“Steve Ballmer was sobbing. He repeatedly tried to speak and couldn’t get the words out. Minutes passed as he tried to regain his composure. But the audience of 130 of Microsoft’s senior leaders waited patiently, many of them crying too,” David Kirkpatrick reports for Fortune. “They knew that the CEO was choked up because this executive retreat, held in late March at a resort north of Seattle, was the last ever for company co-founder Bill Gates, as well as for Jeff Raikes, one of the company’s longest-tenured executives. ‘I’ve spent more time with these two human beings than with anyone else in my life,’ Ballmer finally said. ‘Bill and Jeff have been my North Star and kept me going. Now I’m going to count on all of you to be there for me.'”
MacDailyNews Take: Dork. Supposedly, Microsoft is Ballmer’s “family.” If true, that’s really sad. See: Microsoft CEO Ballmer: I’m outta here in 9 or 10 years; as soon as my last kid goes away to college – June 05, 2008. “Saint Peter don’t you call me ’cause I can’t go… I owe my soul to the company store.” Ballmer can’t even manage his own priorities, much less a multi-billion dollar company. Maybe they’re not just crocodile tears, it could be that he’s really, genuinely crying — because he knows there’s no unprepared sugared water salesbozo around to sign away Apple’s company jewels this time.
Kirkpatrick continues, “What the executives were witnessing was the end of an era. On July 1, Gates officially retires from daily duties at the software giant. He’s leaving in order to begin a second life as a full-time philanthropist and to explore his dizzying range of intellectual interests.”
MacDailyNews Take: Yeah, the vertigo is intense when you’ve spent the last 25 years staring 850 miles due south.
Kirkpatrick continues, “But his departure raises some obvious and very large questions about the future of Microsoft: Can the now $60 billion behemoth keep finding new ways to grow? Will Ballmer and his lieutenants be able to successfully adapt their products to an increasingly web-driven world? In short, does the company have what it takes to thrive without its iconic founder at the helm?”
MacDailyNews Take: No. No. And no.
Kirkpatrick continues, “And then there’s Apple. From the iPod to the iMac to the iPhone, its products have cornered the market on cool. Apple’s small share of the PC market in the U.S. is growing fast – it was 7.4% in the first quarter of 2008, up from 5.1% a year earlier, according to International Data Corp. (IDC). Perhaps even more alarming, its ubiquitous ‘Get a Mac’ TV ads have painted the personal computer loaded with Windows software – the central achievement of Gates’ 33 years at Microsoft – as a loser. To a lot of consumers out there, Microsoft really does seem like that bumbling nebbish played by Daily Show contributor John Hodgman.”
“The feud with Apple is mostly about honor. It pains Ballmer and his troops react viscerally when they watch those Apple ads – and when they see how much they’ve harmed Microsoft’s reputation. The consulting firm CoreBrand calculates Microsoft has declined from 11th among global brands in 2004 to 59th today, and reports that the two-year-old ‘Get a Mac’ campaign has almost certainly played a role,” Kirkpatrick reports.
Kirkpatrick reports, “The ads hurt even more because they strike a nerve… Ballmer does not intend to keep tolerating Apple’s insults.”
MacDailyNews Take: “Buy a Dell and get a Zune?” Sounds more like a prison term than a marketing promotion.
Full article, in which Kirkpatrick looks at Microsot’s plans to make Windows “cool” with a new marketing campaign, here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “JES42” for the heads up.]
@can we stop the bashing?
Who said: “As much as I love my Mac I’d use something else if it was better for what i need my tool to do or what my tool can do for me.”
Uh….that’s the whole point…you CAN’T find anything better, can you?
@alansky
A high five to you. Nice comeback with lots of truth.
@mark
Who said: “its clear MDN is written by and mostly commented on by 14 year olds and/or people who were part of the “Great Transmigration” of people who came to the apple platform post 2005. “
From what I’ve gathered having visited MDN for a long time is the opposite of your 14 year old statements. There are many of us middle agers who began with Apple in the 1980’s, stuck with Apple in the 1990’s. We have been dragged through the mud, targets of jokes, sarcasm, and endured stories of Apple’s impending doom and failure by Micro$oft, Dell and other PC weenies. All I can say is, it’s our turn now. How do they like it?
“We have been dragged through the mud, targets of jokes, sarcasm, and endured stories of Apple’s impending doom and failure by Micro$oft, Dell and other PC weenies. All I can say is, it’s our turn now. How do they like it?”
Amen.
All I can say is, it’s our turn now. How do they like it?
Two cliche’s come to mind:
Karma is a bitch, and revenge is best served cold.
Although Apple needs to be careful not to gloat, arrogance is as deadly as incompetence. Not to mention the outside risk of MS getting their shit together in the future.
MS may be all fsked up, but that’s no reason to screw ourselves as well….
@MacRaven & Ampar
Sooooo turnabout is fair play in your minds????? Keep that in mind for the next couple of years.
They are always looking….probing…..finding that little crack……
“They are always looking….probing…..finding that little crack……”
Check on your obsession with butt sex.
You are not sane enough to be offering advice.
FFS, for 24 years we’ve listened to this shite.
Then, as soon as one of us lob out a softball crack about your hero, it’s time for you to gnash teeth and chastise ‘us’? This is ‘our’ home. Moralize in your own home. Go to your WinForums and proselytize there. ‘Force’ the mean Mac Haters to behave respectfully, there.
Another cliché comes to mind: They can dish it, but they can’t take it.
Anyway, I don’t know ‘if it’s our turn’. Maybe. Let Karma work it out.
But just for once, WinDroid — take the punch. And STFU.
It pains Ballmer? Make some decent f$%#@ng products! Mac OS 10 almost any iteration makes Vista look like the sad ‘me too’ piece of overpriced crap everyone knows it is. Microsoft’s reference designs disappear into the sea of failure with clock like regularity. Their pricing models are painfully obvious attempts to rape consumers. And they singlehandedly created the tools that allowed criminals to make the average Windows PC users existence a morass of spyware, malware viruses and spam.
No quarter! None given! They only thin Microsoft is good at is making shitloads of money by abusing iot’s monopoly and consumers.
And let’s not forget Microsoft got their start by being handed a monopoly thru IBM. Microsoft has NEVER competed on merit. And when they try? Spot watches, BOB and the Zune.
I am amazed about how many people feel sorry for Ballmer. What a crock of shite.
Bunch of bleeding hearts….
Ballmer crying….what a man. Poopsy….are l you leaving? Sob…….
@Ampar
“”They are always looking….probing…..finding that little crack……”
Check on your obsession with butt sex.
You are not sane enough to be offering advice.”
Never ever said I was sane…. Come to think of it, never have been called sane. Your insanity is my home……And I do love home….
Now go along and pronounce your bleeding hearts out….”we endured years of this Shite!!! we aint taking any more” We deserve better……
Make it better then….. dont expect Apple to do this for you though…. Apple is just a company. And we are human. Companies will eventually fall away… people will be here to the end.
But of course you know this dont you Ampar….Chrissyone…..
Then why are you acting like me? A crazed pissed off windows fanboi???? You folks deserve this, and I am here to make sure you get a whole shitpot full.
2 maybe 3 years you will see. Then amybe you will really see….
THINK DIFFERENT!!!!
Oh by the way I think Ballmer is nuts…Reminds me soo much of a used car salesman.
You gotta love his enthusiasm! Man setting in a room of jazzed folks with this guy ramping it up…. What A Rush!!!!!
THINK DIFFERENT!!!!!
….Make it better then…..
Any suggestions?
….You folks deserve this….
Why?
@ R5D4
“I do smoke, and it really does help me tolerate snarky little comments from folks like yourself. BTW, way to derive self-worth with your little “I know the name of the next Mac OS and you don’t” routine a while back. You’ll really enjoy the adult world once you get there.”
Okay, what the fsck is this all about? When did I ever lash out at you? If I’m going to insult you, you’ll know it, you rotten psycho fsck hole.
I think you might have a bit of a Projection problem, you 2nd rate garbage droid. I think it says something about a person when they have to bring up a topic from weeks ago and gloat about how superior they think they are, never mind the ‘routine’.
If something crawled into your pussy and died, please don’t blame me for it. It sounds like you’re doing a pretty good job of making a complete ass of yourself on your own in this thread. Sorry if you can’t handle other people in the world that know things and think about stuff. I understand you might be feeling left out. Just don’t think you bring us all down to your level by saying so.
Good day to you.
” Microsot’s plans to make Windows “cool” with a new marketing campaign,”
If they believe it can be done with a marketing campaign, they have already failed.
-jcr
@R4D4:
“In sum, I am vindicated, and will continue to visit and post on this board.”
Bull Hockey.
The MDN statement is essentially unchanged.
And now you’re grasping at straws in your attempt to backpedal on your threat to leave.
You threatened to leave, and MSN’s minor editorial changes didn’t retract one iota from “dork” Ballmer.
YMMV, but IMO, Ballmer revealed his degree of faithfulness to his Microsoft “family” when he made that “last kid out … I’m gone” (sic) statement.
Even that is a bogus spin-doctoring to make him appear like a normal guy, because what kind of Billionaire is so utterly incompetent in being able to afford college for his kids?
The reason why Ballmer is IMO all distraught is because the iceberg that MS Titanic is heading for is well within sight, but the steering controls on the ship don’t allow them to dodge this one … and with Bill and Jeff leaving, Steve knows that he’s been left as the Captain of ship. He’s clearly upset and scared as all “heck”.
Finally, if he gets so unhinged when a supposed **friend** retires, what kind of bender is he go on when Bill or Jeff dies (from old age, cancer or a bus)? Either the guy’s a superb actor, or he’s as mentally as stable as a bowl of prune flavored Jello on a hot day in a 6.5 Earthquake.
Pity for the Mighty doesn’t start until after the Mighty have fallen. Its still not quite time yet to pity Microsoft.
-hh
There you go again: spewing byzantine analyses of Ballmer’s proprioceptive , phasic, and probably soon stercoral condition. Let the guy wriggle and contort all he wants. Waste of time and futile endeavour. If you want to effectively destroy the guy–I as wish you would!–why not advise Apple to lower their prices, ever so little so that more PCs owner cross over? And stop spreading rumors about Jobs’ career. What a way to win over prospective Mac buyers! And do not bash this messenger who has been using Macs for longer than most of you. Applequest.
@C1….yeaow….don’t lighten up on him now…give him BOTH barrels.
R2D2 (deliberately misspelled) is a sorry git who makes idle threats and puffs himself up under the safety of anonymity. …like the coward he/she is. Not worth getting your dander up C1 but rather as a target to sharpen your usual rapier wit…..in other words bitch-slap him with words.
Linus Ball$mer has lost his Gateian security blanket.
“Let us mourn the loss together, fellow Windows!“, he quips.
Much grieving amongst the followers ensues.
Ball$mer exits with the older partner, patting Gates on the back, friendship neverending.
Ball$mer laughs, inner talk; “I have won! I am the all powerful genie! The Gatetime has ended, I am the supreme being!”
As the older Gate leaves the edifice for good, he in turn smiles. He knows that the empire is failing, he leaves as a rat from a sinking ship.
Such friends.
They only thin Microsoft is good at is making shitloads of money by abusing iot’s monopoly and consumers.
MS is the ultimate parasite, with their legacy CRAP deeply embedded into the jugulars of so much of the PC industry.
Need more revenue? Sip a little harder. A host doesn’t wanna pay up? Call in the BSA.
The good news is the parasite’s fangs have been very poorly engineered, and MS can no longer maintain them. A major legacy break WILL have to come if MS wants remain even laughably relevant.
Mac: Simple, like it’s users
Apple needs to grow up and face the facts that insulting MS at every turn isn’t going to help. The 5% of people using macs are decreasing even more. I love the ipod and iphone but when you can’t build your own computer that is just sad. Mac fans are so defensive if you ever talk bad about their macs. Whoever says macs never crash are smoking dope. I have a few macs and I like them, but Windows will always win.
@T34m1nat0r
Soooo……why are you here?
“Whoever says macs never crash are smoking dope. I have a few macs and I like them, but Windows will always win.”
Thanks for playing, fake Mac user. NEXT!!!
@ T34m1nat0r
“Apple needs to grow up and face the facts that insulting MS at every turn isn’t going to help.”
Apple only insults MS when they deserve it. Don’t blame Apple if they deserve it so often.
“The 5% of people using macs are decreasing even more.”
I know! Recently that number has decreased to 7.4%.
“I love the ipod and iphone but when you can’t build your own computer that is just sad.”
I doubt you could build a salad at TGIFridays. Let’s not aim too high.
“Mac fans are so defensive if you ever talk bad about their macs.”
You should talk to a few Moto-Guzzi owners.
“Whoever says macs never crash are smoking dope.”
Whoever said Macs never crash?
“I have a few macs and I like them”
Liar.
“but Windows will always win.”
Fool.
@T34m1nat0r
“I love the ipod and iphone but when you can’t build your own computer that is just sad.”
You may not understand this so I will say it in small words…so what!
Very few people WANT to build one and amusingly enough, when I hear some PC dorks say they like to BUILD one, they say…oh, I increased the RAM…I changed the hard disk, I put in a new video card…
THAT is not building your own PC and when I say I do that on the Mac they look at me as if I am a liar.
Ignorance is bliss and I know a lot of Blissful people.
I just shake my head….