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Microsoft sings a new Zune
December 20, 2006 -
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November 16, 2006 -
The two sides of Bill Gates
November 15, 2006 -
Zune moving at slow tempo
November 14, 2006 -
Microsoft rolls up Office ribbon
August 25, 2006 -
Microsoft's Zune looks to cut the cord
July 25, 2006 -
Redmond wants you to get the message
June 25, 2006
(continued from previous page)
And there's a lot of scenarios that that works for. We can project onto your TV, we can connect up a keyboard. You can have AC power, so that you can maybe clock (the processor) a little higher. We have an incubation team working on that as an entry point. It's not a replacement (for a PC), you know.
We also have a team that works on what we call "shared-use PC," where you go into a library or a cafe and you just bring, on your USB stick, your files. Or you have those in the (server) cloud--the cloud store that we'll make available in the not-too-distant future. So that shared-use model is a very big deal--that's schools, libraries, community centers--a huge thing. And we did that in every library in the United States; we learned a lot from that. We've taken it to many other countries.
The phone thing is a new thing for us. That's not out for a while, but the hardware industry is giving us the chips that can do the projection. And we've talked with some operators--they like the idea of what we're doing there. So there are many ways into this thing.
The PC itself keeps getting cheaper, and the multiuse phone gets it out even (more broadly). Because, as you say, we do want everyone--certainly every kid, as part of their educational experience--to have that kind of access.
The dream for me is to get the tablet computer to be so cheap that it's less than you would have spent on textbooks. Then every kid has a tablet. We're still working hard to make that happen.
Listening to you speak at Stanford, it's almost like, if there are not two Bill Gateses, there are at least two really different viewpoints that come out. On the one hand, you talk about global prosperity as not a zero-sum game. And then, when you're talking about Microsoft and wearing your software hat, it's "We're either No. 1 or we want to be No. 1" in everything. How do you reconcile those two?
Gates: Oh, no, those things are perfectly the same. I mean, when companies compete to do their best, when you have an economy like the U.S., where you've got the infrastructure and the stability, consumers get a good deal.
And people who go into Google every day, they want to be No. 1. Our people go in and do the best they want to do. But the effect of that is that for things that are in demand in those countries, the market selects, and there's very rapid innovation.
The PC space has seen better improvement in performance, better reduction in price than any part of the economy. So it's fun to be in that part of the economy. It's more scary.
If you want a really stable job, our industry is not the place to be because (of) companies like Wang or Digital Equipment--those are two companies I grew up admiring immensely. But you just miss a turn in the road or pick a few of the wrong people, (and) that makes it interesting. It means you come in every day and think, "Hey, I'll save the company for another year if I do something well today."
Those marketplace things work very well for most things. In (The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's) global health program, we're dealing with the fact that the people who want the malaria medicine aren't able to spend money on it. There, it takes a lot of cleverness to say, "OK, how do we take the skills that big pharma has, and the skills that the universities have, and bring those together in such a way that we get the smartness that they use in doing market products, but have them focus it on things where we know they couldn't prioritize it otherwise?"
The foundation is pioneering a lot of models like that. We have partners who are doing things in new ways, including people like One World Health, or GlaxoSmithKline on this malaria vaccine partnership, (who) agreed to do things a pretty different way and yet put their best people on the work, so we're super-pleased about that.
With Vista and Office, probably two of the largest examples of commercial software are both coming out; at the same time, Microsoft announced a deal with Novell around open source. Has your thinking evolved? What role do you see open-source development playing, beyond the fact that customers are asking for it?
Gates: Well, there are many issues here. One is that UNIX has had a market share on servers for decades, and there's always been a lot of variety. Under that label--Linux--there's an immense amount of variety. But, in general, Linux is not nearly as high-volume as Windows is on servers. But (it's) significant, so customers want new kinds of interoperability.
We've done fantastic things on interoperability. Here, we're doing virtual machine interoperability. So you can just have a pool of hardware and applications that use Linux, applications that use Windows, and just have the VM manage which one needs more resource, which one is done, which one needs to be restarted.
See more CNET content tagged:
WinFS, file system, tablet, Steve Ballmer, Microsoft Windows Vista
The specs of the 360 and the PS3 are actually pretty similar despit the 360 being released last year.
The reason the PS3 costs so much more is because of the Blu-Ray drive which will come down in price long before you might actually need one. Besides, to actually use the PS3 on a high def system you have to pay $99 extra for the component cable.
I actually like the way the 360 handles the HD-DVD drive as an add-on, that way I am not stuck getting the drive now at a premium when I don't need it yet, and if Blu-Ray ever takes off, they can just make a Blu-Ray add-on.
I am not saying the PS3 won't pick up steam, but it does look like the 360 will be more competitave than the first xbox.
The people getting the PS3 are getting it to sell or because they are loyal to Sony. Gates statement sums it all:
"You know, Sony can make 80,000 bricks, and people would buy them."
Very true.
And how much do you make flogging Windows licences to educators, Bill? I'll bet if you combine the dollar-value and indoctrination ( = 'future loyal customer') value, it pretty much writes off your tax bill. **** you and the high-horse you rode in on.
second, tablet pc was a big joke.
what abt PDA?
Sad case of a geek who think he is a visionary.
That title is given to Steve Jobs and others
already.
Gates' problems w/ all GPL versions is that:
1) it cannot be locked into a proprietary format, which means...
2) it cannot be stolen and called, say, the new TCP/IP networking stack for Windows
3) he cannot figure out a way to make money off of it, in spite of IBM, RedHat, etc etc. making quite a nice chunk of cash from Linux.
PS: Linux dominates in the server market - is the poor guy reading stats from 1996 or something?
/P
Most Free/Libre and Open Source Software is commercial, it just doesn't charge royalty fees. Royalty fees are simply a business model choice, not the only way to make money with knowledge. Hopefully people will eventually realize the earth is round and stop making such silly mistakes.
Richest man in the world still admired, even if he believes the world is flat..
http://www.digital-copyright.ca/node/2793
Current generation opensource though free, companies are charging for support and Gates should be ok with it.!!!
Microsoft then gets a tax write-off for the retail value of the software, and the reduction in taxes is *real money*. Can't argue with real money.
I've always thought it was a scam to allow companies to get a tax write-off for other than their marginal cost, which for software is zero.
I can legally donate a million dollars worth of Free Software to a school -- can I get my government welfare cheque now, just like Microsoft does?
In it, Ballmer says Linux "uses our intellectual property".
The antitrust case would never allow MS to sue Linux out of existence even if it does use MS IP, so why make the comment in the first place?
George Bush shows more tact and diplomacy.
Maybe people are not ready to adopt Linux in mass, but they like knowing they have the option if it comes down to it. If Ballmer forces people/companies to take sides in the matter people are going to stand behind Linux to make sure you don't take away their plan B and that could be bad for MS.
If they have code that infringes your IP it will be rewritten, if you sue Linux companies out of existence new ones will emerge in their place and it might land you back in front of judge Jackson.
You know you can't sue Linux, so all Ballmer is doing is lighting a fire under your opposition.
Kicking Ballmer out now would look bad, so maybe you should hire him an "advisor" that will help him make more informed decisions moving forward.
Bill Gates created the money grubbing, lying, mean spirited, monopolistic culture at MS. His unselfish contributions to the poorest cultures of the poor & the recent overwhelming blessing from Warren Buffet have earned him some of my respect. I still look for the other fork of the tongue when he speaks. I finally believe that sometimes his motives are as he says they are. I still need to ask the question, "Which ones?"
Many for profit corporations have contributed enormously to the development & distribution of open source software. Sun, Google, Yahoo, Grisoft, Lavasoft all come to mind, adding to the efforts of non profits like Mozilla in offering an alternative to high priced programs & software. Without this competition, today's prices would seem like bargains. I hope MS & Apple will soon follow suit. I'm just not going to hold my breathe. I will wait & see . . .
Billy-boy, what have you been smoking?
You know, sometimes I really wonder how Gates, Ballmer, et. al. are able to keep a straight face when they say things like this. These guys make politicians sound like the most honest people in the world.
Additionally...
"We're also letting Novell give something that you get in the commercial model, but you rarely get otherwise, which is the indemnification, just like we always do with every copy of Windows."
Since the EULA for every version of every piece of software states that Microsoft can not be held legally liable for anything and everything related to their software. This whole "indemnification" thing is just another big smokescreen. A last gasp effort to try and keep their domination.
Josh Chandler
www.techilious.wordpress.com
I doubt a tablet the size of laptop is going to do well..PDA's and Blackberries are too small.. a virtual keyboard (have you seen the laser types! COOL) that is integrated and something the size and weight of a good hardcover novel will probably do ok.. what I have seen aren't near to the right size.. I think they need to go to the consumer and do what Chrysler did in designing the miniVAn.. find out what the END USER wants in terms of form and function.. then think OUTSIDE the standard box and do it right! For now..they are going to gather dust on the shelves for the most part .. unfortunately the most likely scenario is to keep bringing cost down so people wind up using what is presently available..a bad alternative in my opinion!
- Bill says it's all about timing.
- by slim-1 November 20, 2006 2:51 PM PST
- Very true.
- Like this Reply to this comment
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(31 Comments)It's about time they designed a brand new from scratch secure, not bloated OS preferably Unix based.
It's about time the stopped lying in every statement they make.
It's about time they quit attacking Linux and OpenSource software.
It's about time they quit screwing over their own business partners and PC vendors.
It's about time they quit pretending they don't do the above.
It's about timing all right. And it's time we all moved to anything but Microsoft.
Join the boycott Sony and Microsoft movement.