“A top Microsoft executive today compared Apple’s iPhone 4 to his own company’s problem-plagued Vista operating system,” Gregg Keizer reports for Computerworld. ‘It looks like the iPhone 4 might be their Vista, and I’m okay with that,’ said Kevin Turner, Microsoft’s chief operating officer, in a keynote speech at Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC), which runs through Thursday in Washington, D.C.”
MacDailyNews Take: You might remember Microsoft’s Kevin Turner, he called Windows Vista “the most secure OS on the planet, including Mac OS X and Linux” in April 2009. Then, just when we’d finally stopped laughing, last July Turner said of Microsoft’s PC ad campaigns, “Wow. Did we punch right back? The PC Hunter ads, the PC Rookie ads clearly have been winners in the marketplace… And you know why I know they’re working? Because two weeks ago we got a call from the Apple legal department saying, hey — this is a true story — saying, ‘Hey, you need to stop running those ads, we lowered our prices.’ They took like $100 off or something. It was the greatest single phone call in the history that I’ve ever taken in business. I did cartwheels down the hallway.”
We’d still really like to see Kevin attempt even a single cartwheel. Of course, Apple’s record Mac sales continued to outpace the PC industry throughout Microsoft’s various ad campaigns. The one to which Turner refers was a case of false advertising, so of course Apple asked for it to be revised, which Microsoft promptly did. That “the greatest single phone call in the history that Turner’s ever taken in business” was that phone call speaks volumes. But, boy, those Microsoft “PC Hunter” and “PC Rookie” ads sure worked, didn’t they? They did if the goal was to increase Mac sales to record levels. Turner is like Ballmer’s Mini Me with a bad mustache. They’re both bad used car salesmen working for a derivative, mismanaged, hopelessly outclassed tech company.
By the way, nobody ever called Windows Vista the best operating system on the market. Nobody.
Keizer reports, “Earlier in his talk, Turner poked fun at the reception problems that have dogged Apple’s iPhone 4 since its June 24 launch. “One of the things I want to make sure you know today is that you’re going to be able to use a Windows Phone 7 and not have to worry about how you’re holding it to make a phone call,” Turner said, referring to the Microsoft mobile operating system set to debut on smartphones this fall.
MacDailyNews Take: Cartwheel Boy is right on that count, hardly anybody will have to worry about holding a Windows Phone 7, uh, phone (smooth naming scheme you’ve got there as usual, Microsoft).
Keizer reports, “The iPhone’s position isn’t unassailable, Turner argued. ‘We’re back in the game,’ he said. ‘And this game is not over.'”
MacDailyNews Take: Channelling Sergeant Hulka: “So, go ahead, give it your best shot… Gutless… Punk.”
For God’s sake, this is the most overblown topic, relative to the reality of the situation, I’ve ever seen.
He who laughs last has the final laugh.
This guy has got some nerve.
Microsoft says iPhone 4 is Apple’s Vista? Does Microsoft still stand by their belief Vista was a smashing success?
So … this MSFT big-wig is telling us there were unintended problems with a product it took them damn near a decade to get out the door? Fracking amazing! Well, since he is not delusional and Ballmer is, it may be a good thing he will be getting fired while Ballmer continues to run the company into the ground.
Fortunately for Kevin Turner, Microsoft’s chief operating office, his company has so many offerings that he could have chosen in Place of Vista for this story…
Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows…. Longhorn, MS Bob, Zune, X-Box 360, MS Watch, Windows Mobile, Windows Server, Kin One and Kin Two, Surface, Courier, Internet Explorer, you get where this is going…
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How’s that Kin working out for you, Kevin?
If you actually had an WinMo phone, you have much more to worry about than just how you have to hold it.
Childish mumbo jumbo. Jibber jabber at it’s best.
Is this Ringling Brothers Circus? Microsoft is being run by a bunch of clowns.
he also made the comment, Turner started his routine with the “it doesn’t matter how you hold a Windows Phone 7 phone” bit”
I think this is brilliant, this will help us iPhone 4 users with the antenna issue more than anything that has been said before this!
I think that guy just sealed the deal for us! iCal me!
Microsoft needs to remember that it’s hard to compare software to hardware. Ios 4 is a huge success compared to Vista and the iPhone is less problematic than the xbox 360. Microsoft + hardware = bigger problem than Apple + hardware or software.
Kevin, it “might be their Vista”. Is that the only Microsoft turd you could come up with or was it the only one that Microsoft forced on their customers that wanted to keep there old XP turd?
Windoze smart phones have bigger reception problems, poor market reception.
Waaa? I thought Vista was awesome. M$, didn’t you tell us that? I’m so confused!
The fact that everyone has to pick so hard at this issue is because they have nothing else to try and slam Apple over. Talk about making a mountain out of an anthill
Didn’t MS make Vista? Oh yeah and the Zune and not to be forgotten
Windows ME.
How much Sh@t do they have to make before the PC weenies give up?
Apple, sell the iMac for $399.00 and game over.
Buy a damn bumper. Turn vista into OS X instanly!
Difference is: nobody bought Vista.
You need a product to be in the game.
Microsoft has had to eat crow so many times for their foul-ups that they can’t find any other tactic to deal with their competitors than to sling mud. This only makes them dirtier in the public’s eye, in my book. I recall how windows 7 would solve many of the problems encountered by pc owners but I personally know of nobody who raves about it. I’m a Mac owner and I’ll always buy Apple products!
Wait… I thought Microsoft always maintained that Windows Vista was a smashing success. What a moron; can’t even parrot the corporate mantra.
If he really wanted to make a point, he would have called iPhone 4 Apple’s Kin. But that would be too humiliating (to Microsoft), especially after iPhone 4 continues to break sales records versus Kin being cancelled after selling a few hundred units.
Or he could have called iPhone 4 Apple’s Zune… Ouch!
@ Erk,
You guys with the iPhone 4 problem, both of you, should go get a free replacement or your money back.
That will help you a lot more than a Microsoft Weenie can.
Funny he couldn’t compare it to the XBox red ring of death, which no product has or will ever come close to being as faulty.
The Red-Ring-of-Death on the xbox360, was PROVEN by the 50% failure rate. One of every two are returned.
We aren’t seeing that with the iPhone4, are we?
No. We’re not.
The incompetence at Microsoft is killing me.
These guys really ARE out to lunch, and don’t have a clue.
I’d like to say a big “thank you” to Kevin and Steve, for creating a stock that I will love to short long into the future.
Good job, gentlemen!
…is pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others.
Microsoft better watch out, they have very little to gloat about.
Kin you say Zune?
Microsofts Vista for phones is, sorry was, called Kin
Former Walmart exec.
‘Nuff said.
You have to really love it when Microsoft insults another company by using a comparison to one of its own products. Really. Let that sink in. It shows just how STUPID Microsoft is.
That said, nobody was buying Vista, whereas with the iPhone 4, I STILL CANNOT FIND ONE to buy. Hardly Apple’s “Vista.”
Microsoft needs to pay more attention to Google than Apple because they’ve already lost the race to Apple.
MacDailyNews Take: Cartwheel Boy is right on that count, hardly anybody will have to worry about holding a Windows Phone 7, uh, phone (smooth naming scheme you’ve got there as usual, Microsoft).
Apple has been mediocre at the naming also… The iOS. Don’t forget there is a full size all in one Mac thats been around awhile called the iMac. Just sayin’. They don’t do it often, but it happens to all companies.
Too bad Vista couldn’t be fixed with a bumper for the 1% of the users reporting the problem, eh Kevin? Try again monkey-boy junior!
Analogizing this to Vista just insults MS further. I could make some joke that it doesn’t matter how you hold a Win7 phone because no one will be holding one, but that’s too immature.
I believe, Win7 is “better” only because everyone forgot how much faster and easier XP was than Vista. Every time I get to use an old XP box, I’m like, “Wow, I forgot how fast XP was.”
Inversely, every version of OS X is faster than the previous. With tech like Grand Central and OpenCL, Apple’s on the cutting edge of computer science, let alone quality hardware.
I suspect about as many people will be holding a ‘Windows Phone 7 System Super Ultra 7 Phone Windows’ as are holding a Zune.
Whoever came up with that name needs a new vocation.
So they’re coming out of the woodwork. Wankers All. Let’s be clear about this. Apple iPhone4 has 1, I repeat, 1 problem that is not reproducible on all machines all of the time – it depends upon your location and signal strength (I know because I tested this yesterday). Vista on the other hand was filled with crap and accomplished nothing.
WTF? You cannot compare a freaking lousy and bloated OS with an inconsistent antenna issue on an iPhone. BTW Your f*king Ghost phone is always perfect until it makes it to market. Just like your nonexistent Courier and who can forget The Slate (Bitch slapped because you heard Stevie J say that). That thing was so bad that the maker ran for the hills and bought another OS.
Don’t even compare Monkey Boy! You are not fit enough to sit in the same room as Apple, let alone crack jokes at their expense. By the way, how’s that market cap treating you? A*hole.
Baghdad Bob reincarnated.
This coming from the pinheads that thought the Kin was a hot new product…
Nice suit Kevin, you look like a turd
When you are the best, there is only one way you can go, down. When you are the very best, even a minor ‘down’ gets blown all out of proportion.
I see more and more people who were going to buy an iPhone now waiting to see what Apple does to correct the problem. I just spoke with a woman in our office who has a friend who can produce the dropped calls standing next to an AT&T;cell while her 3G is working fine in exactly the same location. There is another woman in the office who cannot reproduce the problem on her iPhone 4 no matter what she or anyone else does. It really is a mystery. But it is having an effect. For now, people are simply delaying their purchases, if this continues, they are likely not to buy, and worse, Apple’s reputation for quality is suffering. Apple needs to act to supply a fix, software or otherwise, and if a fix is not possible, admit it and take their lumps, and provide free bumpers.
Of course, Apple might have avoided this problem in the first place if their field testing of the iPhone 4 had consisted of more than losing one of the fucking things at a beer garden.
Apple’s parts supply chain is now so extensive, and leaky, that the secretiveness is only resulting in products being dumped on the market without enough testing, without employees able to handle any problems that come up, and without adequate resources on hand to handle little things like activated the frigging products.
What happened to Windows Phone 1-6?
Sorry, NO comparison. You can FIX the phone problem, but EVEN MICROSOFT could not fix VISTA, right? Hence Windows 7?
Sounds like Apple Legal should call this guy again…
…and say:
“We have a betting pool going on in the office: the question is how many iPhone 4’s have actually been returned by our customers (over reception problems only) versus how many Kin customers Microsoft has actually sold to: so can you tell us the exact number of Kins you’ve sold, please?”
-hh
They are all so desperate to try to put a hickey on Apple. This disaster they are trying to fabricate is in the midst of the most wildly successful product launch of any electronic device by any company in history.
@ currentinterest,
If you don’t work at AT&T you are full of shit.
hey microsoft. what the hell do you think your doing calling the iPhone 4 apple’s WINDOWS VISTA. what ever happened to your windows kin phones!!!!! or did i not say WINDOWS VISTA PHONE EDITION!!!!!! ha ha ha!!!!!! they sure dissappeared fast huhhh.. i wonder if they were actually running vista because they sucked… or was it WINDOWS CE aka WINDOWS CRAP EDITION!!!!!!!!! iPhone 4 Rules windows drules
Ur all fuckin n00bs lololololololololol
Microsoft is slinging mud because they’ve had to eat crow for hyping windows 7 and all of it’s previous failures. I understand that they’re counting on version 8 to come to their rescue. HAH!!
I’m a Mac buyer and love Apple products!
Bozo.
This man is an idiot.
Bill, come on, get rid of this idiot before he drives your company further down into the ground. An exec that does not understand this is not the high road. Educated at Mables Kindergaden?
Bill, a definate idiot. What was he thinking? Stop hiring people from Mables Kindergarden class of 1964. It is a shame to see people representing your Company resort to this kind of cr–
He admitted on record that Vista had issues? Oooo, I bet Ballmer is aiming a chair at him right now…
How can he be standing there infront of all those people lying them right in the face. Microsoft is not back, Microsoft is not in the game. NOT YET. They might be be back in the future if they have a successful launch and great sales, then they are back. They ARE NOT BACK just because they have a NEW product. Microsoft have to prove themselves first and after they do, then, and ONLY then can they say that they are BACK!
I wish Microsoft luck, I really do. It will be interesting to see what they can come up with and how the new competition will drive the space.
This is actually sad…there is nothing left at Microsoft that remind me the passion and energy that I used to admire, depiste the lack of taste that has been always there…all that is left are those bozos…
KT clearly clueless AGAIN! Vista was a complete disaster and there is zero comparison between the two.