Ballmer keeps talking, says Android "looks like version one"
By Nilay Patel 
posted Oct 2nd 2008 8:04PM
posted Oct 2nd 2008 8:04PM
Steve Ballmer's whirlwind UK media tour ahead of the Professional Developers Conference just keeps giving us sound bite gems: first it was Windows Cloud, then Zune on Windows Mobile, and now Stevie's taking shots at Android and the G1. Calling Microsoft David to Google's search Goliath, Ballms said that he wasn't worried about Android because it won't be "attractive" to other handset manufacturers because it's "version one... and it looks like version one." Not only that, but he apparently thinks Google's going to sit still, saying "they've got one handset maker, we've got 55. They're available through one operator, we've got 175." True for now, sure, but we know Android isn't going to languish on a single handset on a single carrier for long -- and we're pretty certain Steve knows that HTC and T-Mobile aren't exactly minor players, regardless. Still, it's some masterful bluster from a master of bluster -- now if he'd just back it up with Windows Mobile 7, we'd be way more inclined to believe him.[Via Cool Smart Phones]
This guy is a douche-bag.
The difference here being that Google cares about profit, customers, function, and principle (at least to a point) as compared to microsoft only caring about profit and caring for shareholders.
Guess what, Steve??? Nobody will make your "Jesus phone" in your lifetime. No matter what, it will always be "too difficult to use, not intuitive enough, too bulky, etc....."
Get over yourself. It's good enough.
this guy is annoying
You are annoying!
And a world without Windows would be terrible!
That Steve Ballmer is a billionaire is one of the universe's cruelest jokes. EVER.
I can see this guy harassing kids as a movie theater manager maybe, but billionaire? Laughable.
Lol...Ballmer is really terrible at talking about competition, he gets so offended by any kind of competition and gets defensive immediately, and makes himself look like a clown in the process. Why does he always cite his number against his new competition like Apple and Google, when they just got in the game. Things he forgets to mention are the enormous gains the competition is making on them, while Microsoft is having enormous declines especially in Windows Mobile.
Funny he should say Android "looks like version one" because Androids "version one" looks, operates, and innovates a million times better than Windows Mobiles "version 6" and years and years of experience. What a joke.
The difference here being that Google doesn't have to yell for "Developers, developers, developers, developers!".
Damn right. Plus we'll probably see new and impoved versions a lot faster. Just look and windows vs. linux-based operating systems. We're waiting for the seventh true iteration of windows. I'm on the ninth edition of Fedora...which split off from Redhat after 10 versions, for a total of 19 iterations. Open source stuff moves fast.
I wonder what'll come first: WinMo7 or Android 2.0?
Does it matter how fast it moves? Linux doesn't do anything more then Windows can.
Maybe true, but it doesn't do any less...except hog resources and cost money...and crash (yes they've improved this, but i still crash both my vista and xp boxes while my linux box remains indestructible).
Sorry but I haven't had my WinMo phone crash in 3-4 months. Sure, its not the best interface out there, but that's why there's a ton of shells to install over it. WinMo is OK, it's not spectacular nor garbage, but it does work just fine.
My 2cents
I love that guy.
Your mom looks like version one.
His comments ring totally of those of Palm's CEO, Ed Colligan, who said something like:
>>> "We've got years of experience in developing smartphones. [Apple] isn't simply going
>>> to walk in and come up with anything interesting"
when first discussing the iPhone.
He looks constipated in that pic 0_0 ...
On the contrary, he looks like he just sent off a big one.
I don't think I've ever laughed harder at two posts. I love you both.
They should do the honourable thing and write a version of mobile office for it. Before they're forced to by the inevitable uptake of this system.
And make it easier for corporations to adopt it? Hahaha...funny. That's one of their biggest edges over RimOS...much better Office file support.
Oh Ballmer, you've always looked like version one. :-)
Didn't version 1 have hair (and sweat less)?? This version looks like it's about to blue screen all over the place.
Dear engadget.
Please stop posting pictures of Steve Ballmer like that. I keep laughing and spitting Coke all over the monitor.
Yours, Jon.
Woooo!
Darn it, I could go for a refreshing soda right now, but all I have is ice in the freezer, and I am too lazy to go down the street .3 miles to the grocery store to buy some no-name soda...
That would involve putting the key in the ignition then turning it... to lazy... then I'd have to drive it.... then part it back in the driveway...
I'd rather take my bike.. but it is -2 out... too much dressing... sweater, shoes, coat...
This is why I have no girlfriend.. last 5 said I had no passion....
mac user == no passion?
Troll == No intelligence?
blah at android, i crap all over it.
Version 1 of Android looks better than version 6.1 of Windows Mobile.
Ballmer should stop dissing others and produce a version of Windows Mobile (and regular) that isn't crippled and doesn't have performance issues.
People are switching to Microsoft's competitors in droves, and they aren't switching back.
Windows Mobile? Crippled?
Let me tell you about a crippled OS....
you sir, are an idiot... congradulations!
iPhone
Android is version, what's the argument?
version 1*
This is just to make Goolge to show what it has up its sleeve to add to windows 7
Same Jack-Ass who laughed at the iPhone...
Him and Kevin Rose should go trick or treating together...
We all still laugh! Just silently beacause you guys are a big fruity MASSSS.
Every time I see this guy, I wonder how he can be one of the richest men in the world. Actually I feel he just was at the right moment at the right time, just like porn movies when a plumber goes into a house with a really horny M.I.L.F....
I love how Microsoft brushes off new competition as, "They aren't us." No S*#t. Thanks to open source help, Andriod's version 2 will be a huge leap. Then version 3 will be plain scary to Microsoft....I a betting on about 4 months to having Microsoft slinging mud. Anybody want odds?
you open source losers can improve android all you want... it still will never be half an iPhone.
"They've got one handset maker... They've got one carrier... "
The same could be said of the iphone a year ago, and no one can say that's been an unsuccessful platform... I'm sure if any manufacturer would have loved to port the platform to their phones, even in version 1.
Ballmer is just completely talking out his ass here, hoping to spread FUD about android.
that's hlarious...WinMo 6.1 looks like it's from the stone age
Can't argue here. Android for the time being, lacks certain functionalities of existing operating systems, but like such operating systems, it is a work in progress. Everything will come together soon enough. We all knew Android wouldn't have it all day one anyway.
Ballmer s just a walking parody. . .it's almost sad at this point.
Didn't he say no one would by an iPhone too?
I remember that. He laughed at the price saying no-one would buy it.
think about it open source may sound good look at the iphone people are writing programs for this phone and Jobs is turning it down some of them because it mite compete with the iphone programs. Open source open up doors for some one to write there own UI.
Wow, Microsoft calling themselves "the little guy", whats the world come to?
Yeah, he should talk, version 7 of his OS looks like version 6 and crashes more then version 5.
Where as a Google product while doing everything you need it to do, does it well, but has a terrible user interface for the first few updates.
You've tried WM7? Please tell us all about it.
Why does Microsoft let this guy out?
He chewed through the cage.
So that's all he's got?
Note to Mr. Baller... your shit is so old and crappy looking that there was simply no way on earth I would run it until I saw the HTC plug-in stuff, which looks cool. Your stuff is not only beyond ugly, but simply UN-USABLE without stopping what ever you may be doing and busting out a tiny stylus and 'going to work'.
In other words, I think for your own good, and the good of the MS stock my father owns, you shut your stupid mouth and get busy re-inventing your wares before you are just plain too old and too worthless in the face of your competition. V2 of Android will be developed enough to shame win mobile 6.1.
Further, from what I have seen of v7, your guys still just do not understand interface. Unbelievable.
Version 1.0 from a company who never takes things out of beta. This one might actually be worth while.
I AM A PC!
anyways... this guy is one amazing CEO in my opinion. Whatever weird things he does, he brings the cash into MS.
He's like running constantly on steroid
windows mobile 6 looks like windows mobile version one....
the problem isn't creativity at microsoft; the problem is LEGACY SUPPORT. When they stopped trying to shoehorn what they wanted into windows media player and actually made an actual custom software suite for it, they knocked the ball out of the park.
Now do that with Windows Mobile 7, kthx
I've actually had my hands on the G1 and to be perfectly honest... it completely blows donk. Hands down it's one of the worst phones I've ever used. It's big, its ugly and unfriendly, and it looks feels and acts like something from the late 90s. If I were Google... and the G1 was my big "android phone debut"... frankly I would be embarrassed.
Steve Ballmer is clearly and ass an no one has ever doubted that, but he's spot on about the Google's G1. It's a piece of crap and the only reason it's not being received by the press as a total piece of crap is because its from the "can do no wrong" company... Google.
And for the record, the direction Google has been taking lately with a number of their products and their business practices has been stunningly similar to the way Microsoft has done things in the past. Anyone who honestly believes Google doesn't care JUST AS MUCH about profit as MS is just plain ignorant.
...and to say otherwise will brick your iPhone.
Blast comment system! Ignore this here.
Ok screw it, this comment form is hopelessly buggy. Reverting to linear comment/quote system.
==
OCEAN 18 (IM NOT 'CLAK') yeah im back lol @ Oct 2nd 2008 8:29PM :
iphone osx will destroy winmo and android, steve jobs is a god
==
ethana2 @ Oct 2nd 2008 9:12PM in response to OCEAN 18 :
...and to say otherwise will brick your iPhone.
was it worth it?
So let me get this straight:
Balmer says this, and people get pissed off.
Tech blogs, and iPhone fanatics say the same thing and it reasoned analysis?
So the the point of this post is what? To bash Balmer or to give coverage to someone making the same point that people all over the internet have been making without ridicule?
It's "Ballmer" and not Balmer or Baldmer. :P
Seriously, he's plain annoying.
Based on what?
He was asked about Android. Blame the person asking the question if you didnt want to hear his opinion.
He gave his assessment of where WinMobile is next to android. Ok, fine...
And he said Android is v 1.0. EXACTLY the same thing many others have said on this site.
Yet he says it and people freak.
No, it's definitely Baldmer. I have sources...
Like I'd listen to someone who can't even spell right.
When will Ballmer realize that no one cares about what he has to say?
Um, he was asked, and Engadget printed it.
And thanks for assuming that you know what people care and do not care about hearing.
Ballmer should be recorded every time he speaks. For entertainment purposes.
It looks like version one, Steve, because it is version one. And Google, unlike Microsoft, listens to users and actually improves their product lines over time.
So you are actually saying with a straight face that Microsoft does not listen to its users and does not improve their product?
What idiot do you think would actually take that seriously?
Sure.
Take a look at Microsoft in the last 5 years or so. With the exception of XP Pro (which became actually usable around SP2) and the Xbox360 (which certainly is not without its faults), they've made:
Vista (still a heaping piece of garbage that they have to convince people is awesome - see "Mojave Project"), Zune (which pales in comparison to any iPod generation or even some of the MP3 players made by Creative), and don't even get me started on IE 6 & 7 (and soon... IE8 to depress us all even further).
Really, since Gates started phasing out his major roles in product development, Microsoft has become exceedingly ridiculous.
^^^^^^
Sucking on a fruit as you wrote this?
Windows is a window to freedom.
Otherwise we would all be carrying around a rotten fruit in our pockets.
Yeah run to your tightly controlled fruit universe buddy.
@ michaelportent
-- Vista/Mojave - Showed clearly that people's bias against Vista is largely unfounded
-- Zune - Pales in comparison to any generation iPod? I can list about 10 things my Zune can do that your iPod can't. Tell me exactly what's better about an iPod?
-- IE sucks? more than 50% of internet users choose it. They can choose from lots of free options that are easily installed. Obviously you don't share the majority opinion here
Your contribution to the forum can be summed up as "Microsoft sucks because I said so." Thanks for your insight.
see, I dont have microsoft, I think microsoft is a good company that had given us alot, but I just hate this guy so much. he needs to go
What exactly is he doing or saying that is so abhorrent?
The whole, "I'm going to f***ing kill Google". comment, the $500 iphone comment, and now this with android. Competition is good for us comsumers, microsoft better step up their game or their going to shink ship. instead of making comments like that, he as a leader should be worring about making windows mobile a better experience for consumers like windows is for pcs.
I liked the new "I'm a PC ad" from MS
Im now faced with a problem
I don't like Steve Ballmer
"I'm a PC".... more like, "I'm a cock"
God bless Microsoft and this man!
If it were not for them we would be stuck with Android and god not let this ever happen stuck with a Rotting Fruit!!!!!!!
loser, and steve jobs is not a god. he will be dead within the year.
balmer, on the other hand, will be alive and windows mobile 7 will be out.
This guy is the Sarah Palin of the computer world.
As opposed to Joe Biden?
He gotta improve his image.
He looks like a jerk. That's not a CEO should look like...............
you obviously haven't met the CEO of our country
Interestingly, I did.
STFU, clak.
As usual Ballmer speaks through this asshole. once again. Microsofts failure begins with Ballmer attitude.
Sorry but I have to agree with the guy. I had high hopes, and still do, for Android, but this first release is far from spectacular. It lacks Google's sleek simplicity that has made them popular. It doesn't seem all that intuitive to use so far. At this point there is nothing that would make me want to pick up an Android phone at the moment, and that's ignoring T-Mobile's horrible service and how terrible the G1 looks hardware-wise.
That said, it IS version one, and I have no doubt that there WILL be improvement. Android doesn't seem ready for primetime to me, but I'm sure it will be soon.
Engadget doesn't seem to know that these guys don't give a rats azz if you or anyone else "believes" them. Google might be a big flashy company thanks to a killer search industry which they basically invented and some high-priced shares of stock. Microsoft makes all kinds of ish and people use it whether tech know-it-alls like it or not! The last thing MS or this Balmer freak care about is what some blog that's propped up by Time-Warner has to say about their multi-billion dollar company...Q
Android 1.0 > WinMo 6
Wow... Ballmer smacks of a guy who's been incredibly lucky in life, but is totally delusional about what got him so far
what a total jerk off.
I don't think it's version 1. it's version 0.x.
ie: most google software/service always in beta version.
chrome is version 0.2 now, and GMail still beta (0.x)...
Oh that clak!
he gets salary to speak
Someone needs to throw a water balloon at his pants.
Uh, Steve....
1) Android G1 is version one...thanks Captain Obvious...how many carriers and makers are working with them? like 80 percent?!?
2) Winmo is starting to look awful dated in the mobile OS department...even the new BB OS has similar PIM functionality now
3) The "I am a PC" commercials only say "we tricked too many into using Windows", though I liked Gates doing the robot
4) That will change soon enough and already is-way to ignore customer needs BTW, they are running to Mac and Linux
5) Oh, and lastly-you're a complete tool-but I love watching you melt down every six months
Developers, Developers, Developers...Android sucks, Android sucks, Android sucks?
Doubt it...wake up and smell the future, Stevie!
You know, I honestly like Microsoft and most of their products. It's just a shame that Ballmer has to make them look like self-indulged idiots.
Ballmer personifies what's wrong with Microsoft. He thinks they are such a big, bad monopoly that they don't have to stoop to dealing with competition by actually improving their products.
That's right, Mr. Ballmer, you just keep flapping your gums.