Gates & Ballmer at D6

(05/27/2008)

6:12

rafe:

Doors to the keynote just opened, people are filing in. First up will be about 15 min of intro. I'll spare you the bulk of it.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:12 rafe

6:15

[Comment From EricEric: ]

hey rafe, thanks for covering this and i'm sorry to hear about your laptop battery!

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:15 Eric

6:16

rafe:

Yep I'm guarding my little power cord with my life

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:16 rafe

6:16

[Comment From timtim: ]

haha, thanks for covering this. it should be really interesting, atleast to me

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:16 tim

6:16

[Comment From KeKe: ]

Alright, hope they give some real info on the UI and stuff.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:16 Ke

6:19

rafe:

Still waiting for this shindig to start

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:19 rafe

6:20

[Comment From DanDan: ]

will there be pics here

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:20 Dan

6:20

[Comment From RahulRahul: ]

Hopefully this looks nice. The "leaked" shots looked terrible.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:20 Rahul

6:21

rafe:

Why are we all so hung up on the UI? At this early stage, I'm more interested in architecture. Paint should come last, eh?

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:21 rafe

6:21

[Comment From davedave: ]

i agree

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:21 dave

6:21

[Comment From BillBill: ]

Agreed

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:21 Bill

6:22

inafried:

This is Ina Fried from CNET News.com. Those leaked shots are not real, I'm told.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:22 inafried

6:23

rafe:

I'm joined here by Microsoft guru Ina Fried.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:23 rafe

6:24

rafe:

Just FYI, once this gets going, I won't be able to respond to user comments

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:24 rafe

6:25

[Comment From RafaRafa: ]

is there anywhere we can watch the conference?

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:25 Rafa

6:25

rafe:

I do not think there is a live video stream, although I bet it is put up online after the fact

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:25 rafe

6:25

rafe:

Still waiting for it to start...

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:25 rafe

6:26

rafe:

Stick with me...

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:26 rafe

6:27

rafe:

CEO of Dow Jones, Les Hinton, taking stage.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:27 rafe

6:27

rafe:

He's the warmup act.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:27 rafe

6:27

[Comment From dcdc: ]

Are Bill/Steve up after the intro?

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:27 dc

6:27

inafried:

Yes.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:27 inafried

6:28

rafe:

Walt Mossberg told me earlier that he's got two cloud OS companies up during this show : Ghost and Glide. Should be interesting.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:28 rafe

6:29

[Comment From RafaRafa: ]

Can you watch this conference from TV?

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:29 Rafa

6:29

rafe:

Nope.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:29 rafe

6:29

[Comment From ralphralph: ]

can you give us the jist of what he is saying?

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:29 ralph

6:29

rafe:

Thanking sponsors. yada etc.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:29 rafe

6:30

rafe:

"Ladies and Gentlemen.. Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher"

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:30 rafe

6:30

inafried:

So here's what I know about the plumbing in Win 7. I wouldn't expect to see a lot of changes to the key parts of Vista. Microsoft's goal will be to not break anything, software or device-wise. Obviously the proof there is in the pudding.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:30 inafried

6:31

rafe:

Walt intro: Great speakers, enjoy yourself, community, etc.
Kara: The audience is the heart of D.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:31 rafe

6:32

rafe:

Walt, Kara: It's been a turbulent year, which we love
[Of course: journalists love trouble]
Kara: "Sorry Mark Zuckerberg."

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:32 rafe

6:34

rafe:

Walt: We have new tech on the stage: "Versatubes." He's talking about the backdrop, which is like neon tubes.
They have flux capacitors, stem cells, you name it.

Oooh, colors.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:34 rafe

6:34

rafe:

Walt: "That's the mission of this conference... turn every room into a gay bar."

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:34 rafe

6:34

rafe:

Ok, it's just a big screen. With lines on it.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:34 rafe

6:35

rafe:

Walt: It's Bill and Steve again!
But different Steve.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:35 rafe

6:36

inafried:

So now they are showing a new "director's cut" of the Bill's last day video they showed at CES.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:36 inafried

6:36

[Comment From ahmedahmed: ]

rafe, can you put your comment in italic or some other way so that we can distinguish?

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:36 ahmed

6:36

rafe:

ok!

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:36 rafe

6:37

[Comment From DavidDavid: ]

Rafe- is this supposed to be funny, confusing, or both?

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:37 David

6:37

rafe:

Walt was trying to be funny. Some may find that a little confusing.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:37 rafe

6:38

[Comment From AndrewAndrew: ]

I think we want information and not sarcastic comments.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:38 Andrew

6:39

rafe:

Cool your jets, Bill and Steve aren't even on stage yet.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:39 rafe

6:40

inafried:

In the video, Gates talks to Jay-Z. "Wait, you can unretire?" Gates asks Jay-Z. However, asked by reporters just before the talk, Gates reiterated that he is really done working full time at Microsoft, saying he won't revisit that decision.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:40 inafried

6:40

[Comment From ahmedahmed: ]

I think by "different Steve", Walt means Ballmer

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:40 ahmed

6:40

rafe:

Correct.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:40 rafe

6:43

[Comment From skasataskasata: ]

i love bill's "last day of work" video!!!

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:43 skasata

6:43

[Comment From skasataskasata: ]

rafe you sick bastard publish my comments

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:43 skasata

6:43

inafried:

In a new part to the video, Gates issues an Iron Chef challenge, wearing bright orange Crocs.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:43 inafried

6:43

inafried:

It's not a good look

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:43 inafried

6:44

rafe:

I can't keep up with all the comments! Sorry about that. And when Bill and Steve B get up there I'm gonna go even more heads down. We're still on the video though, which Ina is covering.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:44 rafe

6:44

[Comment From skasataskasata: ]

Crocs are disgusting... i wish bill'd shy away from those

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:44 skasata

6:44

[Comment From DevynDevyn: ]

Isn't Windows 7 gonna be exactly the same as Vista? (with WinFS and only 64bit supported?)

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:44 Devyn

6:45

inafried:

Actually 32-bit is going to be supported.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:45 inafried

6:45

[Comment From MichaelMichael: ]

Is there a live video feed of D?

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:45 Michael

6:45

[Comment From olmertolmert: ]

will windows 7 be the same, bloated, POS that vista is

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:45 olmert

6:45

[Comment From benben: ]

you'll be happy to know that the company making them (crocs) isn't in business anymore! :P

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:45 ben

6:45

inafried:

No to the video feed. I'll leave it to others to judge Windows 7

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:45 inafried

6:45

[Comment From DevynDevyn: ]

Oh, good. I read somewhere that only 64-bit would be supported

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:45 Devyn

6:45

[Comment From DougDoug: ]

Well, they took the hit with vista to revamp the driver model and security, so hopefully there will be some love in this build for the applications and some more shell refinements.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:45 Doug

6:46

rafe:

Ok, video is over... getting ready to cover the interview.
Here they come up on stage

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:46 rafe

6:47

rafe:

Walt: First topic: Your beginnings together. You were college roomates. No, you weren't?

Steve, what was Bill like?

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:47 rafe

6:47

rafe:

Steve: Some guys thought Bill and I would make good friends.
Bill would usuall go to bed when I was getting up

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:47 rafe

6:48

rafe:

Bill: I avoided both classes and campus activitites. Steve signed up for more things than anyone.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:48 rafe

6:49

rafe:

Bill: Harvard was great.
Kara: So, Bill, you leave, because really you weren'd there...

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:49 rafe

6:49

rafe:

Steve: We stayed friends even after he left.
Walt: Did you consider trying to talk him out of leavIng?
Steve: He wouldn't have listened.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:49 rafe

6:50

inafried:

So, Gates and Ballmer had a class together. But they rarely saw each other in class. Ballmer was too busy. Gates didn't go "on principle."

You took the tests?, Walt asks. Oh yeah. "I was the hardest working student during that reading period." He said he was in the library until
it closed and when it opened

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:50 inafried

6:50

inafried:

That's Gates

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:50 inafried

6:50

rafe:

Kara: Steve, you went on to Stanford?
Steve: I went on to Proctor and Gamble: First thing I worked on was a frozen ice cream mix. Then one summer I went to see Bill in Albequerque

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:50 rafe

6:51

rafe:

Walt: Were you trying to hire him then?
Bill: Not yet. But later, up in Seattle, there was just so much business, I though I've got to have Steve up here.
Steve: I was working in brownies them. $50M buck business
I wonder what kind of brownies.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:51 rafe

6:52

inafried:

What strikes me is not what they are talking about (they are still reminiscing), but the chemistry the two have together. For those who haven't seen the two of them together, there is this spark that you often don't see when one of them is interviewed alone.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:52 inafried

6:52

rafe:

Walt: Steve, did you wait to finish business school?
Steve: Bill called, said, "What are you doing?" I said I was busy, Bill said, "Too bad," and hung up.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:52 rafe

6:54

rafe:

Steve: So I called back the next day. Said I'd finish school first.
Kara: How would you characterize the first months of MS?
Bill: We had so many customers, but we didn't know if they'd pay... Steve helped enumerate the issues. We had just started doing retail software, games, the CPM80 softcard.

I used to have one of those in my Apple II

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:54 rafe

6:55

rafe:

Steve: I said we needed more people.
Bill: We were managing very conservatively, which meant looking at the bank balance and the payroll. And we had an unusual mix of customers. The 18 people Steve wanted was too much

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:55 rafe

6:56

rafe:

Steve: There was no venture capital in the place. Everywhere in the house, there were sheets of paper with contracts, salary numbers. He was worred about bankruptcy.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:56 rafe

6:56

rafe:

Bill on the 18 ppl steve wanted: I said No.
Steve: I didn't leave business school for that.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:56 rafe

6:57

rafe:

Steve: The bookeeper quit my first day. I wondered why I left biz school. Then Bill gave me the real pitch: We could put a computer on every desk in every home.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:57 rafe

6:57

rafe:

Bill: The basic idea of inventing something for everybody, Paul and I had been talking about that a lot [Paul Allen]

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:57 rafe

6:58

rafe:

Steve: Our management approach became: Prove we can hire one good person, and then we'll worry about the next.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:58 rafe

6:59

rafe:

Steve: We take all our risk technologically. Why take a lick of financial risk?

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:59 rafe

6:59

rafe:

Now this is getting good

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:59 rafe

6:59

rafe:

Bill, Steve: We have a big financial cushion, most companies are not run like this.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 6:59 rafe

7:00

rafe:

Walt: How long have you been doing this together:
Steve: 28 yrs.
Bill: The key thing is doing this together. Two heads working on something -- example, IBM, they divorced us befrore we wanted them to -- Steve and I did that together.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:00 rafe

7:01

rafe:

Bill: The income always stayed ahead.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:01 rafe

7:02

rafe:

Walt: There's the perception that you're the product guy (Bill), and you're the sales guy (Steve).

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:02 rafe

7:03

rafe:

sorry, was offline for a sec

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:03 rafe

7:03

rafe:

Steve: We're both detail oriented, just different details. Bill knows a ton about products, plans, architecture, finances. I know more about people's moves, their situations. And finances.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:03 rafe

7:04

rafe:

Bill: When people came in for reviews, they knew we were paying attention.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:04 rafe

7:04

rafe:

Post from earlier today: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13953_3-9953055-80.html

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:04 rafe

7:06

inafried:

Walt and Kara quizzed Bill on how deep his business knowledge goes.
"sales minus costs equal profit," Gates said. The crowd laughed. "Is there more?"
Ballmer came to his defence. "Bill is as good a salesman as the company has had or will ever had."

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:06 inafried

7:06

rafe:

Walt: So, Bill became the world-famous guy. Didn't that bug you a little?
Steve: No, never, not a bit. It was good for the company. And it benefited the company more than Bill. Being famous is not an easy obligation.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:06 rafe

7:06

rafe:

Steve: I didn't sign up to be the senior partner. Bill asked to [be CEO] and I stepped up, and that's fair.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:06 rafe

7:07

rafe:

Kara: Do you get the ultimate veto?
Bill: No. I am the junior partner, have been for last 8 yrs.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:07 rafe

7:08

rafe:

Steve: It was hard. I wasn't sure how much rope to give, Bill wasn't sure how much to defer. Bill said, I want MS to function w/o me in a day-to-day role.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:08 rafe

7:09

inafried:

The 'Gates as Juinior Partner thing' is interesting relative to Yahoo. From everything Bill has said and has been written, Gates appears to be deferring to Steve on Yahoo.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:09 inafried

7:09

rafe:

Walt: Bill is still the chairman of the board and the largest shareholder.
Bill: Steve is second...
Steve: Third.

Walt: You're still going to be there 1 day a week?
Bill: We're going to figur eout the projects Steve wants me on...

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:09 rafe

7:09

rafe:

Kara is itching to get on to the Yahoo thing

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:09 rafe

7:10

rafe:

Steve: I'm interested in what Bill has to say.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:10 rafe

7:11

inafried:

Ballmer made an interesting point on the how things work. He noted that Gates' opinion matters, but not because he is the chairman.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:11 inafried

7:11

inafried:

He consults with the full board on board matters.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:11 inafried

7:12

rafe:

Kara: Let's get into your exact thinking on Yahoo.
Steve: The bid was out for three months, there was difference between bid and ask. We were going to be disciplined about it. We walked away. We are talking with them about other ideas, but we are not rebidding on the company. I won't comment on what we are talking about.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:12 rafe

7:13

rafe:

Walt: We have a whiteboard here. Just so you know. We're wheeling it out.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:13 rafe

7:13

rafe:

Now there's a whiteboard on stage, and Steve is trying to pretend it's not there.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:13 rafe

7:13

rafe:

He's standing up... drawing.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:13 rafe

7:13

inafried:

Walt made reference to a presentation Ballmer made in Walt's office and asked him to duplicate it

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:13 inafried

7:13

rafe:

There is no way I can capture this in text

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:13 rafe

7:14

inafried:

Basically, Ballemr is explaining the dynamics of online advertising. Publishers and advertisers are connected by algorithms. "It depends on scale."

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:14 inafried

7:14

[Comment From movvmovv: ]

can u upload pic from camera phone?

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:14 movv

7:15

inafried:

The fact that its a scale business is an interesting thing. He mentioned the company is talking to facebook about some things.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:15 inafried

7:15

rafe:

We have a guy taking photos, but I can't manage that and write at same time. Will link to photo URL when possible

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:15 rafe

7:16

inafried:

Back to Yahoo: Scale is the big reason it's attractive, Ballmer says, again not going into detail.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:16 inafried

7:17

inafried:

So, now Ballmer raises the point that if only Google has strength the industry will be forced to its economics

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:17 inafried

7:17

rafe:

Walt: Bill, how to compete with Google? What are the things, in addition to getting scale, that you have to do?
Bill: Have a team that's going to build the best search product. The rules are changing. Getting back a bunch of links is not the goal.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:17 rafe

7:18

rafe:

Bill: We have people doing work on this [software]. Ideally, you'd also build up the scale (points to whiteboard) as fast as you can

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:18 rafe

7:18

inafried:

Walt and Kara pinned them down on the irony of the monopoly argument coming from Microsoft, which was accused of similar dominance in the OS world.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:18 inafried

7:18

rafe:

Bill: You can see lots of things where we win reviews.
Walt: Yet your share drops
Bill: It's staying the same
Steve: We need breakthrough and incremental innovation, in both search and ads

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:18 rafe

7:19

rafe:

Steve: Google is buying a lot of distribution. We need scale, biz innovation, tech innovation, little and big, and it's not going to happen overnight.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:19 rafe

7:19

rafe:

Walt: Is paying people for search... is that innovation?
Steve: It's business innovation

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:19 rafe

7:20

inafried:

Ballmer said Microsoft's approach will be to cut in not just the advertisers, but also the publishers a more generous cut than the market leader.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:20 inafried

7:21

rafe:

Kara: You do deals all over the place... facebook, other tricks. Is scale the only trick? What is the key weapon?
Steve: The most important thing: We have a great team. And we're patient.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:21 rafe

7:21

rafe:

Steve: investing in new UI, new distribution, keep investing. People in our industry are way too impatient.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:21 rafe

7:21

[Comment From RahulRahul: ]

techcrunch has qik running, so you can get some laggy video, to go alongside this commentary. techcrunch.com

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:21 Rahul

7:22

inafried:

"this is not something that is going to change in six months," he said. Great things rarely happen overnight.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:22 inafried

7:22

rafe:

Steve: unless you are willing to be tenacious.... it is really work. Somebody's got to push it. And we will

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:22 rafe

7:22

rafe:

Kara: How important is online advertising?
Steve: It's a business. It's not our only business.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:22 rafe

7:23

inafried:

To point out though, Microsoft has been at this now for some time ( a lot more than six months) and things haven't changed vis a vis search.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:23 inafried

7:23

rafe:

Steve: It's a great business, and a great oppotunity, and a way to innovate, but it's not like MS depends on it.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:23 rafe

7:23

rafe:

Walt: Let's talk about the operating system

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:23 rafe

7:23

rafe:

Walt: It's had a mixed reception. Is it a failure? A Mistake?

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:23 rafe

7:23

inafried:

Here's a scoop just for our readers. What Microsoft is going to demo is a new multitouch interface for Windows 7.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:23 inafried

7:24

inafried:

Everyone will see it on stage in a few minutes, but I just got confirmation.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:24 inafried

7:24

rafe:

Steve: No, it's not a failure. Would we do some things differently? undoubtedly. We sold 150M. Half [only half???] choose vista on their machines.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:24 rafe

7:25

rafe:

Steve: We made a judgement that there was so much pressure to get security right, that we gave up some on security. 99 or the top 100 apps run well.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:25 rafe

7:26

rafe:

Walt: Has there been any damange to company from Vista?
Bill: No product has been 100% what I wanted

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:26 rafe

7:26

rafe:

Bill: We have a culture that's very much: We need to do better. Vista has given us a lot of opportunity to do better.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:26 rafe

7:27

rafe:

Got that right, buddy.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:27 rafe

7:27

rafe:

Bill: There's a lot of things that are very well received in vista. the ecosystem had to do a lot of things...

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:27 rafe

7:28

rafe:

Steve: This was more jarring to the ecosystem. But the #1 thing ppl found jarring was the user interface

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:28 rafe

7:28

rafe:

Steve: That was ironic.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:28 rafe

7:29

rafe:

Walt, Kara: Can you show us windows 7.
Steve: Here's a small snippet. This ships within three years... late 2009

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:29 rafe

7:29

rafe:

SHIPS LATE 2009. Just in case you missed it

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:29 rafe

7:29

rafe:

Demo: Julie Larson-Green is demoing.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:29 rafe

7:30

rafe:

Showing multitouch on paint. On screen multitouch

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:30 rafe

7:31

rafe:

Showing running on a dell latitude Xt, which does touch already (but not multi)

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:31 rafe

7:31

rafe:

Kara: How important is multitouch
Julie: Super important - it's very natural, much faster than the mouse. Direct manipulation on the screen.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:31 rafe

7:32

rafe:

Julie now showing MS Surface-like photo organizer on laptop PC.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:32 rafe

7:33

rafe:

Julie now showing external monitor/touchscreen.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:33 rafe

7:33

rafe:

Julie: Here's something more useful: Concierge. MS Earth/Map with touchscreen UI, finds things that are close to where you're at.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:33 rafe

7:34

rafe:

Ina says: This works with existing hardware, as long as it has a touchscreen

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:34 rafe

7:34

rafe:

Julie now zooming way in to San Diego acquarium

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:34 rafe

7:34

rafe:

Julie: This is an example of an app that can be written for Windows 7

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:34 rafe

7:35

rafe:

Question: Why write this for an OS? Shouldn't this type of app exist on the Web?

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:35 rafe

7:35

[Comment From theaxmantheaxman: ]

question from whom?

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:35 theaxman

7:36

rafe:

Just thinking out loud

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:36 rafe

7:36

[Comment From khurramkhurram: ]

because there is google earth and google maps... desktop apps have their advantages

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:36 khurram

7:36

rafe:

Back to the demo...

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:36 rafe

7:36

rafe:

Walt: Taskbar doesn't look lke the taskbar.
Julie: I'm not supposed to talk about that

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:36 rafe

7:37

rafe:

Julie: I have one last app to show you

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:37 rafe

7:38

rafe:

Piano: With multitouch. Very natural, can play chords

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:38 rafe

7:38

inafried:

Here's my question, Microsoft will have this in Windows 7, which is set for late 2009. When will Apple have it?

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:38 inafried

7:38

rafe:

And that's the end of the demo

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:38 rafe

7:40

[Comment From movvmovv: ]

that's it? interview w/gates&ballmber continuing?

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:40 movv

7:40

inafried:

Now Gates is talking about other surface computers, such as the TouchWall he showed at Microsoft's CEO Summit. He is also saying what makes surface different. It can recognize objects as well, because of its hardware.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:40 inafried

7:40

rafe:

The interview is on again, demo is over

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:40 rafe

7:41

inafried:

Walt is asking my question now, noting that Apple could get this out there before Microsoft given its faster OS release cycle.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:41 inafried

7:41

rafe:

Walt: Is there a risk that this work will look like Apple got there first?

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:41 rafe

7:42

rafe:

Steve: Windows PCs are going to look fantastic. There's a lot in Windows 7. Our goal is to get our partners to build really great PCs.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:42 rafe

7:42

rafe:

Walt: Apple is growing 3x.
Steve: Our customers will sell 290M PCs. Apple will sell 10M

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:42 rafe

7:44

rafe:

Walt: You have to bring these partners along to create the whole experience.
Steve: We have an opportunity to make sure the end to end experience is of higher and higher quality

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:44 rafe

7:45

rafe:

Steve: I think we'll see fantastic work from HP, Lenovo...
Kara: And marketing?
Steve: Steve (Jobs) has a great business, and we have a great business. Our model works well, and we're tuning it. The competition will be great, they're different models

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:45 rafe

7:46

rafe:

Steve: Nobody's wrong.
Walt: Jobs has been defining you...
Bill: People are rational beyond ad campaigns

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:46 rafe

7:47

rafe:

Steve: We can improve. Every share point Apple picks up is a point we don't like.
We like selling 290M units. We have a better model for doing that. There is no question our model is better.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:47 rafe

7:47

rafe:

Walt: You can't be really happy with the way this Vista thing is going
Bill: You're repeating yourself

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:47 rafe

7:48

rafe:

Time for some questions from audience and some write-ins.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:48 rafe

7:49

rafe:

Walt: Q: Is there a killer app to revilatize healthcare and pharam industry?
Bill: It's amazing that the prodictivity for creating new drugs has been way less than expected.
Oddly, Bill G said the exact same thing to me about programming in 1995.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:49 rafe

7:51

inafried:

Ballmer was asked whether failed Yahoo bid has hurt Microsoft's image.

Ballmer: "No. If anything people know we are very serious about our online business. It's certainly some we thought about before we put in a bid because there was no guarantee."

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:51 inafried

7:51

rafe:

Walt: In the smart phone category, RIM has picked up share. Apple is in 2nd place. MS is in third place.
Steve: We'll sell 20M units worldwide, Apple 5M WW, RIM 17-18M. On a unit volume basis, we are selling more smartphones than anyone but Nokia. Nokia is #1

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:51 rafe

7:52

[Comment From TimTim: ]

does any of this sound convincing in person?

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:52 Tim

7:52

rafe:

Tim: Some does, a lot does not.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:52 rafe

7:54

inafried:

Ballmer hints that Microsoft will tweak its business model in phones. Selling just the OS in some cases but the OS, combined with more software and services in other areas. (Note that the company bought Danger, which has a vastly different business model than Windows Mobile)

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:54 inafried

7:54

rafe:

Audience Qs now:

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:54 rafe

7:56

rafe:

Craig from Earthlink: We spend more time with MS products than others. Has anyone suggested building advertising on that model?

Steve: People think about it. There are a number of reasons it is not a good idea. Ads imporove search, but I'm not sure layering ads on the desktop would improve the user experience, add value...

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:56 rafe

7:57

rafe:

Bill: (re mobile advertising): It's a rounding error today. We have a lot of innovative ideas on mobile advertising.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:57 rafe

7:57

[Comment From jmjm: ]

windows team blog has a video demo of multitouch: http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2008/05/27/microsoft-demonstrates-multi-touch.aspx

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:57 jm

7:59

rafe:

Audience Q(sorry, missed name): What is it that you did early on, when you had no real products, to attract good people?

Steve: We sell the opporunity, and look for ppl who are bright and engaged.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 7:59 rafe

8:01

[Comment From GuestGuest: ]

doods... this is too complex. Look at backnoise.com for simple, easy snarky chats.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 8:01 Guest

8:02

rafe:

Tuesday May 27, 2008 8:02 rafe

8:03

rafe:

Jim from CNBC: How supportive of Steve were you when the Yahoo talks broke down?

Bill: Totally supported.

Steve: I'm not frustrated at all. They're great guys and they build a great company. We couldn't agree on price. That's not frustrating, it's a fact.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 8:03 rafe

8:06

rafe:

Max Levchin, Slide: Apps in the browser haven't killed your model. But Myspace and Facebook have millions of users, totally in the browser, what does it mean for you guys?

Steve: The world of the future will have a much more balanced computation model. We'll have to compromise on both sides.

Ballmer is pitching the Microsoft line: Hybrid apps.

Gates: YOu want the code (UI, speech, etc) to run where the low latency is. It's really giving ppl the best of both that will be key

Tuesday May 27, 2008 8:06 rafe

8:07

rafe:

Kara: Do you use Facebook etc?

Bill: I stopped. When you have thousands of people poking you every day...

Tuesday May 27, 2008 8:07 rafe

8:08

rafe:

Esther Dyson: Steve, ask Bill: Why not do healthcare as a for-profit?

Steve: We're trying to add value to the world through software. It's a big deal for us. We'll see how it all comes together, we have value to add to healthcare in software.

Tuesday May 27, 2008 8:08 rafe

8:08

rafe:

And that's the end

Tuesday May 27, 2008 8:08 rafe

8:08

rafe:

Thanks all for your comments, I am very sorry I couldn't get to most of them

Tuesday May 27, 2008 8:08 rafe

8:09

[Comment From DD: ]

as the web 2.0 blogger @ C|Net you don't believe in Hybrid apps?