Debunk: Steve Ballmer not speaking at WWDC

An analyst named Trip Chowdhry at Global Equities Research set off a firestorm of rumors last night after he claimed that Steve Ballmer would appear onstage with Steve Jobs at WWDC for exactly seven minutes to announce Visual Studio development for the iPhone -- and the maelstrom of crazytalk quickly expanded to include everything from a Bing partnership to Silverlight for the iPhone. Turns out all that chatter was just as insane and untrue as you'd expect, though: Microsoft's official Twitter account just clamped down on the speculation, saying that Ballmer isn't speaking at WWDC, or appearing on Dancing with the Stars. Sorry kids -- looks like we'll have to just hold out hope for next season.

[ashleythehottiest Posted May 27th 2010 2:20PM]

Who wants to see him dance anyways?

[bhtooefr Posted May 27th 2010 2:22PM]

@ashleythehottiest Let's face it, it'd make good YouTube fodder. See: Dance Monkey Boy, and Developers.

[Dshark Posted May 27th 2010 2:24PM]

@ashleythehottiest ME! That would have been hilarious like when Woz was on there. It got me to watch a few episodes. I think Balmer has a bit more on his plate though.

[nickcraze Posted May 27th 2010 2:25PM]

@ashleythehottiest
I do want to see him GET FIRED! MS needs Bill Gates or New Blood.

[html5FLOP Posted May 27th 2010 2:26PM]

@ashleythehottiest

He is a champion cha cha'er.. I mean look at those boney hips!!

[Freakin Ijit Posted May 27th 2010 2:34PM]

@ashleythehottiest http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvsboPUjrGc

Just FYI...

[Oghowie Posted May 27th 2010 2:37PM]

@ashleythehottiest Why not? It'd probably help with his weight.

[HansImGlueck Posted May 27th 2010 2:47PM]

@nickcraze You think that repeating the same thing over and over again will make him quit?
http://www.engadget.com/profile/1050739/

[aristosachaion Posted May 27th 2010 3:13PM]

Was that just a Dance Dance Monkeyboy joke on the official MS twitter feed?

[Mike Vick Posted May 27th 2010 3:32PM]

@ashleythehottiest

Ballmer needed time to wipe his cooochie with vaggisil and lick his wounds!... The homie Steven 'urkel' jobs aint a joke.. he did the homie ballmer like how we do lil homies in the hood! He sonned him (word to mother) haha!!!

[Kid Red Posted May 27th 2010 3:46PM]

@ashleythehottiest He's rumored to be on Dancing With The Monkeys later this fall.

[sanriver12 Posted May 27th 2010 4:42PM]

@ashleythehottiest BREAKING NEWS: engadget posts any ridiculous rumor concerning APPLE, no matter from what irrelevant obscure blog we get the info from, as long it has apple in it, no matter how laughable the info is, we post it.

[masta vaan Posted May 27th 2010 5:27PM]

@Mike Vick
LOLWUT?
Speak English...

[Wesscoast Posted May 27th 2010 6:22PM]

@ashleythehottiest

Developers Developers Developers do. And sweaty. Just FYI.

[esone1ll Posted May 27th 2010 2:21PM]

Only idiots took this rumor seriously.

[Mentat Posted May 27th 2010 2:29PM]

@esone1ll

Trip Chowdry (the analyst behind this rumor) just lost all credibility, everyone new this was a long shot but it was so off the wall I said "its so unbelievable that I bet it could happen". Now everyone knows Trip will say almost anything to get a few moments in the Limelight.

Have fun in the bread lines Trip

[esone1ll Posted May 27th 2010 2:31PM]

@Mentat That's not taking it seriously; that's saying "it's a crazy! it's unbelievable! Maybe it's true!" Those are different. You're no idiot :)

[suicidebob Posted May 27th 2010 2:39PM]

@esone1ll

Nah, he took it seriously. He's an idiot

[jaffreywali Posted May 27th 2010 3:58PM]

@Mentat Loss of credibility? Every single tech editor on engadget felt the ipad would fail as well. So much for expert opinions....

[Narutogrey Posted May 27th 2010 4:49PM]

@esone1ll Watch you eat your own words when he appears at WWDC on horseback to announce that he's signed up for next season's dancing with the stars, and then gallop off the stage to practice for the Belmont Stakes.

[Wesscoast Posted May 27th 2010 8:01PM]

@Mentat

I believe it's called 'ROTI'

[Decel Posted May 27th 2010 2:22PM]

Not appearing on Dancing with the stars?!?!?!?

I bet the judges were affraid he'd throw chairs at them. Heck, I'm affraid of seeing his raging face up close.

[N900 Posted May 27th 2010 2:22PM]

Damnit, I had a lot riding on Ballmer and his new horse, Courier at the Stakes. The odds were 22/1. =P

[s73v3r Posted May 27th 2010 3:55PM]

@N900 Dammit! He just screwed up my 6-2 Quinella.

[assb10yr Posted May 27th 2010 2:23PM]

We have inside information that silverlight is coming to the iPhone at WWDC

[NewL Posted May 27th 2010 2:24PM]

@assb10yr - sure you do.

[Dshark Posted May 27th 2010 2:25PM]

@assb10yr that is a question or a statement

[Ioannis Posted May 27th 2010 2:32PM]

@assb10yr
yeah, it's the kind of 'inside' information that comes out from the behind

[Sepirioth Posted May 27th 2010 2:24PM]

NOT in the belmont!? WTF?! So dissapointed :/
(kudos for the sense of humour on their part though :) )

[eyhk Posted May 27th 2010 2:24PM]

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/microsoft/is-silverlight-for-iphone-finally-on-its-way/6350

Burned.

Who in their right mind would even think that it would be plausible?

[obobo Posted May 27th 2010 2:25PM]

Silverlight = steaming pile of poop.. man if they think flash is bad...

[Marklitt Posted May 27th 2010 2:33PM]

@obobo

Oh really? What knowledge of Silverlight do you have? What package is it written in? What is the underlying code called? What codecdiors it's video use?

[N900 Posted May 27th 2010 2:43PM]

@obobo I opened up a tab in Bing Maps. I opened up a tab with Google Maps. I closed the Google Maps tab soon after.

[elmo61 Posted May 27th 2010 2:47PM]

@obobo

silverlight is 10x better then flash, not a resource hog, better implementation and ms very clever our they make it so you can have silverlight apps, web apps and now windows phone 7 apps. great for developers/cross platform ability

and greatest thing about silver light is fullscreen mode on one monitor while working on the other monitor!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[QwaF Posted May 27th 2010 2:47PM]

@obobo

Silverlight is one plugin actually done well, its lightweight, little performance requirements and is extremely consistent and smooth. Unlike flash.

[Duke Posted May 27th 2010 4:47PM]

@obobo

You all fell for the troll trap! He obviously had nothing to back up his comment.

[rb4r Posted May 27th 2010 2:26PM]

Also, Eric Schmidt will be there next to Steve Jobs promoting new Android Froyo 2.2 for the iPhone.

[SteveyAyo Posted May 27th 2010 2:58PM]

@rb4r i would actually consider buying an iPhone again if that were true... a jonathon Ive design powered by android? its like a design and nerdgasm at the same time

[dimithra Posted May 27th 2010 2:26PM]

Dancing with the star??!

buahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhaahahaha

gosh what people do to stir up a ton of BS..

[tiroger Posted May 27th 2010 2:28PM]

Here's what I want to know. What's the track record for all of these analysts? It seems to me that they just make stuff up as they go along! If you make enough predictions, some of them are bound to come true.

[SFR Posted May 27th 2010 2:29PM]

Just when my faith in internet information was almost restored, you guys do this...

Thanks =/

[kiyu727 Posted May 27th 2010 2:30PM]

"3 min ago on web"

You guys are fast taking a screenshot lol

[Robert Jordan Posted May 27th 2010 2:38PM]

He would be perfect for WWDC... developers,developers,developers!!!!

[Marklitt Posted May 27th 2010 2:40PM]

I'd like to say it's a shame Engadget can't hire journalists instead of just reporting any old trash that it finds on the net. Gizmodo is awful but I'm pretty sure that Engadget isn't much better. Real stories based on fact is what's needed. Not 90% of the crap that you lit keep spouting

[Nilay Patel Posted May 27th 2010 2:41PM]

@Marklitt Say what now? We didn't report a single one of these rumors.

[N900 Posted May 27th 2010 2:44PM]

@Marklitt LOL! That was TUAW. Enagdet is DEBUNKING the rumors, not reporting them.

[Marklitt Posted May 27th 2010 2:57PM]

@Nilay Patel

I apologize wholeheartedly Engadget. It was Gizmodo that reported this and I confused you. How I made that error is shocking. I should have known by the lack of freaking Lego stories, I mean seriously was is their obsession with Lego!! I'm not going back to Gizmodo from now on

[The Madman Posted May 27th 2010 2:57PM]

@Nilay Patel Ignore him.

[Lord Vader Posted May 27th 2010 3:03PM]

@Nilay Patel. It's ok Commander Patel. I Force Choked him for his Arrogance. Lets see him be a Critic of that

[sfox8 Posted May 27th 2010 3:32PM]

@Marklitt
I sense oblivion in your future.