Microsoft’s Ballmer warns on Vista, says revenue forecasts too aggressive; shares drop

“Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said on Thursday analysts’ forecasts for revenue from Windows Vista in fiscal 2008 were ‘overly aggressive,’ sending shares down 1 percent,” Reuters reports.

Reuters reports, “The world’s biggest software maker cautioned analysts that Vista sales will remain closely aligned to new computer sales. Ballmer said Vista would create a ‘small surge’ in PC sales in fiscal 2008, but would not spur a big increase over normal growth rates. ‘It looks like people are a little bit over optimistic, at least more optimistic than we are,’ Ballmer said in a presentation to analysts.”

“Microsoft shares fell 1.1 percent in extended trading to $29.14 from a Nasdaq close of $29.46,” Reuters reports.

Full article here.

“‘I’m really excited about how enthusiastic people are about Vista, but I think some of the revenue forecasts for Vista in 2008 are overly aggressive,’ Ballmer said in a meeting for financial analysts. ‘(Vista) is primarily a chance to sustain what (Windows) revenue we have — not every release is a revenue growing opportunity,'” The Associated Press reports.

Full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Here’s just a small sample of how “enthusiastic” people are about Vista:
Windows Vista’s DRM is bad news – February 14, 2007
Mac OS X Tiger vs. Windows Vista: Mac’s migration a breeze, Vista’s migration a headache – February 12, 2007
Forbes: ‘Windows Vista utterly unimaginative, internally discordant and woefully out of tune’ – February 09, 2007
Computerworld: Windows expert dumps Windows, switches to Apple’s Mac OS X – February 08, 2007
Windows sufferer spends six hours trying to ‘upgrade’ to Vista, says: ‘I should’ve bought a Mac’ – February 07, 2007
Windows Vista woes push BBC News editor to regret never having ‘defected’ to Apple Mac – February 06, 2007
Digit: Don’t buy Vista; Microsoft may be driving millions to stick with XP or move to Apple Mac – February 05, 2007
TIME Magazine: Microsoft’s Windows Vista ‘an embarassment to the good name of American innovation’ – February 02, 2007
Microsoft’s Windows Vista: Five years for a chrome-plated turd – January 30, 2007
Digit: ‘Microsoft’s Windows Vista may be the best reason yet to buy an Apple Mac’ – January 29, 2007
Pioneer Press: Windows Vista shows ‘Apple is an innovation engine; Microsoft, not so much’ – January 29, 2007
Windows Vista disappoints, so get a Mac – January 29, 2007
Analyst: Microsoft’s Windows Vista could be an opportunity for Apple – January 26, 2007
CNET Reviews Windows Vista: Is that all? Clunky and not very intuitive vs. Mac OS X; warmed-over XP – January 24, 2007
Mossberg: Microsoft’s Windows Vista offers lesser imitations of Apple’s Mac OS X features – January 18, 2007
Windows Vista disappointment drives longtime ‘Microsoft apologist’ to Apple’s Mac OS X – January 17, 2007
InformationWeek Review: Apple’s Mac OS X shines in comparison with Microsoft’s Windows Vista – January 06, 2007
NY Times’ Pogue reviews Microsoft’s Windows Vista: ‘Looks, Locks, Lacks’ – December 14, 2006
15-year Windows vet tries Apple Mac: ‘My God! This is amazing!’ – December 04, 2006
Dave Winer: ‘Microsoft isn’t an innovator, and never was – they are always playing catch-up’ – December 01, 2006
Harvard Medical School CIO picks Mac OS X over Linux and Windows – November 30, 2006
Top Windows developer dumps Microsoft’s ‘pile of crap’ for Apple’s Mac OS X – September 12, 2006
$399 for Windows Vista Ultimate?! (Hint: Get a Mac) – August 29, 2006
Apple’s Mac OS X Leopard is 64-bit done right, unlike Microsoft’s Windows Vista kludge – August 14, 2006
Microsoft Windows Vista: If you can’t innovate… try to impersonate Apple’s Mac OS X – August 10, 2006
Analyst: Apple’s new Mac OS X Leopard sets new bar, leaves Microsoft’s Vista in the dust – August 08, 2006
Microsoft botches another copy job: Windows Vista Flip3D vs. Apple Mac OS X Exposé – June 26, 2006
Windows Vista rips-off Mac OS X at great hardware cost (and Apple gains in the end) – June 13, 2006
Computerworld: Microsoft Windows Vista a distant second-best to Apple Mac OS X – June 02, 2006

Ballmer calls Apple ‘cute, little tiny niche guy’ – February 15, 2007

48 Comments

  1. … and just wait until Leopard roars out of the jungle! Vista sucks right now (as we all know), and the “modern” media have nothing to compare it to (in their addled minds).** When 10.5 hits the airwaves and the shelves, MonkeySoft’s share price will drop into the mid $20 range, just watch.

    If you market watchers have EVER shorted a stock, the time to do so is now with MSFT.

    GUARANTEED!

    ** Of course, Tiger already kicks Vista’s ass, but very few in the “elite” media choose to mention it.

  2. Wow, Less is More, that is really cool!!!

    Watch, Microsucks will force out the next release – the “Vista Killer” – in 3 years after much corner cutting and compromising to an even cooler reception.

    Excellent!

  3. Zune Tang, I don’t blame you for hiding. Your very own Royalness has less faith in his product than you. It’s going to be pretty hard convincing people about how great your MS product is, especially since King Balmer has squirted himself again and left his mess for you to clean up.

  4. My father-in-law went down to Circuit City yesterday to buy two copies of MS’s Windows XP. Well… the people at CC said that all the copies of MS’s XP were purchased back by Microsoft. He was told they could sell him Vista but not XP anymore. I wonder if this is going on in other places?

    This could be a way for MS to force people who have been waiting to buy the new updated hardware, and forced into the Vista world.

    wmd

  5. For the love of Khan, why would anybody in his right mind BUY a copy of Windows XP (especially if it’s not available), when all he has to do is Bittorrent one off the web?

    RULE OF INTERNET COMMERCE: If’n you won’t sell me a legitimate copy of something I want, I’ll obtain it by “other” means.

  6. Saw a Vista ad on TV. Some kid looks through a window at a blizzard. “Wow!” he says. Two other “Wow” scenes. Then Vista splashes across the screen. “Wow!”

    No kidding. A blizzard. Vista.

    “Wow.”

  7. One big problem with Vista is…. IT’S TOO EXPENSIVE!

    It’s a freak’n OS for Bills sake. 3 or 4 hundred dollars for it? That is outrageous.

    If Apple can stay the course, they’ll win by finally being the LOW PRICED ALTERNATIVE.

  8. If people were so excited about Vista then why is nobody buying it? Because it isn’t worth $400 that’s why. It isn’t worth $4 in my opinion. Buy a Mac and get Leopard and then see some real excitement!

  9. @ Trvth

    Saw the same series of ads. One has an old, OLD man blowing out about a thousand candles on his presumed birthday cake…waiter says “WOW”. In my mind, M$FT is the decrepit old man…the waiter represents the rest of the world, amazed that the company is still alive after all the litigation and billions of r&d on such “cutting edge” products as Vista and the Zune.

    MDN MW – “eye” as in “Keep your eye on M$FT’s plummeting sales and stock price”…

  10. “(Vista) is primarily a chance to sustain what (Windows) revenue we have — not every release is a revenue growing opportunity.”

    What a load of crock! 5 years in the making and if Vista is not suppose to be a growth opportunity for M$, then nothing is. Microsoft sure is in a lot of trouble if they are claiming Vista is not a revenue growing opportunity.

    Peace.

  11. “(Vista) is primarily a chance to sustain what (Windows) revenue we have”

    Well, there you have it, straight from the horse’s mouth. He might as well have just said:

    “We are on the defensive (if not from Linux and Apple, then from our own market saturation). Vista is a shore-it-up release, not a revolutionary advance like we keep claiming in the marketing”

  12. jcw3rd,

    Not sure what you’re driving after?

    He has two Intel Macs that he wants to run XP on. So he needs an activation key, thus the reason for buying two copies.

    WGA does not give me/him a peace of mind or confidence that MS wants use to believe.

    We just want legal copies, even if we have to pain the devil.

    WMD

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