Posted on 09/17/2012 6:23:52 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is convinced that Windows 8 will be a winner, he doesn’t seem too impressed with Amazon’s Kindle Fire, and he expects Microsoft to build on its core capability in software to become more of a “devices and services” company in the next five to 10 years.
Those are a few of the takeaways from a wide-ranging interview with Ballmer published online by the Seattle Times Saturday evening, providing some insights into the Microsoft CEO’s mindset as the company prepares for the pivotal launch of Windows 8 this fall.
At one point in the interview, Seattle Times reporter Janet Tu asked Ballmer what Microsoft will do if Windows 8 doesn’t take off. Ballmer said he doesn’t have any doubt that it will do well.
“I’m not paid to have doubts,” he said.
Of course, Ballmer wants strike a confident tone in public, but his comments as published don’t acknowledge the huge risk that Microsoft is taking by overhauling the default Windows 8 interface to make the operating system work better on tablets.
In my experience, Windows 8 works well as a tablet operating system, but I believe Microsoft executives are underestimating the potential for a backlash from users of Windows 8 on traditional desktop computers, where the experience can be highly disorienting.
Amazon’s Kindle Fire came up during the interview as part of an exchange about tablet pricing. Talking about lower-priced 7-inch tablets, the Microsoft CEO asked rhetorically if anyone would ever use the Kindle Fire to do homework.
He said, “The answer is no; you never would. It’s just not a good enough product. It doesn’t mean you might not read a book on it.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
Oh, and I still use XP Pro SP3....;)
LOL! Yep, I would. I have Win8 as a dual boot along with Win7. I play around in Win8, but do my work in Win7. For the first few days everything was fine. But last Friday I started having problems shutting down Win8, or trying to reboot into Win7. I hit shutdown or reboot and it goes right back to the Metro screen. At times it begins the shutdown process, but goes to a black screen and the laptop is still powered. Nothing allows the system to shut down completely, nor can I get back to the Win8 desktop. I have to pull the plug and battery.
A Google search shows others have had the problem as well. So, I'm staying away from it for now.
Seems they are leaning to appease the gamesters, rather than those who use the computer to make a living.
People who write for a living, or use spreadsheets, or develop presentations, don’t need to be futzing around trying to figure out new interfaces all the time, they need to concentrate on their work.
At least they could offer an add in for folks who want the classic, productive, interface.
Availability and compatibility were two of the factors that drove Windows to be the OS of choice around the world. As a believer in “dance with the one who brung you”, MS shouldn’t mess with that basic concept.
I understand their desire to keep up in the marketplace, however, the marketplace is not “one size fits all”. Even Henry Ford saw the advantage in making more than one model.
Thanks, I’ll look into it.
Unfortunately, Open Office does NOT do everything Office does, and even some of what it does do, it does wrong (and I'm comparing it to Office '97). Believe me, I want it to be good, but there are a lot of features in Office it doesn't replicate.
The only caveat I’d throw in about OpenOffice (which I use on Windows, Mac, and Linux) is that while it can exchange files with MS Office, you have to be careful with anything that’s layout-dependent. OpenOffice and MS Office don’t always render documents exactly the same, so you have to be careful with forms, etc., especially those that push the limits of what fits on a page.
Nerds and techies still seem to prefer Windows XP Pro
I’ve been using Win8 for a few months now. I initially reacted negatively to the learning curve, but I could not deny the better frame rates and benchmarks I was getting.
I went back to Win7 after a week and figured I’d skip this release, before finally breaking down and-reinstalling it. My second run with it I took the time to really learn all the little shortcuts and tricks and began to find the things that really impress me about the OS.
Now I keep my Windows 7 array alive and well on a pair of disconnected disks (in case of emergency, break glass) but have found no compelling reason to go back to it, and several to stay with 8. Fortunately, I’ve had none of the shutdown issues (I suspect that’s related to power management, and changing to high performance mode, or disabling Hibernate will work around it).
I also found the aesthetic to be nice once I figured out how to customize and organize the Start screen. It truly is a slick, if somewhat schizophrenic OS that will bridge the gap from the older NT-style interface to an active desktop future.
In my mind, there are only two items Microsoft really has to solve: The first is making Metro friendlier to multitasking and multiple windows (in Metro), and the second phasing out the old fallback desktop as a stopgap to solve item 1.
Otherwise, this really is a stellar OS with just a slightly steeper learning curve.
The casual user who doesn’t play games and just wants to surf the web should use linux, its free too
I tried taking an online class and there were a few things I needed that OO didn’t do. But since I stopped, I wondered why I paid so much for MS Office.
Last week my harddrive died and now I use Ubuntu 12.04 and I like it fine, I wish there were more games though. lol.
WarZone2100 is a bit addicting
One of the threads regarding the shutdown issue in Win8 mentioned it possibly being caused by laptops with imbedded SD card readers. If there’s no card in the reader, it may be hanging up on that drive. Seems goofy, but my laptop does have an imbedded SD card slot. I’m going to reboot Win8 with a card in the slot and see what happens.
As for Win8 in general, I’m comfortable with it. A couple days of fooling around in Metro, changing icons, reorganizing the layout, and I’m happy. There are some issues to be sure, but nothing beyond the shutdown problem that makes it a turnoff...
this on the day that yahoo, an ms bing partner, is dumping all blackberrys and move all employees to google and iphone based phones.
Yahoo employees should all be getting win 8 phones. This is another marketing blunder.
If history is a good indicator, I’ll wait for Windows 9 SP1.
You know, some of these guys are like veteran football coaches. At some point in their careers, the game passes them by. Chuck Knox, Tom Landry, Mike Ditka could not adapt to the changing game, but they were too venerable to take a demotion, so they had to leave.
Steve Ballmer is one of those.
I’m back in Win8. I’ve managed three shutdown/restarts with an SD card in the slot. No problem. If this is all it is, big deal. I’m happy.
Lol.. and I thought I was the only one still playing that ;)
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