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Balmer's stupid quote on the iPhone

This is kind of like Godwin's law; except we will call it the Gates law..

Anytime someone talks about stupid quotes pertaining to computers, it is only a matter of time until the 64K quote is brought up.

-->The internet isn't made for mobile phones.
-->All we will ever need is 64K of RAM.
 
What he said was sort of correct. The internet is like any piece of technology that must change and adapt. True, the internet from 5 years ago was not optimized for the iPhone/mobile devices but things change. Due to the iPhone's success, the internet has adapted in becoming more accessible and easier to read on the iPhone and other smartphones.

Case and point: Technology is always changing.

The problem having internet on smartphones in the past wasn't the screen size, it was poor design and frustrating interaction between the user and the interface. The iPhone has mitigated this problem for the most part which is why it emerged as a revolutionary smartphone.

At least Ballmer has his famous backup quote about it not appealing to business customers or enterprises. The grass sure is green on the other side. MS is clearly trying to make strides in Apple's niche "cool" factor market and I am positive Apple would like to have a greater presence in the corporate environment even if it is not their main priority.
 
Ballmer is Apple's Secret Weapon

Ballmer is Apple's secret weapon. Every prediction he has ever made about Apple has been wrong! Apple should pay his salary just to keep him around making Microsoft look like fools.
 
Actually the internet was designed for command line interfaces but it has adapted as new hardware has come along.
Click to expand...

The internet as we know it- with webpages.
Darpanet doesn't count.

In any event, even a command line interface works best on a full size screen.
 
I've got a news flash for Balmer. The days of coming out with a new version of office every 3 years and charging everyone $300 to upgrade are over. Software has matured greatly and I think people are going to tire of paying over and over for a new word processor and spreadsheet. That's going to kill Microsoft's cash cow.

The iPhone model where the company developed the hardware cuts down on production time and unless they can get their updates to market faster that is going to kill their phone market. Before the iPhone I used to see Microsoft come out with a new phone OS and by the time you could actually get a phone that had it the next version was announced. They have to move faster than that to compete.

The big problem they have is that today we have open standards and little by little not having a PC with Microsoft software is not keeping someone out of the loop. The became a monopoly by being the defacto standard. Today the playing field is leveled somewhat.
 
Ooh, this is so fun:

1) The Internet was created before cellular phones, at least commercially available cell phones. It was actually created in the 1960s, before personal computers and Microsoft.

2) The Internet is and will be developed for whatever the hell is around that can use it. It wasn't designed for game systems, but Microsoft (!), Sony and Nintendo have all developed their systems to make use of it.

3) The Internet wasn't developed for Windows Mobile. Does Microsoft still sell that?

4) What does the Internet being developed for PCs have to do with Tap Tap Revenge 3, the top-selling paid app right now?

5) Your company took what is actually Windows 6.1 and is marketing it as Windows 7. Epic fail.
 
Clete2 said:
Anytime someone talks about stupid quotes pertaining to computers, it is only a matter of time until the 64K quote is brought up.
Click to expand...

Are you trying to bring up the supposed Gates quote that "640K ought to be enough for anybody" ? A typical internet myth. It didn't happen quite that way.

What really happened was that Gates was giving a speech around 1993 or so, and was poking fun at himself...

He commented that back when the PC was redesigned in 1981 to go to 640K (at a time when most computer maxed out at 64K), he and others thought that that much memory should be enough for about another ten years.

He said it turned out they were too optimistic to think that 640K was going to be enough for that long a time. That comment was misquoted and became legend.
 
cababah said:
What he said was sort of correct. The internet is like any piece of technology that must change and adapt. True, the internet from 5 years ago was not optimized for the iPhone/mobile devices but things change.

Due to the iPhone's success, the internet has adapted in becoming more accessible and easier to read on the iPhone and other smartphones.
Click to expand...

Only somewhat. Previously, mobile web pages worked on most devices.

Since the iPhone, many new pages are optimized only for it, using HTML meta-tags that only it understands. So much for standards.

rdowty said:
I've got a news flash for Balmer. The days of coming out with a new version of office every 3 years and charging everyone $300 to upgrade are over.
Click to expand...

Individuals rarely bought that stuff. Companies did, and will continue to, buy upgrades for every OS and application they use.

dejo said:
A full-size screen could've been 320x200 back then. The iPhone has more than twice that.
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True for personal computers, but most text interfaces were via an 80x24 character green screen terminal. A typical VT100 could display 768x240 pixels.
 
Steve Ballmer could very well be a smart man, but he sure does a lot to disprove that. When Bill was the CEO of MS, he was actually palatable. Ballmer comes off as a complete moron no matter what he says, even if [which isn't often] he's right.

They should hire a PR person, and he should stay behind the scenes, away from the public AND ANY form of media...
 
nealric said:
I think he is absolutely right:

The internet was designed for full size computers, not smartphones. Webpages are set up for big monitors, full-size keyboards, and mice. It's always going to be a challenge to interface with on smartphones.
Click to expand...

The internet wasn't "designed" for any particular size computer or screen size. The internet is the network and the data not web pages. Web pages are just the presentation of that data, the iPhone and other mobile devices just access the network and data & use a different presentation.
 
Genesiscreative said:
"Let's face it, the Internet was designed for the PC. The Internet is not designed for the iPhone," Ballmer said.
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The internet wasn't designed for PC's either. It was designed for minicomputers and IMP boxes the size of refrigerators. With teletype printers for the user interface.

So join the crowd (late) Microsoft.
 
kdarling said:
CEOs sometimes say dumb things.

Like that other CEO who claimed that allowing third party native applications would be dangerous... that a single bad one could take down the whole network.

He said that instead, developers should be happy creating web apps. He even suggested that writing crippled apps like that would be "sweet!"

:rolleyes:

He was almost right. It turned out that his own OS update almost brought down the network.
Click to expand...

LOL....amen.

I also laugh at how the CEO of one of the richest companies in the world is a raving lunatic, a moron, and idiot, whatever else, while the CEO of the company that's been bouncing along the bottom of the barrel for the past 20 years is a genius and a visionary.

Sure, uh huh, whatever you say.
 
mgamber said:
LOL....amen.

I also laugh at how the CEO of one of the richest companies in the world is a raving lunatic, a moron, and idiot, whatever else, while the CEO of the company that's been bouncing along the bottom of the barrel for the past 20 years is a genius and a visionary. Sure, uh huh, whatever you say.
Click to expand...

Sounds like you have a crush on a special somebody
 
mgamber said:
LOL....amen.

I also laugh at how the CEO of one of the richest companies in the world is a raving lunatic, a moron, and idiot, whatever else, while the CEO of the company that's been bouncing along the bottom of the barrel for the past 20 years is a genius and a visionary.

Sure, uh huh, whatever you say.
Click to expand...

Yeah, Apple just had their best quarter ever with $1.67 billion profit and their stocks reached an all-time high, clearly bottom of the barrel... :rolleyes:
 
kdarling said:
CEOs sometimes say dumb things.

Like that other CEO who claimed that allowing third party native applications would be dangerous... that a single bad one could take down the whole network.

He said that instead, developers should be happy creating web apps. He even suggested that writing crippled apps like that would be "sweet!"

:rolleyes:

He was almost right. It turned out that his own OS update almost brought down the network.
Click to expand...

But we're not supposed to speak poorly of the one you speak of, did you forget where you were? HE'S LISTENING.
 
True for personal computers, but most text interfaces were via an 80x24 character green screen terminal. A typical VT100 could display 768x240 pixels.
Click to expand...

They may have been low res- but the text was larger physically- easier to read than small iphone text to those without perfect vision.

Who honestly prefers iphone browsing over a laptop?
 
gemz1000 said:
He's truly an idiot. Ballmer needs to shut his mouth. He's really ignorant!
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I don't know if he is an "idiot" I just don't think he or Microsoft likes to admit that another company or product might be a threat. Maybe it is a pride thing.

*Diss other company/product and downplay their success*
*Secretly release something to compete with company*
 
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