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Steve Ballmer teases about price drop
For those of you wondering if the Xbox 360 will have a price drop coming down the pipeline, our good friend Steve Ballmer has some words of wisdom. "I think every console in the world has had a price decrease sometime in the first few years. I don't know whether we'll have a price decrease in the first few years, and I don't want to comment on that, but I will highlight for you that every console has had a price decrease in the first few years." Perfect, that answers everything. So, basically if history has a tendency to repeat itself, we'll see a price drop. Understandably, Ballmer doesn't want to flat out say what the plans for the Xbox 360 are, as the Entertainment and Devices Division is determined to be profitable in 2008's fiscal year. Still as production costs decrease over time, Microsoft may find an opportunity to drop the price without breaking the bank, or the aforementioned goal. So, a price drop will happen, and it's just a matter of when. Our question for you is will it be before or Halo 3 ships?[Via Joystiq]
Is Vista the end? Ballmer says there's "plenty more where that came from"
All those cool kids with their messy hair and loud rock music like to talk about how Vista is the "end of an era," and from now on the OS will move towards modular updates and internet service-based functionality. But before they get too smug, Steve Ballmer warned on Monday that there's "plenty more where that came from." He sort of dodged the questions about when to expect a service pack, saying "We'll put one out if we need to," but he also mentioned "We've got a very long list of stuff our engineers want to do, a long list of stuff all of the companies here want us to do," and that "There are so many areas where we need innovation." Hard to really tell what he's hinting at -- other than the fact that he obviously wants you to buy his shiny new OS -- but while Fiji does seem destined for our desktops sooner rather than later, it's hard to discount rumors of the tantalizing upgrades and reworkings we're hearing about in Vienna, which would be Microsoft's first big break in Windows backwards compatibility, and could provide much more power to the OS. 'Cause you know how we do: we're doing our Flip 3D thing, tagging our photos and burning those DVDs, and we can't help but wonder, "is this all there is?"
Microsoft releases Windows Vista Business
They're billing it as the "most significant product launch in Microsoft's history," so why not let them have their fun? Microsoft busted out Windows Vista Business today, along with Office Professional 2007, and a slew of other business, server and enterprise-related products. The day's festivities took place at NASDAQ, where Microsoft's Steve Ballmer and Christopher Liddell rang the opening bell this morning, followed by a day of hyping up the offerings to prospective volume-licensees. Microsoft expects over 200 million people will be using at least one of the products offered today by the end of 2007, and no matter what your stance on Microsoft and Windows, it's hard to argue with the impact of these softwares. So yeah, we could dwell on the considerable delays Microsoft experienced leading up to this release, or conjecture how long it'll take for 0-day vulnerabilities to emerge in this shiny new OS, but instead we'd just like to wish Steve Ballmer and co. the best of luck with Vista, Office and all the trimmings. There, now that we've gotten that out of our system, let the bug-finding begin!
Ballmer: Zune to add video sharing ability
We don't mean to harp on the Zune for its faults time and time again, but we do it out of love for high-quality gadgets. That said, we'll be happy to give Microsoft some points this time; Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has just told Bloomberg that the company will be adding video sharing to the media player newcomer -- though no time frame was given. Further, he reiterated what we already knew, namely that the Zune will be combined with a cellphone at some point in the future as well. Ballmer went on to say that he's not worried about Apple's huge lead and market share: "I'm confident we can keep up. They [Apple] have brand and image going for them, and we have some innovative ideas." That's the corporate equivalent of trash talkin' to be sure, but honestly, it's a pretty bad comeback to Jobs' earlier dissing of the Zune. Fellas, let's bury the hatchet right here -- first one to build the iPhone / ZunePhone wins, okay?[Thanks, Devin]
Ballmer and Kutaragi "don't matter," says Business 2.0
In addition to running a list of the top-50 people who do matter (including Blizzard's Mike Morhaime), Business 2.0 compiled its counterpart as well: a list of "10 people who don't matter" in business.Included in this dubious roundup are both Microsoft CEO Steve (FrankenSteve) Ballmer and Sony Computer Entertainment President Ken (what'd he say?) Kutaragi. While Ballmer's role at Microsoft clearly affects the relatively isolated Xbox group, Kutaragi's role at SCE is much more entangled. Business 2.0's criticisms of Kutaragi are, therefore, rather pointed:"Remember the Betamax debacle? Sony seems to have forgotten all about it. Under Kutaragi, who is the power behind Sony's PlayStation videogame consoles, the company is launching another format war with its Blu-Ray high-definition videodisc, the successor to the venerable DVD. Unfortunately, the PlayStation 3, which was supposed to put Blu-Ray into millions of living rooms, is months late and hundreds of dollars more expensive than competing consoles from Microsoft and Nintendo - largely because it includes one-of-a-kind technologies like Blu-Ray. The delays and cost overruns are likely to make both the PS3 and Blu-Ray nonstarters."Ouch! So Sony gets rapped on their knuckles, Microsoft gets detention, and Nintendo ... well, looks like Satoru Iwata and co. managed to go unnoticed, like the shy, likable kid who sat at the back of the classroom.
Gates to pull back on role at Microsoft in 2008
This isn't specifically Mac news, but it is a name we all know well. Bill Gates has announced that he will be stepping down from his full time role at Microsoft, something that I certainly didn't see coming. So, who will take over? Ballmer? We should be so lucky (think of the comedy potential). No, it looks like the torch has been passed to Ray Ozzie. So long, Bill, and thanks for all the fish.
Ballmer to his kids: "You don't use Google, you don't use iPods"
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is, let's say, a passionate guy. With Microsoft stagnating while the iTunes Music Store and Google (which is practically synonymous with "search" these days) becoming the standard of what they do, he's got a lot of stress to deal with. How does he manage? When he isn't sweating profusely, he's spending time with his kids...and telling them not to use Google or iPods. In an interview with CNN Money, he was asked if he owns an iPod. He replied: "No, I do not. Nor do my children. My children--in many dimensions they're as poorly behaved as many other children, but at least on this dimension I've got my kids brainwashed: You don't use Google, and you don't use an iPod."Call me crazy, Steve, but telling kids not to do something only makes that "something" more appealing. He also mentioned that Micorsoft intends to make announcements "...within the next 12 months" about their plans for dealing with the iPod. So, Steve's announcement was basically "come back in 12 months for another announcement." Gee, I can't wait.[Via MacDailyNews]
Bill Gates vs. Steve Ballmer in Fight Night Round 3
In this corner, playing as boxing legend Muhammad Ali, Bill "640kb ought to be enough for anybody" Gates! And in this corner, playing as Joe Frazier, Steve "Developers, developers, developers" Ballmer! Following Bill Gates' speech at CES last week, famed boxing announcer Al Bernstein introduced Microsoft's top brass before they duked it out in EA's Fight Night Round 3 on the Xbox 360. It's a cute enough video but, though the game does look great, the gushing grates on you after a while. Who wins? Gates Ali of course! (Link directs to Gamespot's video player) [Via Amanda Murphy's Xbox...]
