“Spearheading long-term research and development (R&D) to address disruptions caused by the changing software landscape, is Microsoft’s mantra in staying ahead, says company CEO Steve Ballmer,” Aaron Tan reports for ZDNet Asia.
MacDailyNews Take: Ahead in what? Sales, sure – in some cases, but in quality and innovation, no. Operating systems? Mac OS X is far ahead. Digital Media Devices? iPod is far ahead. Online media management and downloads? iTunes and iTunes Store are far ahead. Search? Google is far ahead. Game consoles? Wii is far ahead. There are more examples, but the bottom line is that Ballmer, as usual, is full of it.
Tan continues, “A key factor in embracing disruptions such as Internet applications, while staying ahead in the technology industry, is to engage in long-term research and development (R&D), he pointed out. Microsoft spends US$6 billion on R&D each year.”
MacDailyNews Take: Do Microsoft customers ever ask themselves why, if Microsoft spends US$6 billion on R&D, the best they seem to get is mediocrity? Just look at Windows Vista or the Zune. Microsoft shareholders sure ought to be asking what that annual US$6 billion is accomplishing.
Tan continues, “‘If you want to be an innovator, you have to take the long-term approach,’ [Ballmer] said. ‘There is a view that innovation happens overnight and that’s simply not the case. It took us eight to 10 years to get Windows popular…”
MacDailyNews Take: Ballmer really needs to look up the definition of “innovation.” Windows’ “popularity” simply does not equal “innovation.” Trying to make an upside-down and backwards copy of Mac OS X five years too late is not “innovation.”
Tan continues, “Ballmer said over the last 20 years, no other company has hired more top-notch computer talent than Microsoft. ‘And I don’t think anybody’s worked harder than us on that, which is also the result of hard work and commitment more than anything else,’ he added.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: It’s painfully obvious to anyone who’s used Microsoft products that hiring “top-notch computer talent” doesn’t mean you’re properly utilizing them.
Why not say it how it really is? MS got the jump on the PC industry with the MSDOS which they licensed to everybody who made cheap systems. They had no serious competition for many years. it is only now that OSX and Linux are starting to make significant inroads on Windows. If Apple ever starts to license OSX to select, high quality manufacturers then MS will really be in trouble. This is, however, an unlikely scenario. The introduction of the iPod and the iPhone are only the beginning of what I suspect will be a long line of innovative devices including the most advanced computer systems. This strategy, while not wasting energy competing directly with MS, will allow Apple to continue it’s growth while MS slowly becomes irrelevant.
brah hahhahaha…..cough….cough…..hahahahah….I…I…can’t breath….h…e…l….p…hahahahaha…..ROFLMAO……!
The plane, the plane, what fantasy island is Balmer living on anyways? $6 BILLION for R&D! WOW! That’s a lot of money wasted from what I see from the products coming out. MDN is right, the investors should look at all the money waste that is going on at Microsoft. The products sure don’t equal that kind of money that’s for sure. No wonder why they have to charge $400 for Windows now. That’s nearly triple the price of OSX at $129
Ballmer is on a roll today.
Microsoft buys Tellme Networks, so now that makes them an “innovator” in voice technology.
Microsoft buys Azyxxi and Medstory, so now that makes them an “innovator” in health information.
Microsoft buys ScreenTonic and aQuantive, so now that makes them an “innovator” in ad networks.
R&D is not, as monkeyboy puts it, how M$ stays “ahead.”
BUYING EVERY OTHER FRICKIN COMPANY ON THE PLANET is how M$ stays “ahead.”
MW: “method” as in “we already know your company’s methods, monkeyboy, so can the B.S.”
R&D is how Microsoft stays ahead??? Now that’s funny!!!
@BrainFart
The Wii is most definitely ahead of the 360. The Wii has dominated sales, both hardware and software, for the past 5 months. In fact, in April, Nintendo led in every single category. The most handhelds, the most consoles, the most portable software, the most consol software. Yes, the 360 has sold more units than the Wii, but it was also released a year prior. The Wii has sold 3/4 the amount of the 360 in less than half the same time period.
Synonyms
R&D: theft, graft, lie, felony, swindle, price gouging, plagiarism, newspeak, inside joke (Times New Roman)
I actually laughed out loud when I read this headline.e.
Please MDN.. You should excersice sensorship just a little. Do not show that hidious face anymore.
They probably spend the $6 billion on innovative new ways to F**k over the competition.
Steve is a great story teller!
Fiction, that is!
Windows is number one through being sold with ever PC since the early 80’s. People had no choice. The masses were brainwashed over the years to think Windows is it and most people fear change.
That is how they stay ahead, it requires no work any more on their part what so ever.
C’mon guys …
Let’s all ssupport MicroCrap R & D …
Buy AAPL !!
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Send all questions to Microsoft R&D Dept.
1 Infinite Loop
Cupertino Ca. 95014
What a joke.
“the Microsoft’s head honcho also noted that many IT companies do not commit themselves to building multiple competencies. ‘When companies do something well, they usually map everything else to that model and [are] not the least embracing disruptions,’ he said.”
Wow! Talk about a Freudian slip. Is that not exactly the entire modus operandi of MS—tie everything into Windows in a ham handed attempt to stop disruptive technologies? Um, except the part about doing something well. It’s even more pathetic when you do do nothing well and try to tie everything into a mediocre product How lame can can this guy get?
Ballmer is my favorite fat, incompetent, ethically challenged CEO.
“Spearheading long-term research and development (R&D) to address disruptions caused by the changing software landscape…”
Of course, the “disruptions” he is referring to are Apple products.
The other point that seems to be missed here is that if Microsoft were truly innovating, their own products would be the ones CAUSING the disruptions in “the changing software landscape”, but instead they are so far behind that they are having to look at long-term strategies to catch up rather than leading the pack.
Staying AHEAD??
Ahead of WHAT? Getting run over by a MAC TRUCK?!
: )
Bwahahahaha!
Beep, beep Balmer–and it ain’t the Road Runner pulling up behind your fat ass.
I looked at what our competitors had done …I looked and Iooked and after looking some more I felt I had done enough looking ….I mean research. Then, I thought about it …I thought about it and I thought about it …and after thinking some more I felt I had done enough thinking …my brain was so, so tired. I took a long nap. I dreamed I was looking into the night sky when I saw an image of Steve Jobs revolving around the Earth where I would have expected the moon. His eyes were searching …searching for my R&D ….but he couldn’t find it …it was all in my head. No one can find my R&D because it’s in my head. That’s my secret …yeah, me and Gates ..we got secrets in our heads.
Geez! . . . You guys don’t remember? MS lost a major anti-trust decision a few years back. It was appealed, and a lot of the original penalty was negated. And it seems that the present Justice Department and conservative courts aren’t interested in enforcing even the remaining penalties. They were (MW) turned!