[dean_o]

"You don’t brute-force your way into a market."
Oh, gosh! I'm out of breath and hurting from the twenty minutes of laughing I did after reading that. Holy cow! "Brute-force your way into a market" has been Microsoft's business plan since 1981.
That company had one truly brilliant idea 27 years ago -- buy somebody else's work on the cheap and license it to IBM. I'll say this for them. They at least understood the business well enough to know that the company that got the IBM contract was never going to have to do an honest day's work again.
They've been riding on that little bit of business savvy ever since. I wonder how long it will last?

[lwdesign]

Here's what I'd love to hear from Steve Ballmer sometime: "We're working on some very cool technology that our users will love. It makes computing simple and intuitive and we're really excited about it."
I've never ever heard this kind of statement from Microsoft--it seems beyond the business ken that the way you please your customers is by making them excited about your products because of their simplicity, ease of use and intuitiveness.
If Windows was fun to use, I'd be a Windows user. My long-standing comparative story still applies: Take the average Mac user and ask them if they love their Mac. You will usually get a very emphatic YES that they definitely LOVE their Mac. Then ask a Windows user if they love their computer. They won't understand the question...a computer is not something you love.
It's surprising that for a company that focusses on software rather than hardware, that they couldn't have produced a better user experience in all these years.

[EXrider]

This is Microsoft's problem. They need to stop trying to dominate every market, be everything to everyone and concentrate on their core products: OS's and server applications. They're wasting valuable resources; trying to re-invent the wheel and beat Google, Playstation/Wii, iPod, Symbian/Blackberry/iPhone... all while they release that bloated POS's like Vista that make consumers dislike them even more.

But I fear we have Apple doing the same thing now with the iPhone and iPods being a huge distraction (though hugely profitable distractions), while their computer and software products are stagnating. I do hope Snow Leopard proves me wrong. But it's time for some new stuff in the computer line, the Mac Mini for instance is ridiculously outdated for it's price.

[bondtrails]

Quote

> In other words, he thinks the same strategy that helped Microsoft become the leader on the desktop
> licensing its OS for use by other hardware makers

Actually, MS became the leader on the desktop through monopolistic practices. They effectively shut down OS competition by threatening hardware OEMs by witholding Windows Licensing for OS or Office (remember IBM's attempt to marek OS/2 Warp? MS threatened to delay licensing by 6 months if IBM didn't drop the optional OS/2 from the end-user's choice of OS's).



In anycase, Monkey Boy has bigger problems. I walked into the Apple store this weekend to get a mini-DVI video cable for my macbook when I saw over at the iMac section a whole host of PC users completely entranced by the power, ease and elegance of the Mac and OS X. They said "Hey, Apple incorporated MS's version of Vista so much nicer and easier!". The Apple rep said that OS X was out a few years before Vista and is currently generations ahead. When the PC users also saw Windows running on Parallel, they were hooked and Apple sold 4 iMacs in that 30 minute span.



As more PC users see the light, MS will become history.







Cheers,



Bondster!!

[aclindsay]

@bernardlanguillier

Quote

As far as technology goes, stability has simply not been a problem with Windows since XP.

Since I just downgraded from Vista to XP I will have to disagree with you here!
Vista on my two month old (and powerful) laptop was buggy enough to cause me to go through the pain of downgrading. Maybe this was Dell's fault or maybe it was MS, but the fact remains the experience was bad and this effects my perception of MS.

[KevinOz]

Ballmer still searching for an answer to Google ????
Maybe he can Google the answer like everyone else does ;)

[KevinOz]

Ballmer still searching for an answer to Google ???
Maybe he can 'GOOGLE' the answer like the rest of us do ;)