... (or will truly admit) what made it successful. It wasn't "developers, developers, developers" that made MS successful - the developers came afterwards. "Cheap, cheap, cheap" is what made MS successful - and convincing the mindless masses that because it was "cheap, cheap, cheap" that it was also perfectly acceptable for their stuff to "crash, crash, crash." The true coup was the latter. Here was an environment without penalties for MS or its developers. Customers would by and large accept whatever MS did no matter how good or how shoddy it was. If a consumer or a business had bought any other product with an equivalent poor quality to that of the MS products they were using, they would have returned them to the store for full refunds amid loud, animated tirades of dissatisfaction. Talk about drinking some Kool-Aid. MS is and always has been a tax on people who think that by playing a round of golf a week that they're Tiger Woods. Now MS is telling you that if you only have one club and the holes on your golf course have windmills, loop-de-loops and wooden side rails that you should just wait - the country club will soon be open to all of you. In the meantime, here - have another Grapeinator Grape spritzer.

just plain stupid to making statements such as this. If what he said were true, every company wouldn't have been breaking their necks to get their own app stores. I guess he doesn't realize how many people are buying iPhones/Touches just to run apps. They're even buying them for their little kids just to keep them occupied or for learning. Why does Mr. Ozzie think that Apple has sold so many mobile devices in such a short time while most other mobile platforms are losing. Apps may not be everything, but they are certainly a large part of the equation of building a successful platform of any type. The Windows desktop platform was certainly made stronger by the quantity and diversity of programs available. And now this guy Ozzie is saying apps don't mean much for the Apple mobile platform. These guys don't even realize the nonsense they are spouting. They're only proving their own ignorance of what's going on in front of their noses. Does Ozzie think people are trying to bring their iPhones to work and be supported by IT just to play games on. I'd sure like to know what these guys think are important for a successful mobile platform. Multitasking and a keyboard?

re:
First came "rounding error" and now this? Ballmer needs to go, and fast. But, as an Apple fanboy, I hope he stays on for a long long time.


While Ballmer is a techno-idiot, he had nothing to do with this stupidity. Microsoft might do better if they let the other Ozzy take over software.

and how many years did we hear about how your "BBQ, Laundromat, Convenience store and Carwash Emporium" business could only be run by software for the PC?

Now? Not so important. Oh Lance Ulanoff had a column over at PC Mag a few weeks back saying the same thing...100,000 apps, so what he asked. What's important is the ones you use everyday.

Right.

there are so many apps, many of them are crapps, but so many of them are useful and I discover new ones weekly - some FREE - which are useful to me.

What good is a multiapp-capable Pre if there are no apps to use?

Windows Mobile OS doesn't matter. AT ALL.

And all the time and money in the world they've thrown at it since day one have made no better. More features, yes. Better? Look at the market share numbers. Plummeting.

Or has Microsoft suddenly said that market share doesn't matter any more? They deny so much these days, it's impossible to keep track.

Does anybody in Microsoft's management have a clue with respect to the real world?

"These aren't the Droids you are looking for"

To a degree he's right - compared to desktop apps, mobile apps are by necessity smaller and simpler, and any reasonably selling one should be cost-effective to port to another major platform, regardless of the pain of doing so.

Where there are gaps between platform SDKs, tools will emerge to fill them in - and games generally use OpenGL which is relatively portable (it's why console-to-iPhone conversions have been possible).

(If I was Google, I'd be working on a commercial iPhone SDK to Android conversion toolkit . . )

"...all the apps that count..."

What an incredibly audacious statement to make. And WTFAY to tell me which apps count and which don't on MY phone?!!

This c*** about "how so many apps on the App Store are worthless" is just hogwash. Variety is the spice of life, right? Should we not take the same approach to the Windows market? How many word processors do we need? How many financial programs? How many games?

Say what you will about Apple and it's policies, but Microsoft has never, NEVER, put the consumers' interest first in any product or service they've created. It's ALWAYS about their bottom line...even to the point of making BS statements like this to justify why they're losing money!!

/

With mutterings like these, how can you not help but think Microsoft is being run by a bunch of clowns? They even have clown names.

The internet is just a fad, AND, 640k will be enough for anyone.

"Ozzie also noted that as browsers and web apps become more powerful, the distinction between websites and client software that’s installed on your PC will continue to blur."

yea.. it'll be nice and blurry. until your PC or cell phone doesnt have a connection. Then the line will be sharp as a tack.

Of course this is bull hockey, but does that even need to be mentioned anymore? Nothing Ballmer and Company says needs to be taken at face value much less valued! Consumers and tech journalists/pundits are idiots if they are not bored by this by now and journalists should be pointing out this every day - just as they should be doing with the debate on more important things like health care and the Afghanistan war.

Yet they actually "report" the words of MS talking heads and ex-governors of Alaska as if any of it is news or significant or any more than branding!!

Save us from the complacent, corporate owned media.