[davebarnes]

@OP
"The annual meeting comes a week after the company reported that for the first time its yearly earnings surpassed $50 billion."
In the USA, that would be revenue, not earnings.

[jpmhughes]

Quote:

---

Vista doesnt get done by three people in a garage in three days, said Steve Ballmer."

---

Ya see, that's Ballmer's problem.
Many advances in technology have gotten "done by three people in three days".
Once you start thinking like Balmer, you lose perspective.
Yes lose, people, not loose.

Quote:

---

A great misconception in the tech industry is that most successes happen overnight, he said.

---

No... No one has this "misconception", inspiration often happens overnight, not success.

"On the devices side, products like Windows Mobile, set-top boxes, Zune and Xbox will be key to Microsofts growth in the devices market", he said."
Ooohh, that's just sad. To think that these devices is what that are counting on. If you have stock.. sell now, seriously, sell now!

Quote:

---

Those hires continue to work in offices around the world and they come from many different countries. As an example of the type of people working at just the Redmond, Wash., headquarters, 1,000 employees there speak Russian, he said.
Those workers will help bring about new innovations during the next ten years, a period that Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said he expects will be more exciting than that past 30 years of the companys history.

---

Yeah that's it, hire people from outside of the United states. Somehow this will provide the innovation that those three people hanging out in the garage somehow lacked.
That's the ticket!
Ooops I think I dated myself there.

Quote:

---

He demonstrated Microsofts Surface computer offering. Of all the demonstrations that he has done over the decades, this is one that hes been most surprised about how people respond, he said. People very quickly envision complex things that could very easily be done with the technology, he said.

---

Ahh yes the amazing "Surface computer". Just what people want, a device that reads any other device in range or placed upon it.
What shall we call this?... Squirting? No already taken (tapping my pencil now)..
I know, how about leaking! No.
Bleeding! No.
Privacy invader. There ya go.

"Hey honey, why does your digital camera have nude photos of our next door neighbor?"
"Huh, does it? Well look at that."
Bet three guys in a garage couldn't come up with that.
Jim
Time to ditch the "dancing monkey boy".
Google it, trust me it is worth it!
I particularly like the part where he obviously hurts his foot, but like the trooper he is, keeps on going like some sort of demonized Energizer bunny.
/forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

[MacTel]

Quote:

---

Those workers will help bring about new innovations during the next ten years, a period that Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said he expects will be more exciting than that past 30 years of the companys history.

---

Starting with the iPhone and Surface type devices. Microsoft's Surface has a lot of potential but won't reach the masses for quite some time (i.e. 5 to 10 years). /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

[imagewrangler]

Translation of Ballmer's words, if nobody's posted yet, is "we're waiting for Apple to innovate another incredible product that we can blatantly try to rip off and pass off as our idea."

[Wondercow]

Vista doesnt get done by three people in a garage in three days
Kind of an ironical statement considering Apple was founded by TWO guys in a garage.

[mcbane666]

Quote:

---

/forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif Huh innovation? What company are they trying to buy now?

---

Wow I hurt a gut on this one /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[mcbane666]

I like how the table has turned
Apple was a hardware developer, microsoft was a software developer.
Mircosoft just started making ok hardware (360) and crappy software (anything after win 98)
Apple has for a while been making Great hardware, and Great software

[MacTel]

Quote:

---

Translation of Ballmer's words, if nobody's posted yet, is "we're waiting for Apple to innovate another incredible product that we can blatantly try to rip off and pass off as our idea."

---

Microsofties called Apple "Redmond South". Obviously for good reason as you mention. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

[Meatleg]

and WHY does it take so long?
well, FIRST micosoft has to wait until Apple innovates.
THEN we have to be very careful to reverse engineer and implement a poor copy of the design of said innovations, while taking great pains to fully ignore the actual purpose of the funcionality so that we dont look like cheaters and patent violators.
this just TAKES a while people...
patience PLEASE!!!

[webstyr]

Vista doesnt get done by three people in a garage in three days, said Steve Ballmer.
Well, that may be true, but I'd wager that if Vista was done by three people in a grage it might actually work!
I just think it is hillarious that Balmer and M$ are reducing themselves to nothing more than Billboard Content salesmen simply because they have no answer to the onslaught of Apple.
Ha, Ha! /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

[vr1000]

The problem that Microsoft has now is the same problem that IBM had as the PC became ubiquitous. Once a company feels it has a market sewn up, it gets a false sense of entitlement. It starts to think that it can do anything and that its customers are lucky to be served by it. What has and will keep Microsoft on top for at least a while longer is their penetration of the enterprise. There is so much inertia and groupthink in big companies that there will be resistance to cheaper, more secure and better solutions like Linux at least a while longer. Also for all its faults Vista is a good development platform, they at least got that right..

[kwill]

Quote:

---

In its fiscal year 2007, Microsoft hired almost 13,000 people, including 4,000 in product development areas, he said. Those hires continue to work in offices around the world and they come from many different countries. As an example of the type of people working at just the Redmond, Wash., headquarters, 1,000 employees there speak Russian, he said.

---

Why does this remind me of the tower of Babel?

[aestival]

Did Microsoft really have to use a rep who looks like a more lumpy (and probably humorless) version of John Hodgman? Their two killer apps appear to be a photo sorter that allows the user to be messy (I can do that with paper photos) and to order room service at a hotel -- leaving aside that you can generally do that via the in-room TV, does Microsoft seriously see hotels as a big new market? Last time I checked they almost all have high-speed internet, so I doubt hotel guests will be dying to learn Microsoft's latest buggy and non-intuitive interface (especially since most of them are trapped using crappy old Windows to start with!)

[warlock7]

Ballmer thinks that Surface is their future?!?!?!
A 10 THOUSAND dollar table with cameras inside making it appear to work like the iPhones multi-touch functionality.
Monkey Boy has lost his friggin' mind!