It was a battle of CEO words last week as Microsoft ’s Steve Ballmer and Apple ’s Tim Cook were metaphorically locked into a practical cage in a no - words - block off battle royale !
CNBC brings us Ballmer ’s rationale forwhy the Surface beat the iPad(tip o ’ the antlers toThe Loop ):
“ I do n’t believe anyone has done a product that I see customers want , ” Ballmer said Thursday on CNBC ’s “ Squawk Box ” .
Uh huh . Well , Steve , if the Surface is blend in to overpower the iPad in sales , it might want to halt limber up at the starting line and , you know , actually start pass . especially considering the fact that the iPad has a two - and - a - one-half - yr headstart .
Neither [ Apple , Amazon or Google ] “ has a mathematical product that you’re able to use , that lets you run and spiel , that can be your pad of paper and your microcomputer . Not at any of those price points . ”
The Macalope ’s not really sure where Microsoft ’s Swiss Army tongue compulsion — to have one equipment that does everything — fare from . It sure does n’t seem to have result from existent humans who buy technology product , or at least not from that many of them .
Yes , synchronize can be a hurting sometimes , but how realistic is it to require to have your “ one twist to rule them all ” have just 32 GB of space ? The Macalope ’s iPhoto library alone is that big .
This is n’t to say the horny one see no charm at all to the Surface . He actually had a fortune to pose his hooves on one and it was an interesting equipment . But it ’s an interesting gimmick draw to an uninteresting past . This is n’t 1998 . The Macalope has no motive or desire to run bloated desktop applications everywhere he live . He does n’t run spreadsheets much and he ’d rather take a poke to the eye with all of the sharp stick than use Microsoft Word foranyreason .
“ There is really a singular opportunity . What we ’ve done with Windows 8 is really re - guess Windows death to end , ” Ballmer said .
Well , except for the close with the background and bequest coating , which moderately much looks the same as Windows 7 . You know , the coffin nail end .
window 8 is dissimilar from previous versions of Microsoft ’s operating software upgrades because it is contrive for a more touch favorable user interface .
Amoretouch well-disposed port . Or , perhaps , a less hostile touch interface .
“ Windows 8 is really all about enabling raw , creative , imaginative devices , ” Ballmer state . “ PC Notebooks , PC desktops , PC laptops and now personal computer tablets as well … ”
PC phones , microcomputer PC , PC chest of drawers , and PC woman ’s undergarment , all fully capable of turn tail Microsoft Office !
Tim Cook had his own feelings about the Surface , and would you be surprised to learn they do n’t exactly coincide with Ballmer ’s ? disgraceful , but dependable .
“ Apple CEO Tim Cook : Microsoft ’s Surface Tablet ‘ Confusing ’ and ‘ Compromised ’ ”
“ I have n’t played with a Surface yet , but what we are read about it is that it is a compromised and confusing ware , ” Apple CEO Tim Cook said on the society ’s profit call late this afternoon , which took spot just time of day after Microsoft ’s Windows 8 launch effect . “ One of the toughest matter you do is make hard tradeoff and adjudicate what a mathematical product should be , and we ’ve done that with the iPad . ”
Tim , Tim , Tim . What customers want is a no - compromises , infernal tablet / PC hybrid that OH , GOD , IT ’S ALIVE , IT JUST KILLED A SCIENTIST .
Cook did n’t stop there .
No , he did not .
“ You could design a railroad car that flies and swim bladder , but I do n’t call back it would do all those things very well , ” he pronounce .
Well , yeah , OK , but what if not doing thing really well — just kind of seek to cover all your bases and then jostle something out the doorway — was kind of your affair ? What then , smart cat ?
The Macalope ’s terrible at predictions ( OK , he totally nailed the BlackBerry PlayBook hitting the ground like a idle duck , but that was pretty well-to-do ) , so he ’s not going to venture a shot at how well the Surface is going to do . But with launching lines ranging from “ modest ” to “ non - existent ” and initial reaction beingmixed(again , tip o ’ the antler toThe Loop ) , it ’s not a bang-up starting signal for the machine that ’s purportedly what customers really want … even while they were buy enough iPads to make a garrison out of them .
