Ballmer said that the company will add both high-end desktop editions and new server options in the next versions of Windows and Office. When asked how he defines high-end Ballmer replied, "Double the bloat at quadruple the cost."
Posted on 07/29/2005 9:17:26 AM PDT by Perdogg
REDMOND, Wash.--Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told analysts Thursday that Microsoft is planning new, higher-priced versions of both Windows and Office in the coming years as part of its effort to grow sales. Ballmer said that the company will add both high-end desktop editions and new server options in the next versions of Windows and Office.
Microsoft's chief executive made his comments at a company-sponsored financial analyst conference here.
Ballmer noted that the existing premium Windows XP Professional version had added billions of dollars of extra revenue for Microsoft. "We have plans in the Vista generation to introduce an Enterprise edition," Ballmer said in a speech kicking off the Microsoft Financial Analyst Meeting.
Ballmer also said that Microsoft is planning a higher-end Office Premium version with Office 12 as well as an Office Server that carries with it an additional fee for each computer that accesses the productivity software.
Ballmer didn't specify what features will go into Office Premium or Windows Vista Enterprise Edition. The company launched the first test versions of Windows Vista and a corresponding server version of the operating system on Wednesday.
Other Microsoft executives also declined to offer more details on the premium versions of Office and Windows.
"We haven't finalized details about what we might do," group vice president Jeff Raikes said, referring to what might go into a premium version of Office. He did reiterate that the company plans a number of server-based products, but declined to specify those as well.
"We have servers people haven't even written rumors about," he said.
The other part of Microsoft's growth strategy, Ballmer said, rests in its expansion into other areas, such as software for cell phones, game consoles and interactive television.
Ballmer noted that hundreds of millions of cell phones are sold each year, but that Microsoft's software today only runs on dozens of millions of cell phones.
"Some people may think we are standing still, but we are not," he said.
The CEO also focused a good deal of attention on the company's competition with Internet leaders such as Yahoo and Google.
"We have won on the desktop," Ballmer said. "Now we really are going to win on the Web."
Ballmer said the Web will be the No. 1 place to advertise, noting that there will eventually only be a handful of major places to advertise on the Internet. "You can rest assured this company will be one of them."
He also noted that the company has "dialed up the pace of acquisitions" in recent months.
"We are unlikely to do blockbuster acquisitions," he added. "We are not closed-minded to it, but they are less likely."
Ballmer also talked about opportunities to grow the Windows business by cutting down on piracy and heading into the few outposts, such as technical computing, in which the OS has yet to make significant inroads.
Earlier this week, Microsoft made mandatory a program that requires users to verify their Windows copy is genuine before downloading patches and add-ons.
As for high-performance computing, Ballmer said that is "mostly a Linux world today," but the company has added staff in that area and is working on a version of Windows for that market. He also said the company can grow its share of the server market by targeting specific areas, such as Web servers.
Bob Muglia, Microsoft's senior vice president in charge of Windows Server development, told CNET News.com last month that the company plans to introduce a re-architected edition of its Internet Information Services Web server as part of a Windows Server revamp in 2007.
Copyright ©1995-2005 CNET Networks, Inc. All rights reserved.
Ballmer said that the company will add both high-end desktop editions and new server options in the next versions of Windows and Office. When asked how he defines high-end Ballmer replied, "Double the bloat at quadruple the cost."
In our firm we insist on the use of the Office 97 file format because we know it's readable almost anywhere. Think we see any reason to buy "Office 12"?
Earlier this week, Microsoft made mandatory a program that requires users to verify their Windows copy is genuine before downloading patches and add-ons.
Truley ROFL.
You forgot "half the speed" on equivalent hardware.
Zzzzzzzzzzzz...
Gosh, I hope it has another 70 or 80 features or programs embedded in it that I don't want.
Cuz I love that. Ooh, and I hope they all try to run at once every time I turn the thing on.
They'll silently cripple the "normal" version, and then charge you to upgrade (= remove the crippling). "NT4 Workstation" was "NT4 Server" with the word "server" crossed out and "workstation" written in crayon. And the only difference between XP Pro and XP Home is that in Home they disable the Administrator user and MS domain support. When you "upgrade" Home to Pro, all it really does is change a few settings in the Registry.
Even funnier is how MS is trying to deprecate Win2K (NT-5.0) in favor of WinXP (NT-5.1), when they are essentially identical other than the rounded blue corners and stupid-looking icons in XP. First thing I do when I have to work on an XP machine is set the interface to "2K" look-and-feel so it becomes useful again.
And the more I read about Longhorn Hasta la Vista, the more it sounds like NT-5.2 (different icons again) instead of something interesting.
[sigh]
Screw MS Office. I use OpenOffice. It's not perfect either, but it runs on my Linux boxes as well as the Win boxes.
Office 97 rules.
I remember back in the Texas Air National Guard, back in 1972 or so, some of the unit commanders got beta versions of Office 2002, iirc. Needed a card deck, job control card and about 200 Hollerith cards to create a 10 line memo.
Cuz I love that. Ooh, and I hope they all try to run at once every time I turn the thing on.
Me too! I want more balloons, pop-ups, and stoopid Hanna-Barbera-ish cartoons! I can't get enough of Microsoft's comic book approach to their GUI. And I want more opportunities and reminders to sign up for MSN Internet access. More holes and exploits for scumbag advertising companies and one time offers I can't refuse would be tons-o-fun as well. /sarc
Corel Office Suite is:
1. more intuitive than MS Office and more user friendly
2. operates faster.
3. functionally superior especially in regards to merges and macros.
Etc.
We can only pray that it won't include "that f**king paper-clip" (hilarious short MPEG movie, 500KB, profanity warning: not for young or sensitive ears, includes scenes of paperclip dismemberment).
It would be like Microsoft to force us to pay a premium to avoid hearing, "It looks like you're writing a letter!"
G,
Yeah, man all that- load me up! And don't forget the least helpful operation in the whole shebang, the "Help" function. That's important.
m,
Heh, that's a good one.
Look, Microsoft, here's what I need:
-An operating system that, well, operates the machine. It turns it on, makes it work, and everything lights up or goes "boop" and "beep" that needs to.
Here's what I don't need from an "operating system":
-everything else
Less is more with this stuff, fellas. Please.
We might put features in that a good OS should have, but you have to pay extra when we copy good ideas
Ballmer said the Web will be the No. 1 place to advertise, noting that there will eventually only be a handful of major places to advertise on the Internet. "You can rest assured this company will be one of them."
We are going to turn the internet into broadcast TV with only a few channels for content and advertising. Every byte of data will come through us and be checked for legality by every chip and piece of software - Your papers plizz ! Sieg Heil !
Run Win 3.1 or Win 95 with no virus protection, no crap loading on boot, no software firewall on an old Pentium 75. It should compare favorably to what they are selling today. Of course, with that setup, you probably don't want to hook it up to the internet unless you are downstream from suitable protection. It would make an adequate desktop machine if you have suitable protection at the server level.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.