Comments on: Ballmer: High-end Windows, Office coming

Microsoft's CEO tells analysts that higher-priced versions of its core products are on tap.

Basicall - We'll raise price but not sure what for yet!! Funny....

Basicall - We'll raise price but not sure what for yet!! Funny....

I think that's what we should do at my company. I'm announcing a price increase on everything next year. Not sure what for or what you'll get for it but we'll figure out something.

Now my next question: What are they drinking?

[System Tyrant]

Why buy a $600 office app

Lots of people can give a reason why they need to buy a $600 Office application, but are any of them that good a reason.

****************
Here's a few I have heard.

I bought Microsoft Office because everybody is using it. (So what. WordPerfect Office can read and write to Microsoft Office. Even has a workspace manager to make it look like Office. Hasn't changed the document format since version 6. OpenOffice can pretty much do a lot of the same things Office can do.)

I bought it because of Outlook. (If an e-mail client was the only reason you bought it... well stupid.)

It came with my computer when I bought it. (Well, you still paid for it.)

I needed a spreadsheet program to create charts and stuff. (Lots of cheaper alternitives that probably would have done just as good a job.)

Because Office is the defacto document format. (Which version? Since I can't get Word 2003 documents to open in 97 I don't think they have set a defacto standard like, say WordPerfect. Last time I checked I could get my WordPerfect 12 documents to open in version 6.)

Because WordPerfect sucks and Open Source is a cancer. (Have you even looked at anything else. Done any research on you own. Or do you just believe everything Microsoft tells you.)
***************

Ok I was having a bit of fun there, but for the most part those are some of the statements I have heard. I'm sure any reason is a valid reason to the person buying a program.

[System Tyrant]

Why buy a $600 office app

Lots of people can give a reason why they need to buy a $600 Office application, but are any of them that good a reason.

****************
Here's a few I have heard.

I bought Microsoft Office because everybody is using it. (So what. WordPerfect Office can read and write to Microsoft Office. Even has a workspace manager to make it look like Office. Hasn't changed the document format since version 6. OpenOffice can pretty much do a lot of the same things Office can do.)

I bought it because of Outlook. (If an e-mail client was the only reason you bought it... well stupid.)

It came with my computer when I bought it. (Well, you still paid for it.)

I needed a spreadsheet program to create charts and stuff. (Lots of cheaper alternitives that probably would have done just as good a job.)

Because Office is the defacto document format. (Which version? Since I can't get Word 2003 documents to open in 97 I don't think they have set a defacto standard like, say WordPerfect. Last time I checked I could get my WordPerfect 12 documents to open in version 6.)

Because WordPerfect sucks and Open Source is a cancer. (Have you even looked at anything else. Done any research on you own. Or do you just believe everything Microsoft tells you.)
***************

Ok I was having a bit of fun there, but for the most part those are some of the statements I have heard. I'm sure any reason is a valid reason to the person buying a program.

[sirron33]

Balmer is off his rocker.

Just get a Mac withOSX Tiger and be done with all the patches,
costle upgrades, spyware, malware, viruses and Balmerware.
Leopard is coming, keep looking into the future with vista and
you'll see it.

[sirron33]

Balmer is off his rocker.

Just get a Mac withOSX Tiger and be done with all the patches,
costle upgrades, spyware, malware, viruses and Balmerware.
Leopard is coming, keep looking into the future with vista and
you'll see it.

[technewsjunkie]

Win98, Win98Special Ed., WinNT, WinXP, WinXP Pro, Win Server, Win...

What ever happened to their stance on Windows fragmentation
which caused market/user confusion??

Well if you can't gain more market share, you have to break down
products into versions to get more revenue from the installed base!

[technewsjunkie]

Win98, Win98Special Ed., WinNT, WinXP, WinXP Pro, Win Server, Win...

What ever happened to their stance on Windows fragmentation
which caused market/user confusion??

Well if you can't gain more market share, you have to break down
products into versions to get more revenue from the installed base!

[technewsjunkie]

Will they offer Windows w/o Media Player?

I'd like that one.

I'd rather use Quicktime with it's new MPEG-4 compression.

[Stating]

Windows w/o MediaPlayer

Microsoft indeed offers Windows without MediaPlayer -- in Europe. They were forced to offer an unbundled version as part of a settlement with the EU. Will this carry forwrad to Vista? Probably, if MS knows what's good for them.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3563697.stm
"Microsoft hit by record EU fine
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates
Microsoft is to appeal against the EU's decision
Software giant Microsoft must pay a fine of 497m euros ($613m; £331m) for abusing its dominant market position, the European Commission has ordered. Microsoft must offer a stripped-down version of its Windows operating system minus the firm's MediaPlayer audiovisual software within 90 days. Microsoft will still be allowed to sell Windows with Media Player bundled in."

[technewsjunkie]

Will they offer Windows w/o Media Player?

I'd like that one.

I'd rather use Quicktime with it's new MPEG-4 compression.

[Stating]

Windows w/o MediaPlayer

Microsoft indeed offers Windows without MediaPlayer -- in Europe. They were forced to offer an unbundled version as part of a settlement with the EU. Will this carry forwrad to Vista? Probably, if MS knows what's good for them.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3563697.stm
"Microsoft hit by record EU fine
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates
Microsoft is to appeal against the EU's decision
Software giant Microsoft must pay a fine of 497m euros ($613m; £331m) for abusing its dominant market position, the European Commission has ordered. Microsoft must offer a stripped-down version of its Windows operating system minus the firm's MediaPlayer audiovisual software within 90 days. Microsoft will still be allowed to sell Windows with Media Player bundled in."

[GrandpaN1947]

Special low prices for

the Chinese or you won't do very well with this high end stuff. Since America has been outsourced and most of the business is over there you had better consider lowering prices for them. If you don't, they will develop their own desktop operating system.

[Stating]

The Student Discount

There's always that Microsoft student discount. Admit it, you are just itching to take a class at the local community college. Basket Weaving 101 maybe?

[GrandpaN1947]

Special low prices for

the Chinese or you won't do very well with this high end stuff. Since America has been outsourced and most of the business is over there you had better consider lowering prices for them. If you don't, they will develop their own desktop operating system.

[Stating]

The Student Discount

There's always that Microsoft student discount. Admit it, you are just itching to take a class at the local community college. Basket Weaving 101 maybe?

[adam_crook]

Even old dogs can learn new tricks

I'm definitely sticking to my win2k, but if I have to upgrade my OS next time I buy new hardware, I'm going to save myself the time and hassle of dealing with Microsoft products. I have been trying various open-source software, such as OpenOffice, and I like how easy they are to use, how much support there is for them, and how I can actually affect whether or not a feature I want is added. Yes, this old dog is learning how to play a new game.

By the way, does anyone see a comparison in the future of software between Microsoft and Shelley's Ozymandias?

Just a thought...

~Darren A+

[adam_crook]

Firefox

Btw, I recently started using Mozilla's Firefox, and I love it. I used to use an old tabbed browser, Crazy Browser, so this is nothing new to me, just improved. One thing I've noticed is that content meant for Microsoft users (Hotmail's inbox, etc..) displays poorly, and that content for every other browser displays fine. IE also seems to have some difficulty with CSS, especially CSS 2.0. Is this intentional on Mozilla's part, or just Microsoft's proprietary coding that won't allow any other browser to display it properly?

[adam_crook]

Even old dogs can learn new tricks

I'm definitely sticking to my win2k, but if I have to upgrade my OS next time I buy new hardware, I'm going to save myself the time and hassle of dealing with Microsoft products. I have been trying various open-source software, such as OpenOffice, and I like how easy they are to use, how much support there is for them, and how I can actually affect whether or not a feature I want is added. Yes, this old dog is learning how to play a new game.

By the way, does anyone see a comparison in the future of software between Microsoft and Shelley's Ozymandias?

Just a thought...

~Darren A+

[adam_crook]

Firefox

Btw, I recently started using Mozilla's Firefox, and I love it. I used to use an old tabbed browser, Crazy Browser, so this is nothing new to me, just improved. One thing I've noticed is that content meant for Microsoft users (Hotmail's inbox, etc..) displays poorly, and that content for every other browser displays fine. IE also seems to have some difficulty with CSS, especially CSS 2.0. Is this intentional on Mozilla's part, or just Microsoft's proprietary coding that won't allow any other browser to display it properly?

[ChazzMatt]

pay more to actually work?

will the higher-priced ones be the versions that actually work?

Like the car salesman who to the customer who signed on the dotted line after hours of negotiating. "Oh, did you want tires with that?"

[ChazzMatt]

pay more to actually work?

will the higher-priced ones be the versions that actually work?

Like the car salesman who to the customer who signed on the dotted line after hours of negotiating. "Oh, did you want tires with that?"