MacDailyNews - Where Mac news comes first

Is he really that arrogant that he won't let Microsoft's PR people instruct him on what to say and how to say it? Or maybe he's just that bad, and shouldn't be let loose in front of the media ever again. Of course, it's only to Apple's benefit that Ballmer's out there making a fool of himself.

Man, it's like watching a train wreck in super slow motion. You want to help stop it, but you know there's nothing you can do and you can't take your eyes off of it.

Oct 06, 08 - 10:45 am Comment from: MrScrith

Why is it that Balmer's quotes look like someone went crazy with the cut&paste;and tossed in some 'valley girl' talk just to liven things up... he's one of the most fragmented talkers I've listened to in a long time...

Ballmer never ceases to leave me just plain dumbfounded.

It is PC Connection, not Mac Connection.

Just read an article about Guy Kawasaki. It gave me hope for the human race. Now I read about Ballmer, and I fear we may be doomed. Damn!

As long as Ballmer is CEO of MS, MS is in bad hands. For the sake of computing, i hope he stays as CEO of MS for as long as possible so people and businesses can recognize how horrible Windows is and defect to other platforms.

Still, Apple needs to beware a bit as MS Office is the 'standard' for many people and businesses. Yes, despite OpenOffice, people will still buy/pirate MS Office for Mac so MS still has a trump card up its sleeve and a growing revenue stream as Macs become more popular. People are still buying Windows to run on Macs so MS 'wins' either way.

Hopefully, with Ballmer's awesomeness, people will defect completely over to Mac and at least not use Windows.

Oct 06, 08 - 10:56 am Comment from: MacFhearghaile

Finally some one in the news thats is dumber than McCain and Palin.

As Charlie Chaplin was to Adolf Hitler increasingly Steve Ballmer becomes a parody of Josef Stalin, except Charlie actually meant his humour. Balmer's power craziness, whereby he actually seems to believe many of his own lies while totally believing he can impose them at will on an unquestioningly raptous crowd of acholites as he does the Chaucescu impression from his very own decaying balcony. Thankfully less and less people are inclined to go along with this madman's rants in fear of his wrathful chair flinging, as he laughingly becomes more Amir Khan than Ghenghis.

Oct 06, 08 - 11:03 am Comment from: eyerhyme

Oh Microcrap!... PUHLEASE keep these moron, ahem I mean, "well informed", uhh monke.. person... running your company. We Mac users love it that you have an idiot, uhhh, saviour... who believes Windows is getting better with every release yet Vista has driven up Mac sales. Thank You Thank You Thank You. Remember, even though all you employees at Microsoft have Stockholm Syndrome, you're doing the right thing to keep this guy. He's your man!

blah blah blah....

who cares what he thinks or says.

I´m sad to tell you all that there is actually many Pc/Windows users out there that is convinced that Uncle Fester is right.

Many of the points that MDN make, would of course make the "33 to 1" figures that Fester mentions, totally different if the general Pc/Windows user were aware of them.

The points that MDN are making here, should be shouted out on every mountain top and on every street corner, because "the sheep" just dosn´t know!

Its sad! ;-(

@ MacFhearghaile

Please keep your adolescent political comments out of this discussion. Vote your choice in November & Let the rest of us vote ours. This is a discussion about Steve Balmer & Macs. Not BoBo and McCain.

Contrary to popular belief, just because there's a US Election on does not mean US politics needs to be injected into every single comment thread on the internet.

That aside, it truly is astounding that Ballmer doesn't know that you can use any virtually mouse with macs. I mean, I know he was a moron, but this is just... wow, that's really ignorant. I can't help but think maybe he does know they can, but just wanted to spread misinformation- a lot of people still don't realize that Macs work with the vast majority of common peripherals (scanners, printers, mice, keyboards, hard drivers, flash drives, optical drives, webcams, etc.). And in markets where they don't, (such as TV tuners), there are plenty of mac-specific solutions.

I love how people in our society who are in an indefensibe position, and basically cannot address reality, resort to utter nonsense and speak as if they are retards who cannot put together a meaningful sentence.
They are either deliberately obfuscating, or are genuine retards. The fact they get away with it among a given percentage of the general public is worrisome indeed.
Mr Bush, Mrs Palin, and Steve Balmer all need to go to back to elementary school grammar classes.

Oct 06, 08 - 11:15 am Comment from: Mac-nugget

I have never seen a more appropriate picture then the one chosen for this article. This guy has an extremely versatile muscular face structure. He can really portray his thought through his face, or lack of thoughts, or that matter.

Oct 06, 08 - 11:16 am Comment from: CYxodus

Denial and arrogance, thy name is Ballmer.

Oct 06, 08 - 11:17 am Comment from: CYxodus

The guy really does look like Uncle Fester. I feel sorry for Fester.

Not only is he delusional, but by saying that he gives every single person at Apple even more incentive to kick his butt yet again. He puts a bullseye on himself, and we all know what happened to Michael Dell once the bullseye got placed.
If Steve Jobs happened to be getting bored, he just got fresh motivation from comments like that. I would video-post this all over Apple campus.
Apple has enough in cash reserve to put out a cheap PC if they wanted to, but the timing is not right. Ballmer shouldn't suggest it, though. They may take him up on it. Leopard is getting good enough to do so, and the Mac mini is long over due. People are getting smarter and more tired of PC hassles, yet Ballmer doesn't seem to be getting smarter...a Mac is another line of PC's to run his faulty OS...don't poop the boxes that can run your OS.

Oct 06, 08 - 11:20 am Comment from: _Bill_

"You know, anyway—can you find the applications you want on the Mac? Well, you don't really get full Microsoft Office."

I suppose it's one thing to bad-mouthing your old, abandoned-ware products, but you really shouldn't bad-mouth your own products that are still under active development. Still, I would advise never bad-mouthing your own company in any way. If this gets back to the MacBU, it'll probably hurt their feelings and demotivate them.

Where does MDN find these pictures of Ballmer!? Genius.

"Please keep your adolescent political comments out of this discussion."

"Not BoBo and McCain."

Eithe practice what you preach or have the balls to admit you're a hypocrite.

Oct 06, 08 - 11:23 am Comment from: Jubei

"So 32 out of 33 times people chose PCs,"

Umm no. It's because MS has a monopoly and businesses are stuck with this monopoly. If the crappy WinPC breaks, less than a year, its automatic replacement of a WinPC. Not because of users choice, its because "THEY HAVE TO".

Oct 06, 08 - 11:25 am Comment from: MacintoshSoftwareList.com

He probably sells his stock when it is low and buys when high.

Oct 06, 08 - 11:26 am Comment from: Tommyr

Mr. Ballmer you're one HUGE dildo. A huge CLUELESS dildo. Actually, dildos are far more useful.

I'd like to work in Microsoft's PR department.

With that idiot running the company, I expect they have a 1000 strong Reputation Management and Crisis Managment team that will have so much work, redundencies could not ever be contemplated.

It's a job for life!

@_Bill_

Or it could do the opposite and motivate them to blow the doors off of Windows Office.

Sarah Palin is lovely.

Nobama is a liar.

Biden is a nobody.

Bobo. Ha ha ha.
Good one.

Oct 06, 08 - 11:36 am Comment from: Micro Me

MDN: "This is why Mac users should not buy Office, by the way; Microsoft will take your money and then immediately turn around and ignore your very existence".

Not quite, MDN. First, many of us working in PC-dominated environments don't have much choice in this matter; the alternatives just won't cut it. Second, the MS MBU has produced a workable version of MS Office for Mac; they just haven't made a very good job of it. It's very slow to launch, and slow in operation.

Ballmer: "Well, you don't really get full Microsoft Office."

Correct, but that's more of an admission of guilt than a criticism of Macs.

Oct 06, 08 - 11:38 am Comment from: flappo

somebody's worried ( ok , he's a nobody )

when's the last time steve jobs slagged ms off ??

TOO FUNNY

The fellow doesn't seem that bright and didn't state his points very well, but he has some valid points.

When he's talking about the choice of mice for laptops, I think he means pointing devices such as trackpads or those little IBM nipples. I rather like the 2-finger tap for right-click on the Mac laptops, but isn't it about time for 2 buttons? Whatever you prefer though, Ballmer is correct that with Mac laptops you don't have a choice. Of course, you can use any USB or Bluetooth mouse you like.

When it comes to "full Microsoft Office," there is more to that than VBA support. There's also Visio, Outlook, Access, etc. I don't care too much about those, and there are Mac alternatives and workarounds, but you need to run Windows to run those particular parts of the "full" Office suite.

He also has a point about what the market indicates about preferences. Certainly, many home users buy PCs because they don't know enough or are afraid of the risk of buying an alternative. But in business, the combination of Windows Server 2003/2008, Active Directory and Group Policy, and XP works quite well. If there is a good alternative to AD Group Policy that Apple offers and that supports Windows machines as well, they should advertise it better.

And folks, please do shut up about politics. Whichever party wins, we're likely to regret it.

Oct 06, 08 - 11:44 am Comment from: HolyMackerel

"PC MAGAZINE: Do you have an Xbox Live gamer tag?…

STEVE BALLMER: I do not, no… I use my son's… that's what he got for his birthday was his Xbox Live account."

Gee, thanks Dad. The generosity is underwhelming!

Yes... But still; I think it´s only the Mac community that really get´s it. We are discussing it but the Pc´s out there is generally not informed of the obvious.

The PC/Windows forums should be more aware of these misleading conclusions that "Fester" are making. They are not acting on it. Is it because they don´t know or is it because they don´t want to? It´s a bit of both I think and someone should tell them straight up! If they really knew... we would se hordes of Windows users turn to Mac´s. Many more than we actually are seing now!

Out of the bush Apple... Make it even more clear than what the "I´m a Mac" campaign has shown. There is much more to it! Just read all of the MDN takes above. Windows users and "PC´s have got to know! This is the time!

Oct 06, 08 - 12:11 pm Comment from: Harvey

Steve Ballmer is one of my favorite comedians.

Oct 06, 08 - 12:17 pm Comment from: Buster

"I'm very sensitive to exactly what mouse I have on my laptop"

Hahahaha and probably a lot of other small scared animals as well....

Ok ... I'll admit it ... "I am a hypocrite, but so is BoBo & Dumbo, only they will not admit it and have quite a few honest Americans fooled... Oh well, such is a society of those who forgot the most inspiring words of the 20th century. "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country". Now it's all about whatcha gonna GIVE ME!

Oct 06, 08 - 12:23 pm Comment from: Jamie

"Bill's got a lot of energy and enthusiasm, but he keeps it inside. I tend to wear mine, as we say, on the sleeve."

No shit.

Look, he's just a guy who lucked out and roomied with Gates, who also lucked out running into talented but clueless programmers who sold him their farm cheap. And then let's not forget the clueless PC guys who gave him both the license to print money and also signed up for an OEM Windows tax. So, they lucked out cuz people were stupid. Against smart people, they're fodder.

* Nobama ; I see why you vote for Palin the other one...pfff....

It was bound to happen, MS seized the market early in the game by appealing to the business environment. Apple was still puddling around building really great computers for the rest of us ... IIc, IIe etc, they had a small business market at that time but allowed IBM to partner with MS. The market was lost at that time, and there was no ned for MS to concrn itself with obtaining a knowledgeable successor. actually it worked to Stevies interest to have a likeable buffoon on call to soften-up the competition and give them hope. But MS kind of success lasts only as long as you can keep the populace ignorant... the populace has been educated and hence the reversal of fortunes... that is the populace has been educated with the exception of Mr. Balmer. It was bound to happen.

Oct 06, 08 - 12:37 pm Comment from: Mr. Peabody

The real question is: What exactly does Ballmer know? Anything at all?

The mouse issue is still a big deal. My neighbor wanted me to buy their new iMac because the computer only had a one button mouse.
Although it came with a Mac mouse with multi functions, it wasn't turned on in the preferences. I set the mouse up to work as three button. They love it now. I also showed them switcher files that come on the Mac. They printed them out, promised to take a month
with it before I bought it from them. A month later they sold it to me because they were more comfortable with Windows and didn't want to mess with Bootcamp. 2 weeks later I sold it back to them after they discovered their new PC only ran Vista and only had the min. RAM installed. They refused to buy more RAM and balked at having to pay to have XP installed which is what they thought they were buying, Long story short, I had installed XP on the iMac along with Parallels. Hooked up their previous display, so XP would always be open as a safety net. A month later they admitted to shutting off Parallels and that they were now quite comfortable using Leopard.

Oct 06, 08 - 12:43 pm Comment from: HMCIV

Reminds me of Stalin's last days...

Utterly insane and listening to his own propaganda.

Ballmer knows exactly what he's doing and saying.
He's spreading misinformation to slow Microsoft's steady decline.
Ballmer is aware that if he tells a lie often enough, it becomes the truth.

Oct 06, 08 - 12:54 pm Comment from: ken1w

Even though I like the work done by Microsoft's MacBU and I like Microsoft's mouse products, this guy is ticking me off. The boycott is on for any future purchases of Microsoft products (I have not purchased Office 2008 and do NOT intend to), at least until the Microsoft board and shareholders come to their collective senses and give Steve Balmer the boot.

Oct 06, 08 - 12:57 pm Comment from: Crabs

So you expect Ballmer to go out and say how awful PCs really are? To admit that Macs are currently growing their market, while PCs are tumbling? Of course not. He has to hit on his few talking points. You really can't criticize him for this.

Sounds like the tripe we can expect to hear from Obama, Oballmer. Makes it sound good, but much misinformation to the short sighted masses.

Seriously, can you post a larger version of that hilarious 'village idiot' photo of Ballmer. It would fit perfectly in our office's bathroom urinal.

Sounds like the clap-trap we hear from the McCain-Pailin campaign. Makes it sound good, but it's basically red meat misinformation for short-sighted GOPers. The independents won't buy it.

I have dealt with MS employees through the company I work for and I am certain that their attitude towards Apple is on purpose. Their line is "MS never claims to be the Cadillac, we're just regular guys, the Chevrolet. Oh, Apple? Yeah I think I've heard of them. Good little company. You use those Macs for graphics, right? Keynote? No, never heard of that one. We'll have to check it out." etc. I am convinced these guys put their fist through that dashboard after they leave. Whatever size you believer for Apple market share, MS is sick to death of hearing about and getting their butts kicked by Apple. You bet Ballmer knows you can use any mouse on a Mac.