Ballmer: We’re going to make more Microsoft-branded hardware

“Microsoft’s chief boss has confirmed he plans to release more devices. Steve Ballmer told the BBC: ‘Is it fair to say we’re going to do more hardware? Obviously we are… Where we see important opportunities to set a new standard, yeah we’ll dive in.’ The chief executive’s comments came ahead of a Windows 8 launch event in New York, following which Microsoft’s Surface tablet will go on sale,” BBC News reports.

“News other devices are likely to follow may worry other PC manufacturers,” The Beeb reports. “Mr Ballmer caused a stir when he revealed in June that his company was making its own family of tablet computers – one offering extended battery-life powered by an Arm-based chip, the other using Intel’s technology to offer a deeper Windows experience.”

MacDailyNews Take: See, the “Windows experience” is like getting stuffed in a burlap sack and beaten with a baseball bat. The “deeper Windows experience” also offers some cinder blocks, chains, and a one-way trip off the side of a bridge.

“The chief executive of Taiwanese PC-maker Acer told the Financial Times in August that the Surface would have “a huge negative impact for the [PC] ecosystem and other brands” adding that he had been in touch with Microsoft to discuss his concerns,” The Beeb reports. “But Dell – the world’s third largest computer maker – was less bothered by the move. ‘The announcement of Surface was necessary to have a proof of concept and to get people excited about what was coming to push application development and create some buzz out there,’ Kirk Schell, vice president of Dell’s client and consumer product group, recently told the BBC.”

MacDailyNews Take: Oh, yes, Kirk, Microsoft Surface certainly has created some buzz, alright:

• Gizmodo reviews Microsoft Surface RT: Do not buy; inferior to Apple’s iPad; the worst of both worlds – October 25, 2012
• The Verge reviews Microsoft Surface RT tablet: ‘The whole thing is honestly perplexing; who is this for?’ – October 24, 2012
• Analyst: Microsoft’s Surface RT tablet priced too high, could be the next Zune – October 18, 2012
• Dvorak: ‘Microsoft’s Surface tablet isn’t the Apple iPad, so it shouldn’t be priced like one’ – October 18, 2012
• Dear Microsoft, Steve Balmer and Bill Gates: What is up with your obsession with keyboards? – June 28, 2012
• Jason Schwarz: Top 10 reasons why Microsoft’s Surface is DOA – June 22, 2012
• Fox News: Copier Microsoft is doomed to fail with Surface tablet – June 19, 2012
• Microsoft’s Surface tablet destined to be as successful as the Zune – June 19, 2012
• Surface: Why Microsoft’s big mystery turns out to be a big mistake – June 19, 2012
• Microsoft’s Suicide, er… ‘Surface’ – June 19, 2012
• ZDNet Sr. Tech Editor Perlow: Microsoft’s Surface has catastrophe written all over it – June 19, 2012
• ZDNet’s Kingsley-Hughes: Microsoft’s Windows 8 is an awful, horrible, painful design disaster – June 8, 2012
• Analyst meets with big computer maker, finds ‘general lack of enthusiasm’ for Windows 8 – June 8, 2012
• Dvorak: Windows 8 an unmitigated disaster; unusable and annoying; it makes your teeth itch – June 3, 2012
• The Guardian: Microsoft’s Windows 8 is confusing as hell; an appalling user experience – March 5, 2012

The Beeb reports, “Mr Ballmer would not be drawn on the exact nature of his future plans. ‘We have committed ourselves on a path where we will do whatever is required from both a hardware and a software innovation perspective and the cloud innovation perspective in order to propel the vision that we have,’ was all he would tell the BBC.”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Glasses up! May Steve Ballmer remain Microsoft CEO for as long as it takes (which at this rate shouldn’t be much longer)!

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Osher Raskin” for the heads up.]

Related article:
More good news for Apple: Microsoft previews Windows 8 (with video) – June 1, 2011