“Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates told CNBC on Monday that the software giant is trying to gain market share in the Apple-dominated tablet market,” Matthew J. Belvedere reports for CNBC. “Personal computers are still a big business, he said in a ‘Squawk Box’ interview, appearing from Omaha, Neb., with fellow billionaire Warren Buffett. Gates, a board member of Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, added that it’s going to be harder to tell the difference between the tablets and personal computers.”
“‘With Windows 8, Microsoft is trying to gain market share in what has been dominated by the iPad-type device. But a lot those users are frustrated. They can’t type. They can’t create documents,’ he added. ‘So we’re providing them something with the benefits they’ve seen that has made that a big category but without giving up what they expect in a PC,'” Belvedere reports. “‘If you have Surface or Surface Pro, you have the portability of the tablet but the richness of terms of the keyboard, Microsoft Office of the PC,’ said Gates, referring to Microsoft’s tablet.”
As per “documents,” we use Pages, Keynote, and Numbers, of course – just like the rest of the iPad working world. There is no need for the expensive, bloated Office, as Microsoft, by keeping it off iPad in a misguided attempt to sell their Surface flops, is proving very nicely to the world.
You know little old Microsoft’s desperate when they trot out the irrelevant Gates to talk up fellow anachronisms like physical keyboards and Office.
Ballmer, Gates & Microsoft – trying to re-invent themselves, as the SOT (same old thing). Thirty year old One Trick hard keyboard Office Pony. Notice Gates adds nothing to the dialogue of advancement, just the old sales models and limitations therein. Trying to put lipstick on the same old pig and call it a new swan. Just who do you think you’re kidding Billy Boy???!
And yet somehow I thinks Jobs was wrong when he said Gates would have helped himself if he had gone on an acid trip or whatever it was… Somehow, I don’t think Bill frying a few gray matter cells would have produced intuitive, elegant products.
In fact, I take that back. Maybe Gates did do acid but had a bad trip and when he came down from his high he had a vision… Windows! As we all came to know and love it.
Yes, and they called it Aero, the default desktop scheme in XP.
excellent point
but people are far more FRUSTRATED with Surface because:
PRICE:
surface is too high since one can buy a touch screen
laptop for less
VIRUSES:
malware and advertisement installed in Metro OS is a huge negative for consumers
USER INTERFACE:
horribly unintuitive UI, flat dull interface that is confusing and illogical at most times, the array of tools in office fills the entire screen of the tablet, one cannot even see where to type, and 6 to 8 steps to get things done where a mouse was 3 to 5 clicks
SAME OLD CRAP:
windows is windows, performance has not improved, nothing is offered to make life easier, bloated software
NO KEYBOARD:
microsoft complains iPad is a pain to use a virtual keyboard but does not include one? Oops, someone made a mistake to claim what frustrates consumers
You don’t achieve a 70% marketshare,
a 90% customer service rating,
dominate the competitors and
eliminate the PC industry
with a device that doesn’t work well Bill.
If your family and employees are not even allowed to use iPad or iPhone; how do you even back up your statement Gates?
Stop inventing false claims Mr. Gates. You are clueless on whatever hit you from Apple. Your company sat many years far too comfortable. It has no taste or culture. In fact people are not buying Surface because even diehard PC users are FRUSTRATED on how it works and how horribly unintuitive your product is.
And lastly, document creation on iPhone could be said to be sort of frustrating only due to a small screen. But on a iPad Apple has everyone well covered. Excellent software titles at excellent pricing. Even with no OFFICE; yes Bill no office on iOS is a happy thing. So stay away… Keep out. Your products are forbidden my installation.
But, but, but . . . Bill ‘invented’ the tablet computer over ten years ago and thought that it was the way of the future. It had no keyboard didn’t it? Ah, it must be the kickstand.
You are so very right !!!!!. But was that before Newton?
Goes to show you why Bill was never a good salesman.
He doesn’t even know his own products.
A lot of Microsoft employees are frustrated because nobody wants to buy their tablets. Things have become so desperate that Bill Gates is trying to trash-talk iPads.
Bill really needs to have a bit of dignity. He’s frequently demonstrated that he doesn’t have taste, but he should be able to manage dignity. There’s no need to stoop so low as to say ridiculous nonsense which applies equally to his own Surface tablets, which are also sold without keyboards.
And smartphone users are missing the glory days of rotary dial telephones, so we at Microsoft will flood the market with hard wired phones featuring a prominent rotary dial on the face.
This comment may not be a document but it was typed without the ‘aid’ of a physical keyboard. Let me know if it’s illegible.
Bill can not approve your concept…
an App would result in virtual dialling.
Customers will get frustrated.
Please reconsider your idea and submit a working prototype by May 13th as a hardware rotary dialer via blue tooth and we will cover you 100.00 USD and as partnership take 98.75% of your profits. But allow you to keep the iBob Dialer logo intact on every product so that it never exceeds 30 mm in diameter.
Bill Gates is correct that some iPad users resort to using an accessory keyboard just like some at MDN. Why? Because it makes sense for some people who find the iPad’s keyboard less functional.
I just refuse to believe company like Microsoft and two of its executives – Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer still trapped in a malfunction time wrap forever. It’s just plain sad… sad…
If one goes through the history of Bill Gate’s prognostication statements, he has consistently either said the OBVIOUS that has been better stated previously, or he just plain gets it wrong, as seen here.
Whenever someone calles Bill Gates a ‘genious’ or ‘insightful’ or ‘inventive’ I laugh to myself because whoever made those statements has just triggered one of those lovely litmus tests that indicate ignorance. Whoops. 😆
I wanna like Bill Gates so much because of his contributions to taking out malaria all over the world, and various other things. But this damn story just makes him appear ignorant.
Gates is a big investor in Monsanto, and Monsanto is undermining the human food supply through an immoral open air experiment on all of us. So Gates can keep working on his toilet and vaccines and such, while again contributing to the fog, unease and malaise of the world on an even larger scale. I don’t like him. I think he has always been the poster child for what doesn’t work in this world.
Prove that there is something bad with GMO. Give actual scientific evidence. Why can’t GMO be BETTER than the ‘natural’ one? Maybe it has fewer calories or more vitamins?
No. Instead, you prove that there is nothing wrong with GMOs. If I chose to take your bait, my task would be easier than yours. You see, there are plenty of studies pointing to problems created by GMO crops (food allergies, bee colony collapse, farmer suicide, superweeds, superbugs, etc. etc.) I’d like GMOs to be safe and healthy choices, and I’d like all the propaganda put out by Monsanto to be true (helping to end world hunger is certainly an admirable goal, same with growing hardier plants that withstand extreme weather conditions.) It all sounds good until you actually think it through. The problem is that innocent until proven guilty is a STUPID MODEL to apply to novel substances, chemicals and organisms introduced into the human food chain and diet. And the fact that Gates is helping to fund and finance an open air experiment on the human race tells you a little something about the integrity of the whole concept. Bugs, viruses and crashes were just fine with Gates on Windoze. Now he wants to inflict these same problems on our food supply. And because there are so many ignorant people about the issue, he and they are getting away with it. Why do you think the GMO industry is so opposed to labeling that they’re willing to spend a fortune to defeat bills that would hold them accountable? They don’t want their crime against humanity to be traceable. You do the math. http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_11361.cfm
muddygun: You can always appreciate Melinda Gates, whom I personally consider to be the insightful and altruistic head of the family.
With Windows 8, Microsoft is still trying to shoehorn Windows into the tablet form factor; an approach which they had already tried and failed to sell for about a decade before Apple showed them how to do it right.
Even the Android vendors understand that a tablet can’t just be a repackaged PC. Unfortunately for Microsoft, their senior management just doesn’t get it.
Yes, yes. I’m so frustrated I have three iPads. I was supposed to sell my 2 when I bought my mini, but just.can’t.part.with.it. I’ve written 8,000 word documents on my iPad 3 while traveling. It’s called “Pages”, Bill. Pick up an iPad and you’ll see. Idiot.
This dude is twenty years behind and way missing the tide of personal computing, and always has been. He ran a practically criminal organization for years and is now trying to pass through the eye of a needle. Frak ‘im.
Really Bill? If and I say if a user REALLY needs a physical keyboard with an iPad, it is called apple Bluetooth keyboard. And of course you can create a document, easily and you don’t have to pay $459 to do so you silly idiot.
Let he who has not sinned throw the first blue screen of death at the paperclip asking if you are really sure you are sure you want to execute that action that was the only button in the modal dialog just presented.
Gates lies. Because spreading fear, uncertainty and doubt about Apple has always been his modus operandi. Meanwhile, he’s investing in Monsanto’s open air experiment on the human race and risking the destruction of bees, our food supply, and pretty much anything that makes life worth living. What a swell guy.
huh. i use Notability to create documents. i can even annotate them with drawings. and if i need to create long documents, the Apple Bluetooth keyboard that was too small for my friend’s needs pairs nicely and works like a champ.
.
Bill Gates – Captain Irrelevant
Ballmer, Gates & Microsoft – trying to re-invent themselves, as the SOT (same old thing). Thirty year old One Trick hard keyboard Office Pony. Notice Gates adds nothing to the dialogue of advancement, just the old sales models and limitations therein. Trying to put lipstick on the same old pig and call it a new swan. Just who do you think you’re kidding Billy Boy???!
Maybe Bill should let his children use an iPad. Then he would learn how wrong he is. 😎
Aren’t his kids old enough to make their own decisions yet? Or at least old enough to rebel?
You have no idea how powerful the words “trust fund” are do you? 😉
As for Bill Gates’ comments – two words: Ass Hat…
😀
“portability of the tablet but
the richness of terms of the keyboard” — laughablez.com
sorry bill,
richness first came as a virtual keyboard
now it comes as voice,
and everything about iDevices is portable.
Bill seems to forget that the keyboard for his block-like fatlets are optional purchases.
haha, correct-er than
gates and windows,
doors and roofs
jobs was oh so right;
he is such a blue-collar rich guy with no taste or culture
And yet somehow I thinks Jobs was wrong when he said Gates would have helped himself if he had gone on an acid trip or whatever it was… Somehow, I don’t think Bill frying a few gray matter cells would have produced intuitive, elegant products.
In fact, I take that back. Maybe Gates did do acid but had a bad trip and when he came down from his high he had a vision… Windows! As we all came to know and love it.
Yes, and they called it Aero, the default desktop scheme in XP.
excellent point
but people are far more FRUSTRATED with Surface because:
PRICE:
surface is too high since one can buy a touch screen
laptop for less
VIRUSES:
malware and advertisement installed in Metro OS is a huge negative for consumers
USER INTERFACE:
horribly unintuitive UI, flat dull interface that is confusing and illogical at most times, the array of tools in office fills the entire screen of the tablet, one cannot even see where to type, and 6 to 8 steps to get things done where a mouse was 3 to 5 clicks
SAME OLD CRAP:
windows is windows, performance has not improved, nothing is offered to make life easier, bloated software
NO KEYBOARD:
microsoft complains iPad is a pain to use a virtual keyboard but does not include one? Oops, someone made a mistake to claim what frustrates consumers
I agree with everything you wrote, “Arnold”, but there’s only one of me lurking around here.
If iPad users must have a physical keyboard, they can always buy a wireless bluetooth keyboard from Apple for $69 (NOT $112 or more!)
A lot of Microsoft employee’s are frustrated because they can’t type or create documents.
I can convert a Pages document into a Microsoft Word document RIGHT ON MY iPAD! Is it just that Microsoft employees don’t know how to use technology?
You don’t achieve a 70% marketshare,
a 90% customer service rating,
dominate the competitors and
eliminate the PC industry
with a device that doesn’t work well Bill.
If your family and employees are not even allowed to use iPad or iPhone; how do you even back up your statement Gates?
Stop inventing false claims Mr. Gates. You are clueless on whatever hit you from Apple. Your company sat many years far too comfortable. It has no taste or culture. In fact people are not buying Surface because even diehard PC users are FRUSTRATED on how it works and how horribly unintuitive your product is.
And lastly, document creation on iPhone could be said to be sort of frustrating only due to a small screen. But on a iPad Apple has everyone well covered. Excellent software titles at excellent pricing. Even with no OFFICE; yes Bill no office on iOS is a happy thing. So stay away… Keep out. Your products are forbidden my installation.
But, but, but . . . Bill ‘invented’ the tablet computer over ten years ago and thought that it was the way of the future. It had no keyboard didn’t it? Ah, it must be the kickstand.
You are so very right !!!!!. But was that before Newton?
Goes to show you why Bill was never a good salesman.
He doesn’t even know his own products.
A lot of Microsoft employees are frustrated because nobody wants to buy their tablets. Things have become so desperate that Bill Gates is trying to trash-talk iPads.
Bill really needs to have a bit of dignity. He’s frequently demonstrated that he doesn’t have taste, but he should be able to manage dignity. There’s no need to stoop so low as to say ridiculous nonsense which applies equally to his own Surface tablets, which are also sold without keyboards.
And smartphone users are missing the glory days of rotary dial telephones, so we at Microsoft will flood the market with hard wired phones featuring a prominent rotary dial on the face.
This comment may not be a document but it was typed without the ‘aid’ of a physical keyboard. Let me know if it’s illegible.
well said
Looks like an opportunity for a new App: GatesDialer.
Bill can not approve your concept…
an App would result in virtual dialling.
Customers will get frustrated.
Please reconsider your idea and submit a working prototype by May 13th as a hardware rotary dialer via blue tooth and we will cover you 100.00 USD and as partnership take 98.75% of your profits. But allow you to keep the iBob Dialer logo intact on every product so that it never exceeds 30 mm in diameter.
LOL…I type fine on my iPad and create documents all the time with Pages.
And better, you can save directly as PDF
Bill Gates, live from the “If all you’ve got is a hammer, everything looks like a nail”-festival.
Bill Gates is correct that some iPad users resort to using an accessory keyboard just like some at MDN. Why? Because it makes sense for some people who find the iPad’s keyboard less functional.
Not sure what you are getting at here but isn’t the Surface keyboard an accessory that you have to buy? What is the difference?
none.
I am going to pass out we agree on something. Thx
Lets SAY,
for those 5% who love physical keys there has always been a 3rd party solution available.
Lets REMEMBER,
the bluetooth iMac Keyboard also works wonderfully for iPad and Apple TV. A 1st party answer.
I find that both my iPhone and iPad keyboard is great just the way it is. The is no need to waste money on a keyboard.
I just refuse to believe company like Microsoft and two of its executives – Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer still trapped in a malfunction time wrap forever. It’s just plain sad… sad…
If one goes through the history of Bill Gate’s prognostication statements, he has consistently either said the OBVIOUS that has been better stated previously, or he just plain gets it wrong, as seen here.
Whenever someone calles Bill Gates a ‘genious’ or ‘insightful’ or ‘inventive’ I laugh to myself because whoever made those statements has just triggered one of those lovely litmus tests that indicate ignorance. Whoops. 😆
I wanna like Bill Gates so much because of his contributions to taking out malaria all over the world, and various other things. But this damn story just makes him appear ignorant.
Gates is a big investor in Monsanto, and Monsanto is undermining the human food supply through an immoral open air experiment on all of us. So Gates can keep working on his toilet and vaccines and such, while again contributing to the fog, unease and malaise of the world on an even larger scale. I don’t like him. I think he has always been the poster child for what doesn’t work in this world.
the good humanity qualities seen coming from Bill
are very FRUSTRATING when the truth is…
it really comes from his wife and she should be getting the credit.
Prove that there is something bad with GMO. Give actual scientific evidence. Why can’t GMO be BETTER than the ‘natural’ one? Maybe it has fewer calories or more vitamins?
No. Instead, you prove that there is nothing wrong with GMOs. If I chose to take your bait, my task would be easier than yours. You see, there are plenty of studies pointing to problems created by GMO crops (food allergies, bee colony collapse, farmer suicide, superweeds, superbugs, etc. etc.) I’d like GMOs to be safe and healthy choices, and I’d like all the propaganda put out by Monsanto to be true (helping to end world hunger is certainly an admirable goal, same with growing hardier plants that withstand extreme weather conditions.) It all sounds good until you actually think it through. The problem is that innocent until proven guilty is a STUPID MODEL to apply to novel substances, chemicals and organisms introduced into the human food chain and diet. And the fact that Gates is helping to fund and finance an open air experiment on the human race tells you a little something about the integrity of the whole concept. Bugs, viruses and crashes were just fine with Gates on Windoze. Now he wants to inflict these same problems on our food supply. And because there are so many ignorant people about the issue, he and they are getting away with it. Why do you think the GMO industry is so opposed to labeling that they’re willing to spend a fortune to defeat bills that would hold them accountable? They don’t want their crime against humanity to be traceable. You do the math.
http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_11361.cfm
muddygun: You can always appreciate Melinda Gates, whom I personally consider to be the insightful and altruistic head of the family.
I never thought of Bill Gates as irrelevant.
I do think he’s the biggest geek on the planet.
If you look up geek in a dictionary App, you should see Bill’s picture. That is relevant.
“Geek” was never intended to be a compliment (for those who think it’s cool…👀)
In olden times, wasn’t a Geek the guy at the circus that bit the heads off chickens? 😎
Put it this way: geeks don’t do Rock’n’roll
What is Ozzie then?
A freak
fabulous response
Bill Gates is becoming a PR whore King with no clothes on.
I type on my iPad, too… but the typo in the MDN Take is telling… 🙂
“We type of our built-in iPad keyboard”
With Windows 8, Microsoft is still trying to shoehorn Windows into the tablet form factor; an approach which they had already tried and failed to sell for about a decade before Apple showed them how to do it right.
Even the Android vendors understand that a tablet can’t just be a repackaged PC. Unfortunately for Microsoft, their senior management just doesn’t get it.
-jcr
Yes, yes. I’m so frustrated I have three iPads. I was supposed to sell my 2 when I bought my mini, but just.can’t.part.with.it. I’ve written 8,000 word documents on my iPad 3 while traveling. It’s called “Pages”, Bill. Pick up an iPad and you’ll see. Idiot.
This dude is twenty years behind and way missing the tide of personal computing, and always has been. He ran a practically criminal organization for years and is now trying to pass through the eye of a needle. Frak ‘im.
Really Bill? If and I say if a user REALLY needs a physical keyboard with an iPad, it is called apple Bluetooth keyboard. And of course you can create a document, easily and you don’t have to pay $459 to do so you silly idiot.
Clueless.
Let he who has not sinned throw the first blue screen of death at the paperclip asking if you are really sure you are sure you want to execute that action that was the only button in the modal dialog just presented.
verily, amen. lol
Bill, Bill, Bill,
Keyboards are so 20th century.
Come to think of it, so are you.
Silly Gates, I even use my iMac’s Bluetooth keyboard with Pages or Keynote. Maybe your tricks are for Kids.
Gates lies. Because spreading fear, uncertainty and doubt about Apple has always been his modus operandi. Meanwhile, he’s investing in Monsanto’s open air experiment on the human race and risking the destruction of bees, our food supply, and pretty much anything that makes life worth living. What a swell guy.
huh. i use Notability to create documents. i can even annotate them with drawings. and if i need to create long documents, the Apple Bluetooth keyboard that was too small for my friend’s needs pairs nicely and works like a champ.
Uh!… He didn’t mention the stylus ???
Still an idiot.
“We usually type on our built-in iPad keyboard or (rarely) use our Logitech’s Ultrathin Keyboard Cover for iPad (US$99.99).”
same one I seldom used with iPad, eventually came to use it as keyboard to tv. Really handy thereee.
Well, iPad users ARE missing out on the “CLICK” sound, right?