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In an interview with The Seattle Times, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer sat down with technology reporter Janet Tu to discuss the company's future. Surface, Windows 8 and Microsoft's rivalry with Google and Facebook are just a few items which were touched upon. Read the entire interview here.
This year and the beginning of 2013 should prove to be an exciting span of time for Microsoft. Some of Redmond's biggest shakeups are slated to launch in the coming months, including the arrival of Surface, Windows 8, Windows Phone 8 and Office 2013.
Incidentally, Microsoft has already sent out invitations for an October 25 event in NYC, where details of Windows 8 should emerge just prior to its official launch.
The imminent onslaught of new milestones even prompted Ballmer to label 2012 as the software maker's "most epic year" yet.
Q: You've talked about this year being the most epic. Is there another year in Microsoft's history you could compare this to? Maybe the launch of Windows 95?
A: You know, Windows 95 was certainly the biggest thing in the last 20 years until now. I think Windows 8 certainly surpasses it. It's a little hard to compare things like the founding (of the company) and the introduction of the first popular PC and the system that popularized it, but it's at that scale.
Source: seattletimes.com, Interview with Steve Ballmer
During the interview, Ballmer made it known that Windows 8 might be the biggest thing since Windows 95, praising the company for trying to "re-imagine the world from the ground up with Windows 8". He also exhibited a seemingly unflappable conviction for Windows 8, stating his firm belief that the new OS is a fantastic product and it will do great after launch.
When asked if Microsoft's Surface would compete with the iPad on a price or features basis, Ballmer stated, "If you look at the bulk of the PC market, it would run between, say, probably $300 to about $700 or $800. That's the sweet spot."
Admittedly, $300-$800 is a quantity which lacks precision, but there is something interesting to note: Ballmer's price range doesn't dip low enough to corroborate last month's rumor of a $200 model. Despite this, the CEO's words still indicate Surface will occupy a wide price gamut, even if Microsoft does narrowly miss the sub-$200, ultra-budget tablet niche -- an area where Amazon's $159 and $199 Kindle Fires are likely to maintain their dominance.
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User Comments: 32
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Correction - "their"
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Won't be touching Widows 8 with a 100 foot poll. I'm still running XP (thank goodness) and will be having a nice Linux box built in the next couple of months and go all the way with open source. MS and it's software is bloated and not worth half of what they ask for it. Everyone I talk to gets the open source sermon.
What there is a group of like 4 of you using Linux saying
how bad MS sucks?. Your probably using windows to post on this forum
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1 person liked this |Microsoft shoots itself in the foot too often anymore. Why would anyone buy a new computer right now knowing that this new operating systems is looming over their heads? So if you were planning on buying a laptop or desktop with a MS operating system you are now in a circling pattern. Do I or don't I buy this now? So if you are a hardware manufacturer where does that leave you? Potential customers have just been told, in all reality, to wait until the new OS comes out.
Then you add to that the fact that Windows operating systems are suspect at best when introduced because of all the bloated crap that comes with it, if you do wait and buy after the new OS is available in your new PC, you may find out it's a turd or you may find out you like it. If it floats in the toilet then MS just lost another customer for life. Why do companies like MS insist on continuously introducing new software that makes no significant advances for the end user? I've never had and SP machine crash except for a virus once. XP is the most stable OS by this company and they should use that as a basis for the new software. Instead they have to be flighty and get every bell and whistle and hope for the best. The attitude that we'll fix the issues as they pop up sickens me. You see it in almost all software introduced just because there is a rush to market. And what sickens me most is the fact that there are ****** that flock to have the newest gimmick and they are the root of all this crappy software. I use XP because it came with the machine, once XP updates are no longer available I will start using linux machines. I've come to a realization that I just need to make the switch, I've put it off too long.
As soon as I read this I stopped reading.
" XP is the most stable OS by this company and they should use that as a basis for the new software. "
You have no idea what you are talking about.
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[link]
Windows 8 is looking pretty nice to me...
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Ballmer is nothing more than a suckup to Gates. He'll spew whatever nonsense he can that gushes favorable light on any MS product, no matter how useless. He loved Vista, Me, and now . . . Windows 8. The guy's a spewing baldy of a marketing sac.
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I can answer the Hyper-V 2012 & SCVMM question. We have a license for SCVMM and downloaded Hyper-V server 2012 to test for a new VM host. Ended up purchasing Vmware vsphere. SCVMM will go unused...
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Wow! You couldn't think of anything intelligent to say so you criticize his hairline?
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