Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer talks about sharing source code, the threat from Linux and where Microsoft is going.
Ballmer: We Have to Think Differently
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Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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It’s getting to the point where I can’t even finish one of their articles…because it doesn’t even matter anymore.
You know, somebody mentioned in an earlier thread that Microsoft seems to have a bad case of NIH syndrome. It’s so true. Look at the number of times Ballmer denied getting the idea of “release early, release often” from the OSS community, even though the reviewer clearly recognized that fact. He’s not a very good speaker at all. Personally, I liked Bill G a lot better. Balmer seems kinda simple to me. Bill might be evil, but he’s very intelligent, very eloquent, and much better at spinning things to look nicer his way.
In the early 90s everybody went to Windows, instead of OS/2, because it’s just as good, things worked ok and it’s cheaper to boot.
However this situation could occur in the near future: Everybody went to Linux, instead of Windows, because it’s just as good, things work ok and it’s much cheaper to boot.
Once Red Hat fixes the problems on Gnome 2 and the port of OO to GTK2 is complete. Microsoft will have a hard time to sell expensive office suites and Windows OS. This is competition that Microsoft can’t kill off using their monopoly. The only department Windows will have left are for gamers. Capitalism will make sure that Red hat is everywhere and Windows going no where.
Balmer seem to lack any personal IP, how else could he recycle several sentences again and again in the same interview? I agree that Gates was much better at spinning things to look nicer his way, as a result his stuff was at least more interesting to read than Balmer delivers here.
Ballmer could probably get me interested in Windows if he didn’t sound like such a salesman. The way he answers questions, the way he steers every conversation, the way it always ends up being an outlet for his pride in The Company, it all just doesn’t go over well for someone like me, a prospective customer, reading through the salesman tone in his words.
Honestly, if Windows wasn’t such a business deal, looking at people as either customers, 3rd parties, partners, competitors, or co-workers, it’d come off much better. Notice he even looks at Linux as a “competitor,” nothing more, nothing less. GNU/Linux isn’t like any other kind of competitor, but Microsoft treats it like it is. MS has yet to recognize that such a “competitor” doesn’t die off with the economy, doesn’t stall with FUD, isn’t fueled (entirely) by marketting, doesn’t apply to the regular rules of business, and can’t be stopped through better marketting. It’s like a hydra. To kill it, you’d have to not only cut off each of it’s hundreds (in this case tens of thousands) of heads, but also burn the stumps with a torch, or they’ll just grow back. One “hero” can’t stop a beast like that.
[i]You know, somebody mentioned in an earlier thread that Microsoft seems to have a bad case of NIH syndrome[i]
No, not the software company that says NIH.
MS : “The same ! NIH, NIH, NIH !”
There’s nothing that MS will suddenly do differently. There’s no way the masters of the company will suddenly choose to change paths. It’s like that idiot Rick Berman in charge of the Star Trek franchise; each new series he claimed that they were going in a completely new and differet direction, doing things that they’d never done before, breaking old conventions to try a brave new start… and in the end, each time it was the same old thing, slightly remixed and further proving that it doesn’t matter much what claims they make if the results demonstrate their complete lack of ability to change.
Arf Arf Arf Arf …
“However this situation could occur in the near future: Everybody went to Linux, instead of Windows, because it’s just as good, things work ok and it’s much cheaper to boot. ”
Wait, I read that kind of prediction since early ’90 … Never happened tho …
“Once Red Hat fixes the problems on [insert your favorite issue here] … Microsoft will have a hard time …”
The best part. This is so cliché that every time I read it, I’m surprised to realize that still some people think like this …
;-P
…Bill might be evil, but he’s very intelligent, very eloquent, and much better at spinning things to look nicer his way.
Plus, Bill wears a much nicer toupee.
Whenever Microsoft talks about innovating, all that seems to mean is that they will discontinue to support their old software libraries which they have complete control over, and force users to buy the so called innoviation. Instead of the term ‘innovating’, you could slip in the words ‘raising the rent’.
Microsoft believe in closed source software, because it allows them to have 100% control over the direction of the platform. They can get away with it until Linux exposes the fact that MS Windows users are turkeys.
Man they know they are in trouble. The begining of there domaince is coming to an end and you can tell they are worried.
@ Salv
Wait, I read that kind of prediction since early ’90 … Never happened tho …
Windows overtook OS/2. It’s not a prediction. It’s what *actually* happened.
The best part. This is so cliché that every time I read it, I’m surprised to realize that still some people think like this …
It’s not cliché. It’s already happening.
Why pay for server software when ‘just as good’ is free.
Why pay for a desktop client and office suite when ‘just as good’ is free.
In not too long, all the software that Microsoft offers will be commoditized. There will be many good office suites, base home, office and server operating systems, browsers, etc. The price will have trended to zero.
Today in China, developers take all the separate CD’s for Microsoft’s Empire series of games, compress all the graphics, compress all the sound, and hack the code to make it all work. The goal is to get every edition that Microsoft offers in the US on a separate CD all onto one CD. And that CD is sold for 8 cents. Yep, that’s right. 8 cents.
So what will matter as prices trend to zero will be trust. Can you trust the software? Do you want to run your company on untrustworthy closed code? Do you want to risk running Microsoft spyware on your system?
For those of you who still doubt there is spyware on your Windows system, take a look at what Microsoft is sending inside ICMP packets. And you have got to bet if you ran a steganography analyzer on those packets, you’d find your precious data going out the big wide swinging wide open Internet barn door.
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=9926
Microsoft will have to open up their code if they are going to compete with Linux. They have no choice. The ironic thing is that opening their code is a giant market win for Microsoft. It is only fear that is keeping them from moving from a dumb closed source business model to a smart open source model.
If you looked at this page:
http://www.wfu.edu/~stein/work/icmp.html
Linked from “The Inquirer” page that you gave, you would have seen that the ‘mystery’ has been resolved:
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=227260
Please keep your unfounded FUD to yourself.
It’s time.
In the early 90s everybody went to Windows, instead of OS/2, because it’s just as good, things worked ok and it’s cheaper to boot.
However this situation could occur in the near future: Everybody went to Linux, instead of Windows, because it’s just as good, things work ok and it’s much cheaper to boot.
Once Red Hat fixes the problems on Gnome 2 and the port of OO to GTK2 is complete. Microsoft will have a hard time to sell expensive office suites and Windows OS. This is competition that Microsoft can’t kill off using their monopoly. The only department Windows will have left are for gamers. Capitalism will make sure that Red hat is everywhere and Windows going no where.
1) The term you are referring to is called GET, Good Enough Technology. Although it isn’t the best, it gets the job done. Sure, there are going to be a few who remain loyal to the superior technology, however, the majority will go-with-the-flow, aka, Beta Max vs. VHS.
2) Do you know anything about OpenOffice.org? it has its own toolkit which is part of its SAL – Software Abstraction Layer, which allows easy porting. What HAS been done by Ximian is the replacement of the stock icons with GNOME and improved the toolkit so that it resembles a GNOME application.
3) What issues do you have with GNOME 2.x? I’ve been running it for a while now without any issues. Sure, it may not have all the bells and whistles of KDE, however, it is well integrated and loads very fast.
Look at the bottom of the page at the site:
http://www.wfu.edu/~stein/work/icmp.html
(The source of the story and linked from The Inquirer article)
The mystery has been solved. It’s Slow Link Detection. No corpse on the table this time either….
If you use M$ Messenger, M$ can track everywhere you go. Even if you are not logged in, netstat -ano at the command line confirms this.
2nd.
Within M$ Internet Explorer, under Tools there is option for “Show Related Links”. IE sends the URL of every website you go to Alexa.
Ad Aware deletes this annoying feature safely from your OS.
I like M$, but I’d like them even better if they killed the spyware.
I did read the addendum and examined what Microsoft had to say:
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=227260
and the other Microsoft article.
And there is no explanation of the actual data patterns. While Microsoft may be sending their logo as ‘uncompressible’ data, that is not specifically stated.
As is my general position on this issues… if you can’t see the code, you never know what Microsoft is really doing… and it is better safe than sorry.
“Today in China, developers take all the separate CD’s for Microsoft’s Empire series of games, compress all the graphics, compress all the sound, and hack the code to make it all work. The goal is to get every edition that Microsoft offers in the US on a separate CD all onto one CD. And that CD is sold for 8 cents. Yep, that’s right. 8 cents. ”
You know crap about compression if you think you can compress 10 times more than what is already compressed on the original CD.
All Microsoft games on one single CD ? Whatever.
“I think there are feedback loops that have worked in other environments; and fine, we will be happy to learn from those.”
Bwahahahaaaa, that’s the best part of the interview.
I think they are a bit worried about ‘nix. I HAVE to use to use Windows XP everyday. It ain’t bad. That’s the most complimentary thing I can say about it. However, for Ballmer or BGatus of Borg to use “innovation” when speaking of M$’s products is a lame joke.
I agree with previous poster’s comments about M$ opening their source code. I believe it would be a win/win situation for them. Big however, these two guys have lacked vision for a long time.
As far as being engaging speakers, Ballmer is not. Maybe when he’s dancing around the stage to “fire up” the troops… Bill Gates eloquent? Ouch… Did any of you see the Bill Moyers (talk about a speaker…) special interview of Gates. What a freaken dork! This is the richest man in the world? Wow, I sound bitter huh?
Honestly, no offense to those whom feel otherwise, I know they are super-intelligent guys, man it’s almost painful to listen to them expound on ideas. Oh well.
Beijing, by the way, is a more fascinating place than even I expected. Vronay said that software pirating is rampant and you can barely imagine the lengths people will go to make just 8 cents per pirated application. Microsoft, for example, has a number of versions of the Age of Empires game for sale. Each version is a complex game that, in the US at least, is sold on its own CD. In Beijing, though, Vronay found the entire series on one CD-ROM. The Chinese programmers had actually recoded the game, replacing the sound files with MP3s and the texture maps with JPEGs. They even compressed the code. Vronay sounded a little dejected as he recounted what he’d found. “It doesn’t matter what you do, if they’ll go to all this trouble for 8 cents.”
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1124324,00.asp
David Vronay is a researcher with Microsoft Research’s Social Computing Group.
“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.” — Albert Einstein
“However, for Ballmer or BGatus of Borg to use “innovation” when speaking of M$’s products is a lame joke. ”
Oh yeah ! And let’s talk about the WHOLE Linux community trying, desperately on every gnome & KDE version to reproduce the new desktop designs and product released by Microsoft.
Now THAT’S innovation, isn’t it ?
“replacing the sound files with MP3s and the texture maps with JPEGs”
Ok so basically you don’t get the real game, you get a dumbed-down, loss-compression rampant product. Like the bad VCDs from someone who camcorded a movie in a theatre.
Impressive. What a huge menace.
Oh and by the way : what a scoop !!! There’s piracy in China !!! This is BRAND NEW INFORMATION and definitelly a brand new threat !
“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.” — Albert Einstein
Indeed.
“And let’s talk about the WHOLE Linux community trying, desperately on every gnome & KDE version to reproduce the new desktop designs and product released by Microsoft.”
Which Microsoft originally copied from Apple, who originally copied from Xerox PARC, etc & so on.
Nothing to see here. Move along.
From Salv:
“You know crap about compression if you think you can compress 10 times more than what is already compressed on the original CD.”
Grow up. You were wrong. According to Microsoft, the Chinese did compress all the Age of Empires CD’s onto one CD. And for 8 cents and one CD, what do you think you are going to get? HDTV and Dolby Digital EX?
I like your post, though. Straight from the Ari Fleischer Handbook on How to Change the Subject.
@ CooCooCaChoo
1) The term you are referring to is called GET, Good Enough Technology. Although it isn’t the best, it gets the job done. Sure, there are going to be a few who remain loyal to the superior technology, however, the majority will go-with-the-flow, aka, Beta Max vs. VHS.
Thank you for agreeing with my position. Why not Linux? It’s good enough for the corporate desktop. And the price is right too. There are so many Windows 95 installations out there running on P4s out there that could be running something very good and much cheaper than Windows XP. The market is huge for Linux.
2) Do you know anything about OpenOffice.org? it has its own toolkit which is part of its SAL – Software Abstraction Layer, which allows easy porting. What HAS been done by Ximian is the replacement of the stock icons with GNOME and improved the toolkit so that it resembles a GNOME application.
Yes I have been running OO.o for a while. It’s pretty good under Windows. It replaced Office 97 on my Windows computers. It could replace a lot of Office 97 installations on a lot of corporate PCs. BTW I don’t give a sh!t about acronym’s like SAL and GET. I use what is accessible and usable. Like everybody else.
3) What issues do you have with GNOME 2.x? I’ve been running it for a while now without any issues. Sure, it may not have all the bells and whistles of KDE, however, it is well integrated and loads very fast.
I just want Red Hat(Gnome 2) finished. Open/Save dialog window and a couple of things here and there. It’s pretty good now but can be even better. I don’t really care about the ‘bells and whistles’ of KDE. IMO KDE is bloated and complicated(especially Konqueror).
Please don’t make such statements. Bill Gates has Asperger’s Syndrome, a form of autism. Don’t judge people until you know the situation.
Tyr:
You know, somebody mentioned in an earlier thread that Microsoft seems to have a bad case of NIH syndrome
No, not the software company that says NIH.
MS : “The same ! NIH, NIH, NIH !”
*LOL* An old one, but well-executed. Thanks for making me laugh out loud =)
Salv:
You know crap about compression if you think you can compress 10 times more than what is already compressed on the original CD.
You know crap about game engines if you think that they have to compress every one of those 10 games in its entirety when they’re all Empire(tm) games. The neat thing about computers is that they can do things in ways you could never imagine. Isn’t that amazing?
“However, for Ballmer or BGatus of Borg to use “innovation” when speaking of M$’s products is a lame joke. ”
Oh yeah ! And let’s talk about the WHOLE Linux community trying, desperately on every gnome & KDE version to reproduce the new desktop designs and product released by Microsoft.
Why[1]? As opposed to MS, KDE and GNOME don’t blather on about innovation — they just want to build something that works.
Oh, and http://www.vcnet.com/bms/departments/innovation.shtml
“replacing the sound files with MP3s and the texture maps with JPEGs”
Ok so basically you don’t get the real game, you get a dumbed-down, loss-compression rampant product.
How horrible, they converted the texture maps and sounds to the most efficient compressed implementations available today, with no noticeable difference in a series of games that runs on 4-year-old technology. The rascals!
ILBT,
GG
——————–
[1] By the way, that’s a lovely ad hominem you have there! Is it one of those on sale at the Running-out-of-valid-arguments-Mart?
I thought Apple thought differently. Geez, they even copy other people slogans. Apple should sue!
>> I thought Apple thought differently. Geez, they even copy other people slogans. Apple should sue!
Heh, exactly what I was thinking =)
You can only imagine the copy-n-paste coders at Microsoft salivating for Panther… so they can get going on Longhorn.
I do wonder if Apple’s 64 bit OS is going to get Microsoft to get off their ass and get the Opteron version of Windows XP Pro out the door…
“Honestly, no offense to those whom feel otherwise, I know they are super-intelligent guys, man it’s almost painful to listen to them expound on ideas. Oh well.”
There’s no reason to suppose that Bill Gates is super-intelligent. To judge from his books and speeches, he is fairly intelligent – enough to do a bit of coding, for example.
Great Leaders and People Who Get Very Rich don’t need to be exceptionally intelligent, they need to be exceptionally determined. A very strong need for the praise and admiration of others is the key factor, along with at least a streak of paranoia.
I often hear that Bill Gates is a genius – shame I can’t chfind any evidence to support the fact.
Bill went to Harvard – so do a lot of rich kids – then he dropped out. Plenty of geniuses have completed their undergraduate studies by age 18. Stephen Wolfram of ‘Mathematica’ fame completed a PhD at Caltech in theoretical physics by age 20.
BG ported basic to the Altair – certainly no bigger deal than designing the Altair.
IBM wanted CP/M – they couldn’t licence it. They approached Microsoft for an alternative. MS bought QDOS (a CP/M rip-off) from Seattle Microsystems for 150k and licensed it to IBM.
BG is an opportunist who happened to get a huge break.
Lucky people often convince themselves they are geniuses and that is their downfall. MS has had virtually no success outside the Windows/Office franchise. Most of Bill Gates sucess is due to others failing – OS2, Wordperfect, Apple, Borland.
Ballmer says,
“We believe in the commercial software model. We believe in the innovation it delivers; we believe in the simplicity that it delivers”
“Ballmer: We Have to Think Differently” = Msoft OSX?
1) The term you are referring to is called GET, Good Enough Technology. Although it isn’t the best, it gets the job done. Sure, there are going to be a few who remain loyal to the superior technology, however, the majority will go-with-the-flow, aka, Beta Max vs. VHS.
LOL
Beta Max was sooo good that it couldn’t even record a 2 hour movie on its more expensive tapes! Bring it on!
You think MS will open all the code? Oh wait I just got.bsod.c in my email. Use linus, cut out the FAT.
Use linux, cut out the FAT
>>>So what will matter as prices trend to zero will be trust. Can you trust the software? Do you want to run your company on untrustworthy closed code? Do you want to risk running Microsoft spyware on your system?
As the SCO-IBM linux lawsuit says — can you trust that there is no infringing codes in linux? The answer is no — that’s why IBM themselves don’t create their own linux distribution and that’s why IBM themselves don’t embed linux into their own embedded devices.
99% of the time, the user his/herself is the weakest link.