Ballmer to talk Windows 7, not ZunePhone, at CES
Microsoft will have a bunch of stuff to show at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, but a rumored ZunePhone won't be one of them, according to sources familiar with the company's plans.
Instead, much of CEO Steve Ballmer's focus will be on talking about Windows 7 from a consumer perspective. Microsoft is pushing to have Windows 7 done in time for the holiday 2009 shopping season, so that means this CES is Ballmer's best stage to tout its benefits.
While the desktop operating system will be front and center, sources say to expect Ballmer to talk about how Windows is moving beyond the PC and into a world of PC, Web, and phone, a refrain we also heard a lot from Ray Ozzie at November's Professional Developers Conference, where the world also got its first good look at Windows 7.
On the phone front, Microsoft may not have a ZunePhone, but it is going ahead with several other strategies--pushing phone makers to develop phones based on Windows Mobile, developing Windows Live services for phones running a variety of operating systems as well as a number of new "premium mobile services" based on its Danger acquisition.
The company has also talked about extending its Zune service beyond the company's own dedicated player and mentioned the phone as a logical place to access the service. We may hear more about timing of this at CES, I'm told. In an October interview with CIO UK, Ballmer mentioned the possibility of accessing the Zune service on Windows Mobile phones.
The Xbox will certainly get its due as well during Ballmer's keynote speech and, as is typically the case, expect Microsoft to announce some new partnerships at the show. A funny video and celebrity guest are usually safe bets as well.
So that's what I've heard, but if tipsters know any more, I'm all ears.
During her years at CNET News, Ina Fried has changed beats several times, changed genders once, and covered both of the Pirates of Silicon Valley. These days, most of her attention is focused on Microsoft. E-mail Ina.
Think about it for a moment.
By December 2009, you will have delays that will push to release because it's not finished, but that won't stop Micro$oft from releasing it anyhow.
Then by December 2010, Micro$oft will release BETA SP1 and the following year, SP1 may arrive with many fixes to some very serious kernal panic issues.
As for us, Snow Leopard will pioneer the way a computer operating system should be done.
You cannot escape the Matrix anymore than you can escape reality.
Your fanboyism with Micro$haft is more apparent now than ever.
A Ford Fusion and a Ford Escape are both Ford products, but they are not the same, nor should people confuse one for the other.
Also, please provide these mythical quotes you refer to where Ballmer calls Windows 7 as Vista. I'd love to see your sources.
I'm also curious why you are reading all these PC-only magazines when you aer an Apple advocate and fan. Are you changing sides ? Planning to defect? Or are you just making it up?
@Brain: Apple has already stated that Snow Leopard will only be a service pack / collection of bug fixes and will not include any new features beyond minor tweaks.
Also, you'll find your comments accepted with a bit more respect if you refrain from such childish behavior as using slurs and juvenile names for Microsoft and others. Really now, the fourth grade was a long time ago. You may want to join the rest of the grownups.
Saying that Snow Leopard will only be a service pack with bug fixes and no new features is a gross misrepresentation of the facts. Will there be any flashy, killer app additions? No. But will there be new features, yes. The OS is being partially rewritten to accommodate multicore computing, Open CL, which will allow processor intensive tasks to be moved to the GPU, the complete move to 64 bit computing and finally, the rewriting of all bundled applications to Cocao for more stability and faster running. Also, Snow Leopard will debut QuickTime 10, which will be a huge leap in performance and power for the video core of OSX. Finally, Snow Leopard will be much smaller compared to Leopard, in both RAM used and hard drive space, allowing for more user files. So is there any new flashy features? No, but the OS will be much more stable, faster and stronger than Leopard, again pushing Apple past anything that Microsoft can do with Windows 7.
Yes, Snow Leopard will be a brand new operating system indeed!
Those Windows Fanboyz are really grasping for air in such a desperate attempt to debunk the issues they are facing with the failure of an operating system they use, simply known as "Vista".
Just look at the ads with the "PC" guy and the "Mac" guy.
The "PC" guy admits that Vista is a failure, why the rest of the fanboyz are in DENIAL is beyond belief.
I used to be a "PC" guy for many years until one day when I saw the light and switched to the Mac.
You know what they say when you expand your mind...
...once you go Mac, you don't go back!
Go home boys. This is not for you.
Anyway, for those of you interested in reality and the product development of W7, which I believe is what the topic is about...
W7 is not Vista although it will have a lot in common with Microsoft's much maligned operating system which, as anyone who has actually used it recently will tell you, is no bad thing. Snow Leopard is also a different OS from Leopard - again it has a lot in common with its predecessor but that doesn't mean that it's a clone of it.
Based on IDC and Gartner's sales figures Vista has almost certainly shifted in excess of 250m million copies by now. I'm sure I will hear arguments that these are all being downgraded to XP as we speak and look forward to seeing the proof that backs these arguments up. Or not as the case may be.
As for being a fanboy, I can't honestly claim to be one as I use Vista, XP, Tiger, Leopard and Ubuntu all of which have their good points and bad points. As such I feel that I can comment on issues affecting these systems rather than, say, hanging around topics about technology I don't use making appallingly ignorant comments.
:)
As an eloquent blogger once stated, "the only people who care more about the brand than about features is Apple fanboys" You can't do anything with what Apple provides with any of their products than what they want you to do with it. You can't costumize it. You can't build your own. You can't take it apart and upgrade its components on the same Scale as you can any Windows PC. That alone makes even Windows 98 better than Snow Leopard and that has not even been released yet. And lets not forget the incompatibility of thousands of games, accessories and software. Are we being serious here??
Apple itself announced that Snow Leopard would not be more than a collection of patches and updates consolidated into one new package. If you wish to disagree with Apple, that is up to you. Apple is the source of that information. They probably know more about what is in Snow Leopard than you or I, so when they make statements about the OS, I would tend to believe them more than you.
@Brian:
Um, you do realize that the Mac vs. PC advertisements are paid for by Apple? That's what they are- advetisements. Of course they will have the person representing PC's saying that they are a failure. That's the purpose of the ad. They wouldn't want to pay to air a commericial saying that PC's are far superior to Apple in gaming, consumer and business growth, or in cost of ownership? That wouldn't be a very good ad, now would it?
Get over it. It's an ad. Don't take it so personally.
Snow Leopard is not merely a collection of patches, it is a brand new operating system built on new technologies, such as Grand Central as well as the introduction of some other technologies that do the work behind the scenes to making the operating system much more robust and secure.
It's up to you to read for yourself and learn the facts before you start posting nonsense on CNET as if your words are fact.
Yes, the "PC" guy and the "Mac" guy are advertisements for Apple, that is very clear.
Also what is clear are the ads themselves tell the truth.
For all it's worth, Vista is a dismal failure for the PC market with businesses, universities and yes, even consumers are switching.
Some admit that the cost of operation is the reason, being that the Mac is more stable and doesn't require full time IT staff to keep it running smoothly.
Also, you can install Windows on the Mac and having two operating systems was one of the key reasons for the switch for many organizations.
As for gaming, if you visit an Apple retail store (not the small stores in your local mall, but the big stores in Manhattan) and see the collection of games, you would see that Apple has it covered for those consumers who care about playing games on their computers.
In just a few weeks from now, when the 2009 Macworld arrives, we will be back here discussing the new products announced.
Until then, keep on posting! :)
There is a reason Apple needs to take a big break and focus on the foundation rather than new features--they are way behind on things like SMP/parallelization (BSD on XNU/Mach is a lousy threading model), 64-bit support, file system (ZFS is not there yet) and other core modern OS technologies. Apple knows this, Jobs knows this, everyone that knows more than superficial details about OSes knows this... everyone except the Apple sycophants that believe OS X has no shortcomings or flaws whatsoever. They might as well have stopped at OS X 10.0, or heck, System 7! Perfection needs no improvement, right? Right?
I for one am happy with Vista and have been since Feb. 07 when I put it on my $400 homebrew PC.
I don't question that they are making some progress and there are some UI changes that I like, but there is no really major changes that I saw so far. Right now Windows "7" feels a lot more like Windows 6.01 than anything dramatic enough to call it a product that is worthy of calling 7.0.
Build 6081 was for DEVELOPERS to know the internals and workings of win7, not for CONSUMERS! There were not many features at all that were different. It was different under the hood. So dont say windows 7 is not windows 7.0. The product was not intended for you. You need to understand that. When the final product comes out, than bash it all you want. build 6801 was NOT FOR CONSUMERS LIKE YOU AND ME!!!
No most skeptics will be suprised by the improvements of 7 over Vista. And the rest of the naysayers are just fanbois trying to hyjack the discussion.
Been using vista a few months after it came out, and still am impressed with it.
But you didn't, did you?
Come back when you have something worth reading, kid.
you said "I'm not impressed"!! yet you "googled and read lots of articles " LOL
your research levels know no ends!!! I'm not going to detail everything but Ive tried the new task bar and it apart from the fact there is icons at the bottom of the screen (default position ) it really couldn't be more different from mac dock.
BTW XP is gr8 for gooooogleing so you should be fine
Also, you can return to the old taskbar if you want. And if you're trying to say that Apple's operating system minimizes to something on the bottom, and that Microsoft ripped that off, well don't even try.
Bear in mind this is a pre beta build. And this already is rock soild. Everything in it works. No crippled features like beta builds of the past.
No this build is a thing of the future now! No waiting. Oh and just a little heads up for all. Announced by MS at PDC there wil be 1 Beta one RC and then the final OEm/Retail build. By August Ive been seeing. Although one close to MS says his prognastication is April of 2009.
What's that?
Vista? Windoze 7?
Microhoo ??
Oh, yeh, the Microsoft/Yahoo Takeover - that will happen.
Life is good! :)
OS 10.6 is supposed to be much slimmer, but that is largely because they are going to drop ppc support. It isn't terribly amazing that the x86 only code is slimmer than the universal binaries. Seeing as Apple doesn't do public betas or release much details at all to the public, I would be skeptical of whether you are so sure that 10.6 will be much faster than 10.5 unless you are an Apple employee.
Please tell me why you hate PC's and find it necessary to bash them.
If macs are so great, why do you have to belittle PC's? just make do mac stuff, like imovie or iphoto or icalender or ilife or iphone or imac or ipod or isuckatlifeandiamsecretlyjealousofPC'sthatswhyimakefunofthem
Ever heard of a console? Windows free, here, since 2005. Wish I had done it sooner"
Why yes, yes I have. It's the Xbox 360. What was the name of that Apple gaming console you were using again? :)
The reality is that Microsoft products are not the best, and are usually rip offs of something better.
When the ZunePhone arrives, you will see them at their worst.
But just wait for Winbloze Seven, the official name for Service Pak 3 for Vista.
But don't take my word for it, just ask the fanboyz.
I'm pretty sure that Microsoft (that's the correct way to spell the company's name- perhaps your keyboard is defective, or there is a problem with your ability to spell) will have the Zune software ready to run a smartphone in other OEM's products. The interface on the Zune is quite intuitive and well suited for a cell phone or even a smart phone. You might want to familiarize with the product.
You also misspelled Windows as "Winbloze". Again, either a typo, inability to spell, keyboard failure, or just immaturity. I believe readers can guess which answer that will be. :)
Do you have a preference on which operating system you feel has a more intuitive interface?
I prefer the Spotlight, Spaces, Expose, Dock, QuickLook, Finder and simplicity of the desktop myself.
You sound like such a kid.
Ex. A teacher says I like my kindergarden class.
You say "Do you like me cause I am cooler than them"
I am curious to the answer as well.
Brian edited his post.
Also have you not been reading his posts. After tons of posts with Micro$oft, winbloze, etc. eventually I had to call him on it.
-randomtruth
randomtruthsblog.synthasite.com
Knock it off, okay?
Stop telling lies because I am sick and tired of it.
There is no way to edit a post, so stop the personal attacks.
Ever hear of freedom of speech?
If you don't like it, don't read it.
Trying to make it sound like a 'us vs them' argument is just plain silly in my opinon.
Good job, I have been saying this for a while. For my job (which ill admit is a niche)
MacOSX > Linux > Windows
-randomtruth
randomtruthsblog.synthasite.com
But I could have built my own corn chip for half the price!
I buy my pc's prebuilt because my time is worth more than the money I "save" building and servicing my own pcs, I used to build them tho.
I used to be you -- owned custom built PC systems for many years and I wasn't afraid to open it to add some new peripheral, sound card, memory, optical drive, etc.
Owning a Mac is superior in every way - these machines look beautiful in comparison to those ugly rectangular boxes.
You can choose whatever you like of course.
Are you ugly or pretty?
That's the question you have to answer everyday you look at that "thing".
-random truth
randomtruthsblog.synthasite.com
And I don't understand why people put a $ in Microsoft like they are being clever. At least Microsoft gives it users rights. I really have a problem with Apple as a company for trying to strap me to a spec piece of hardware for the "privilege" to use their software. They are worse than Sony with it's Memory Stick.
If anyone wants to argue against my completely unbiased statement , don't bother. I'm staying out of here. Reading slanted opinions based on nothing just makes me frustrated.
It's true of computers, cars, politics, religiion and even soft drinks. I don't see this ever changing.
And Mt. Dew Code Red is the best and you are all poopie heads if you disagree with me. :)
I don't see why nearly every Apple user has such contempt for all things "Micro$haft"... There are so many PC users out there who get along just fine knowing that there are other good OS's but Mac users just can't comprehend that anything could possibly be on the same level as their beloved OSX.
I pefer Vista over Mac but I don't wake up in the morning with a goal to troll every windows thread and see how many uneducated statements I can make to **** people off.
Why can't apple users accept the fact that different people prefer different OS's?
Microsoft Windows IS an operating system. Mac OS IS an operating system. I've tried several Linux distro's and they are all good too.
Can't we all just get along?
-randomtruth
randomtruthsblog.synthasite.com
http://www.pcworld.com/article/153624/under_the_hood_windows_7_is_vistas_twin.html
[Edited to remove profanity.]
Or not.
However, what you can do is look at AKH's review of the latest build of W7 against Vista and XP if we are going to do this:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=3187
Woops. Another bit of trolling debunked!
You know, you must get tired of making utter fools of yourselves and yet here you are back for more. I think the technical term for you guys is a 'palooka'.
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by The_happy_switcher
December 11, 2008 4:08 PM PST
- From PC WORLD: "Lipstick on the Pig
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by Brian
December 11, 2008 5:29 PM PST
- I used to be a Windows user, but when I decided to expand my mind and switch to the Mac, the experience was awe inspiring.
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by Mark_Anderson
December 12, 2008 1:57 AM PST
- Are you really asking us to take the word of Randall LOL Kennedy on a pre-Beta early build test? Because that would be sad.
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by solu1978
December 27, 2008 3:24 PM PST
- Hey applerocks ... thanks for the entertainment you provide .. the truth my windows xp x64 is better than Mac OS anyday ... So all the Apple fans out there ask Apple to make something better than XP and then compare it with Vista. Looking forward to some more free entertainment from the Apple Fan Club.
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by ozzychi
January 1, 2009 9:11 AM PST
- You do realize that a Mac IS a PC, right? There must be some reason Mac's only have 15% of the market (for all these years!) and it can't be because of their bad commercials, can it?
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Showing 1 of 2 pages (122 Comments)So where does this leave us? For starters, we can now say with some certainty that the Windows 7 build I tested is just a repackaging of Windows Vista. Key processes look and work much like they do under Vista, and preliminary benchmark testing shows that Windows 7 performs right on a par with its predecessor. Frankly, Windows 7 is Vista, at least under the hood; if nothing else, this should translate into excellent backward compatibility with Vista-certified applications and drivers.
Except that it might not. The M3 build of Windows 7 breaks all sorts of things that, frankly, it shouldn't be breaking. Worse still, the suspected source of a major compatibility bump--the neutered UAC prompts--is in fact architectural in nature, one of the few truly new features of Windows 7's secure computing stack.
Windows Vista has permanently eroded the company's reputation among IT decision makers, and from what we've seen of Windows 7 so far, Microsoft still doesn't get it. "
Ballmer says Windows 7 is Vista, PC WORLD says so, too. Are you waiting for Jesus to come down to earth and say the same before you are convinced?
From the well thought out design of the Dock to the Expose organization of apps to the Spotlight search as well as Spaces, Stacks, QuickLook, Finder (so much nicer than Windows Explorer) to the many other enhancements and user interface designs such as borderless windows, Automater, etc., this is what Apple does best.
I can't wait for Snow Leopard -- we are going to be so spoiled. :)
It always amazes me that the more rabid fanboys hang around topics about other operating systems where they spout their vitriolic and ill informed nonsense. After all, if you're happy with your OS then why are you even here?
Unless of course you realise that you've made a mistake and want to vent your fury on people who are largely happy with what they use? :)
Never mind, at least the comedy value you give us doesn't diminish.