bla.....bla.......bla........

yea for Micro$oft

"1 billion by next year"

My God the HUMANITY!!!!!!!!!

Tottaly off Subject here but...

Does Steve Ballmer (his name) remind you of the Fat guy in FFVII that followed President Shinra around? He had the Bya haha laugh...looked like a rollie pollie... Maybe I'm just an idiot, but that name just makes me think of it lol

"Hey-hey!" That was "the fat man Palmer", but--hehehe, that does bring back memories...

That is fine, but how many are satisfied customers?
If Microsoft tried selling automobiles, it would fail (all would crash at unexpected times, brakes would lock, and run out of gas when the gauge said there was plenty of fuel).

Alot ... if the OS was not good .. people wouldn't buy it. 60 million sold and no matter what bored people on the internet say .. people are still upgrading.

and thats the bottom line.

Bottom line is, theres no REAL alternative. Dont get me wrong, i think Windows is pretty good. Not because of Microsoft, but because of the community around it.

My problem is the "side effects" this monopoly, which it is anyway you look at it, is generating. Its quite obvious in Vista, which by far is the saddest upgrade to Windows EVER. If there were actual competetion, Vista wouldnt have existed. At least not in its current form.

Like i said: Its not the OS, its community around it that keeps people using Windows. If Linux would support all the programs and games etc. ive got now, i would switch instantly. I doubt that will ever happen, sadly.

"Vista, which by far is the saddest upgrade to Windows EVER"

You probably haven't use Vista. I have friends using them, and they all like it.

"Its not the OS, its community around it that keeps people using Windows. If Linux would support all the programs and games etc. ive got now, i would switch instantly. I doubt that will ever happen, sadly."

I think you got this all wrong. It's not the communities supporting Windows, it's Microsoft allowing these "communities" aka companies to make money from Windows. Windows can takes the Apple approach and limit access, but MS are generous by allowing any one to come aboard. MS never blame anyone for any problem, regardless if it's their fault or not. They just suck it up and release a solution. Can say that with other companies.

You are backwards: If there was no competition to Windows, then why would they even bother producing an upgrade? If there was no competition, then we would still be using windows 3.0.

And where would their money come from?

Even without competition, MS must produce "new" versions in order to get people to buy again. Those versions must have at *least* enough value in them for people to want to spend the money to upgrade.

No. Without competition, we'd still be using XP / Vista.

I see your point, but XP/Vista wouldn't be the same XP/Vista we have today. Many of the features in ANY product are driven by features in other products. Competition is always a good thing even if we dispise the competition.

Huh? WT*F* did you just say? Sorry I had to log in to respond to this one. That's a bunch of garbajjje coming out of your mouth son. You don't know what on this green earth you're talking about what that statement. "if it wasn't good, people wouldn't buy it"

Has f'ing ZERO to do with how good the OS is. I don't even want to get into examples here because there's too many... What about Symantec? The SH*TTIEST Anti-Virus software ON this earth, but yet the best selling. Why? MARKETING. Why in the he11 do you still see infomercial scams on WORTHLESS exercise equipment after ALL these years? Because it f*cking SELLS to idiots and there are plenty of them.

And now, WHY oh WHY are people upgrading to Vista? Could it be because I can't even BRIBE stores around here to sell me a f*cking new laptop WITHOUT Vista?? Literally SHOVING that BLOATED GARBAGE up our anal cavities. I beg for either NO OS or a free OS but NO, they can't and WONT do it.

Honestly I live in this retched country (Greece) and I can't buy a new laptop now that I've wanted since last year because i REFUSE to pay for a f*cking OS. ESPECIALL 300 g** d*** euros for garbage. For 300 euros I could get a BETTER LAPTOP instead of wasting it on Vista.

WASTE.

Calm down, dear.

""if it wasn't good, people wouldn't buy it"
Has f'ing ZERO to do with how good the OS is"

It doesn't have nothing to do with it.
It has *very little* to do with it, but if it really was unusable then people really wouldn't buy it and would recommend their friends don't buy it.

"And now, WHY oh WHY are people upgrading to Vista? Could it be because I can't even BRIBE stores around here to sell me a f*cking new laptop WITHOUT Vista??"

Because:
A. You are hard pressed to find one without it.
B. Everyone will have to 'upgrade' eventually.

And to answer the last part of the quote:
1 customer means jack to a large company; they're not going to get a laptop out, format it and hand it over to you for a $50-100 loss because you didn't want the operating system.

Bribing them is stupid, you may as well pay for the OS; it'll cost you the same.
You're doing it on principle, fine. Why not tell a few people how awful it is, format your computer and then be happy with your lot in life?

"Vista, which by far is the saddest upgrade to Windows EVER"

um did you forget about me, or do u just not acknowledge its existance.

the community/giant ecosystem is why i am still using windows also. Windows is not horrible, but it can be better.

nice statement...oh so nice. But I wonder how many would deny such things right? ;)

Where this guy gets his analogies from is beyond my comprehension.

How many of those one billion licenses are being used? At one end of the OS [3.0,3.1, 95] the machines have already been end-of-lifed, at the other end, the stock of licenses is sitting waiting for the next uninformed sucker to buy a Dell, HP, or whatever.

Just remember, quantity does not always equal quality.

McDonald's burgers are light-years from being the best available, but the corporation has been bragging about millions/billions/trillions of burgers sold for years now.

They have every right too. They still sucker you in for more.
You've got to admit that 1 billion is a number worth celebrating.

And to the person above: yes, it means versions of Windows ever sold including now abandoned ones.

This is a bad example. Not everyone has the time and money to sit in a fancy restaurant and get serve. I would love to eat at Jean George every night, however I don't think I can afford the bill.

In the term of software, QUANTITY = QUALITY. That's why it sell.

Well, come on. Of course more PCs are running windows than automobiles. Automobiles run on gas.

That was my first thought. Ballmer could have phrased that comment a little better. ;)

I was wondering where that "automobiles" OS was that we was comparing Windows to...

Gives away money, tax write-off blah blah blah.
I guess if Mr. Ballmers says the earth is cube-shaped there will be thousands of humanoid lemmings that will accept this as fact.

It is for these same lemmings that flashy banner ads and pop-ups were created indicating that you have won a free PSP.

Thousands [edit] millions, believe Al Gore's bullcrap, why would this be any different?

Gives away money, tax write-off blah blah blah.

Yes, because, obviously, money donated that could be used as a tax write-off is somehow *less* helpful than that which isn't... Nice logic there, bud.

/sarcasm

Nice! +1 for you lol.

A much better point is - millions of idiots voted Bush in a second term!

You're right, people are just stupid.

What Tenoq said. I'm sure toolie was one of them.

Heh...

Actually, I didn't vote for Bush. Either time.

(if you look back in BN history, you will see that I was once, not too long ago, a sniveling Liberal such as yourself. A "victim" of the mean, nasty, out-to-get me government.)

I grew up.

Some people do that, ya know.

Bill Gates gives away tons of money. I don't see other comapanies giving away as much as he does.

Just because he gives away tons of money doesn't mean he's giving away tons of money for the right reasons, or for true humanitarian efforts.

Of course the Gates Foundation donates money to help schools become more technologically advanced. But guess what operating systems are being used in the schools? Windows! Duh!

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize Bill Gates isn't truly a philanthropist as he claims to be. If he were, he would have already directed a lot of that massive donation the Gates Foundation got from Warren Buffett last year (like some $25 billion) to OLPC.

Sure, the laptops are running a scaled down version of Fedora with the Sugar interface, but still, the cause itself is a good humanitarian cause. All children should be able to benefit from the advances in technology, not just the children of upper and middle class parents.

Check your facts before you start kissing Bill Gates' a**!

Read your Bible. I think I'm already donating more that Bill Gates, with Bible logic. :)

you should actually check ur facts. The company under this Ballmer dude donates to schools. Bill Gates is an AIDs specialist who has researched his topic and DOES donate to the right causes. I mean, we all agree that windows sucks because of its total monopoly and somewhat unsatisfactory performance, but why hit on bill gates? just coz he can do business better than u? the guy sure has business skill, enough to make every1 run to windows, and he does donate to good causes, so why hate him? i hate windows too, but that doesn't mean i hate Gates.

Ok what ever you say.

You are right it is not a good idea to help poor children in Africa get much nneded shots. Just because he has the biggest tech company does not mean he always pushes Windows. You check your facts jack as&. He gives more to aids research than some countires. Just because he is Microsoft makes him bad makes me sick. Check it out yourself. Hopefully you will never need his charity to remain alive.

Yup, he's right. It's called tithing and it involves percentage of income.

huh?

That's nice Mr. Balmer, do you plan to donate any of the few billion you'll profit from it?

Vista is indeed being adopted faster than XP, but I can't really see why so many people are buying into the hype yet.

That's nice Mr. Balmer, do you plan to donate any of the few billion you'll profit from it?

The Gates Foundation donates over a Billion dollars a year to health and learning.

And? Who cares? Of course the Gates Foundation does. Think about it. Microsoft has generated billions in profit over the last few decades. The money has to be given out somehow, otherwise Microsoft would have been shut down.

The problem is, as I mentioned above, the things the Gates Foundation donates money to are of course focused on promoting and advertising Microsoft products.

And why is it the Gates Foundation will not donate to any cause that is faith based? If you mention GOD in the cause, the Gates Foundation will not help you!

A true philanthropist would understand that faith is all we humans have in this world, and a true philanthropist would not be trying to promote and market his business's products and services from his donations.

You too, check your facts before you start kissing Bill Gates' a**!

divine....sometimes no matter how many times you try to explain that money doesn't make a man, most of the people here don't care. they see dollar signs and that's it.

arguing and explaining is futile.

Good luck though.

Welcome to the market capitalist America. Profit & consumer choice is king. Anything that isn't to do with money isn't relevant.

guys, what the hell is wrong with you, The Gates Foundation is different from Microsoft. TWO TOTALLY DIFFERENT THINGS. stop mixing facts up

consumer choice is relevant to money? since when in the 21st century?

Did I miss the memo at RIAA? Sony? Microsoft on the consumer choice topic? I knew I should of clicked "Accept" to that meeting invite!

I guess that is a bit absurd, since most "sensible" companies know that if you limit your consumers, your limited your profit gains.

Did Apple or Google donates anything? They rang record profits every quarter.