“A Microsoft exec blasted rival Apple Inc. on Wednesday, calling the company’s apps ‘struggling’ and ‘lightweight,'” Benjamin Pimentel reports for Microsoft.
“Frank Shaw, Microsoft’s corporate vice president for communications, also argued that Microsoft’s tablets were better than Apple’s new iPads,” Pimentel reports. “Reacting to news that Apple was dropping its fees for its iWork suite of apps, Shaw said in a blog post, ‘Now, since iWork has never gotten much traction, and was already priced like an afterthought, it’s hardly that surprising or significant a move.'”
“He also downplayed Apple’s rollout of new iPad devices, saying Microsoft’s Surface and Surface 2 ‘are less expensive than the iPad 2 and iPad Air respectively, and yet offer more storage, both onboard and in the cloud,'” Pimentel reports. “‘When I see Apple drop the price of their struggling, lightweight productivity apps, I don’t see a shot across our bow, I see an attempt to play catch up,’ he wrote. ‘I think they, like others, are waking up to the fact that we’ve built a better solution for people everywhere, who are getting things done from anywhere, and who don’t have hard lines between their personal and professional lives. People who want a single, simple, affordable device with the power and flexibility to enhance and support their whole day. :-)'”
MacDailyNews Take: The delusion is strong with this one. He’s a perfect fit at beleaguered Microsoft.
Pimentel reports, “He did not discuss Apple’s surprising move to make its new Mac operating system known as ‘Mavericks’ available free of charge.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: What about free operating systems, insipid corporate mouthpiece?
Hello? What’s the matter,
catsurf break got your tongue?Hey, shouldn’t you be out combing the circus for your next CEO?
And, oh, yes, we do love the smell of fear in the evening!
Related articles:
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Apple’s OS X Mavericks available today free from the Mac App Store – October 22, 2013
Apple releases next-gen 64-bit iWork and iLife apps for OS X and iOS; free with new Macs and iOS devices – October 22, 2013
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Microsoft unveils Surface 2 tablet; nobody cares about this one, either – September 24, 2013
Microsoft now dumping non-selling Surface RT tablets into schools – August 21, 2013
Class-action suit filed against Microsoft over Surface tablet flop -August 13, 2013
Desperate Microsoft cuts Surface Pro tablet prices; could signal even more losses – August 6, 2013
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Microsoft earnings, sales badly miss expectations; $900 million inventory writedown on Surface tablet flop – July 18, 2013
Gartner: Apple to overtake Microsoft in total OS sales in 2015 – June 25, 2013
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Steve Jobs’ revenge – April 12, 2013
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May his loyalty to company climax with untimely death. Apple trying to play catch up!!!!! To MICROCRAP???? YOUR ENTIRE BS COMPANY HAS BEEN PLAYING CATCH UP SINCE 2007. The iPhone is worth more than your entire business you DOLT!!
It started way before 2007.
are you effing shitting me? This poor guy has to shill the MS party line in public. That feels like Saddam Hussein’s PR guy during the first Gulf War, knowing full well that they were in big trouble
No, in January of 2007 Apple just announced the world’s most expensive phone that is not a very good email machine and MicroShaft was selling millions Nokia phones for $99 and it can do web and is a great email machine ….. Maybe mid 2007 but then it was just a fad, no keyboard and security an issue …..
The iPhone will never make it into the Corporate World …..
Now, now calm down. This is what you want.
Since their executives are delusional it is a sure bet that the whole company is delusional and therefore don’t see a threat. Thus they will not do anything about it just like they have in the past. This means that they will be run over by the biggest paradigm shift that we have seen in a long time. In essence, it is good for Apple that they are delusional.
Comprende lo que le estoy diciendo??
Be nice. We don’t have anything equivalent to ‘Office Bob,’ or ‘Clippy.’ M$ major innovation to office software. 🙂
Losers have excuses. Winners have customers.
That’s so funny! 170,000,000 ipads sold and NONE are running office. Pick your most wildly optimistic projection for how many are running iWork. It’s a huge number of people being exposed to iWork and learning that – for the majority of their needs – iWork is just fine.
Let’s also be clear that iWork apps have perennially been THE best selling apps at the iTunes Store.
IOW: This isn’t any empty Apple gesture. This is Apple giving up PROFIT in order to please their customers while offering them terrific software functionality they STILL can’t get from brain dead Microsoft. Thank you Apple!
Thats about $17 billion potentially lost in sales for Microsoft with office on the iPad.
Oh dear.
Even if people don’t author docs in Pages on iPad, when they realize they can open email-attached Word files in Pages with no compromise, they may begin to wonder why the need the actual Word app at all.
Hey, get your own name! [snicker, snicker, snort snort…]
Excuse me, but I am in the middle of writing two novels in Pages on my iPad. One with a co-author, and sharing files is very easy with him, and now with the upgrade, even easier to work on the same document simultaneously. We haven’t needed MS Word for years. I’ve written numerous short stories in Pages. My office generates ALL of our business correspondence in Pages. . . including contracts that are included as attachments in Word format in emails. Never a problem for our recipients.
Microsoft? We don’t need no stinkin’ Microsoft!
Spin, spin, spin, Microsucker!
Delusion is a big part of the corporate DNA.
Either that or it’s the only way they can cope with the vision of the knife plunging into their cash cow.
Delusion is certainly one attribute of modern biznizz. There are a lot of decent, respectful companies still around. But overall, the current culture is that of delusional, self-destructive companies with horribly bad management.
I continue to find that the best way to sniff out the value of a company is to study how they treat their customers.
THE IPAD AIR IS A MASTERPIECE. NOTE HOW EVERY PERSON WHO TOUCHED ONE WAS BLOWN AWAY. NOW NOTE THAT EVERYONE WHO HAS PICKED UP THE GROUND OR DIRT OR SURFACE WHATEVER ITS CALLED HAS SAID MEH OR YECK! More crap from last year with a much better kickstand. And guess what moron I haven’t touched MS office in YEARS and have been just fine In the words of ur soon to be retiree of a doofus of a ceo “I like you strategy MS. I LIKE IT ALOT
OROCHIMARIO,
PLEASE DON’T SHOUT! WE CAN HEAR YOU JUST FINE! EVEN IF WE’RE DEAF! WHICH WE’RE NOT, BUT WE MIGHT GO BLIND IF YOU KEEP SHOUTING IN OUR EYEBALLS!
I DIDNT REALIZE SHOUTING CAN BE HEARD THROUGH TYPING TEXT! WHAT WILL THEY THINK OF NEXT?!
I liked how you guys said that free software is only for cheapskates, and that is why Linux is failing, yet the moment Apple offers Mac OS X for free, you guys gobble it up. At least be consistent about it.
Not inconsistent at all: Linux is a free SHIT OS, and Mavericks is a free WORLD-CLASS OS. Not the same thing in the slightest.
As someone who actually dual-boots into Ubuntu, I can safely say you are wrong. Ubuntu is a great, stable OS that I use on occasion. You are parroting the same FUD the M$ spreaded around the time Windows 95 was released. You know nothing. And yes, I dual boot it on my Mac, and it is Windblows that sucks, not Ubuntu.
I’ve used Linux for some projects and it is very useful. However, I still do not feel it’s something for the masses.
Also, I still feel that the Mac UI is the best around. I just can’t get comfortable with the UI on any of the flavors of Linux I’ve tried.
Correction: Linux is not an OS, it is a kernal. Ubuntu however is an OS based on Linux. And while it’s not as nice as OS X, it is way better than Windows.
Thanks for that. I hate the bashing any Linux OS gets on here because it’s not Apple. Well, at least it’s not Windows! It’s a powerful solution that I use for my job, but I still love Apple.
Good point; I stand corrected. I’m aware that some distributions are better than others, and should not have lumped them together with a single condemnation. My apologies.
stand? hell, you live being corrected.
Yeah, I’m married, too, so I also live being corrected. 🙂
heh
The more abusive of us never bark at someone buying something because it’s cheap 🙂
Can you give a reference to all these people saying Linux is failing because it is free please? Free software may fail because it is free AND rubbish because it can’t be supported properly but that of course is not the case with Apple which uses software free or otherwise to support its device sales.
Linux is failing???
What do you think most server run today?
A cheap crappy OS couldn’t take that load. Not even Windows Servers (which happens to be an expensive crappy OS) is as stable a Linux.
The reasons why Linux is not on the Desktop has nothing to do with Linux being bad. It’s been better than Windows since the 90s. Problem was (still is) hardware manufacturers don’t make drivers for Linux (hence, the difficuty of getting compatible hardware) and games (gamers are a big part of the PC community, and they’ll never go to Linux).
Other than that, Linux is awesome.
I actually never said Linux was failing. I was using that statement as an example of how many people believed the anti-Linux FUD that MS has been spreading since the mid-90s. I actually really like Linux.
My apologies 🙂
Drivers or no drivers, the mass market was never going to embrace Linux on the desktop. The mass market has no interest in tech savviness. Too many emotional, operational and financial barriers. The biggest hurdle was imposed upon the OEMs by MSFT, because they had to pay for a Windows license whether or not Windows was installed on their machines. Boxes running free Linux could not turn a profit under those conditions. No profit, no drivers.
I wonder if he emerged from the womb with the ability to expound in MBA double-talk, or if he had to attend some PowerPoint presentations to get the basics drilled into him. At any rate, he DOES take delusional corporate myopia to a whole new level, don’t he?
“MBA double-talk”. You captured the spirit of these dysfunctional biznizz bozoids.
Ah, throwing out a stereotype of an “MBA” … I don’t know whether the MS PR guy has an MBA or not, he definitely has the PR double-talk down to a science.
I have an MBA, and although it wasn’t a course taught at business school, I also know how to double-talk. But, counter to the stereotype, I don’t double-talk to clients or customers. They are too smart and worldly to fall for BS. I only use it with people who throw out stereotypes. 🙂
Palpable..
Anyone have any numbers on iWork’s usershare?
School of Ballmer
In one part he is right Apple’s applications are lightweight in contrast to Microsoft’s bloatware
On the other hand while the surfaces have more storage he didn’t mention the amount of usable storage (i.e. how much space remains when the OS is installed)
Have you ever wondered why there is no 16GB surface? Perhaps because Windows alone takes about 14GB
“Icebergs, are you crazy? Full steam ahead!”
Even Baghdad Bob uses an iPad.
> When I see Apple drop the price of their struggling, lightweight productivity apps…
Drop the price? There is no price! That’s why they are afraid. Apple makes Microsoft’s profit center products overpriced by a factor of infinity.
“Lightweight” is a GOOD thing, compared to the Office bloat, that (along with Windows bloat) takes up half the available storage space on a Surface tablet.
And “struggling” is irrelevant. Even when not free, iWork and OS upgrades were not meant to be a profit centers for Apple. They were intended as a low-cost value-added “service” to enhance the customers’ experience with Apple’s hardware products. Apple did not care how may copies were sold, or market share. There was (and is) no real competition between iWork and Office, because Apple is not playing Microsoft’s game.
Now, iWork and OS upgrades are included for free with every iOS device and Mac. Microsoft can never compete with “free,” because Office and Windows are Microsoft’s key profit centers. It has to be sold for a significant price. Going forward, Office cannot compete on market share either, on platforms where iWork is included for free, because Apple automatically has iWork on 100% of every new iOS device and Mac.
And all devices and macs, as is their respective data, is seamlessly integrated shared and synced…
Priceless.
Maybe Microsoft could pay people to get Office, maybe even pay them depending how much they use it. Say, a penny a word when I’m in MS Word. Nah, I’d still prefer working in Pages.
This is a real dilemma for the boys in Redmond. They can’t give Office away for free. It’s there bread and butter. Holding Office back from the iPad May be one of the biggest blunders they ever made.
They’re a software company. They should have busted ass getting Office to the iPad. They could have cornered the market with Office on iPads and other tablets too. Not a good time to think you were capable of being a hardware company. Can you say $900,000,000 write down? What the hell were they thinking? Is it any wonder Ballmer has to go? Now there is one flailing clueless dude.
He has lead Microsoft down the road to ruin. Unbelievable!
…and yet offer more storage, both onboard…
BLATANT LIE.
The world knows damned well, dicks at Microsoft, that the ACTUAL ‘storage’ space on your Surface things is far LESS than what you publish. That’s because you neglect to tell your victims that Windows OS takes up a HUGE chunk of that ‘storage’ space, leaving the victim with far LESS than they expected and far LESS than they’d get on comparable iPads.
Microsoft: NO SHAME. No brain. FSCK-off.
Hey now wait just a doggone minute there bunky. Doesn’t the Surface have a USB port? That would enable it to have a terabyte drive attached. Microsoft for the win!
That’s a kewl point!
Then again, it’s not a tablet any longer once you tether the thing to some dangling device.
A better argument would be how nice it would be to have and SD card slot on the iPad. My guess as to why Apple has avoided these slots on anything but high end devices (i.e. never on iOS devices) is for the sake of simplicity. Don’t ever make me explain to granny how to access here SD card.
I’ve never used the SD slot in my MacBook Pro and in fact even forgot it was there till you just said that. I wonder how many people actually do? I just always used a cable to link my camera and laptop, I guess because I had to with my old iBook. Of course now I usually use my iPhone so it’s a non-issue.
I use mine. But it depends upon what you do. I work with imaging, among other things.
With a $29 Apple iPad Camera Connection Kit (and a 30-pin to Lightning adapter – also $29, if you need it) you can get both an SD card and USB connection to your iPad (or iPhone).
A bit kludgy, but do-able
Excellent! I hadn’t heard of that! I thought they had hobbled the Camera Connection Kit.
There are Wifi drives that work with either system. USB port not required.
Watching the presentation yesterday including the Mac Pro video, I just couldn’t help but thinking – this company started in a garage, and – how would anyone starting out be able to compete with apple. Planning the MacBook Pro several years ago, all the specialized design work and production planning. And how will Dell or HP, ever be able to do something comparable. And now with a free OS, what are PC hardware companies as well as MS going to do? Could be interesting.
Unfortunately, they will continue the race to the lowest possible price because that is all they know.
Dell, HP, Microsoft et al don’t care much for great hardware (and software for that matter) let alone the two working together like Apple’s hardware and software. To them, design is an afterthought.
Microsoft’s tablets were better than Apple’s new iPad: In what way? in fantasy? in aspirations? because in reallty, Ipad are cheaper, stronger, faster, more apps, more REAL WORLD USAGE, more customer satisfaction, more tablets sold and so on.
Storage? yes, surface has more storage (some times) but Storage AVAILABLE? Surface has less than half the advertised storage.
So, here is my question to Mr Frank Shaw, in which way, exactly, surface is better than iPad? or better yet, WTF are you smoking?
dunno, but heard Ballmer T Clown is his dealer.
OK, so about 10 lines into the polemic from the Microsoft manager type, it occurred to me that I had heard this tone before. Is Ballmer writing his copy? Or, more likely, is outright madness, delusion, and psychopathy a pre-requisite to being in the ranks of senior management at Microsoft?
They’ve been hitting the ‘Electric Acid CoolAid’ again. 🙂
I’ll go for the fear factor except for one thing, and that is that I’ve always thought that Excel was and still is a good piece of software, bloated as it may be.
As for the rest, well this is a classic.
Some quotes to go with it:
“The Zune is getting some traction” <— SKID MARKS.
"That is the most expensive phone in the world and it doesn't appeal to business customers because it doesn't have a keyboard."
I can't do anymore, I'm laughing at their strategy, I'm laughing a lot.
Don’t forget Rubin, Collagen, the twin CEO’s and the CEO from Creative Labs. Been there heard that.
How could Microsoft not have seen this move coming?
… dumber than a bag of rocks.
Somebody needs to promote this guy to CEO ASAP. He’s clearly proven he has the aptitude for the job.
What’s most important, what do people buying iPads and getting iWorks for free, believe? At the end of the day, they are getting something free, that works for them.
iWorks, is not an enterprise office suite, but it’s enough on the desktop, and a far superior cloud offering than anything out there. The funny thing is, Office 365 and the free live variant, has stepped down to a light weight cloud offering, because as it turns out, bloat-wear doesn’t float. Nobody want’s to pay $500 for Pro versions you have to go to school to learn how to use. We just want our simple text typewriters that has spell check and fonts.
He’s auditioning for the Iraqi Minister of Information job. It’s been vacant for a while. I think it just got filled.
In the end, the market and profits will tell the whole story. Fans of Microsoft will stick with a product they love and trust. It really comes down to what people like and what fits into their lifestyle. That’s how a truly free market works. Cell phones, computers, & cloud services are a great example of this. Companies will raise and fall with the products their release. Blackberry is an example of a company at the top of its game years ago and now struggling to survive. Microsoft is an example of company playing catch up in the mobile arena. Who knows in a couple of years Apple could suffer the same fate if they stop innovating. The world a dangerous place.
Sounds like Obama talking about he ACA!
Steve Balmer 2.0