Steve Ballmer was interviewed by German newspaper “Die WELT” in an article published yesterday and some questions touched on Apple Computer, Inc. Martin Stein has provided an English translation on his weblog, “Martin Stein’s Publishing Weblog.”
Stein prefaces the Q&A section with, “After asking Steve if he has a ‘Apple Computer,’ he says that he does not have a Mac nor a iPod. ‘Of course, I have to know the devices. We have to know what the competitors do,’ [Ballmer said].”
Die WELT: But couldn’t you just buy a Mac without hesitation since Apple opened up their machines for Windows?
Ballmer: No, we prefer real PCs.
Die WELT: Was it a satisfaction that Apple had to give in?
Ballmer: Honestly, I don’t think that it is that important. Actually, it is relatively expensive if a user gets a separate Windows OS for his Mac. Not a lot of people will do this.
Die WELT: Apple is leading in the Music business as well. Does this bother you?
Ballmer: No question, it would have been better if the iPod would have been a Microsoft invention. The device is really popular. Apple didn’t invent anything new. They just combined existing technologies in a smart way. They succeeded to create a nice package which bundles Music services, devices and software.
Die WELT: Is Apple’s success reason enough to copy them?
Ballmer: This wasn’t the last word in this competition. Over the next years, a lot of things will happen in the market of portable devices. Who wants to carry different devices to listen to Music, to play games, to take pictures or to communicate with others? A small, integrated device will master many functions. We won’t be simply watching this development.
Die WELT: Is Apple unbeatable?
Ballmer: Which company would be able to compete with Apple at these days? It can only be Microsoft or Apple stays without any serious competitor. I think, everybody deserves some competition.
Stein’s full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “LinuxGuy” for the heads up.]
Die WELT’s full article in German here.
MacDailyNews Take: Yes, Die WELT, Apple “gave in.” Whatever. Embrace, then extinguish. In a head-to-head Mac OS X vs. Windows XP comparison — exactly what users will get with new Macs with “Boot Camp” and soon, Mac OS X Leopard, running Windows and/or Windows applications — even with people steeped in Windows’ upside-down and backwards “experience” for years, we’re quite confident that we know which platform most people will choose to use most often.
So, Ballmer prefers “real PCs?” What is that supposed to mean? Ballmer should just state, “I am pompous know-nothing asshat.” It achieves the same purpose with a bit more clarity.
Oh, now Microsoft’s going to compete with iPod+iTunes? Haven’t they been trying to do so for the nearly half a decade since Apple debuted the iPod? With what exactly will Microsoft compete? Vapor? Some also-ran third-party online music outfit; aren’t hundreds of Microsoft WMA-based failures enough? That piece of crap Origami that even the OEM’s CEOs can’t figure out how to operate? Microsoft can’t even copy correctly; they never could. Microsoft can’t even get the warmed over, slipping-for-years, stripped-down mess Windows XP SP3 that they’re going to try to sell as “Windows Vista” out the door, towel-less Microsoft employees are on the verge of mutiny, Microsoft shares tumbled 11.4% on Friday, their biggest one-day drop in 5 years, and Ballmer thinks he can compete with a lean, mean Apple that been firing on all cylinders for years now? Ballmer, along with the vast majority of the world and most of Wall Street, are in for quite a shock. The jig is almost up, Monkey Boy. Enjoy your golden parachute ride.
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embalm ( embalming) preserve (a corpse) from decay, originally with spices and now usually by arterial injection of a preservative : the Egyptian method of embalming. •
figurative preserve (someone or something) in an unaltered state : the band was all about revitalizing pop greats and embalming their legacy.
How apt
Not to poop on boot camp, cause its cool… but a 15% rise in sales could mean a lot of different things.
“last month we sold 5, this month, 6”
hehe.
“Again, why would a Windows user buy a Mac to run Windows? Doesn´t make sense.”
You’re right it doesn’t. Nobody will buy a Mac solely to run Windows; there are too many other competitors.
However, somebody that wanted to try a Mac or liked them but was required to use a Windows-only program will buy the Mac and install Windows rather than a Windows machine. You are correct in this may have been a defensive move however good defense often wins wars.
I wish this was available a few years ago so I would not have had to deal with virtual PC.
MW: i just told you ‘WHY’.
Apple is missing a huge opportunity here. But this is a potential boon to other resellers, who should not hesitate for a second.
Already being done. Mac Mall is selling Macs with XP installed.
Nick, don’t all new Macs come with the Mighty Mouse? You can’t even buy a single button mouse anymore. Well, not that I’ve tried, but I haven’t seen any since the Mighty Mouse was introduced.
This anti Windows stuff is immature and really boring.
It’s obvious why Ballmer prefers that people use ‘real’ PCs instead of Macs running Windows.
On a ‘real’ PC there is no other operating system for the user to choose and learn to appreciate. Users of ‘real’ PCs will only be exposed to Microsoft’s way of doing things, the ‘one true way’.
But he really doesn’t have the intellect to think through what he says. Later, when talking of what will kill the iPod, he claims “A small, integrated device will master many functions.”
So by his logic, an iPod is a bad idea because it doesn’t combine the functions of multiple devices, yet he condemns the Mac because it will run OS X, Windows and Linux, rather than just Windows. The Mac is already a small integrated device that masters many functions.
I might expect flawed logic like that to come from the local teenage Windows apologist, trying to score points, but one might hope that the CEO of one of the biggest companies in the world could be a little smarter than that. It’s no wonder that their stock is sliding.
“Again, why would a Windows user buy a Mac to run Windows? Doesn´t make sense.”
Chewbacca Defense!
We could always run windows using VPC, Mac users want and like to use Mac OS X.
So do many PC users by the way.
Dudes!!
Check this out, wow! Sounds great and levels the volume too!
http://www.volumelogic.com/index.asp
“Windows owners aren´t going to buy a Mac to run Windows – why would they want to spend the $200 for Windows OS to put on a Mac when they already have a Windows computer that runs Windows?”
It’s true … Windows owners are not going to switch to Mac hardware to run their Windows OS.
However, some Windows owners will switch and run their Windows OS – in addition to OS X – because there is a program … Visio, perhaps? … they must be able to run and you just can’t get it unless you are running Windows. Maybe one in ten couldn’t switch if they wanted to – not and keep their job. That 9% of the total market, a 9% already used to paying for top-of-the-line hardware, now has the option. It could be good for a 15% boost in Apple’s market share. A nibble for MS, a feast for Apple.
Apple is now #4 or #5 in overall sales. A couple of years of double-digit growth in market share might move it to #3 – maybe #1 in consumer sales of systems costing $1,000 or more. That’s real money!
My company bought me a laptop running 1920×1200 display. The resolution is incredible and with Clear Text enabled, the text looks almost printed. I go back to my fuzzy low-rez Powerbook less and less.
What a knucklehead.
People won’t spend $200 to run Windows? Then why do you *charge* $200 for Windows?
I’m writing this in Windows on my MacBook right now. This is by far the best Windows PC I’ve ever used…mostly because it doesn’t have any OEM bloatware, but it’s really nice to be able to boot into OS X and use Disk Utility to routinely backup my Windows partition, or as a general backup if Windows bombs on me. Of course I also happen to prefer OS X and use it instead (except for when I need Windows for testing cross platform or Windows specific apps).
Anyone who bought a full version of Windows XP for their PC can use the disc they already have. Others can hack their OEM discs. Some VARs are selling Intel Macs with Windows already installed. And of course the leading source of Windows XP, piracy, is no problem at all.
Microsoft just can’t seem to do anything right since Monkey Boy became CEO…talk about an underperformer who should be fired!
R,
It’d be like going to a Ford showroom and seeing a souped up Focus with a Porsche engine– “um… no, we don’t seel that.” “Then why do you have it here?” [crickets chirping]
Been there done that.
Sever years ago I was new-car shopping. It was in the fall, during the model-year change.
Me: What are you asking for your (then new) 1999 models?
Salesman: We don’t have any. All we have are 1998’s.
Me: But I just walked through your lot. You have several new 1999’s.
Salesman: Not that I know of. All we have are 1998’s.
OK we all know the game: the salesman just wanted to sell his old models.
The point is he wasn’t straightforward. I walked out, and he lost the sale.
If Apple isn’t straightforward on Boot Camp it’ll cost them sales too.
I don’t see mass winblows users migrating to a Mac, why in the the world would the average consumer spend $200 for crapOsoft when they can purchase any cheap PC box for $400?? oh and I forgot the rebate. lol
I don’t see it, sorry folks.
Hate to say he has a point. The only people interested in Boot Camp will be those who are already interested in the Mac. It’ll sway a few fence-sitters. Mostly it’ll be a convenience for existing Mac users who need the odd Windoze program.
Die WELT: Was it a satisfaction that Apple had to give in?
Ballmer: Honestly, I don’t think that it is that important. Actually, it is relatively expensive if a user gets a separate Windows OS for his Mac. Not a lot of people will do this.
——
Um, what if the former XP user has a dusty black Dell sitting in the corner of the room, riddled with viruses? OH! Then they already have a legal copy of Windows. No “extra” cost for a switcher.
It’s only “extra” if you’re a MAC USER going to pick up Windows.
So for 90% of users there’s no extra cost? Got it.
Mac Mini
BYODKM and W
P.S. I don’t think Boot Camp is a strategy so much as a reaction to the fact that hackers were getting Windows running on Macs anyway. If people are going to do it, they might as well do it in an elegant, Apple-fied way. Apple would have known it was inevitable that moving to Intel would involve Windows support in some form.
Apple makes a pro laptop that can boot Windows
*takes a loving look at tricked out Dual 2 with 30″*
*takes a look at lousy hobbled Core Duo and video card on Mactel*
*takes a loving look at tricked out Dual 2 with 30″*
*takes a look at paying $4500 just to play a few windows games under boot camp*
I’ll pass
gas *fart* “Oh Terreance, your such a pig” “haHAHAHAHAHA”
seriously guys this software rocks!
http://www.volumelogic.com/index.asp?content=VolumeLogicPlugins2
“Nick, don’t all new Macs come with the Mighty Mouse? You can’t even buy a single button mouse anymore. Well, not that I’ve tried, but I haven’t seen any since the Mighty Mouse was introduced.”
I dig the Mighty Mouse and I have one, but my MacBook Pro only has one big freakin button. I hate lugging a mouse around with my MacBook Pro.
I can’t wait for Apple to wake up, smell the coffee and give MacBook Pros two buttons. It’s going to be so much nicer not having to always control-click when I’m using heavy-duty stuff like Eclipse (http://www.eclipse.org).
Fortunately for Apple many people don’t think with their wallet. American women spent $17 billion on fashion footwear in 12 months last year. Don’t you think those women and their male counterparts are more likely to buy a computer on looks. Apple just removed the last roadblock that might stop those people buying a Mac.
Again, this goes against the DNA of Microsoft, Inc., and shows just how rotten they are getting.
There is a computer platform that requires their OS. They refused to provide it.
See, they dragged their feet with Virtual PC for the new Macs and now they are starting to get burnt. Apple simply did what they had to do, offer the Virtual PC capabilities to the new macs.
The old Microsoft would love to get onboard, would’ve shipped the first day, but then create some proprietary version of it, and put the hooks in there to make the entire experience flawed in some way.
At least they are too bloated now to even try that approach, it indicates serious problems with execution, and opens up the door to Apple to entirely regain the consumer market.
I can’t believe people ever give me a hard time when there are clowns like “Al Jazzoo” pooping comments into the forums.
$4500 to play some games in Bootcamp? Try $799 for an Mac mini Core Duo, or $1699 for a refurb 1.83Ghz MacBook Pro.
Hobbled Core Duo? What did you have in mind for iMacs, Mac minis and MacBook Pros? Do you know of something faster that would work well in those computers?
Autoshopper–
I agree, but the issue is support for Windows. The saleman should have been upfront about explaining everything regarding Macs, including Boot Camp. That was a clear mistake.
But imagine having Windows loaded on Macs and new buyers purchase them not knowing these are any different that a Dell (except they look better). $1500, and no support for the software?
Apple needs to welcome Windows booting– but carefully within its stores. It can’t pretend to be a Windows reseller when it isn’t.
Oh, and I would have walked out, too. What a sleeze.
mike: “Um, what if the former XP user has a dusty black Dell sitting in the corner of the room, riddled with viruses?”
First, so you got a Dell, eh?
2nd, if the Windows user has such a bad experience with Windows XP why would they want to put it on their Mac so it can become riddled with viruses?
Nah, this Bootcamp is a defensive move by Apple aimed at Apple owners for a bunch of reasons that we don´t know yet. (Like maybe Apple has data showing that the reason Apple market share is not moving up much is because old Apple owners (as in all the OS9 owners out there) are switching to Windows. Or software developers just don´t see any money making software for Macs. Just a hunch.)
Have to wait and see what happens with Longhorn.
——–
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