Can't Afford a New PC? Ballmer's Boy Feels Your Pain!
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At the business launch of Windows Vista, Office 2007 and Exchange 2007, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told me something surprising: The family computers in his home were all bought in 2003 and haven't been replaced since. |
But, with Vista and the "affordability" of new hardware, they were planning to replace many of these. Interesting that price and affordability matters to a Microsoft billionaire.
But, Ballmer told me, even though his son's school laptop doesn't have as much memory as he wants, he's probably going to just get his XP software upgraded to Vista.
That is pretty much the way Ballmer also expects many business and consumer customers to get Vista: largely through new machines, but also with some software upgrades.
Also, interestingly, Ballmer told me that Microsoft had learned from its development experience with Vista, where it tried to "incubate and integrate" too many new technologies into the operating system; think WinFS, its next-generation storage subsystem.
Ballmer also downplayed how Microsoft's goal of becoming far more of a services provider would play out with its partners, saying that "every innovation is both an opportunity and a threat for anybody in our industry, be it a partner or competitor.
"If we add anti-spyware into Windows, there's a partner who is not going to like it. But, hey, there could also be a Microsoft group who thought they were going to make money selling anti-spyware," he said.
Interesting logic, that. Do you agree? I'd also be interested in knowing how you plan to get Vista; if you are planning, that is!
Comments (18)
I'll probably get Vista by an express upgrade on a new XP Pro laptop.
Posted by ScottyWZ | December 2, 2006 4:29 PM
As a student, I can't conceive of paying for Vista any time soon. I might possibly get it if I were to get a new laptop, and even then, only if I would have to buy windows again for warranty reasons or something.
Posted by ekspiulo | December 2, 2006 6:22 PM
The cheapest place in the world to get Vista (in the near future) is the US. Prices variete from half more to doubble in Europe and other coutrys.
Now, think about getting a new lapptop from Sony/Vario including Vista or a new Mac pro.
Just compare the price.
As for me, i'm stepping out of this ratrace and move to Mac.
Posted by Pankaj | December 2, 2006 9:52 PM
I'm going to stay with XP Pro until they stop supporting it. Then I'm going Mac.
Posted by Rick | December 3, 2006 4:20 AM
whats a ballmer?
Posted by puppet | December 3, 2006 7:38 AM
meh +Vista = hell frozen over
Until then..... Edgy Eft for now.
Posted by KC | December 3, 2006 8:50 AM
I run XP now, but I'm transitioning to Linux due to Vista's new restrictive licensing and the fact that Ubuntu does everything I need and does it well.
Posted by Derek | December 3, 2006 10:58 PM
I'm thankful that my school has an MSDNAA subscription for our compsci department, so I am good now.
Posted by BS | December 3, 2006 11:10 PM
Ballmer Boy? WTF? That doesn't even make sense. You have no talent. Please find something else to do.
Posted by aaaaaaaaaa | December 3, 2006 11:53 PM
I already have RTM Vista and Office 2007, running on my laptop (from my MSDN Premium Subscription). Of course, I still have to buy the retail version of Vista when it is available (licensing reasons).
I must say it is running super well on my machine with 1.3 GB RAM and a 1.1 Ghz Pentium M Processor.
Posted by Jiggyswift | December 4, 2006 4:21 AM
There is only one thing I need to know, is there any way to run Windows Vista on a PC with only 256 MB RAM??????
Posted by Arafa | December 4, 2006 6:25 AM
I�m switching back to linux now that I�ve figured out how to run MS apps on it like dreamweaver and flash by using virtualization techniques like win4lin or QEMU . I will use either Ubuntu or Vector linux. Vector is really fast and works great on older computers. Ubuntu is more polished and works well with for people who don�t want to tinker under the hood. Of course it always has that option.
so no, i won�t be BUYING vista. They seem to have to give it away with a system for anyone to get it. That could be a good business model, give it away and then charge for patches to fix it! I don�t like how IE7 kills website standards and since windows is always based on an inferior browser it does not make sense to have it. IE7 also has problems installing on some peoples computers. MS isn´t innovating anymore, they are just taking ideas from mozilla, google, linux, sun and mac. I think Office is the only product MS makes that works. When MS rewrites Windows from the ground up, then I might buy, but it will probably be to little, to late then. You can spend a million dollars on a dog house, but it�s still a dog house.
Posted by surfetish | December 4, 2006 10:18 AM
Of course we're all going to run Vista. People who are claiming otherwise are deluding themselves while they can. Linux as a desktop OS? What a joke. No serious software company will throw away their intellectual property by porting it to Linux. No serious software company will bother porting their software to a platform that has 1-2% market share. It's common sense. Macs look pretty in a shop window, but not on my desk, thank you very much.
Posted by Brad Freeman | December 4, 2006 11:17 AM
You could be wrong Mr. Freeman - in less than 5 years you will be sitting in front of a linux-like-desktop in your office yourself. The decade of ms windows is comming to an end very quickly now. As of today linux owns about 60% of the servermarket (still rising) while MS is falling back (more and more). And for sure desktops will follow. As for the software companies - they will follow the demands of their customers.
I am dealing with computers for almost 20 years now and looking back i'd say - besides win2000 - winxp is one of the best operatingsystems ever produced. But i won't even try to install vista on one of my pc's. infact i only use my xp-computer for gaming :D
By the way - i agree that MAC's look pretty
Take care and have fun
Posted by Deelight | December 4, 2006 12:31 PM
Should we get a collection together to help billionaire Ballmer's family upgrade their PC's?
Perhaps they are having money problems. It is Christmas and a time for giving.
Patty
Posted by Patty Amas | December 4, 2006 1:21 PM
naaa - thats like giving a fish to a hungry man. he needs to be tought how to get the fish out of the river himself. wich seems strange to me. i mean he got like 10.000 people working for his company and they are not capable of producing something even better than linux???
Dee
Posted by Deelight | December 4, 2006 2:02 PM
Two words: Young FrankenSteve
Posted by TechExec2 | December 4, 2006 3:44 PM
Vista is not in the horizon for me at this time. I do notice that some really big companies are phasing out W2000 and going to XP. Can you figure out why?
It make me wonder how long MS will support XP and why I'm sticking with it a while longer.
Posted by db. | December 5, 2006 9:24 AM