Posted on 04/24/2008 8:44:30 AM PDT by Red Badger
Microsoft Corp. chief executive Steve Ballmer on Thursday offered a glimmer of hope to fans of the company's XP operating system, saying customer demand may see the company reconsider a decision to stop selling XP in June.
But Ballmer was adamant that "most people who buy PCs today buy them with Vista."
"That's the statistical truth," he told reporters at a press conference at Louvain-La-Neuve university.
"If customer feedback varies, we can always wake up smarter," he said.
Fans of the six-year-old operating system set to be pulled off store shelves by June 30 have papered the Internet with blog posts, cartoons and petitions recently. They trumpet its superiority to Windows Vista, Microsoft's latest PC operating system, whose consumer launch last January was greeted with lukewarm reviews.
Ballmer said the customers buying PCs with XP are IT departments who are having trouble shifting old machines to newer technology.
Some 160,000 people have already signed an online Save XP Web petition who want Microsoft to keep selling it until the next version of Windows is released, currently targeted for 2010.
Ballmer said he was very confident that Microsoft's US$44 billion (euro27.6 billion) offer for Yahoo Inc. was "a very good price."
He refused to say if the company plans to appeal against a fine of euro899 million (US$1.3 billion) that the European Union levied in February.
Microsoft has until the first week of May to launch a legal challenge against the EU decision that it had not obeyed a 2004 antitrust order to share communications information with rivals.
Joking with the press and even breaking into good French, Ballmer acknowledged that he's finding it hard to keep up with social networking on the Facebook Web site.
"I do have a profile on Facebook," he said. "It's hard to keep up. I get many friend requests from people I don't know."
"There's about 10 Steve Ballmers and I'm only one of them. I'm the one who actually has a picture that looks like me on it!" he said. "I'm hitting a golf ball, that's the real Steve Ballmer."
He was in Belgium to open a Microsoft innovation center in Mons that hopes to boost new startups in the country, creating some 200 jobs over the next three years.
A thread posted yesterday had Apple computer profits at a record high. I wonder why...
LOL! Not sure if I’d classify mine as a “great mind”, but I do pride myself on my grasp of the obvious! :-)
It was new, out of the box. I have 3 other PCs and 2 TIVOs and 2 printers on the home network. I know what I’m doing.
Vista is garbage. Period.
I have apparently become a god to somebody in the UK......
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Obviously you dont know what you are doing. Period. Three weeks? give me a break.
Two friends who are writers had nothing but problems with Vista for whatever reason - neither is skilled in computers and they swore never to have anything to do with Vista.
My computers at home run Linux and Windows 2000 Pro. I'm typing this on my work computer...a brand new MacBook Pro that I just got earlier this week (a first time Mac user)!
Exactly...just ran into that brick wall when we purchased a new laptop for my boss from Dell last week.
And I thought Mac owners were ass wipes.
ROTFLMAO!
That post made me chuckle out loud!
Just bought a Lenovo laptop - came with downgrade CD’s in the box.
I guess Mr. Ballmer counts me as a Vista user.
I’m still trying to determine if I will “downgrade” or not - The machine seems slow for a new laptop and I suspect that the OS is at fault.
I plan on keeping XP as long as possible. I’ve built two PC’s recently and used XP for both. I’ve had NO problems with networking, or older hardware, or anything else for that matter.
It seems like whenever I upgrade, the newer operating system(Vista), is such a resource hog, that it feels like I’ve taken a step backwards performance wise.
I find it interesting how PC owners want to blame all of their woes on the makers of their hardware and none of it on Microsoft.
Heheh...sorry, I just couldn’t resist...:)
There are such people?
And I thought the complainers were just like me and did not want an inferior product SHOVED down their throats.....
But now I know, I am really a ‘fan’.....learn something new everyday.
/s
I find it interesting how PC owners want to blame all of their woes on Microsoft and none of it on the makers of their hardware but never, never, never on their own ignorance, lack of intelligence, defiance and hardheadedness.
There. I fixed it for you. :-)
Only alternative is build your own with XP - which MANY, MANY people are doing now - including Elmo.
shhhhhhh! now the masses wont have anything to complain about...
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