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May 08, 08 - 08:51 am Comment from: Jimbo von Winskinheimer

Interesting. However, there should be a correction: Mary Jo Foley is not really a "blogger" - she's a Microsoft shill. If she has something bad to say about a Microsoft product then it must be really bad!!!

Dude

May 08, 08 - 08:52 am Comment from: shen

"Bill's guys have been traditional technologists"

OMG, if those are tech guys, that company has nothing. like saying that the accounting group is your R&D;group, and now that the head bean counter is out, what will do for innovation?

May 08, 08 - 08:59 am Comment from: macoverdose_dot_com

thats the first time I have ever heard her say something honest about an MS product. MS must have cut down her shill pay recently.

At Apple, you're either one of SJ's guys, or ... you just don't work there anymore.

Remember Fred Anderson, Nancy Heinen, Jon Rubinstein, etc.

May 08, 08 - 09:15 am Comment from: TowerTone

"since Bill Gates first emerged from puberty"

He finally emerged? With that voice, I thought he was still in it.....

May 08, 08 - 09:27 am Comment from: HMCIV

@TowerTone

Oh there's no question Gates emerged from puberty. I just didn't realize scientists had narrowed down a definite date. I'd check it out myself but MS Outlook just crashed.

May 08, 08 - 09:46 am Comment from: Ampar

Gates voice will deepen once he has finished Sith training.
They all do.

May 08, 08 - 09:47 am Comment from: Ampar

"Foley: I've avoided it like the plague."

And I avoid cliches like the plague.

May 08, 08 - 09:48 am Comment from: Cubert

Hey, it looks like she finally got off her knees and crawled out from under Ballmer's desk.

May 08, 08 - 09:50 am Comment from: Cubert

@Ampar,
And, don't you think people would have avoided the plague in the first place if they could?!

May 08, 08 - 09:51 am Comment from: Ampar

"Steve's guys have MBAs and their roots are in sales . . ."


. . . and they all have mandatory ball gags, an enormous tolerance for pain, very strong shoelaces and bobblehead necks.

I've had email discussions/arguments with this lady...she really loves Micro$oft, and to say that Window's Mobile is bad is not an easy thing for her to say.
She, like many, act as if Apple is too small to matter or to be relevant on purpose in order to avoid seeing the light and having to aboutface in front of her peers. Seems the light has found her regardless.

May 08, 08 - 09:52 am Comment from: Ampar

To Cubert: "Hey, it looks like she finally got off her knees and crawled out from under Ballmer's desk."

For her birthday, Ballmer sent her a bib with a picture of his groin on it.

For you computer historians out there Steve Job's comments on how a monopoly is lost couldn't be more spot on. If anyone remembers Prime Computer, this is exactly what happened. The sales guys took over and were just interested in pushing mini-computers. The development guys left and founded Apollo computer, one of the first true workstations, an idea that the guys at Sun picked up and ran with and the rest is history.

Maybe her secret pension ran dry due to lack of Zune sales...eh Zung Tang?

"Bill's guys have been traditional technologists"
I believe they wanted to say "Bill's guys have been traditional COPIERS guys"

May 08, 08 - 10:03 am Comment from: TowerTone

"Steve's guys have MBAs"

So even Ballmer thinks Macbook Airs are good for portability?

May 08, 08 - 10:06 am Comment from: Ampar

"I believe they wanted to say "Bill's guys have been traditional COPIERS guys"

And he might not like your toner voice.

May 08, 08 - 10:14 am Comment from: MCCFR

Whilst understanding some of the depth of feeling, you do realise that MDN calling Foley a "Microsoft sycophant" is rather like Mussolini criticising Hitler for being a little intolerant to other cultures.

I don't care how much 'shilling' Foley may have done in the past, and I don't really care how much she does in the future: the simple facts are that I know that I use a superior platform and I'm secure in that choice, I don't need to have that choice validated by MDN, InfoWorld, Mary Jo Foley or anyone else.

In other words, if people want to hold an alternate point of view, such as promoting Microsoft as the fount of all creativity and imagination in the computer industry, that's their business, no matter how surreal the position.

And I'm not even that bothered if that shilling gets disseminated to the wider public: practically the entire PC business sells at such low margins of profitability that they are actually hastening their own demise and the demise of Microsoft's discredited model of development the more they sell and the more they chase each other down in terms of cost and quality.

May 08, 08 - 10:28 am Comment from: TowerTone

Amp
Thanks for shining a light on that. Many don't have an inkling of shady deals MS has in coloring the truth, even when it is cut and dried and shown in black and white. Also, I Can on more than one instance recall seeing a white sheet concerning their transparency in spitting out OS X copies that were a mimeograph at best...

May 08, 08 - 10:29 am Comment from: ElderNorm

After reading the article, I would have to say that she is stuck in a "Microsoft is wonderful" mode. She does not understand why people are starting to say that Microsoft is no longer relevant.

Talk about not wanting to look outside the box..... Sorry to bust her bubble but people are beginning to complain about Microsoft because they do not fear its control anymore. The slide to oblivian will happen quicker than people will think is possible. Just my opinion.
en

May 08, 08 - 10:32 am Comment from: Ampar

TT: They feed us with duplicity as well. But telling them is a collate in the game.

Why would anyone want to buy or even just read such a book?

I too found Mr. Jobs' comment to be noteworthy. For the longest time, the active FUD media has been on SJ's case that when all is said and done, he is but a showman with a great sales acumen. Even Woz have made certain cheeky comments in the past that didn't help any.
I must admit to cringing a bit during some of Jobsian zen deliveries (from way back when he wore a tie and gave a wonderful presentation for his NeXT project or this year's MBAir presentation) for their unnecessary simplified message to the point of patronisation a la sales pitch. Albeit, not on the same par as Ron Poppeil (sp?), I had to wonder if Steve puts more weight on sales tags over techs. He has mentioned in the past (almost with disdain) that engineers should not dictate design criteria.

This little gem (snippet of an interview of SJ courtesy by MDN) casts a different and refreshing light on the matter, and I'm better educated for it. I thank you MDN.

Sometimes I'm not sure whether Mary Jo is bending the truth or she's just ill-informed. There's certainly a lot of the latter. I well remember her attack on the Mac awhile back. It annoyed a lot of Mac fans, but most of what she said was so ill-informed and so preposterous it amused me.

But never mind what she said about Windows Mobile, she's unusually disparaging of Microsoft's main product in thsi bit:

"[Ballmer's] pretty wedded to a lot of old-school ideas -- like, he's never going to say, "Let's just toss out Windows and start over," which is what a lot of people think is necessary.

I'm surprised MDN didn't pick up on that. It's not interesting for the comment on Ballmer, who should do what his technical people advise him in matters like this.

It's interesting because here is Mary Jo of all people actually giving voice in public, however tentatively, to the idea that, frankly, all is not well with Windows and, in fact, it's a bit of a disaster area.

Dvorak's just given Vista a really good kicking, too -- I don't think MDN's picked up on that yet:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2286065,00.asp

Whatever next? Will Paul Thurrott admit the Zune is a piece of trash ... oh, wait a minute, he has.

Strange times.

"because that's when his youngest son will be in college"

Wha? I don't get the CEO correlation.

May 08, 08 - 11:34 am Comment from: qka

For you computer historians out there Steve Job's comments on how a monopoly is lost couldn't be more spot on. If anyone remembers Prime Computer, this is exactly what happened. The sales guys took over and were just interested in pushing mini-computers. The development guys left and founded Apollo computer, one of the first true workstations, an idea that the guys at Sun picked up and ran with and the rest is history.

Having used PR1ME at different jobs back in the day, I can tell you that they NEVER were much of a market leader. Maybe relative to Gould and Harris, but DEC was way far ahead of them in sales. AS I recall, even Data General was bigger. (And yes, that was their cutesy format for their name, kind of like NeXT.)

May 08, 08 - 11:56 am Comment from: Ampar

"because that's when his youngest son will be in college"

"Wha? I don't get the CEO correlation."


Because Ballmer is hoping his son will get a lucky dorm assignment thus ensuring his family's future.

May 08, 08 - 11:59 am Comment from: ChrissyOne

@ HMCIV
"I'd check it out myself but MS Outlook just crashed.'

OMG... Entourage 2008 is CRASH-TASTIC. Which is frustrating, because otherwise it seems so good, far better than anything on the PC side. What in the hell happened? It quits on my at least 4 times per day.

May 08, 08 - 01:31 pm Comment from: Gandalf

@ Ampar

Ballmer will better be able to bribe the college more easily for a dorm mate from a rich family if he is still CEO - and he hopes to do it with some MS shares.

May 08, 08 - 01:52 pm Comment from: Ampar

Gandalf:

Maybe he's secretly buying Harvard?

May 08, 08 - 02:14 pm Comment from: Ampar

Microsoft sycophant = Psycho comfort stain

May 08, 08 - 04:05 pm Comment from: Anim8me2

MJF was on a recent episode of Windows Weekly with Paul Thurrot and Leo Laporte and I have to say she was not sounding the MS sycophant she has in the past. I would never trust her to get anything right concerning the Mac and the overall PC market in general but I don't think she has much love for Balmer.

May 08, 08 - 04:52 pm Comment from: HMCIV

@Ampar

I avoid Windows Moble and cliches like the plague.

Wait, what are these boils on my... oh crap!

May 08, 08 - 06:24 pm Comment from: Ampar

HMCIV:

May 08, 08 - 08:48 pm Comment from: Hm...

@ Ampar and Cubert

A pox on all this talk of plagues!

MS' customers and priorities are VERY different than Apple's (though at least as profitable so I don't knock them). But, interestingly, the best diagnosis of what's wrong came from Steve Jobs. Who has probably never written a line of code in his life and yet leads his company consistently to skating to where the puck is going to be... technologically.

Yes Gates was a follower, but at least he understood WHAT to follow. The whole waffle-on-Yahoo thing shows how visionless Balmer is.

It's also clear that Gates hasn't been hands on for some time. I really don't think Vista would have happened had he been fully engaged.

Of course, MS without vision makes me kinda happy. As long as we still have Apple to demonstrate that the personal computer is still a good idea and every single thing is NOT best done on the web. The iphone demonstrates that as well... turns out people really do want to develop for devices and OSes... not just for web 2.0.

But if MS keeps losing ground and momentum, maybe Apple really will have to license OSX. Not for 20% share, but yes if MS truly loses it and ipod-level share (70%) is available. But not yet... now is the time to take ipod level share on phone sized computers.

May 08, 08 - 09:50 pm Comment from: Rip Ragged

Bill Gates emerged from puberty? Damn. I swear there is no way to keep up.

May 08, 08 - 10:02 pm Comment from: Rip Ragged

The entire purpose of the technology industry is to advance technology. Apple does. Windows doesn't.

Thus inspired, I'm going to go make fun of Microsoft. Maybe later I'll come back and leave a link.

May 11, 08 - 09:25 pm Comment from: MacSmiley

Guess I'm a little late catching up, but I recently bought a cellphone, too. iPhone is not an option in South Dakota, so I got a red Palm Centro. Looks like I made the right choice for now if even MJ Foley is badmouthing Windows Mobile!!