Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

turtle777 · Oct 4, 2004, 09:17 AM

> Ballmer also took the opportunity to take yet another dig at Apple,
> calling iPod users music thieves.

> Ballmer said: 'We�ve had DRM in Windows for years.
> The most common format of music on an iPod is 'stolen'.'"

What an idiot !

But at least he can dance.
Check out his iPod commercial

http://www.macboy.com/cartoons/ballmer/

-t

Peter · Oct 4, 2004, 09:23 AM

Originally posted by turtle777:

http://www.macboy.com/cartoons/ballmer/

demograph68 · Oct 4, 2004, 09:30 AM

He's very entertaining in a not so cool way.

turtle777 · Oct 4, 2004, 09:33 AM

Originally posted by Peter:
...

-t

Gee4orce · Oct 4, 2004, 09:42 AM

This is rich coming from Micosoft - the company that stole it's entire GUI from the Mac.

Hey - I'd love to see Celebrity Death Match: Steve Balmer vs. Phil Schiller !!

Commodus · Oct 4, 2004, 09:48 AM

I love how he's just completely caving in to corporate greed. "Don't support Apple! A lot of people using iPods have stolen music on them!" Yeah, as if every single owner of any other player is doing nothing but dutifully ripping CDs and buying from MSN Music or Napster. That the iTunes Music Store has a greater marketshare than all the other music stores combined doesn't seem to bear any relevance.

(hint to Ballmer: non-Apple players can play unguarded music formats, too)

The worst part is that he's taking the negative approach to promoting his company's products: insult your rival's entire user base and say that they're going the wrong way. How about telling us why your products are better from the user's perspective?

typoon · Oct 4, 2004, 10:12 AM

I think we need to start talking about the Ballmer RDF as opposed to Jobs' RDF. I think Ballmers is much more distorted.

d4nth3m4n · Oct 4, 2004, 10:15 AM

Originally posted by Gee4orce:
This is rich coming from Micosoft - the company that stole it's entire GUI from the Mac.

which Mac stole from xerox... what's your point?

mdc · Oct 4, 2004, 10:17 AM

from zdnet article on ballmer

"Apple can't do it," says Ballmer of the complete converged environment: what he means is if Microsoft can't do it with all that money and marketing muscle, he's damned if he see how anyone else can.

dav · Oct 4, 2004, 10:22 AM

Originally posted by d4nth3m4n:
which Mac stole from xerox... what's your point?

i tend to agree with this guy...
apple gui

Langdon · Oct 4, 2004, 11:04 AM

If the iTunes music store is the most widely used online music service and it only works with the iPod would it not stand to reason that iPods have more legally downloaded music then other companies' players that use MP3s? And that is everyone who makes digital music players with the exception of Sony.

BTW- this is a horrible thread title. If people don't read the Macnn front page they won't have any idea what this is about.

Twilly Spree · Oct 4, 2004, 11:10 AM

Originally posted by d4nth3m4n:
which Mac stole from xerox... what's your point?

Jobs was so hot on the concepts of UI, and the living Demos he say, that he, later, negotiated a deal with Xerox. He gave Xerox a large sum of stock in Apple (worth Millions) if he could come back, and bring some programmers -- to inspire them more on the concepts of GUI. This was like a one-day tour. This was agreed to by Xerox, and so by no stretch of the imagination could this be called "ripping-off".

FulcrumPilot · Oct 4, 2004, 11:11 AM

Great!! You've got to thank him! He just alienated millions!! He also just chose who side he is on when it comes to technology! He may regret and I wont be surprised if he comes back and says "I think I have been misquoted er..what I was trying to say was...bla blah".

GoGoReggieXPowars · Oct 4, 2004, 11:12 AM

Originally posted by d4nth3m4n:
which Mac stole from xerox... what's your point?

Fleetwood?

Ballmer's a clown.

DeathMan · Oct 4, 2004, 11:15 AM

Originally posted by d4nth3m4n:
which Mac stole from xerox... what's your point?

From a guy that was there

nath · Oct 4, 2004, 12:02 PM

with Ballmer's monkeying about and Bill G's rather spiteful comment about Steve Jobs' kids a few months ago, does anyone feel that MS is starting to rachet up the aggression again?

Maybe this is all a response to 'Redmond, We Have a Problem'...

Spheric Harlot · Oct 4, 2004, 12:41 PM

Originally posted by d4nth3m4n:
which Mac stole from xerox...

"bought", not "stole".

Same difference as between iPod users and friends of Microsoft DRM.

If you're gonna be picky...

ironknee · Oct 4, 2004, 12:55 PM

it's the geeks trying to be cool like steve

TheBadgerHunter · Oct 4, 2004, 01:11 PM

Originally posted by d4nth3m4n:
which Mac stole from xerox... what's your point?

Borrowed, not stolen.

mdc · Oct 4, 2004, 01:16 PM

Originally posted by nath:
. . . Bill G's rather spiteful comment about Steve Jobs' kids a few months ago, . . .

i think i missed that one.
could you tell what happened?

thank you

nath · Oct 4, 2004, 02:03 PM

Originally posted by mdc:
i think i missed that one.
could you tell what happened?

thank you

google is your friend

http://www.macminute.com/2004/09/08/gatesjobs/

I didn't actually notice the 'Finding Nemo' bit before, which kind of sweetens what is otherwise a pretty snidey thing to say.

It's funny actually, it really chimes in with the caricatures of Jobs and Gates shown in 'Pirates of Silicon Valley'. There's a big theme throughout that Jobs and co. think MS will never beat them because 'they've got no culture'. It would appear that Bill and Ballmer are still a little sore about that - and the iPod is kind of symbolic of their inability to come up with new stuff that really blows people away.

mdc · Oct 4, 2004, 03:30 PM

in my defense, i did try and google. i just had no idea what to search for.

turtle777 · Oct 4, 2004, 03:57 PM

Originally posted by mdc:
in my defense, i did try and google. i just had no idea what to search for.

Even Google is helpless in these cases

I tried to find tommorows lottery numbers, but no luck either

-t

Lancer409 · Oct 4, 2004, 05:09 PM

Lancer409 · Oct 4, 2004, 05:10 PM

Originally posted by Peter:

tooki would be happy =P

olePigeon · Oct 4, 2004, 05:31 PM

Originally posted by typoon:
I think Ballmers is much more distorted.

No, that's just how he looks.

olePigeon · Oct 4, 2004, 05:37 PM

Originally posted by d4nth3m4n:
which Mac stole from xerox... what's your point?

Huge difference in the "stealing" part. Apple payed Xerox quite a bit of money for a "tour" of Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center. The engineers at PARC were pissed off because they new exactly what was going on.

The tour, in essence, was just Xerox handing Apple a picture book in exchange for a lot of money and said, "Here, take a look. You can't see any of our source code but this is a detailed picture-by-picture diagram of exactly how it operates and what it should look like." To which Apple replied, "Nudge, nudge, wink, wink. Say no more!"

Edit: Didn't see the link. Anyway, mine's the short, short version.

cold_reality · Oct 4, 2004, 07:10 PM

Originally posted by turtle777:
>
> Ballmer said: 'We�ve had DRM in Windows for years.
> The most common format of music on an iPod is 'stolen'.'"

What an idiot !
-t

Who owns an ipod here? I smell a slander lawsuit

Krusty · Oct 4, 2004, 08:38 PM

It never ceases to amaze me how Microsoft doesn't "get it". Not only that they don't "get it" ... but that they don't "get it" that they don't "get it".

Can't wait to see M$ little handheld video players. "Tiny little Blue Screens of Death that fit right in your pocket !!!"� I envision yet another device that ends up being more of a hassle to use than is worth taking with you. Designed to fill a niche that really isn't begging to be filled and will doubtless have a horrible UI and form factor. Gonna be one hot seller ... til its been out for 6 months and people realize what a dud of an idea it is.

mdc · Oct 4, 2004, 08:57 PM

hmmmmm

hyperb0le · Oct 4, 2004, 09:52 PM

Originally said by Bill Gates:
"I guess Steve's kids just listen to Bach and Mozart," Gates quipped.

Good job, Bill. Way to alienate everyone who enjoys real music. Does this mean the MSN Music Store will only have Hillary Duff and 50 Cent tracks?

CollinG3G4 · Oct 4, 2004, 10:31 PM

Originally posted by hyperb0le:
Good job, Bill. Way to alienate everyone who enjoys real music. Does this mean the MSN Music Store will only have Hillary Duff and 50 Cent tracks?

well naturally!

Kenneth · Oct 4, 2004, 10:48 PM

Originally posted by hyperb0le:
Good job, Bill. Way to alienate everyone who enjoys real music. Does this mean the MSN Music Store will only have Hillary Duff and 50 Cent tracks?

It doesn't carry music by Hilary Duff. May be you mean Avril Lavigne, Ashlee Simpson, or JoJo..

Hawkeye_a · Oct 4, 2004, 11:13 PM

Originally posted by d4nth3m4n:
which Mac stole from xerox... what's your point?

Apple paid Xerox's brass for having a look at their research on GUIs at PARC. Xerox willingly gave up it's intellectual property for a price that Apple willingly paid them.

Microsoft didnt pay Apple anything for the intellectual property.

Stogieman · Oct 5, 2004, 12:39 AM

"We�ve had DRM in Windows for years. The most common format of music on an iPod is 'stolen'." - Steve Ballmer

Right after he made the above statement, Ballmer realized he was still wearing the in-flight movie headphones he stole on this trip to London.

MilkmanDan · Oct 5, 2004, 07:23 AM

Man, old Microsoft CEO should take it easy. A man in his condition shouldn't be exerting himself so much, he could have a heart attack.

Honestly, go figure. Microsoft is ticked that a company they screwed over 20 years ago, is still doing a better job then they are.

gatekeeper · Oct 5, 2004, 07:31 AM

What Steve Ballmer said

Since I was at Sunday's round table meeting with Steve Ballmer -- unlike some of the people writing rubbish about it -- and since I have it on tape, I can tell you what exactly what he said.

dav · Oct 5, 2004, 07:33 AM

Originally posted by Hawkeye_a:
Apple paid Xerox's brass for having a look at their research on GUIs at PARC. Xerox willingly gave up it's intellectual property for a price that Apple willingly paid them.

Microsoft didnt pay Apple anything for the intellectual property.

even then, it was some concepts apple saw (some of which pre-exist parc's implementation). apple built on those concepts (redefined them), created their own, and wrote all their own code for an entirely different functioning computer. apple innovated.

strictlyplaid · Oct 5, 2004, 07:40 AM

Originally posted by hyperb0le:
Good job, Bill. Way to alienate everyone who enjoys real music. Does this mean the MSN Music Store will only have Hillary Duff and 50 Cent tracks?

Having read what Bill Gates said, it can hardly be interpreted as anything but a friendly jab. Ballmer, well that's another story.

But I think it's more telling that you people still get all twisted up every time Bill Gates "slanders" the iLeader. Sour grapes?

<cue the lecture about Mac superiority!>

MilkmanDan · Oct 5, 2004, 08:09 AM

In Japan you can rent CDs from stores for under $2. I told my host mom that we couldn't rent CDs in America, and she was super surprised. Time for me to increase my American and Japanese music collection while here in Japan. 13,000 songs and growing.

demograph68 · Oct 5, 2004, 08:19 AM

Originally posted by MilkmanDan:
I told my host mom that we couldn't rent CDs in America

Library?

MilkmanDan · Oct 5, 2004, 08:22 AM

The library doesn't have a selection like this. Tons of every type of music, as much as you'd find in any store.

turtle777 · Oct 5, 2004, 09:59 AM

Originally posted by MilkmanDan:
In Japan you can rent CDs from stores for under $2. I told my host mom that we couldn't rent CDs in America, and she was super surprised. Time for me to increase my American and Japanese music collection while here in Japan. 13,000 songs and growing.

In Germany, it was possible for a while to rent music CDs. Most of the renatl places (if not all) had to discontinue this. I was told it had legal reasons. Probably the MI making too much pressure...

-t

Kenneth · Oct 5, 2004, 10:22 AM

Originally posted by MilkmanDan:
The library doesn't have a selection like this. Tons of every type of music, as much as you'd find in any store.

The library system in my county got them I guess.. including Hollywoods' DVDs.