Ballmer's visage evoked for 'developers, developers, developers' demo app on Windows Phone 7 Series

You could argue that Steve Ballmer's classic "developers, developers, developers" mantra is more important to the success of Windows Phone 7 Series than of any other product in recent Microsoft history, so it comes as no surprise that he's pulled it out of his hat one more time for MIX10 today. Demoing how easy it is to take advantage of the platform's many rapid-development features, the team showed off a gangly Silverlight version of the big guy in lieu of the real deal (apparently he had a scheduling conflict and couldn't be around for the event). Ballmer actually recorded a "developers, developers, developers!" rant just for the app, which the visage chants incessantly; you can adjust voice pitch and throw the doll around with a few flicks of the hand. Scary? Yes, yet somehow, we'd pay $0.99 for it. Follow the break for video.

[Bowsa Posted Mar 15th 2010 5:05PM]

developers, developers, developersdevelopers, developers, developersdevelopers, developers, developersdevelopers, developers, developersdevelopers, developers, developersdevelopers, developers, developersdevelopers, developers, developersdevelopers, developers, developersdevelopers, developers, developersdevelopers, developers, developers

[TonyMontana2367 Posted Mar 15th 2010 5:20PM]

@Bowsa

Is there a non-Microsoft version of Engadget I can access?

[pavelbure Posted Mar 15th 2010 5:24PM]

That's what I would like to know also.

[nelagster Posted Mar 15th 2010 5:24PM]

@TonyMontana2367

Yeah, its called Gizmodo

[Mister Warmth Posted Mar 15th 2010 5:24PM]

@TonyMontana2367 yeah it's called Apple.com. Off ya go.

[Lubing The Tube Posted Mar 15th 2010 5:26PM]

@TonyMontana2367
Probably but if your basing it off today it won't have any of the breaking news :( Today is a day for news so you just have to sort of get on with it, I'm personally loving this news :)

[thanhpluv Posted Mar 15th 2010 5:31PM]

@TonyMontana2367 I want to get that awesome version too

[acgrobman Posted Mar 15th 2010 5:43PM]

@TonyMontana2367 http://www.engadget.com/exclude/windowsphone/

[canny Posted Mar 15th 2010 6:19PM]

@Bowsa
Please. Ballmer doesn't want developers, developers, developers. He wants controllable masses, controllable masses, controllable masses.

If he truly wanted developers, developers, developers he would make more of an effort with his API scheme... and stop screwing over his business partners that bring new tech into the business.

[frederick52785 Posted Mar 15th 2010 11:31PM]

@Lubing The Tube

Well enjoy it now, because when they start reporting on how much of a failure this will be, you wont be so happy. Microsoft is crap, and they have now decided to all of this when apple has taken over the cell phone game. Day late and a dollar short. This will be an epic fail. LOL!

[Prevacator Posted Mar 16th 2010 12:31AM]

@frederick52785
Apple has taken over the cell phone game? Last I checked Nokia still is the largest cell phone manufacturer IN THE WORLD (with Symbian as the OS of choice), Blackberry still has the largest smartphone OS marketshare in North America, and Android is the fastest growing smartphone OS, growing even faster than the iPhone OS.

[Kid Red Posted Mar 16th 2010 9:41AM]

@Bowsa Does he do tricks if you feed him bananas?

[jedidove Posted Mar 16th 2010 2:08PM]

In all fairness, when the iPad was launched, everyone just bitched about the fact that it took up all the featured spots. Anyone who didn't bitch and complain got downvoted. No one was allowed to agree with engadget. Now that windows phone 7 is occupying the position, its been completely reversed. Now you get downvoted for saying anything against the truck load of coverage.

Personally, I think both devices merit the coverage and don't disagree with how engadget covered either. They are big buzz, brand new gadgets with a lot of news breaking all the time.

That said, I don't agree with the way the comments have been turning out. People get bashed for being "fanboys" when the behavior of those calling them a fanboy is exactly that of a fanboy for the other side.

Downvoting whiners is ethical, but doing it when you (not targeting anyone in particular here) were one of those people or were upvoting people who were just because it was in regards to another product is just hypocritical.

[TPAYNE87 Posted Mar 15th 2010 5:07PM]

This will sell like the flashlight app did on the iPhone, and we'll probably see this on a south park episode.

[rederikus Posted Mar 15th 2010 5:21PM]

@TPAYNE87

Ahhh, but will it be available for the iPhone. Y'never know, they might just like it.....

[Sparky Posted Mar 15th 2010 9:35PM]

@TPAYNE87
I can imagine Steve Ballmer saying 'Respect mah atharatah'.

[Darkigo Posted Mar 15th 2010 5:07PM]

Too bad the physics doesn't include injuries and blood.

[sshole Posted Mar 15th 2010 5:45PM]

@Darkigo Harsh... lol

[engadgetcomexcludeengadget Posted Mar 15th 2010 7:09PM]

@Darkigo If it included Steve Jobs next to him then it would. Now I kinda wanna make an app with Ballmer teabagging Jobs!

[garfieldfriends Posted Mar 15th 2010 5:08PM]

lol..

[schmidt1985 Posted Mar 15th 2010 5:09PM]

I must say that Ballmer rocks now in my book for allowing them to do this. Just imagine if Steve jobs allowed us to make a operation game where you have to take out his liver!

[Darkigo Posted Mar 15th 2010 5:11PM]

@schmidt1985 That would have been kinda awesome. How long before it reaches windows series marketplace ? I mean, shouldn't be that long to create...

[Dank Dillweed Posted Mar 15th 2010 5:12PM]

@schmidt1985

GRRRRRRRRRRRRR! YOU HIT THE FUNNYBONE!!!!!

[kitsune Posted Mar 15th 2010 5:12PM]

@schmidt1985

No

Steve-

Sent From My iPhone

[mitchleeh7 Posted Mar 15th 2010 5:19PM]

@kitsune jokes old dude... didn't you see win phone 7 series is here?

[EljhHck Posted Mar 15th 2010 5:25PM]

@mitchleeh7 Just ignore it. No big deal.

Steve

Sent from my iPhone

[Ed T Posted Mar 15th 2010 5:10PM]

Ballmer deserves an award. He is the first major CEO to voluntarily become a parody of himself. As a MSFT shareholder, I like the 99 cent Ballmer better than the real thing. Now if he would just buy a place on Farmville and retire, we'd all be better off.

[Jimbojones Posted Mar 15th 2010 5:22PM]

@Ed T whaaaat? you own MSFT stock and complain about it? Are you serious? The stock is very very solid, it's almost of $30/share

http://www.google.com/finance?chdnp=1&chdd=1&chds=1&chdv=1&chvs=maximized&chdeh=0&chdet=1268688041208&chddm=494224&chls=IntervalBasedLine&q=NASDAQ:MSFT&ntsp=0

[New Reformation Posted Mar 15th 2010 5:54PM]

@Ed T

Yep, its a shame what he has done to Windows Mobile....

[Ed T Posted Mar 15th 2010 7:49PM]

@Jimbojones

MSFT has been dead money for eight frikkin' years, and the biggest reason is a guy named Steve Ballmer. I also own AAPL since '04 - no complaints ($$$) none at all.

[iCello Posted Mar 15th 2010 5:10PM]

I want this on my iPhone, but with Steve Jobs. Although I'm probably getting either android or webos pretty soon, so, Eric Schimt or Jon Rubenstein?

[I was swhite237 I lost my passwo Posted Mar 15th 2010 5:14PM]

@iCello What would steve jobs do? Besides slowly take off his turtle neck, of course

[Mister Warmth Posted Mar 15th 2010 5:30PM]

@I was swhite237 well it'd be a lot like the old arcade game tapper but instead of beer steins its babies you have to slide to steve - he drinks their blood to sustain his white cell count.

[iCello Posted Mar 15th 2010 5:30PM]

@I was swhite237 I lost my passwo
repeat "I Hate buttons" over and over again, hypnotizing you.

[I was swhite237 I lost my passwo Posted Mar 15th 2010 5:51PM]

@iCello @Mr. Warmth Both of your responses are excellent, I loled so hard

[Nevadarain72 Posted Mar 16th 2010 2:45AM]

@I was swhite237 I lost my passwo Repeat: one more thing... one more thing... One more thing... One more thing... One more thing... One more thing... One more thing... One more thing... One more thing... One more thing... One more thing... One more thing... One more thing... One more thing...

[ChazClout Posted Mar 15th 2010 5:14PM]

ROFL is all I have to say on this one.

[xkaosu9x Posted Mar 15th 2010 5:14PM]

Yes, yes, yes. But will it go on an HD2?

Christ, can't you guys just blanket party Ballmer until he coughs up an answer?

[TheLionOfAzzalle Posted Mar 15th 2010 5:15PM]

Hey this is a quick question to all the geniuses out there in Engadget land...

I'm ripping a movie to put on my iPhone.

It's asking if I want to crop the picture. The options are:

1) Do Not Crop
2) Manual (choose dimensions)
3) Automatically.

now I have a few movies on my iPhone to begin with but I have no clue if those are cropped or what I need to choose so I can get the best picture quality and make it so that viewing the movie isn't annoying.

I'm doing 640 x 480 width by height which I hope will give a nice crisp picture (feel free to tell me if there are better options...like should I go 720p or something?).

Any tips?

[Mr Blue Posted Mar 15th 2010 5:18PM]

@TheLionOfAzzalle

Yeah, Google it.

[xkaosu9x Posted Mar 15th 2010 5:23PM]

@Mr Blue

LOL seriously

[bjsguess Posted Mar 15th 2010 5:23PM]

@TheLionOfAzzalle

Hmmm ... probably won't get much a response asking an Apple iPhone video conversion question on a thread about Windows 7.

Staying on topic would be nice.

[Mister Warmth Posted Mar 15th 2010 5:23PM]

GTFO.

[TheLionOfAzzalle Posted Mar 15th 2010 5:23PM]

@TheLionOfAzzalle

I tried but I'm getting unclear responses.

Basically I just want to know that if I transcode this bluray into a mp4 file that is 1280x720 and put that in iTunes will it

1) Recognize It
2) Will my iPhone play it back at that resolution (making it clear and crisp picture quality)?

Or will I just be wasting time and space doing that...

[TheLionOfAzzalle Posted Mar 15th 2010 5:24PM]

@TheLionOfAzzalle

SORRY to the rest of you.

I know I'm off topic but I seriously need some guidance.

It's not that serious....take a chill pill.

[sonicyoof Posted Mar 15th 2010 5:26PM]

@TheLionOfAzzalle

iPhones just work, so there shouldn't be a problem.

[r3loaded Posted Mar 15th 2010 5:29PM]

@TheLionOfAzzalle Use Handbrake to handle the video ripping.

Next time, use a forum or a site such as vark.com or Yahoo answers for asking questions. The local population of Engadget get wound up pretty easily ;)

[Mr Blue Posted Mar 15th 2010 5:31PM]

@TheLionOfAzzalle

If you seriously need some guidance, then iPhone videos are the least of your worries. If you seriously need some help with iPhone videos, just take the time and do some research. There are a million and one How-To's for this process. Don't pop in on some random thread and hope to get the answer you need unless you're just trying to cause troub-- wait a minute...

@ everyone else

Don't feed the animals.

[TheLionOfAzzalle Posted Mar 15th 2010 5:31PM]

@r3loaded

Already tried handbrake. It sucks to make it plain and simple.

The program I'm using is a lot quicker and easier to use. I just have a simple question about the resolution of the video. I just want to know if I choose 1280x720p will my iPhone 3GS play it....yes or no?

And if not should I just stick with the 640x480p?

Thanks

[iCello Posted Mar 15th 2010 5:34PM]

@TheLionOfAzzalle iPhone can't play 720p. I would use a ripping tool with a setting for iPhone(handbrake or ripit on Mac, not sure about windows... I used to use handbrake for PC but I think they broke the functionality to rip copyright protected dvd's) as the guy above says: Google it.