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CE-Oh no he didn't!: Steve Ballmer calls Dropbox 'a fine little startup'
Microsoft is no stranger to industry flak, but it's always better to give than to receive, right? Steve Ballmer thinks so, and in a recent Bloomberg interview, he took a second away from talking up the new Office 2013 to smite Dropbox, saying that the 100 million users it boasts "sounds like a pretty small number to me." He recovered slightly by adding "I'm not beating on Dropbox," only to follow it with the finishing blow: "They're a fine little startup and that's great." We doubt anyone else would call Dropbox a startup at this point, but Microsoft's chief can't be seen complimenting a SkyDrive rival now, can he? After having to defend the user stats for Redmond's Yammer, he was also quizzed on the undying native Office for iPad rumor, to which he had "nothing to say," apart from "we'll see what we see in the future." If these snippets aren't quite enough, then head to the source link for the full interview. Ballmer may be a little less shouty these days, but it's good to know he's still capable of delivering the odd high-caliber burn.
CE-Oh no he didn't!: Google's Larry Page says Facebook does a 'really bad job'
It's no secret that Facebook and Google are in a war for the social web. Even so, there's been a certain sense of decorum involved -- up until a just-posted interview with Larry Page at Wired, at least. He acknowledges that Facebook is top dog in social, but is more than a little blunt in claiming that the online rival is doing a "really bad job" with its products (don't hold back now, Larry). While he doesn't say just what Facebook's flaws are, he sees the Bay Area rival as entirely assailable through a unique Google approach to the category, much as Google fought past other search engines roughly a decade ago. As for other competitors, Page is also dismissive, if more diplomatic: he doesn't see lawsuits dictating a company's fate, and questions "how well" all-out legal assaults work in practice. We're not expecting a direct retort from Mark Zuckerberg or anyone else, although the Facebook founder could easily contend that Graph Search speaks volumes on its own.
CE-Oh no he didn't!: SpaceX creator Elon Musk says Ariane 5 rocket has 'no chance'
Entrepreneur Elon Musk is well-known for talking trash about the vehicular competition... just not when it involves rockets instead of four wheels. Still, that's what we're facing in the wake of a BBC interview. He tells the broadcaster that the Ariane 5 rocket stands "no chance" in the face of the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy systems from his own SpaceX outfit, as it's more expensive to use -- and the contrast will only get worse when a cheaper, next-generation Falcon 9 arrives, he says. Musk echoes France's position that Ariane should skip a mid-life upgrade to its vehicle and jump directly to a less expensive Ariane 6. The executive has a point when there's more than 40 booked SpaceX flights so early into the Falcon program's history, although there's something left to prove when the first scheduled Dragon capsule launch ran into a non-critical engine failure. We'll know that Musk can walk the walk if there's still a long line of SpaceX customers by the time Ariane 6 hits the launchpad.
CE-Oh no he didn't!: Tesla's Elon Musk calls the Fisker Karma a 'mediocre product at a high price'
"I don't think very highly of Henrik Fisker," Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors, told Automobile magazine in a recent interview. Musk was recalling events leading up to a 2008 lawsuit in which Tesla accused Fisker of pilfering its hybrid technology to build the Fisker Karma. Musk isn't a fan of the automobile, and suggests its creators put form over function. "It's a mediocre product at a high price," he says. "[Fisker] thinks the most important thing in the world -- or the only important thing in the world -- is design, so he outsourced the engineering and manufacturing." Still, Musk concedes that Fisker's eye for aesthetics paid off in some respects. "It looks good," he said. "Particularly from the side it looks good." The magazine gave Henrik Fisker a chance to respond, who said that he was "delighted that Elon thinks the Karma is a good-looking car," and stressed that Tesla and Fisker are targeting different customers with two "totally different technologies." He was quick to address the firms' previous legal squabbles too, "to set the record straight, Fisker won in court... a judge threw out the case and awarded costs to Fisker." True enough, but in light of recent events, we can think of at least one Karma owner who might agree with Musk.
CE-Oh no he didn't!: Acer's JT Wang tells Microsoft to 'think twice' about Surface
Acer executives have criticized Microsoft's decision to build its own tablet in the past, but now the firm's CEO has offered Redmond a more direct warning. "We have said [to Microsoft] think it over," Acer CEO JT Wang told the Financial Times. "Think Twice. It will create a huge negative impact for the ecosystem and other brands may take a negative reaction." Microsoft has acknowledged Surface's potential to frustrate its OEM partners, telling the Security and Exchange Commission that competing directly with manufactures might "affect their commitment" to the firm's platform. Not only does Wang agree with this admission, he seems worried that Microsoft will cause this damage for nothing. "It is not something you are good at," he continued, "so please think twice." Polite, but a bit bold. Then again, Acer has never been shy about telling Microsoft exactly what it thinks.
CE-Oh no he didn't!: Valve's Gabe Newell says 'Windows 8 is a catastrophe for everyone'
Always-outspoken Gabe Newell, the big cheese at Valve, made quite a few interesting statements at this year's Casual Connect conference, including the quote above. Gabe believes Microsoft's impending update will drive manufacturers away from the OS and he reiterated Valve's plan to make the entire Steam catalog available on Linux as a "hedging strategy." During the onstage discussion, he also weighed in on the longevity of touch input, which he estimates at a decade, the possibility of tongue control and the future of wearable computers. Other classic quotes include "the next version of Photoshop should look like a free-to-play game," which Adobe apparently didn't quite understand -- and frankly, neither do we.
Sergey Brin clarifies Apple and Facebook critique, says statement was 'distorted'
Sergey Brin wasn't too happy with how his critique of Apple and Facebook was represented in the media following an interview he gave to the Guardian. In a post on Google+ (hey, if he won't use it, who will?) Brin lamented that, "my thoughts got particularly distorted... in a way that distracts from my central tenets." The founder believes that undue attention was given to his complaints about Facebook and Apple's "restrictive" walled gardens, when he sees oppressive governments and state-sanctioned censorship as much larger issues. Of course, while Brin does say he admires his competitors, he never truly backpedals from his criticism or says that it was taken out of context. To let Sergey explain himself, hit up the source link.
Sergey Brin says the internet is under attack by governments, Apple and Facebook
One of the qualifications for scoring a CE-Oh no 'round here is actually being a CEO -- so Sergey Brin does not receive that honor. We will, however, draw attention to what some might call his hyperbolic ramblings. In an interview with the Guardian, Google's cool uncle said he was worried about the state of the internet and that his company could not have flourished in an online ecosystem like today's. According to Brin, the threats are coming from all sides -- most notably governments. While oppressive regimes like those in China and Iran get top billing, the US doesn't escape without criticism thanks to SOPA and PIPA which seemed perilously close to passing with support from the media industry. The co-founder also took shots at Apple and Facebook, which he said have built "really restrictive" walled gardens. For more smack talk from one of the most influential men in the tech industry, hit up the source link. [Image via Thomas Hawk]
CE-Oh no he didn't: Steve Ballmer lays into Android
"You don't have to be a computer scientist to use a Windows Phone," said Microsoft's Steve Ballmer, "but you do to use an Android phone." He was addressing the Web 2.0 summit in San Francisco, where we guess his audience must have included a large but silent population of Android-loving non-scientists. In any case, the Redmond CEO also revealed that he just can't get "excited" about Android phones, which proves that anything can be boring if you're rich enough -- including raking in up to $15 per Android handset in cross-licensing deals. On a serious note, though, HTC's latest Titan handset shows off the Mango experience at its best and it is simpler than Google's OS. If Windows Phone sales eventually pick up despite the buzz over Android 4.0, then the point beneath Ballmer's bluster might not seem so unreasonable.
CE-Oh no he didn't!: Stephen Elop says 'Apple created Android,' the conditions necessary for its existence
Nokia's freshman CEO is speaking at the Open Mobile Summit right now. As expected, he's covering the same ol' ground, explaining why Nokia ditched Symbian and MeeGo to build the "third ecosystem" with Microsoft -- you know, after totally dominating the high-end smartphone market just three years ago. He's also being credited with the following quote: "Apple created Android, or at least created the conditions necessary for Android to come into being" We're on to you, Mr. Elop. It's a classic diversionary tactic. Get the one and two smartphone / tablet OS vendors squabbling and then execute a flanking maneuver while nobody's watching. Why else would the Nokia CEO make such an emotive claim? Unless it's true?
CE-Oh no he didn't!: Foursquare's Crowley calls Places 'boring,' becomes mayor of Bittersville
You don't have to make a physical product to be a snippy CEO, and Foursquare co-founder and chief officer Dennis Crowley is proving that. He's been playing with the recently launched Facebook Places, saying "it's not that great or interesting," and that it offers "barely any incentives for users to keep coming back and telling their friends where they are." We're going to go ahead and figure that's because Facebook isn't in the business of making games, rather in creating APIs that let others create games that capture the minds and the clicks of its teeming masses of users. In other words, don't be surprised if mafiosos start competing to become Dons of this or that Italian joint, virtual farmers rush to plant their crops in the most verdant fields in your neighborhood, and your Feed gets way more annoying than you ever thought possible.
Ce-Oh no he didn't!: Larry Ellison likens HP board to 'idiots' at Apple
Larry Ellison, Oracle CEO and regular tennis buddy of the disgraced (and now former) chief of HP Mark Hurd, has decided to share his thoughts on the matter of Hurd's departure in an impassioned email to the New York Times: "The H.P. board just made the worst personnel decision since the idiots on the Apple board fired Steve Jobs many years ago. That decision nearly destroyed Apple and would have if Steve hadn't come back and saved them." The communique, also obtained by the Mercury News, included other tasty tidbits such as Ellison describing HP's disclosure of the apparently unfounded sexual harassment claim against Hurd as "cowardly corporate political correctness," and dismissing the financial irregularities that forced the former CEO's resignation as "petty expenses report errors." So, in short, the world according to Larry is populated by messianic CEOs who shouldn't be held up to the same petty standards as the rest of us.
CE-oh no he didn't!: Microsoft's Kevin Turner says iPhone 4 might be Apple's Vista
While not technically a CEO, Microsoft chief operating officer Kevin Turner is not immune to a certain amount of executive level foot-in-mouth. Speaking at Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference in DC and chatting up his company's upcoming slate of Windows Phones, he couldn't help a little iPhone bashing: "It looks like the iPhone 4 might be their Vista, and I'm okay with that." Should we point out to Kevin that attempting to criticize your competition by comparing it to your own flagship products is usually counterproductive, or leave him to figure it out on his own during some early morning magnificent moustache contemplation session?
CE-Oh no he didn't!: Sony's Sir Howard says 'when you beat Apple, you're dominating'
Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer has always been delightfully direct, and he didn't hold back at Google's I/O conference: talking about Sony Ericsson with Eric Schmidt during the Google TV launch, Sir Howard noted that the Xperia X10 is the best-selling handset in Japan, and that "when you beat Apple, you're dominating -- it's the new definition." Strong words from a gadget titan -- we'll leave it to you to debate their veracity.
CE-Oh no he didn't! Part XLV: Symbian's Lee Williams rips into Android, implies Google is evil (video)
Strap yourselves in, folks, we're about to launch the Mudslinger 3000 again and figure out if any of it sticks. Lee Williams of Symbian starts off with a few attack volleys relating to Google's "fragmentation" of UI elements, and the resultant closed APIs being a nightmare to code for. With so many divergent UI elements and styles, he argues, developers would suffer, and the consequence would be a less vibrant app ecosystem. His major gripe with Google's mobile OS, though, has to do with the pervasive "cookie-ing" of customers, which raises the specter of privacy concerns. When asked directly by our buddy Om Malik whether he considers Android "more evil" than Apple's iPhone OS, Williams replied: "I don't view Apple as evil, they're just greedy... Google, come on! When you have to say in your motto that we're not evil, right away the first question in my mind is, 'why do you have to tell me that?'" All this must be tempered by the knowledge that Android is set to overtake large swathes of the mobile OS space, and some retaliatory trash talking is probably to be expected from the incumbent smartphone leader. Om does ask another sage question, in querying why Williams thinks companies are making such large investments into Android, and you'll find the answer to that and much more in the video past the break. [Via MobileTechWorld; Thanks, fido] Read - Lee Williams interview with GigaOM Read - New York Times: 'Big Cellphone Makers Shifting to Android System' Read - PCWorld: 'Android, Symbian Will Own Smartphones in 2012'
CE-Oh no he didn't! Part LXII: Steve Ballmer publicly ridicules Microsoft employee with iPhone, threatens to smash it
Not every man was born with common sense. And anyone who's ever seen Steve Ballmer take a stage knows that you don't want to get in the way of the emotionally-charged big man when the curtain opens. So we're not terribly surprised to learn that Steve grabbed an iPhone he saw during his big entrance to a private Microsoft company meeting held at Seattle's Safeco Field. Apparently, the hapless employee (allegedly from the Windows group) was trying to snap a photo of his boss when Ballmer grabbed the device and made some "funny comments" met by boos and jeers from Microsoft's employees. Steve then set it on the ground and pretended to stomp on it before walking away -- later teasing the employee during his presentation by noting that he hadn't forgotten him. Good times, we're sure, and nothing rallies the troops like a common enemy... except perhaps the camaraderie that comes in knowing that you've created a game-changing device. We even have a photograph from the actual iPhone supposedly snapped while Steve Ballmer was brandishing it overhead. We can't say for sure if it's real, in fact, that could be the guy from Lost. See it after the break.
CE-Oh no he didn't! Part LXI: Acer chief says Japanese PC companies "the weakest today"
We're pretty sure we've heard Acer CEO Gianfranco Lanci say PC industry consolidation resulting in fewer players and lower component prices would be a good thing before, but he dressed it with a side of smackdown today: speaking to the New York Times, he said that Toshiba and Sony's PC businesses would be the first targets, since "the Japanese for sure are the weakest today." Ouch. It's especially harsh since Sony just broke down and released its first netbook this morning after claiming that the low-cost machines were a downward spiral, but that wasn't enough blood for Gianfranco: he also said that ASUS and Lenovo need to "think long and hard" about remaining independent companies. Yow -- sounds like someone's planning to do a little shopping, don't you think?
CE-Oh no he didn't! Part LX: NVIDIA calls Intel's single-chip Atom pricing "pretty unfair"
Now that Intel's been slapped with a record $1.45b antitrust fine in Europe, it seems like the claws are coming out -- AMD just put up that "Break Free" site, and today we've got NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang calling Chipzilla's Atom pricing "unfair." It seems that Intel sells the standard Atom chip for $45 on its own, but bundles the diminutive CPU into the oh-so-familiar netbook configuration for just $25, meaning NVIDIA's Ion chipset isn't price-competitive. Of course, this is just another twist in the endless argument about Ion, but despite the denials, this isn't the first time we've heard whispers that Intel pretty much forces manufacturers to buy complete Atom chipsets -- the dearth of Ion-powered netbooks in the market is fairly suspicious considering the GeForce 9400M at the heart of the platform is a well-known quantity. On the other hand, we've also heard this is all going to change and change dramatically at Computex next month, so we'll see -- either way, things are bound to get interesting.[Via TrustedReviews]
CE-Oh no he didn't! Part LVII: Howard Stringer says the Wii is not 'a competitor'
Further confirming his utter disconnect from reality, Sony head Howard Stringer referred to Nintendo's market-dominating Wii as an "expensive niche game device." Previous to making that statement, Stringer bafflingly said, "I've played a Nintendo Wii, I don't see it as a competitor." Now look -- we're not saying you're in some kind of CEO super-denial, but all signs point to the possibility that you should probably consider the Wii a competitor (since it is... well... a competing system and platform), and perhaps recognize that "niche" is typically not synonymous with "best selling." Of course, you're the guy running Sony, we're just watching the crackup from the sidelines.[Via Nintendo Wii Fanboy]
CE-Oh no he didn't! Part LIV: Stringer on flip-flop bender
Man, talk about being all over the map. One day Sony's Howard Stringer is calling the format war a "stalemate," the next he's claiming Blu-ray is "just a better format." Apparently, having a few weeks to think over that last comment made him realize that his heart was more connected to the first proclamation, as the exec has now come forward and acknowledged that the battle between red and Blu is far from over. Specifically, he stated that "[Blu-ray] had momentum," but he followed up by calling the aforementioned momentum "all it had at the moment." C'mon Mr. Stringer -- pick a line and hold steady, will ya?[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
