Despite some high-profile departures to Google and other rivals, Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer say Microsoft Corp. is still in a position to attract the top talent needed to ensure the company’s strength as it enters its fourth decade.
Gates and Ballmer: A Look at the Future
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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No mention of the Number One threat to Microsoft…
Not a very hard-hitting interview.
Microsoft?
“…. is still in a position to attract the top talent needed to ensure the company’s strength as it enters its fourth decade.”
Yea there will always be a pool of cheap, unexperienced talent out of the local colleges and soup kitchens to keep up appearances.
😀
Yeah, Linux need not worry about a future developer shortage.
“IT guys will think it’s cool”
IT guys interested in thinking for themselves and providing specialized services and neato solutions to customers will think that Linux and OSS is more cool. IT guys who want to make a real difference in the world of technology will learn more about and think Linux and OSS is more cool. IT guys who strongly dislike strong arm licensing tactics will find Linux and OSS more cool.
It is not cool to be beholden (personally or professionally) to a convicted monopoly organization with very obnoxious business practices who is bent on world control at all costs.
Jeffrey @ Athens Ohio
agreed
That’s very well said, except the fact that most of us preffer money over idealogy. And your “theory” is flawed on many other points, as proven by the “hardcore” open soruce guys eventually working for Microsoft (and yes, I mean the Gentoo founder amongst many).
even if he does take cash for doing work for microsoft, does that mean he stops doing linux work ?
dont think so
is there a conflict of interest there ?
microsoft said they employed him to better understand the open source model. What was your retort actually saying ?
Was it that all OSS developers can be bought ?
In theory they can, but Microsofts pockets are not that deep, and some developers will never sell out, RMS for one.
Google is not a threat to Microsoft. When they make an OS that’s when they will be a threat. No, not a “web enabled word processing suite”, who the hell is going to edit videos of their children from Google? We don’t have enough bandwidth for that! Wake up Google is the biggest scam since VA Linux used the LNUX stock symbol and fooled the entire Stock Market.
Microsoft is not threatened by teh Google!
the majority of microsofts income comes from Office, not from the OS. So if google makes a viable alternative, then they are serious competitors. OS or not
Microsoft is a brand, and it is that brand that the corporation is trying to protect.
Microsoft are threatened by other brands….
Microsoft are threatened by Apple
Microsoft are threatened by Google
Microsoft are threatened by Redhat
Microsoft are threatened by Mandriva
Microsoft are threatened by AOL
Microsoft are threatened by OpenOffice
Microsoft are threatened by Yahoo
Microsoft are threatened by Playstation
Microsoft are threatened by I-pod
Microsoft are threatened by TiVO
Microsoft are threatened by ALL companies/products that make people think/buy stuff other than from Microsoft.
Microsoft are a corporation and the primary function of a corporation is to generate cash.
http://www.rixstep.com/1/20050926,01.html
…to spend on top notch engineers, as well as people that understand business process and how to apply that to software. Open source has to invest tons more on that. Until then, Microsoft will be king of the desktop for a long time.
…to spend on top notch engineers, as well as people that understand business process and how to apply that to software.
However, that’s not what they’re doing.
They Are going the CHEAP route by outsourcing to india and still with the ponzi scheme stock options in america.
The onlything Microsoft has outsourced is their call center. Their engineers still work here.
You mean, the ones that haven’t left yet to work at Google…
untrue
65% of XP was programmed by Indian programmers. Official figures from Microsoft.com
65% of XP was programmed by Indian programmers. Official figures from Microsoft.com
It shows as well. And then the hypocrits tell us that open source software is simply a way of getting rid of IT jobs in the western world.
So you’re racist?
Yes, there are a lot of Indian programmers that worked on Windows, and for Microsoft. But guess what, most of the developers for MS, if not all, are NOT IN INDIA.
There is a difference between “Indian programmers” and “programmers in India”.
he might be racist. I dunno, but I do know that most of the Microsoft Indian programmers are indeed in India. I know this because I am not long back from a fact finding mission of 3 months. I also know that Microsoft pays over the odds for these programmers. They should be applauded for this.
Do you have a source on that? XP is basically 2000 with some pretty features, so I’d like to see exactly what that 65% entails.
The onlything Microsoft has outsourced is their call center. Their engineers still work here.
Well let’s face it “Format and reinstall” isn’t the hardest english phrase to learn.
GooOS could be a great alternative to Windows for a million of users. There are a million of users that do not care about video editing. They just want to do the basics:Internet,Word Processing and there are so many other apps that I am pretty sure you can run on-line. Take a look at Thinkfree.com…you can use their Office Suite on-line.
I am running Slax((Slackware Live version)) and it is awesome. It is another great alternative to Windows and it does not mess the hard drive. You can take it anywhere and you can add modules and create a new ISO.
I can’t do that with Windows.
This is just my opinion. Let’s see what happens.
-2501
GooOS could be a great alternative to Windows for a million of users. There are a million of users that do not care about video editing. They just want to do the basics:Internet,Word Processing and there are so many other apps that I am pretty sure you can run on-line.
For this to work you would need a high bandwidth connection. Who, with money to pay for such a connection, would buy an OS for those small things when they can afford the real thing? Never mind the fact that Google has absolutely no OS experience whatsoever. Linux (and maybe even OS X) has been struggling for over a decade to be a real competitor. Do you really think Google can pull it off in a few years?
I am running Slax((Slackware Live version)) and it is awesome. It is another great alternative to Windows and it does not mess the hard drive.
How exactly does Windows mess your hard drive?
You can take it anywhere and you can add modules and create a new ISO.
(Un)fortunently you are one of the 1%< that need this feature.
Have a look at FreeNX, it runs really well over a dial-up connection. In fact, it runs so well, I can log into my main machine over a dial up connection and run all my apps normally. Sometimes I forgot I was not running them locally or over a network.
Oh, and it is free
I am running Slax((Slackware Live version)) and it is awesome. It is another great alternative to Windows and it does not mess the hard drive.
How exactly does Windows mess your hard drive?
ATTEMPTED TROLL DETECTED…
He did not say Windows mess your hard drive. He said the SLAX live disk doesn’t mess with your hard drive.
What he should have said was that SLAX does not mess with your Windows settings or programs or even the hard disk it was installed on.
You can take it anywhere and you can add modules and create a new ISO.
(Un)fortunently you are one of the 1%< that need this feature.
Even hardened Windows users should keep at least one Linux live CD around, for a time when their machine screws up. It will at least let them get something done until they can set aside time to fix their Windows setup, or get someone out to it.
ATTEMPTED TROLL DETECTED…
He did not say Windows mess your hard drive. He said the SLAX live disk doesn’t mess with your hard drive.
What he should have said was that SLAX does not mess with your Windows settings or programs or even the hard disk it was installed on.
From this point on I’m assuming you are 12 years old, so I will try forming my answers in a way that you can understand. I suppose english is not your first language or you are just stupid. If I say “Windows is better than Linux and it doesn’t suck” does that mean I was trying to say Linux sucks. Of course it does (mean). While you lack english skills, the grandparent lacks some tech skills. If he didn’t he might have understood what LiveCDs are and how they work.
Even hardened Windows users should keep at least one Linux live CD around, for a time when their machine screws up. It will at least let them get something done until they can set aside time to fix their Windows setup, or get someone out to it.
Maybe we don’t want to, because the best those things can do is mess up your entire NTFS partition. Not to mention most of them don’t even support NTFS writing so they’re completely useless.
If you want to be condescending, you should try not to miss the entire point.
From this point on I’m assuming you are 12 years old, so I will try forming my answers in a way that you can understand. I suppose english is not your first language or you are just stupid.
Insults already…wow, that didn’t take long.
If I say “Windows is better than Linux and it doesn’t suck” does that mean I was trying to say Linux sucks. Of course it does (mean).
It doesn’t explicitly say it, that’s for sure. However that’s irrelevant. The orginal poster simply meant to say that you can safely use a LiveCD without risk of messing with your hard drive. That’s pretty clear.
While you lack english skills, the grandparent lacks some tech skills. If he didn’t he might have understood what LiveCDs are and how they work.
It’s clear from what he wrote that he understands what LiveCDs are very well. It’s not clear, however, that you understood what he said at all.
English is not my native language, however I am quite fluent in it. I’m pretty sure I’m a better english writer than you are, considering the poor construction of these sentences:
“I suppose english is not your first language or you are just stupid. If I say “Windows is better than Linux and it doesn’t suck” does that mean I was trying to say Linux sucks. Of course it does (mean).”
I mean, really…
So, we’ve established that I’m at least as fluent in English as you are. How is it, then, that I completely understood what the original poster was saying, while you immediately saw it as an attack on Windows?
Maybe we don’t want to, because the best those things can do is mess up your entire NTFS partition. Not to mention most of them don’t even support NTFS writing so they’re completely useless.
Actually, I often install/repair other people’s Windows PC (family tech support) and I never leave my Linux “system rescue” CDs behind – if only because it means I don’t need to bother with Partition Magic!
My “reinstall” rescue kit consists of an old 40GB drive, a Knoppix CD and on or two other rescue CDs (you never know…). Useful when a Windows PC has been turned into a zombie bot or is otherwise so infested that a reinstall is the best thing to do
I plug in the additional HD, boot with Knoppix, copy all the person’s personal files on my rescue HD (well, up to 40 gigabytes’ worth, anyway), wipe the original drive clean and partition it sensibly with QTparted (i.e. give them a separate drive for their data, so that reinstalling the system in the future doesn’t require a backup) then reinstall Windows. Finish up by copying all the data back and voilà !
Of course, the real cool use of LiveCDs is not with CDs at all, but with large USB keys/portable USB drives. You can basically carry your desktop in your pocket (of course, you need PCs that can boot from USB, but those are beginning to be more common now).
You call me either a 12 year old or stupid ?
even though you fail to understand what the original poster and I said twice ?
A live CD will not screw up a FAT32 or and NTFS partition, in fact they are safer to use on your drives than Windows tools.
People do indeed use live CDs as rescue systems for Windows drives.
Are you so blinded by love for Windows that it skews all your judgements ?
So, no, I am not 12, and also, with no need to prove my stupidity/lack of stupidity to you, I leave you with one thought..
Maybe we don’t want to, because the best those things can do is mess up your entire NTFS partition. Not to mention most of them don’t even support NTFS writing so they’re completely useless.
Another unsuccessful attempt at spreading FUD, and by judging by your overall scores, I deduce this…..
YOU, Sir, are nothing but a silly little troll, who is a waste of spave in their mothers basement. Get up, get out into the real world, have a look around, maybe get a job, a girlfriend, but most of all, get a f–king life.
Bill gates and Steve ballmer can lick my dogs sack. They got their last penny from me 7 years ago.
People stupid enough to keep giving them money deserve what they get. Just like when they give money to the MPAA and RIAA for someone elses creation.
Rot in hell MS.
Microsoft has to redo a lot of things before I would consider it a decent OS; it’s very unlikely they will, however, because replacing things like the start bar with something better would completely alienate the current userbase. The same goes for Apple, and most popular linux distros.
-bytecoder
Please explain to me what does your decent OS that you’re running use if it’s not a start bar or OS X dock ripoff?
Ever heard of NeXTStep? The idea could easily be extended to be, say, tabs instead of squares. Each “tab” would basically be a docked window on the side of the screen.
-bytecoder
That may work for you, but I personally am not a fan of it. It’s simply about preference, not what you think is better.
Not really. I’m not going to argue with you, though, because obviously you’re not going to change your (wrong) opinion
-bytecoder
Ha ha, jerk.
Don’t make me get Steve Balmer to throw a chair at you.
Nothing like Microsoft!
Its not that google doesnt have the power or ability to create a distrib to get some of the market. They would also have good business contacts to help popularize it and perhaps get it installed by some builders. Then again it would have to have some really nice features and be useable for everyone. Probably already working on it knowing that MS is gunning for them might make them want to gun back.
Other than that MS will have the power to snatch alot of good talent and companies for many years to come.
That doesn’t make any sense…
-bytecoder
It’s so incredibly obvious that Google doesn’t want to create an OS. It has no need to do that, nor would it serve Google at all to go head-to-head against MS in this manner. No, what it’s really interested in doing is creating a broad-featured “Google Desktop” — basically a GUI Shell that can run on top of any operating system kernel (Windows, Linux, OSX, etc). Google then plans to use this “platform” to offer an API stack to access search and other functionality that are found in the cloud. It will continue to try and push Google search into the enterprise — and it will use local indexes along with “Google Desktop” to optimize LAN/WAN-based searching.
I think the author is spot on here. There’s no point is Google bringing out it’s own OS. It’d be too much trouble to support and would be unlikely to gain any significant market share.
However, a set of open APIs means that anyone can code to the Google “platform”. It’s a bit like when Sun released Java. There was a lot of talk about whether it’s a language or a platform in it’s own right. With a rich enough API you’ve basicly got your own OS, even if it’s running on someone elses OS! This is the way .NET/Mono is going…
This is so crazy that it might actually work. But there’s one problem – how would Google profit from this? They profit from ads and I’m quite certain no one wants a popup to win a free iPod when he clicks a file. They could sell it but I’m not sure how it would compete against the installable apps that already do the same thing.
Everyone talks about how Google loves open-source and being open and cross-platform.
Just about ALL of their applications they have developed are windows only, if not all.
A lot of their web apps were IE only at first, or IE and Mozilla only.
None of this stuff is open-source.
Well, of course. The fanboy groupthinkers just look around at others to see what their opinion should be.
who’s talking about Google being open source?? I never saw someone claiming that!
I certainly didn’t, nor did I say anyone else claimed that. You need to tweak your reading skills.
I really don’t care about a google desktop,bar,OS.Nevertheless google is *the* best search engine on the net.More than once i have managed with google to find *the* extra rare settings and solutions to various problems.
re:It’s funny
Everyone talks about how Google loves open-source and being open and cross-platform.
They happily use OSS software and Linux to serve the world.
That they do, no doubt. But people are over-zealous about Google’s support.
Sigh, still the same old world domination game. How much lunch can you eat before reaming charities or schools in the developing world really really starts to suck?
You hardly ever hear these two asked or answering questions about why Windows is so expensive and why they are so completely unable to permit Windows and other operating systems to coexist peacefully, resulting in millions upon millions of unnecessary extra man-hours in workarounds.
Microsoft is a software company. Google is an advertising company. Sun is a unix company. Oracle is a database company. Etc etc. If these companies stuck to what they were good at, we’d probably be the better for it. At the moment, though, they or at least their supreme leaders all seem to be competing for the role of Mussolini of IT, television, telephony and everything else. Maybe their shareholders or some hard-headed non-exec directors will bring them back down to earth.
It doesn’t matter how talented a person is when he goes in, microsoft will stifle his creativity and destroy any vision and potential he had…. and before he knows what happened he’ll be writing code for the next Microsoft Bob or clippy the paper clip.
Besides if microsoft had any talent they wouldn’t be trying to embrace and extend (steal) open source projects.
Actually people tend to favour using one side of the brain over the other, the left side does logic, the right does creativity. this doesn’t tie in with your crative programmer theory very well does it.
Maybe there’s a third side that people who simply copy others prefer?
I dont live in india or the US
However I am sick of companies making money selling to the first world at high margins and then reducing costs by exporting the jobs to low cost areas.
This is one area where corporate multinational capitalism sucks, no loyalty to country of origin.
stop India bashing you f**** americans..who sit on ur lazy ass and do nothing…want 40 hour workweek while those idiots in India toil 24/7/365..always ready to put work first..rather than beer or sex..or anything ..what the hell u were doing when you took away all jobs from them by making them a open economy..shut up and roll on …
If linux was as good as some on here think then we would see most people use some kind of windows like linux distro.
Since that isn’t happening and linux has as many holes as windows I find linux to be way overrated.
stop trolling “proforma” and learn something about what you speak.
fact: windows will never be as secure as linux and your attempt at spreading mis-truths won’t change this.
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