Ballmer says tide has turned on Apple, "paying $500 more to get a logo on it" won't work in this economy
By Paul Miller 
posted March 20th 2009 10:35AM
posted March 20th 2009 10:35AM
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posted March 20th 2009 10:35AM
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Ballmer is the Rush Limbaugh of technology. He's one fat uninformed jackass who spews hate and believes the truth is nothing but an inconvenience in the path of his bigotry.
This man is so full of crap. He also mentioned how the iPhone platform was doomed to failure since the WinMo platform was so damn great. The Apple logo is probably worth about $500 in re-sale value. That logo is like the prancing horse on the Ferrari or the leaping jag on a Jaguar. Both premier autos. Nobody pays for a Dell or Acer logo. Windows PC users must be a bunch of cheapskates. $500 more for a product that will last five years or more isn't too much to ask. We'll see who fails in this economy. Dell, Microsoft or Apple. Steve Ballmer was yelling developer, developers, developers. Well all the developers are running to the iPhone/iPod Touch platform and not that WinMo crap. Bend over Ballmer and let me put this Apple logo where the sun don't shine.
It's not that nobody builds Windows PC anymore. It's just that nobody that matters builds PCs. Get a work of art Mac Pro instead of some hodge-podge of inexpensive parts.
Wow, this turned into a war and I doubt anyone will read far enough to read this comment.
Windows, seriously, Mr. Ballmer is a walking FAIL of epic scale. Every time I see him with is mouth open and his arms up, random stupid stuff is being said. You should drag it in a field and shoot it before it cripples you.
I equate it this way:
1. All you Windows guys add up how much you, your family & friends have had to spend in time & money getting a virus, adware or trojan off of their windows machines, plus the time spent being forced to perform a re-install. Also, don't forget to add in the cost of lost data or the software you had to buy again because you lost the original disk.
2. All you OSX user do the same.
3. I bet the OSX users have spent nothing compared to all those win2000, Xp & Vista people.
Finally, I'm a 15 yr. certificated Windows & Apple tech so I have in the field experience & already know the answer. For everyday use I don't even open a browser unless it's on an Apple machine. For other activities like gaming I do use Xp, but never Vista.
Wow 502 comments on this....sick
ive never owned an apple. aftre reading this article i just might. Im in the market for a slim 13" laptop that burns cds n dvds with webcam. This article made me go to apple.com n check out white mac for $949 after discount. Over 13" dell,or 13" sony or 13" hp. So will now buy ny first apple pc at age 35.How sweet. Ive used 13" sony,dell n hp. Only a difference of $80-110 . so im sold on apple.thanks for posting this article.
Uhm, yeah sure, we believe everything we are told.
Here are my thoughts, deep on page 11 where I am sure many people will read them.
1. If you don't understand what that supposed $500 gets you (hint, not a logo) then you're welcome to keep going without. 2. If you are sensible enough to realise that no-one would be paying $500 for a logo, and you want to know what you are paying for, the answer is, research and development, of hardware and particularly software. 3. If you want to know why people would pay extra for a company's R and D, read up on TCO and productivity studies (real scientific ones, I mean, not ones supported by a computer company), or, better yet, use a Mac for a week and use a Windows box for a week. 4. Tight fiscal environments do tend to hit brands considered 'luxury' brands more than others, in other industries; in the computer sales industry however all companies hurt because most businesses and consumers adopt the attitude of, "what I have now is fine, I can put off updating until after the crisis. So Mr Ballmer is wrong about Apple being the only one in the firing line, no matter what you think of the relative merits of Mac vs Windows vs Linux.
Just like to point out that Steve Ballmer is as good a Soothsayer as I am a opera singer. His predilection for inaccurate prediction is pretty well established although even he is not yet at the mighty fail level of John C Dvorak ("Who wants a mouse?" - 1984, "Apple will move to Windows" - 2006.)
Wow, it's spookily quiet here on page 11, I guess everyone's moved on to page 12.
In this economy... paying $500 for Windows + Office doesn't make sense... Better switch to Linux!
Just shutup and get Linux.
I have a PC and several Macs . I look at my Mac screen and I know where everything is and how to use it . I look at my PC screen and just stare; it's a confusing mess just filled with un-necessary bloatware.
The PC is always giving me problems (right now it keeps dropping it's internet connection for no reason and I've been trying for hours to get it working again) the Macs almost never give me problems, and if they do it's easily fixed . And Vista is an absolutely horrible operating system and a great embarrassment for Microsoft.
Yes Macs do cost more, but they are well worth it both in usability and less aggravation . Now, let me go spend a couple more hours trying to fix that POS PC I have. How much is your time worth ?
Wow.... I really think this is getting ridiculous. I'm an Apple fan, NOT because I'm a pretentious snob, or I just like to be different, but because Apple makes better fucking computers. Those of you who argue that Apple uses the same hardware are correct. Only you miss the crucial point here: ALL MACS USE THE SAME HARDWARE. Or at least similar enough that I never have a goddamned driver error or a hardware incompatibility. They get the benefit of having very few hardware options (and btw, they use pretty damned good hardware) so software development is easier and they can make a better product. So using the same hardware happens to be a plus, idiots.
Second: Apple SOFTWARE and aesthetic is what we're paying for, not the hardware. I can make an ugly-ass box that runs MacosX out of the same internals they use, but for off the shelf prices, if I want to. But then I have to buy the software seperately, and I have to deal with a fugly PC-esque box. Not to mention the effort in finding off the shelf versions of Apple parts. I'd much rather pay an extra $400 for the entire package.
Third: support. If something is wrong with my Mac I only need to go to one place to figure out what happened, and that's Apple's website. They have every conceivable problem worked out. And if they don't have it they give me a link to a site that does. If I have a problem with my PC it's pretty much a matter of guessing the magic combo of google search terms to come up with a possibly useful hit. Then I have to hope to hell it's a problem that doesn't require knowledge of how to work within that godforsaken windows registry in order to solve it.
Bro, I had PC's for 16 yrs. and I'm not a novice user. I got tired of going into settings and pressing ctrl-alt-del all the friggin time. I got tired of that huge empty heavy tower and of course the software environment. I actually laughed when I found out that microsoft had hired an italian design firm to do the win xp desktop and it still didn't look good. Like I said I compared both systems for well over 16 yrs and at the cusp of vista introduction, I decided if I'm going to have to pay microsoft for vista and get a new computer, I would rather pay Apple and get something I'd be happy with....I did that two yrs and 4 months ago. I have not regretted it since. In fact, I regret all those years of having to go in to properties, settings, winini, startup, regedit, configsys, and all those places that standard end users should never have to go to, in order to run simple day to day tasks. I have not had a crash for almost 2.5 yrs. I don't know of any microsoft user that can say that. So, to everyone who gets soooo upset at people using Apple products, just calm down. No one is telling you to switch. Just keep your pc's and live a long happy life with microsoft. Just leave us alone and let us be happy where we are. It is finally an absolute joy to use my computer. I enjoy looking at it even when it's off. Simply amazing!
Why is everyone so upset at people buying Apple computers? People choose to pay premiums for all kinds of other products in the market. If Apple is selling junk or just know how to market their products well and it's all an empty facade then their products should perform just like their competitors. And if they do, then it's up to the consumers to make a choice. People work hard for their money and as gullible as the consumer is assumed to be, more and more are doing research before purchasing. So, instead of all this finger pointing and rhetoric either compete properly or at least sit back quietly and learn how to. This is a free economy. Nobody forces anyone to buy anything. Just make a better product and stop whining about why people buy from Apple. They still have a small market share compared to other giants. Besides, shouldn't the worry be about Linux still? I mean China is a big big place and that's what they chose.
All Apple needs to do is to open Mac OSX for installation on any x86 computer...i.e. PCs...and they will bury Windows.
So if the economy really does stop them from making a premium on their hardware...they could just decide to completely dominate software.
That worked _swimmingly_ last time...
With all the back and forth over hardware specs, I think Engadget readers, which I believe is more technically inclined, is missing the trick, along with Balmer and Microsoft in general, that Apple does well. They design technology and computers so that it becomes easier for people to use. There is a consumer segment that could care less if someone makes fun of them for not knowing the difference between a hard drive and a CPU, people will pay the premium for something they know, feel or even just an impression that is easier to use and not worry about the technical aspects of their computer. As a former IT professional turned massage therapist, I can appreciate Microsoft's platform in terms of flexibility and availability, but there are times when I just want something that works and I want to concentrate on making my silly ITunes playlist or playing around with Photoshop.
Another premium is the way Apple "socializes" the computer. Best way to put it is walk into any Apple store. Shopping for a computer actually can be cool and involves face to face contact. Granted, my former life as an Everquest gamer might have no need for this, but seriously, when was the last time you actually enjoyed the environment of the electronics store you went to? And despite all our advances in email and instant messaging, some of us will pay the money to talk and listen to a human being in person regarding computers. That's the appeal of the Genius Bar or the live in house events like workshops or band demos.
Microsoft needs to look at the XBox specifically, XBox Live. Ignoring the game library, what Xbox Live does well is bring together gamers, create a marketplace for new and independent content and expand on the role of the console by allowing Netflix videos to be downloaded. If you think about it, sounds a lot like ITunes, no?
In the grander scope, however Microsoft needs to look at this evolution of computing, the emergence and widespread acceptance of mobile, handheld devices. Microsoft has nothing comparable to Apple on this front and even Linux, at least to me now as a less technical consumer, has some equal footing. I was once all ready to buy an HP handheld with the awesome color screen, but once I saw the green screen of death and saw the horrendous specs for battery life, it instantly turned me into a Palm user for years until I retired my 4th Palm for an Ipod Touch for my on the go listening to music, , gaming and other fun stuff and my Nokia N800 as a fileserver.
I can see some person arguing, "but hey didn't you use your Windows computer all that time?!?" . I'll of course say "Yes". But the point is that lately, I've been having less and less need to turn on my desktop computer. And Microsoft, seeing that its their cash cow, need to be prepared for that contingency.
mr. ballmer is the most dumbest person ever. i compared sony's best all in one running vista to the apple imac, and its specs didn't even go near the imac. and it costs 1000 more than apple's. everything that the imac doesn't have can be easily bought with the money left ove, and still have 500 or more dollars left over.
Meet MacBook Air. He's $1799. He's from Apple, so he's greeted with contempt and hatred from the Engadget comment threads. He's overpriced and underpowered. Ballmer goes out of his way to point out the shortcomings of the machine to the public.
Meet Dell Adamo. He's $1999. He's from Dell, so he's pretty much accepted from the Engadget comment threads. He costs more than the MacBook Air, and he's considerably slower than it too. Ballmer doesn't defend the price of this machine because it's simply too difficult. Instead, he goes back to what he does best: making unsubstantiated garbage to say at press conferences.