Posted on 02/15/2007 7:04:00 PM PST by Swordmaker
Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said Thursday that Wall Street's current expectations for revenue from its newest operating system may be too "optimistic."
"I'm really excited about how enthusiastic people are about Vista, but I think some of the revenue forecasts for Vista in 2008 are overly aggressive," Ballmer said in a meeting for financial analysts. "(Vista) is primarily a chance to sustain what (Windows) revenue we have -- not every release is a revenue growing opportunity.". . .
Ballmer also responded to a question about a series of commercials made by smaller computer maker Apple Inc.. . .
"I'll give Apple credit for what it's done," Ballmer said. It's not like they've really grown a lot of market share (through the commercials). Remember, when you're the little tiny niche guy who owns about 2 percent of the worldwide (computer) market, you can be cute one time and it helps you grow."
(Excerpt) Read more at businessweek.com ...
Wow! So are Mac users a protected group now?
yea its "pretty" but a real threat? hell no...
First of all insults are not quips. They are insults. Slurs. Attacks on persons not ideas or things.
Secondly, I am not upset. Mac users develop thick skins because of ignorant twerps who repeatedly insult them, demonstrating the insulters total lack of refinement or civility. I am amused at your juvenile antics and am wondering when you will become an adult and begin to discuss things as an adult. It hasn't happened yet.
Thirdly, I find it funny that you are so insecure in your choice of operating system that you cannot muster logical and coherent argument to support your choice, deciding instead to spout lies about and insult people who made a different choice.
You may think you are funny, but you are not. The jokes got old years ago.
I find it amusing that you are so sensitive.
I'm not making fun of Macs, since they are PC's now they aren't really as amusing as they used to be. I'm making fun of the lack of sense of humor of Mac users who take themselves so seriously. It is like they are little clones of Steve Jobs!
You are a very amusing person! Well done!
It is almost like using a one button mouse makes a person one dimensional. Seems like a good doctoral thesis.
Macs have supported the multi-button mouse with scroll wheels for several years now. But it's still a good design principle that software should be designed to operate with a single-button mouse when necessary. It would make a good thesis, not for a "one-dimensional person", but for universal access.
Sensitive? No. Tired of it? You bet... as are most of the 240 member Freepers of the Mac Ping list.They are sick and tired of being called "cultish", "stupid", "smug", "children", "gay", "elitist", "liberals", "users of toy computers", "delusional", "drinkers of the Kool-Aid" and "effete snobs"... all of which have been used on FreeRepublic thread on Macs by ignorant Windows users who love to spout mis-information they have heard or read somewhere just as ignorant.
They did not ask to be members of the Ping list to be insulted about their choice of computers. They do not want to be the target of your snide insults and smarmy remarks. YOUR FUN may be fun for you, but it is NOT FUN for the other 240. That makes you a bigot and a tiresome boor. Neither is funny.
It is almost like using a one button mouse makes a person one dimensional. Seems like a good doctoral thesis.
Make that an ignorant bigot and tiresome boor. I have not used a one button mouse on my main Mac for over 12 years. The new Macs have not shipped with a single button mouse for over a year... and yet you spout that canard. And, again hint that Mac users are psychologically damaged.The fact is, Duke, most Mac users are far more computer literate than your average PC user. Many of us are required to USE Windows daily. We just choose not to when we have a choice. Mac users are like people who are bi-lingual. We speak both Windows and Mac... and are usually conversant with both.
Mac users have far more experience with both platforms than do most Windows users. Yet YOU claim the arrogant position of critic of our informed decisions. Who is the smug one? From our more informed position it is you, who are so certain of your superiority out of familiarity with only one platform. You are pitiful.
It is especially pathetic considering the DLL hell and infections and invasions you Windows users have to put up with on their computers. . . something OS X users have not had to contend with for over five years.
I'd like to see a graveyard for "Bush's fault", "Bushbots", "WODers", "Hugh" and "Serious".
George, I don't understand why people buy gaming PCs when they could get the same or better performance from game consoles costing 1/10th the price. Well, maybe 20% with the Sony PlayStation 3.
Ah, Duke, i suppose Mercedes-Benz and Porsche are bad cars because they have about the same market share as Apple does.
Consumer acceptance means consumers are willing to buy something. It doesn't mean that something even meets minimal quality standards - take Britney Spears' "music" et al. An interesting example because price has nothing to do with it.
I seem to remember this discussion before, but really, you shouldn't be able to get away with those tired points, should you?
I think that realistically, the Apple world is always going to be a little elitist. People who want the best and to reject mediocrity tend to gravitate towards the company. Steve Jobs is just a wonderful symbol to this type of person, the obsessed perfectionist who really cares about building wonderful products.
Because Steve Jobs is dedicated to making great products, they're always going to cost a bit more. An Apple computer is never going to be as cheap as a similar Dell. And what this means is that it's unlikely to ever have more than about 10% market share, just as luxury car makers share a relatively small, but very profitable, percentage of the market.
Now, personally I would not mind the scenerio where a lot of elite computer makers sprung up to make better and more innovative products. But because most people need third-party software for their computers, and because this requires a critical mass of sales to be viable, I'm afraid that for the foreseeable future, we're going to be stuck with nothing more than the current three of Windows, MacOS and Linux. And of those in terms of third party software only the first two are really competitive.
Because the average consumer focuses single-mindedly on price instead of quality, the sum of cheaper Windows and Linux sales will always be able to win a majority over Apple. So Apple fans will be able to continue being snobbish about their computers no matter what
Hope that was an interesting perspective.
D
I think that's a bit of a short-sighted way of looking at it. In fact, you have had to contend with it many ways for years. When the zombie windows boxes spew spam, crap, worms and whatnot, you see it in a decrease of network performance, hundreds of unwanted spam in your inbox and having your systems that are on the internet constantly banged on by MS-worms trying to propagate.
We don't pay for the shoddy crap that Microsoft puts out directly, but we do ultimately pay in a poorer internet experience.
Did you see the new DX-10 demo nvidia rolled out today? You should check it out if you have an 8800.
congratulations for finally making it to where Mac users have been for years. Interestingly the Linux computer I'm using right now that I always hear is so difficult to use does the same thing. USB devices are USB devices to it. No drivers, just plug it in and suck the data off.
Well.. I have been hearing how bad Vista Sucks.. so I just wanted to explain... BTW, the camera in question also came with "Vista" compatible Software and the owners manual even says that it's Vista compatible...
I think Apple has a potential of capturing 15%-20% of the market. Vista offers a lot of things most people really don't want. Some of us oppose it because it is just Evil (DRM, etc.).
No, I need to look into it... thanks for the heads up... I don't have a DX10 card yet... I'm using onboard GeForce 6150 at the moment until the midrange DirectX 10 cards become available. ;)
Tell me about it I'm still running AGP =-p
IMO the screen shots of the demo don't show me anything that blows me away. Not even the shots of Crysis running DX10 look all that different from DX9 to me.
Cool. It's good to know microsoft has finally at least partially joined the 21st century. Of course, the thing that is most funny about this, is a rag-tag group of volunteer coders beat them to it with Linux. If I were Microsoft management, I'd be asking some serious questions about how that happened, given the money MS spends on its programming teams.
1. Same hardware at a cheaper price
2. no need for parallels
3. Vista is included in you're hardware when you buy then system...
4. Office is the only thing you would need to "buy" get the "home basic"/"student" version and you're set...
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