of the world to dig into Linux is a bit too much i think...

 

[dgingeri]

[citation][nom]caedenv[/nom]In the old days your first computer was the machine at work, and so when you finally saved up your pennies to buy one for home you would buy what you knew.Today we see a wierd and opposite thing happening: Now everyone has a computing device at home be it android/linux, ios/OSX, or Win/WP. This lack of a unified user base is now causing more and more businesses to go with linux and OSX on the work machines because less and less people are using Windows as their daily driver at home.[/citation]

As a support tech, I can tell you that this is not going successfully for most companies. Many are realizing that going with Linux and/or OSX is not working for their businesses, as they have to retrain people for using it and support costs are hugely higher. (People who can support any particular Linux distribution for end users are so far fewer than Windows support techs that they command a nearly 100% higher salary, and more of them are needed to support Linux because it is so much harder on the end users right now. OSX is easier to use and has fewer problems, but techs that can support OSX on a corporate platform are also very few and far between, demanding a nearly 50% higher salary. All this while support costs are going down for Windows 7 because it is getting so much more refined, secure, easier to use, and more stable.) The switchers won't be a long term trend, except for the stupid government departments who stubbornly do whatever they feel like without regard to spending wisely. Linux and OSX just can't fit into a corporate spending model.

 

[killerclick]

They can do this only thanks to the idiots who only see Windows 8 booting up 3 seconds faster and want to switch, while ignoring all warning signs. If you switch to Windows 8, you contribute to the death of the PC (for better or worse), if you switch to Windows 8, you're playing right into his hands.

 

[killerclick]

[citation][nom]enewmen[/nom]PCs - 95%, Apple - 5%.Why will Microsoft want to be like Apple?[/citation]

Because Apple takes in more profit from their 5%, than Microsoft from their 95%.

And those are not the correct percentages anyway, given the amount of money iDevices generate for Apple, they should be included even if they're not PCs.

 

[-Fran-]

It's the other way around... Apple is starting to get out mainstream products now: flawed at launch, not very innovative and just a re-work of something already known.

Apple Maps is just the beginning. I'd pray that Tim Cook starts wearing a turtle neck shirt to get the feeling of things, lol.

Cheers!

 

[Guest]

The future is in HSA (Heterogeneous System Architecture), where all the different CPUs , GPUs, and other devices all connect through the PCI/system bus and support standard open source dirvers OpenGL, openCL. as well a the closed sourced drivers! In operating systems than can utilize HSA to work with any CPU or GPU
that is plugged into a PCI slot, ether internally or externally through a thunderbolt connection, ethernet connection (Yes PCIe can be tunneled over ethernet), etc. The HSA aware Operating system will be able to use x86, ARM, CPUs/GPUs, etc. at the same time to provide computing platforms that become more powreful with each divice that is plugged into them! AMD and the HSA foundation as well as the open source
community should be working towards this goal, before the Microsofts and Apples finish walling of their ecosystems!

 

[cookoy]

If MS does hardware, the other OEMs will be at a slight disadvantage because they have to add Windows in their cost. Android on smartphones and tablets show linux is a workable alternative to iOS and Windows. I've been trying out Ubuntu for more than a month now and it works very well and is very user friendly.

 

[bigbadwill]

So microsoft is giving us the option to with Apple or pseudo-Apple. I think i'll just go with Apple then. Thank you microsoft for your advice, have a good rest of your life.

 

[Guest]

I think we've endured this overpaid clown long enough. It is becoming quite clear that Ballmer intends on running Microsoft into the ground. There is no reason Microsoft can't be the software giant it once was. The company just lacks proper leadership.

Be like Apple? Don't make me laugh. Apple got big because it rode the fads and made their logo a fashion statement. They made an mp3 player in the days when "sharing" mp3s was the cool thing to do. Next, they put a phone on their mp3 player and called it a smartphone. Then, they made it bigger and called it a tablet. They appealed to youths and their love of music. They took technology and changed it from nerdy and business-like, to being fashionable for all the hipsters and wannabes out there.

Microsoft is a software company. They always appealed to the tech nerds and the business people. This is where the money was...and they knew it. Users buying software for home use isn't where they made their money. Making a few bucks from Joe Nobody was peanut to them. It was in the big software contracts with major corporations and even governments where they made their real profit. Ever since Ballmer took control, the company has lost its vision.

The company needs another man like Gates to put them back on track. Make Microsoft and Windows the NAME in serious computing. No more of this wannabe attitude. You want to be back on top? TAKE IT just like you always had.

 

[alidan]

[citation][nom]mousseng[/nom]I've not had a lot of experience with a lot of different distros, but I've never found any that felt like Windows. So far, the most 'noob-friendly' distros I've come across are Mint and Ubuntu (hence why they're so popular already), and while I can see them catching on with gamers/enthusiasts (as I said), I can't see the typical consumer wanting to use a computer loaded with one of them. You do still need to know how to use the command line even in Ubuntu and Mint.The issue is that PC gamers are not a majority of the desktop market. Game developers and similar software developers would take interest, sure, but OEMs still likely wouldn't put Linux on their machines (maybe builders like CyberPower, though). I can't really see businesses moving that way, either (not in a 10-year time frame, at least).I guess I'm just not as optimistic as you, but as much as I don't like Windows 8, I really don't think it's going to fail as catastrophically as people are expecting.[/citation]

do you still need to know command line for everyday tasks or installing something new? that im not sure about and could be a deal breaker.

gamers, lets put that as ony one with a semi powerfull computer, and kids in collage.

software developers see that there is a rather large segment of people use linux and move to it.

oems see that gamers moved to it, that software is moveing/moved to it, they start offering linux machines at a reduced price to windows

at this point everyone has/had/can have knowledge on linux, businesses really use windows just because everyone uses windows, there is very little tieing them exclusively to it aside from legacy software that is critical to them, and over 10 years, a move to linux on all fronts, could allow businesses to move most of their software to linux.

once businesses make the switch, pro software will also make the switch.

you may not see businesses go full linux in 10 years, but you could see all the ground work and the start by than.

 

[badaxe2]

So what will this mean for the free form nature of PC hardware upgrading? If Microsoft is going to package everything like Apple, that seems to mean if a Microsoft-run product breaks, no longer can we go to Newegg to buy/install a replacement part and have it work with the current install?

It'd have been nice if they were more specific about this.

 

[Kami3k]

[citation][nom]killerclick[/nom]Because Apple takes in more profit from their 5%, than Microsoft from their 95%.And those are not the correct percentages anyway, given the amount of money iDevices generate for Apple, they should be included even if they're not PCs.[/citation]

That's a lie, most of Apple's profit is in their iPhone and iTunes, if they had just their PC market for money they would probably be out of business already.