Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer >> Message to me is very simple. What Mr. Ballmer, as I do understand is saying to me, STAY WITM MAC, OTHERWISE WE SCREW YOU! So I must say, thank you Mr. Ballmer!

Anybody want to challenge that statement?

Ok, the only stat I have is they say that Windows has 95% of the computer market. Given that, I can't see it being any other way.

Actually, being in academic and having had to do field work, I can definitively say that there is a market for tablet PCs. In the field there are situations were a laptop can be more of a nuisance than a blessing despite the fact that it was designed for portability. Despite its mobility, laptops generally still require that the user have some surface to work on. This is where the tablet PC comes into its own as it is essentially the digital equivalent of a pad on a clipboard.

The ultimate problem with tablet PCs is that they all run Windows. As with a great many things, it will probably take Apple to do it right before it picks up steam on the Windows side. Remember how USB got started. Microsoft and Intel developed USB and that most PCs had begun to ship with USB ports in the late-1990s. Yet, it was not until Apple introduced the iMac and replaced all of its legacy serial ports with USB that we saw the rest of the market take to the hot-swappable interface technology. To this day nearly every single PC sold still comes with legacy PS/2 mice and keyboards, Centronics parallel ports and RS-232C serial ports and peripheral OEMs still make devices that connect via these technologies in conjunction with USB.

Microsoft cannot even get PC users to abandon obsolete interface technologies on the machines that run their monolithic OS, yet Apple and easily 95+ percent of Mac users have long since abandoned anything that does not interface with their computers via USB or FireWire. Apple may not dominate the field, which in many ways is a good thing, but they do know how to get the ball rolling without bulldozing.

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“Cannot run out of time. There is infinite time. You are finite. Zathras is finite. This is wrong tool.” 2.3GHz Power Mac G5/4GB/500GB HDD/OS X 10.4.11/30-inch ACD, 60GB iPod (Color)

"There is no way you can get there with Apple."

Yeah, sure Ballmer. You and all Longhorn users with 64-bit processing and WinFS agree completley.

The only sign Ballmer needs is one saying "I'm stupid", ala Jeff Foxworthy.

You know, Ballmer is one guy MS really needs to not let out in public. This latest statement is at the same level of his on-stage "Bomber" flip-out from a few years ago.

With his entire product line collapsing under its own weight (Why should I buy the next Office? When WILL the real Longhorn ship?) and his "trustworthy computing" being anything but, Ballmer has far more serious things to attend to. Sniping products he can only dream of producing is a great expression of envy. Let him seethe.

-sip

"Ballmer told reporters that the market is about to reach "the tipping point" where a device is introduced that "can take on critical mass," leading to "an explosion in demand."

"Baller's living in a five-year time warp. That device is/was the iPod."

iPod is soon history. Or at least not cutting edge as music players will be 13 in a dozen.
Instead we may be talking here about HTPC and PVR systems. Seems there is not a single readymade solution available for consumers yet, all are custom built, mainly by enthusiasists and hobbyists.
Apple should announce Apple-branded HTPC solution soon. It may be a new box or it may be some added functionality for Mac. MS surely will do its own thingie soon.