Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, CEO Steve Ballmer - Windows 7 Preview

Wall Street Journal AllThingsD.com (excerpt) ^ | May 27, 2008 | John Paczkowski

[HAL9000]

Excerpt -

Switching gears. Walt asks about Vista and the lousy reception it’s been given. Is Vista a failure?

Ballmer: Vista is not a failure. Is it something we’d like to improve? Of course. Is it something that with 20/20 hindsight we’d do differently? Sure, he confesses. But Vista has sold a lot of copies, he adds.

Walt jumps in and asks about the percentage of Vista sales that result in downgrades to XP. Ballmer dodges. Gates looking a little depressed.

Walt asks if Vista has damaged with Windows brand.

Gates says Microsoft’s philosophy is to “do things better.” And Vista has given us lots of opportunity to do that, he notes. (Audience laughter.) There are plenty of lessons out of Vista–compatibility and other issues vendors are concerned about.

Ballmer says that according to consumer research, the No. 1 complaint about Vista was the change to the Windows user interface.

The conversation turns to Windows 7, which Microsoft hasn’t said too much about. Clearly, the company has learned from the media beating it took over the defeatured and perennially delayed Windows Vista. Indeed, in a post to the Windows Vista blog today, Microsoft’s Chris Flore noted that Microsoft is being very careful about releasing details about Windows 7. “What is a little different today is when and how we are talking about the next version of Windows,” Flore wrote. “So, why the change in approach? We know that when we talk about our plans for the next release of Windows, people take action. As a result, we can significantly impact our partners and our customers if we broadly share information that later changes. With Windows 7, we’re trying to more carefully plan how we share information with our customers and partners. This means sharing the right level of information at the right time depending on the needs of the audience.”

Well, apparently this is the right time and the right audience, because we’re about to get a Windows 7 demo (Oh, one more thing …. Here’s hoping Microsoft shares only those aspects of the new OS that it doesn’t end up de-featuring at a later date.)

Ballmer says what we’re about to see is “just a snippet” of Windows 7.

~ snip ~

[max americana]

“Ballmer says that according to consumer research, the No. 1 complaint about Vista was the change to the Windows user interface.”

*****

quote of the year. Gee, Mr. Ballmer, you really know why we hate Vista (sarcasm), and you have the pulse of the Windows crowd (more sarcasm).

[HAL9000]

more...

So is this the next phase of how people will use their computers. Gates says it’s the beginning of an era of computing based on a new hierarchy of input systems. Today the machine is really set up for one person to sit at a keyboard. “We’re at an interesting junction,” he says. “In the next few years, the roles of speech, gesture, vision, ink, all of those will become huge. For the person at home and the person at work, that interaction will change dramatically.”

Windows 7 is apparently 18 months or so away.

Walt asks Ballmer if he’s worried about the next iteration of Mac OS X, which will likely be released before Windows 7. Is there a risk that the work you’re doing now with multi-touch will look dated when Apple releases its next OS?

Ballmer says he’s confident Microsoft will have fantastic Windows 7 PCs, regardless of what Apple’s got on the market. “There’s a lot in Windows 7, and our goal is to produce fantastic PCs with our hardware partners. Walt presses him, noting Apple’s recent growth in the PC market.

Ballmer notes the difference in scale between the two companies: “We sell 270 millions PCs a year, and Apple sells 10 million. They’re fantastically successful, and so are we.”

Walt hits on Windows quality issue, noting that he’s seen old Macs running significantly faster than new Vista machines.

Ballmer admits there’s room for improvement: Steve Jobs has a great business, he says. His model works well. But so does ours. 10 million people like his model. 290 million like ours.

Kara asks Gates how it feels to have Microsoft defined by Apple via its “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” campaign.

Gates clearly isn’t happy with that question. Dodges. Ballmer jumps in. Hits that 290 million metric again. “Every share point Apple picks up is a share point we don’t like. But we like selling 290 million units.

Walt’s not letting him off that easy : “C’mon, you CAN’T be happy with the way this Vista thing has gone.”

Ballmer: “What’s an appropriate response to that question?” Gates bristles: “You’re repeating yourself,” he says, alluding to the fact that the question has been asked already.

[devere]

Buy Apple.
Microsoft has lost the mandate of heaven.

[tueffelhunden]

If apple ran the software I need, I would. My best bet is Linux. But I’m definately looking at the last windows operating system I will ever own.

Billy boy and his gang of raving lunatics can go piss up a rope.

[Buffalo Head]

"Ballmer says that according to consumer research, the No. 1 complaint about Vista was the change to the Windows user interface.”

I don't know what a "Windows user Interface" is. I do know that my Vista is extremely user unfriendly. Virtually everything takes more steps and is less intuitively obvious than my Windows NT. I wish that I had never down-graded to Vista.

[Ticonderoga34]

Funny that Microsoft doesn’t have a cute name for Windows 7. Maybe they are going to stop the B.S. and deliver a workable OS. I wouldn’t bet on it though.

[scott7278]

The obligatory Steve Ballmer video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvsboPUjrGc

[HAL9000]

If apple ran the software I need, I would. My best bet is Linux.

A Mac might work in your situation.

Macs can host Linux natively with Boot Camp, or as a virtual machine with a product like VMWare.

Also, since Mac OS X and Linux use the same compiler (gcc), and can use many of the same libraries, many Linux apps can be compiled to run natively in Mac OS X, including X Window apps. In many cases, the software is available through a package manager, ready to download and run on Mac.

[Swordmaker]

Windows 7 preview - ". . . And there it is … well, damn if it doesn’t look pretty slick. Clearly the Windows dev team’s been busy with more than just Vista service packs. Quick side note: Windows 7, like other Microsoft OS’s before it, seems to have borrowed a thing or two from Mac OS X. This time it’s Apple’s Dock, which Microsoft appears to have borrowed. Multi-touch and a Dock. In Windows. Steve Jobs must be so proud.

Larson-Green pulls up a brand new app, “Touchable Paint.” She uses all 10 fingers to draw a tree. Then, she brings up a photo gallery. Noting that multi-touch makes it faster and easier to manipulate photos, she demonstrates … well, she demonstrates a lot of features that anyone who’s ever used an iPhone will already be familiar with: two-finger zoom, flicking through a slideshow, single finger panning through thumbnails . . .

The MS copy machines have been busy Ping!

If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.

[SunkenCiv]

Possibly?

[SunkenCiv]

Ballmer: Vista is not a failure. Is it something we'd like to improve? Of course. Is it something that with 20/20 hindsight we'd do differently? Sure, he confesses. But Vista has sold a lot of copies, he adds.

Heh... "sure, we'd like to improve it, and wish we'd done it differently, but we've already cashed your checks, so [bleep] you."

[tallyhoe]

Somebody took a bite out of that Apple!

[MaxMax]

Walt asks if Vista has damaged with Windows brand.

Is this a book?, or a really really bad editorial?

[Westlander]

[AndyJackson]

Virtually everything takes more steps and is less intuitively obvious than my Windows NT.

How did they do that? Nothing is intuitively obvious on Microsoft products. I get so tired of having to look at almost useless help files to do simple ordinary things with their programs. Nothing extraordinary.

[HAL9000]

It was a typo during a real-time blog, but it sounds like Goatberg was openly ridiculing Vista, and mocking Gates and Ballmer.

The videos are online now -

VIDEO: Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer Highlight Reel, Part One

VIDEO: Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer Highlight Reel, Part Two

[MaxMax]

If I had two hours to spare in my life, I would watch the vids.
Thus far I only have time to read and scan. Soon, summer will beER here
on the east coast.

People here are so full of themselves that they don't know anything about politics.
They vote with one hand in their pocket. I know, because I meet them every day..

[Terpfen]

Yeah, I get a distinct iPhone/Multi-Touch vibe from the presentation. The Microsoft Surface is nothing more than a larger iPhone.

It’s amazing how Microsoft just has no clue. Were it not for the inertia of Windows sales (usually to businesses) and the popularity of Office, Microsoft would have died off long ago.

[tueffelhunden]

“Funny that Microsoft doesn’t have a cute name for Windows 7. Maybe they are going to stop the B.S. and deliver a workable OS. I wouldn’t bet on it though.”

Fat chance