Listen guys - Leopard is great, Vista is not that bad (ok so maybe it is not the super new Windows everybody wanted - but it is not a total bag of spanners either).

Apple's market share is growing and Apple is growing and Mac sales are up and wahey everything in the garden is rosy.

But let's be realistic - Microsoft might not have had a huge hit with Vista but 'cmon - "Microsoft has fallen and it can't get up" that is just foolish talk. Maybe this is the beginning of the end, maybe not, perhaps in 10 years time we will look back and say "Yes, that was when the MS hegemony began to crumble" But Microsoft is a huge juggernaut that even with the motor totalled and the tyres shot out is gonna keep on rolling for a long time.

Me, I am only too happy to see Microsoft taken down a few pegs and Apple and Linux to come up a few - the competition is healthy - I love Apple but I would hate to see Apple in a 95% market share position (or Ubuntu or...).

No what we need is a good healthy compatible but competitive market. We are not living in the early microcomputer age where every machine had its own totally closed OS any more and there is no reason that Linux and Mac and Windows and probably a few more couldn't all get along nicely. (Yeah in my dreams... I know. )

I guess Cnet is switching their comment system or something, as an earlier comment I made on that blog post has vanished, along with several others. Oh well, in that it could be evidence that I actually read things on C|net perhaps its best that its now gone

But yeah, its more than just a bit premature to call Leopard's success a problem for Vista. Vista's main competitor at the moment is Windows XP, which is a problem but not the same one.

I likes yer writin' style, mate....

In fact, as it's about the most ringing endorsement I can go along with, I think MS should adopt your line in their next Vista advertising campaign:

"Windows Vista: Not a total bag of spanners"

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Serenak wrote:
Listen guys - Leopard is great, Vista is not that bad (ok so maybe it is not the super new Windows everybody wanted - but it is not a total bag of spanners either).

Apple's market share is growing and Apple is growing and Mac sales are up and wahey everything in the garden is rosy.

But let's be realistic - Microsoft might not have had a huge hit with Vista but 'cmon - "Microsoft has fallen and it can't get up" that is just foolish talk. Maybe this is the beginning of the end, maybe not, perhaps in 10 years time we will look back and say "Yes, that was when the MS hegemony began to crumble" But Microsoft is a huge juggernaut that even with the motor totalled and the tyres shot out is gonna keep on rolling for a long time.

Me, I am only too happy to see Microsoft taken down a few pegs and Apple and Linux to come up a few - the competition is healthy - I love Apple but I would hate to see Apple in a 95% market share position (or Ubuntu or...).

No what we need is a good healthy compatible but competitive market. We are not living in the early microcomputer age where every machine had its own totally closed OS any more and there is no reason that Linux and Mac and Windows and probably a few more couldn't all get along nicely. (Yeah in my dreams... I know. )

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Serenak wrote:


But let's be realistic - Microsoft might not have had a huge hit with Vista but 'cmon - "Microsoft has fallen and it can't get up" that is just foolish talk. Maybe this is the beginning of the end, maybe not, perhaps in 10 years time we will look back and say "Yes, that was when the MS hegemony began to crumble" But Microsoft is a huge juggernaut that even with the motor totalled and the tyres shot out is gonna keep on rolling for a long time.

The same was said about:

- GM & Ford vs Toyota & Honda (and, now, Toyota & Honda vs Hyundai & Kia)--we won't even mention Chrysler

- RCA & Zenith vs Sony & Panasonic

- Motorola vs Nokia

- The US Postal Service vs FedEx & UPS

The history of business is littered with the corpses (some still twitching) of businesses that were "juggernauts" in their time, but which lost their dominance through inertia. They kept on doing what they had always done in the way they had always done it while other companies did an end run around the "juggernauts," taking the market with them. (FWIW, Apple's market capitalization is more than seven times that of GM.)

This happened to Apple, too, when it was being run by "businessmen." They tried to run a company that had grown by being a wiseass as if it were GM and it didn't work. Apple has the possibility of doing that again, given its dominance of the music player business. Another company with some really neat ("insanely great") product could wipe out the iPod's market share. Don't think that Jobs et al don't know this. The trick is to neither plow on, unawares, nor to be paranoid and constantly watch over your shoulder, but to move so fast and change direction so quickly that the competitors are left trying to respond to your last "one more thing," while you're working on the next three. That is one major reason, IMO, why Apple is so secretive. (It's also why I suspect that Apple had always planned to drop the price of the iPhone. They got their competitors aiming at a $600 product, then suddenly changed the game by making it a $400 product.)

As Jobs said in his commencement adress at Stanford, "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." Good advice for us all.

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Serenak wrote:
Listen guys - Leopard is great, Vista is not that bad (ok so maybe it is not the super new Windows everybody wanted - but it is not a total bag of spanners either).

Leave off, I can get real work done with a "total bag of spanners" but I can't even suss out how to shut down effing Vista.

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ctopher wrote:
Leave off, I can get real work done with a "total bag of spanners"; but I can't even suss out how to shut down effing Vista.

The first time I tried shut down Vista I was puzzled. Click "Start" and then click on the padlock icon to find the shutdown, sleep, restart options.

No comments on the content of the story ... but it's a blog, for chrissake. Who takes these things seriously?

Hey, Haters! - MS Profits up 35% for the Quarter!
What kinda job do you iTards, lame-brains, nitwits, Linux fans, mormons, liars and MS-Bashers think I'm doing now? I am being heralded, regaled, praised, congratulated and cheered all over the Internet! You people who still doubt me can "eat my stained shorts!"
I don't mean to gloat, but this has been a looong time coming!
They public has vindicated me and my management style and philosophies; to you all I say thank you, you will be rewarded for sticking with us and our innovative, leading edge products and services!
I pledge to use these extra billions in a holy war against our competition and to reign in those companies that support them and their disruptive technologies!

It has been my humble pleasure serving you and our partners!
FSB

http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com

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Steve Ballmer wrote:
I pledge to use these extra billions in a holy war against our competition and to reign in those companies that support them and their disruptive technologies!

That's "rein in," not "reign in." The former refers to control, the latter refers to assumption of a position by royal leadership. Ay carumba.

35% profits up for the quarter is really impressive, especially when the previous half-dozen or so were mediocre. It's like "extra-special plain" this quarter!

Yes, Apple will take full advantage of Microsofts fumble. That is obvious to those following the companies.

I just wanted to compliment Gslushers Brilliant and insightful observations. I was enlightened.

I wish all comments were as well thought out and written as yours.

"Microsoft has fallen and it can't get up" heh. Dream on, Mactard.

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Anonymous wrote:
"Microsoft has fallen and it can't get up" heh. Dream on, Mactard.

"Mactard"?

Very intelligent post. You probably say "crapple" too. Most 10 year olds I meet think that is funny.

The trolls are sure out in force these days.

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Guest wrote:
"Microsoft has fallen and it can't get up" heh. Dream on, Mactard.

So let's compare these two arguments. On the one side we have a supposition, then supporting argument and a conclusion. On the rebuttal side we have "Dream on, Mactard."

I call it a draw.