Is Vista the end? Ballmer says there's "plenty more where that came from"

All those cool kids with their messy hair and loud rock music like to talk about how Vista is the "end of an era," and from now on the OS will move towards modular updates and internet service-based functionality. But before they get too smug, Steve Ballmer warned on Monday that there's "plenty more where that came from." He sort of dodged the questions about when to expect a service pack, saying "We'll put one out if we need to," but he also mentioned "We've got a very long list of stuff our engineers want to do, a long list of stuff all of the companies here want us to do," and that "There are so many areas where we need innovation." Hard to really tell what he's hinting at -- other than the fact that he obviously wants you to buy his shiny new OS -- but while Fiji does seem destined for our desktops sooner rather than later, it's hard to discount rumors of the tantalizing upgrades and reworkings we're hearing about in Vienna, which would be Microsoft's first big break in Windows backwards compatibility, and could provide much more power to the OS. 'Cause you know how we do: we're doing our Flip 3D thing, tagging our photos and burning those DVDs, and we can't help but wonder, "is this all there is?"

[Brian @ Jan 30th 2007 5:05PM]

Let's hope they finish a version before they release it next time. Been running Ultimate for 2 months now and it is no Wow....

[Dave Bergschneider @ Jan 30th 2007 5:14PM]

Just make it cheaper so the average joe can afford to have the bells and whistles too. It's not like we wont have to spend more money to install applications.

[Rick @ Jan 30th 2007 5:15PM]

With all that guy obviously eats, I'm sure there will be plenty more to squirt out.

[GSP @ Jan 30th 2007 5:46PM]

"plenty more where that came from" ... is that a threat?

[Blue Sam @ Jan 30th 2007 5:58PM]

do the monkey dance, please!

[i.p.freely @ Jan 30th 2007 6:11PM]

"plenty more where that came from."

Well how about fixing what is broken first? Don't bells and whistles... just fix it so it works. Stop trying to out "OS X" the "OS X".

"We've got a very long list of stuff our engineers want to do, a long list of stuff all of the companies here want us to do,"
That is the fundamental problem with Windows. too many cooks. MS only wants to appease their partners and developers... How about putting your customers number one?

and that "There are so many areas where we need innovation."
Innovation does not mean coming up with creative way to steal OS X idea and trying to pass it off as your idea.

[al @ Jan 30th 2007 6:12PM]

why is some old fart with no hair and no imagination running and messing up a potentially very powerful company that can afford to make great products. they need young blood at the helm. (Jobs is the exception to every rule .....). just bought the zune ... potentially a great peice. but again. no one thought to put in a 60 .. maybe even an old 40 gb drive. its like they're mentally retarded. all u have to do is read whats going on. or even better yet, copy. that might be smart. its like they're working on things for 3 years and dont look at the world around them . my clients are very happy with xp. but now dell is probably going to phase out xp in a year and then everybody's screwed. sorry for the rant just very frustrating.

[mofotox @ Jan 30th 2007 6:57PM]

and everyone knows exactly where it come from: APPLE!

[boe @ Jan 30th 2007 7:00PM]

WOW - Too bad Bill G will never read this thread. I think there is far too much filtering going on. No exec seems to ever hear - let's fix the broken stuff. They always think - how can I put a new coat of paint on this hovel and resell it.

Ballmer has lost any perspective. Pricing is absurd on Vista, the upgrade process sucks, Office 2007 still has all the flaws of Office 2003 - one profile in outlook, outlook doesn't release properly when exiting, Outlook advanced search doesn't show the right material, BCM doesn't sync with exchange - HEY I'M PRETTY SURE OUTLOOK is the most used product out of all of office - name one employee who doesn't uses any other part of office all day long! FOCUS UNCLE FESTER, FOCUS!!

The Iphone has MS scared silly - finally someone said - hey, let's make something slim, high resolution, good bluetooth stack - the only concern is if Apple will figure out a method to make e-mail push from servers - granted that is a huge concern but otherwise the hardware blows the doors off of any MS phone on the market. I imagine they'll have to make an Iphone with a keyboard if they want to get the rest of the market that wants a keyboard.

IE7 - I can't get people to use it more than a few days - they can't figure it out unless I unhide the menu, add some customized buttons, and fix all the tab defaults.

Voice Command 1.6 is pretty good - too bad it shuts down the MS BT stack after a few minutes.

[O_o @ Jan 30th 2007 9:08PM]

wow, you're obviously a mac fanboy. How did the iphone get into this? And how can you knock MS for hardware on phones when MS doesn't make phones?

I doubt MS is scared silly about the iPhone. It's beautiful, and exotic, but will remain a boutique item for a niche market. Palms and Blackberries are the real competition for MS in the phone sector.

[Asif @ Jan 30th 2007 7:09PM]

Nonsense.. the next operating system is going to be all internet based.. what Windows was to DOS.. you log into a local OS whose only function is to connect you to the internet (like typeing win.exe ) and your OS is your online account.

Thats what microsoft is trying to do with the whole Live thing (not a very good job i must say), and thats what google is trying to do with the whole google + gmail accounts .. thats where technology is headed.. either go with the flow or lose out.. wake up microsoft vista should've done a better job of heading there quicker than the others, not just be an upgrade to XP with a startmenu that looks like a sewage pipe.. and a supid search bar and other gadgest stolen from all over the place.

If you dont make an innovation worthy enough, you're going to get slapped in the face..

Comments welcome!

[Pavan @ Jan 31st 2007 2:48AM]

Has anyone checked out youos? its a brilliant execution of this whole concept.

I have a laptop with no hard disk, and I use youos since i dont have anything physical to save my stuff on. Must say it works out brilliantly for me.

[Joseph @ Jan 30th 2007 7:10PM]

Being the IT & Graphics guy at my job. I am running a mac and the rest of our network runs XP, save for our server that runs exchange.

I have 0 desire to upgrade to exchange 2007, office 2007 and vista. After beta testing all of them on a test server and workstation. I thought no way will my 50+ year old co-workers be able to make this transition with out training. It does a good job of hiding everything i need to operate in windows. I spent way too much time trying to find the same window that + can get me in .5 second. Trying to get that sucker on the domain was un-intuitive from a standard windows perspective. The new GUI menus/tabs instead of drop-downs were cool, but would be really confusing for 98% of our staff.

I need to wait for them to iron out the kinks and bugs and then I need to find a training seminar to send the staff too. Hopefully, this upgrade sticks for 5 years.

Not to mention the cost of new workstations to run all the latest software.

[Jason @ Jan 30th 2007 7:26PM]

This is perhaps what aggravates me the most. I hear a whole body of thought saying that well, there isn't that much difference in the new version of windows. We'll yeah, superficially, it may be relatively the same for the sole reason of not abandoning the technologically impaired. Mircosoft is a business first, and an innovator second, perhaps the reciprocal of its nemesis, Apple. I'm sure Microsoft would LOVE to abandon its legacy OS and usher in an era of unrivaled computing that is so radically different that it leaves all of its competitors in awe, but the truth of the matter is that this is not practical for business at all. Microsoft widespread popularity is its only crutch in its never ending race to put the most premium product. Its for this reason that we may not see a replacement for the dashboard for another 2 releases of the Windows OS, simply because you need to migrate your consumer's interests, you can't feed them something radical.

Perhaps I'm just rambling, but I feel like someone has to understand me.

[xVariable @ Jan 30th 2007 7:41PM]

This guy is so fucking gross and out of touch. Doesn't he make you physically ill? Like, sick to your stomach? Just look at him. He makes me shudder.

[grable @ Jan 30th 2007 9:20PM]

@xVariable: I agree!!

He looks like a spawn of evil it self!

[jondohnson @ Jan 30th 2007 8:00PM]

Did someone say dance monkeyboy?

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/403519/welcome_to_the_so_so/

[dave @ Jan 30th 2007 9:24PM]

Hah!

Translation: "As long as Apple keeps innovating, we'll keep copying!"

[Gus Gus the Great @ Jan 30th 2007 9:41PM]

Seeing as how Mac OS Anything is just bits and pieces of Linux put together with a few nifty pictures and gadgets, I don't see how you can knock MS for copying Mac. Besides, business is where you see a good product and attempt to compete with it. Copying isn't an issue. Ex. Zune vs. iPod Zune has already claimed 5-10% of what Apple had with the iPod, and though the iPod will likely stay in the lead, now MS is making money, which is what they wanted. Hello? Understand now? Vista, as I've seen, is being knocked around by people like WildTangent for incompatible games. This is because drivers for everything aren't out yet, and they had to cut a lot of awesome stuff to meet the release date. I probably won't get Vista for at least a year because of bugs that will naturally show up. (And if you haven't seen the tech news talking about Mac flaws being fixed, then get over yourself because Mac OS has flaws, too.) After a year, there'll probably be a Service Pack out, too.

[dave @ Jan 30th 2007 10:02PM]

Yeah, Linux and NeXt , actually. The difference between the way the Mac is cobbled together, and Windows, is that the Mac actually works consistently.

Nifty pictures and gadgets? The trouble with you Windows Fanboys™ is that you equate actual usability with "eye candy"- you are so defensive that you think usability is a dirty word, or a sign of weakness. Guess what- it's not.

Dinosaurs.

[dave @ Jan 31st 2007 12:05AM]

Oh, and re: Zune vs. iPod: Ballmer actually claimed that Zune had taken 25% of iPod market share. Laughable. And Gates has claimed in 2 separate interviews now that no OS has ever had Parental controls before Vista. Except for OS X, for the last two years....

Who do these guys think they are kidding? It's not 1995 any longer. No one just sheepishly swallows their BS anymore.

[yoma @ Jan 30th 2007 11:41PM]

im sick of these guys man, can we like trully nail them for once on some anti trust thing and split this thing up because this whole domination thing spilling over into gaming and wanna be spilling into mp3 players is getting tiring.

[BobbyDigital @ Jan 31st 2007 2:07AM]

That photo looks like something that would be propped up on an easel at a funeral.

[SD @ Jan 31st 2007 11:47AM]

The solution is quite simple. Microsoft needs to compete with itself (as in put itself out of business). By that, I mean they should spin off a new company which is not suject to the same expectations/requirements as Microsoft itself (sales goals, development processes, corporate values). Ideally it should be a private start up not subject to short term expectations from stockholders/investors. This company, in turn would create its own value network and find a way to be profitable by trying to compete or displace Windows as a desktop OS. This is how lots of companies have historically found a way to survive. If MS doesn't do this themselves, someone else will. Sadly, Apple already has a head start now that their OS runs on the same processors as Windows.

[Mikeer @ Feb 6th 2007 4:23AM]

Yeah, I guess that apple still has a load of ideas for M$ to "invent"

[Ed T @ Feb 14th 2007 4:31PM]

Ballmer doesn't care about innovation, retail Vista sales, online music, DAPs, or 99% of the stuff geeks think is important. He is a corporate reptile who lives and breathes for his real customers, the box makers and corporate types who buy volume licenses. Everything else is just noise. The Zune? Hell, it's just a $200M diversion to piss off Apple. He and Billy G run the company like a lemonade stand and it still churns out billions in profits. The board of directors is comatose, and he likes it that way.