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 ...
Vista is so great, people don't even care about pirating OSX anymore! OSX86 who what why?
On the article content, I think Balmer is making an accurate statement. The market is relatively mature, and there's no real reason to rush out and change over, except for guys like you, who enjoy getting under the hood and having some fun with the innards of the system. I think Vista will come in at roughly the replacement rate for PCs, although I think they will continue to lose some market share to Apple and other niche manufacturers.
The fact that he's talking about Apple means that the ads have had the desired effect. I don't know how old you are, but I remember back during the soft porn magazine wars, Penthouse ran a series of ads mocking Playboy. At that time, Playboy was selling nearly 100 times the amount Penthouse was. By portraying themselves as equals in the ads, Penthouse positioned itself and for a while, actually passed Playboy in sales. Also, the percentage of operating systems in place is only one measure of success. Apple also gets the computer profit, and controls 70% of the market in portable music players and online music sales. This is a market MS desperately wants. In terms of total sales, Apple had 21 billion to MS' 44 billion last year. Microsoft is certainly bigger, but Apple's growth over the last few years is pretty phenomenal.
One thing about MS, is, IMHO, they operate out of fear as a matter of corporate policy. In his book, Business at the Speed of Thought, Bill Gates came across as a guy who believed there was really only room for one company at the top, and when that company fell, it went all the way down and was crushed by another company. When MS took on Netscape, for example, it was never about profits. MS simply didn't want a competitor. So, does MS fear Apple? Yeah, but they feared Netscape, Hotmail, Wordperfect, Lotus, Google, etc.
I heard the Vista roll out was one of, if not the biggest, product roll out in history and nobody knew it.
All I ever really heard about Vista was it put more restrictions on computer users then ever before and didn't look to be too good for gamers, which games are the only reason computers came into existence.
It's nice that they can do other things but the game's the thing.
Oh yeah, and on industry averages and stuff, if you don't own any market share then you sell five computers you've just done five times the industry average.
Or something close that. Words to that effect.
If the Mac ever became a big hit with the public, Steve Jobs would keel over in disgust. Macs are designed by a self-identified elitist for self-identified elitists.
Yes, growth. According to that, Apple's worldwide marketshare grew about 25% in two years. That's far more than the industry average. Take that down to the US only and the numbers are far higher, since Apple has been growing in the US much faster than in the rest of the world.
Even the most expensive Macs look downright cheap compared to some of the offerings out there.
This guy really hates Macs, and needs to do more research.
How many copies of MacOS X do you think Apple could sell to the PC world?
Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it. This guy needs to look at OS/2 and BeOS.
And back in reality they're marketed to the average guy who's getting fed up with Windows.
Five computers. . . how cute. . . as well as dismissive and ignorant.
How does 6,160,000 Macs sold in 2006 strike you? Growth 4th calendar quarter over quarter growth for Macs of 31.8% according to Gartner... while the overall PC market barely eked out 5.6%. Apple GAINED market share... which means that PCs LOST market share.
Macs are designed by a self-identified elitist for self-identified elitists.
Not content to dismiss the Mac as irrelevant, you then proceed to insult all Mac users... nice of you. Really makes you look intelligent and sensible... do you think? I don't.
You forgot the propeller on Linux' Beanie... and the tool kit.
Not to mention what happened the *first* time Apple licensed the OS to just about any comers - it almost killed the company.
Before that, guess what happened when NextStep became OpenStep and ran on PCs? You got it, it pretty much killed the company.
Why would *anyone* who had ever been associated with either company even *think* about selling OS X for PC?
When you don't have much market share to begin with, all there is to do is gain.
It is like when MSNBC was bragging that they went up 44% or whatever it was, when they get five extra viewers, their market gain percentage soars.
But don't sweat it, Steve Jobs has never met a gain in market share he couldn't defeat. If he wanted Macs to be popular outside a small clique of self-proclaimed super geniuses, that could have happened long ago.
And think about the Mac die hard himself, once everyone is a Mac user, how is he going to stroke his little ego and feel part of something special? Mac popularity will cause a schism in the user community and little start-ups will pop up and there will be fifty little Mac micro-brews each claiming to adhere to the One True Faith. You got to figure that it already started when Mac betrayed the One True Faith by going Intel. That sort of thing doesn't go unoticed.
The Mac has become the new Apple IIe.
Did Steve Jobs kick your dog? Walk through your sandcastle? Steal your candy? Tell your little friends you wet the bed?
And think about the Mac die hard himself, once everyone is a Mac user, how is he going to stroke his little ego and feel part of something special?
Are you proud of yourself?Obviously, you have no valid arguments. It is quite apparent that your ignorance is getting the best of you when you cannot muster any facts to your defense and you resort to attacking and insulting people you don't even know. Argumentum Ad Hominem, the last craven refuge of those destitute of factual information.Mac users have "little egos?" That's a good one. Did you come up with that all by yourself?
I suspect your ego must be very small, smaller even thus us poor misled Mac users, because you seem feel the need to inflate it by spewing insults.
What have Mac users done to you to deserve such opprobrium and calumny?
You got to figure that it already started when Mac betrayed the One True Faith by going Intel.
What "One True Faith" is that, Duke?Were you baptised into the Fundamental Church of the 6502? Or perhaps the cult of the M68000, or maybe the heresies of the 68020, or the schismatic followers of the 68030? Perhaps you were referring to the cultic fanaticism of the Holy Order of the G Series PowerPCs? Which one of these true religions did you find lacking?
Why should you think it "Betrayal" that Apple elected to embrace the worship of the Almighty Intel®, at who's silicon teat you seem to have been sucking for years, aspiring to be the High Priest of the Corporeal Core?
I would think you would rejoice that the lost sheep have seen the light and returned to the fold. . . Or, have you fallen from grace and now writhe in satanic ecstasy at the cloven hooves of AMD???
Come, take a bite of the Apple of knowledge...
The Mac has become the new Apple IIe.
Ah, there it is... you have your panties in a wad 23 years after your pet computer was left in the dustbin of history by better technology. Sad. Sad. Sad.
Take a bass, that is, the whole bass, and drop it right in!
If current trends hold, Apple will surpass Microsoft in total revenue within three years. Obviously operating systems are becoming a smaller piece of the pie in the computer industry.
Microsoft is going to have to do better than the "Zune" and a DRM-infested OS if they are going to remain top dog in the computer world much longer.
Apple topped 3% of the world market in December... and 6% of the US Market. 12% of the US laptop market. And growing.
No, but Windows Vista has become the next Microsoft "Bob". Vista is low-quality crap. Most everyone at Microsoft (except Bill Gates) knows it - but they don't care.
The Windows franchise is eroding, and competitors like Apple and Linux are gaining. Vista is years behind Mac OS X 10.4 in quality and innovation - and Apple has another major OS release coming soon that will embarrass Microsoft again.
Paul Kedrosky got it exactly right in his article a couple of days ago (Wall Street Journal - "Hasta la Vista") - Vista is too little, too late.
Now Microsoft is talking about their next big version of Windows scheduled for release in 2009 - or 2011 or 2012, who knows when they'll actually ship the thing? Maybe they'll finally get some of the stuff they originally promised would be in Vista years ago, like WinFS and NGSCB. Or maybe they'll just recommend that Windows users migrate to XBox.
Meanwhile, Microsoft is shifting their focus away from operating systems - to competing against Google on advertising and search engines. That's what the MS engineers are focused on now.
Through incompetence and mismanagement, Microsoft is headed toward a spectacular train wreck in the years to come. It will be sad to watch. Fortunately, Apple and Linux have a bright future and will be a viable alternative to the once-great Windows empire.
I just got a new desktop Wednesday with Vista pre-loaded. Up to this point it's basically as Shakespeare wrote "much ado about nothing". I wouldn't spend a dime for the difference between XP and Vista... All they did that I can tell is change stuff around so it is harder to find!!
The Zune has its own name among owners, the "Sh**brick"
Try OS X for 2 months and report back.
If you didn't have a teeny tiny little fragile Mac ego, how could my little quips upset you so much :). It's just a computer. It's not a god. And it can't be that great a computer considering it's market share.
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