“When Microsoft went public in 1986, there was no 3-D videogaming, no enterprise software, and no Google. Two decades and $285 billion in market cap later, CEO Steve Ballmer is facing a stagnant stock price and more competition than ever. His strategy? Take the offensive,” Telis Demos reports for Fortune. “Microsoft is about to roll out new versions of Windows and Office.”
Demos spoke to Ballmer, whom he inexplicably describes as “affable” about what Sony’s troubles mean for the Xbox 360 game system, the future of advertising and why his kids shun iPods. Here are two choice snippets:
Demos: Do you have an iPod?
Ballmer: No, I do not. Nor do my children. My children–in many dimensions they’re as poorly behaved as many other children, but at least on this dimension I’ve got my kids brainwashed: You don’t use Google, and you don’t use an iPod.
Demos: Think you can you crack the iPod market?
Ballmer: It’s going to take an innovative proposition. In five years are people really going to carry two devices? One device that is their communication device, one device that is music? There’s going to be a lot of opportunities to get back in that game. We want to be in that game. Expect to see announcements from us in that area in the next 12 months.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: So, Ballmer has to brainwash his own kids not to use the best choices in favor of Microsoft’s “solutions” and once again promises “announcements” that conveniently always seem to be 12 months off. Microsoft is “about” to roll out new versions of Windows and Office? It depends on your definition of the word “about,” we guess. Is this guy really CEO material?
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