ie8 fix
madison

Hardware 2.0

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes
Home / News & Blogs / Hardware 2.0

UPDATE - Apple and Microsoft CEOs will not share stage time at WWDC 2010 ... (hell hasn't frozen over!)

By | May 27, 2010, 10:50am PDT

Summary: I don’t know if this is fact, fiction or just plain wishful thinking, but there’s a report out that Apple CEO Steve Jobs may share a little stage time with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer at this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference.

[UPDATE: Thought it was too good to be true:

Steve Ballmer not speaking at Apple Dev Conf. Nor appearing on Dancing with the Stars. Nor riding in the Belmont. Just FYI.

Ahh well ...]

I don’t know if this is fact, fiction or just plain wishful thinking, but there’s a report out that Apple CEO Steve Jobs may share a little stage time with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer at this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference.

Has hell frozen over or something?!?!?!

Trip Chowdhry, an analyst with tiny Global Equities Research, contends that 7 minutes of the June 7 keynote by Apple CEO Steve Jobs has been blocked off for a presentation by Microsoft (MSFT) to talk about Visual Studio 2010, the company’s suite of development tools.

I’d love to see this happen, because it could be a lot of fun and could make a great “I’m a Mac, and I’m a PC” spoof. But personal enjoyment aside, I can’t seen any real legs to this story.

Poll

Who'd like to see Jobs and Ballmer share stage time at WWDC?

OK, it’s true that “business is business” and during times of war that “my enemy’s enemy is my friend” and all that, but a VS 2010 dev tool for the iPhone platform makes little sense. For example, how could VS 2010 compete with free dev tools by Apple? What about the iPhone simulator, that seems tied to the Mac OS? Would Apple share info on future products with Microsoft?

That said, this could be related to Bing search, or possibly mapping.

Or maybe it’s nothing …

… but it would be highly entertaining to see what hardened fanboys from both sides would make of such an on-stage union.

Kick off your day with ZDNet's daily e-mail newsletter. It's the freshest tech news and opinion, served hot. Get it.

More from “Hardware 2.0”

Topics

Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp., Tool, CEO, Productivity, Apple Mac OS, Desktops, Smart Phones, Operating Systems, Software, Hardware, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology.

Disclosure

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

All opinions expressed on Hardware 2.0 are those of Adrian Kingsley-Hughes. Every effort is made to ensure that the information posted is accurate. If you have any comments, queries or corrections, please contact Adrian via the email link here. Any possible conflicts of interest will be posted below. [Updated: February 23, 2010] - Adrian Kingsley-Hughes has no business relationships, affiliations, investments, or other actual/potential conflicts of interest relating to the content posted so far on this blog.

Biography

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology -- whether that be by learning to program, building a PC from a pile of parts, or helping them get the most from their new MP3 player or digital camera.

Adrian has authored/co-authored technical books on a variety of topics, ranging from programming to building and maintaining PCs. His most recent books include "Build the Ultimate Custom PC", "Beginning Programming" and "The PC Doctor's Fix It Yourself Guide". He has also written training manuals that have been used by a number of Fortune 500 companies.

Adrian also runs a popular blog under the name The PC Doctor, where he covers a range of computer-related topics -- from security to repairing and upgrading.

Related Discussions on TechRepublic

Did you know you can take part in these discussions with your ZDNet membership?
Ask a Question Start a Discussion
20
Comments
Add Your Opinion

Join the conversation!

Just In

People fail to realize...
bckerr 28th May 2010
that Microsoft bailed out Apple at one point and owns part of it...those two companies have been collaborating for quite some time now and pulling the wool over our eyes. Curse them!
View in thread
0 Votes
+ -
Death match!?!
James Quinn 27th May 2010
Balmer has weight for sure but Job's might be able to use that size against him. Have you seen that man sweat when active only slightly!!! Any intense activity might cause a massive coronary:P

Pagan jim
0 Votes
+ -
It's probably not anything related to Visual Studio
LBiege 27th May 2010
Just BING on iPhone / iPad or sth.
0 Votes
+ -
Unless, of course, Steve Job's liver gives/falls out
John Zern 27th May 2010
then it's just a waiting game between the two, and my guess that Balmer has more "reserves" to access:P
0 Votes
+ -
I'll give you that one....
James Quinn 27th May 2010
@John Zern
Balmer certainly has more.. Much more reserves. Still it takes more to get that "reserve" going and keep it going. Jobs by the look of him can last all day on a single chip.

Pagan jim
0 Votes
+ -
RE: Apple and Microsoft CEOs may share stage time at WWDC 2010 ... has hell frozen over?
Mr.Gonzo 27th May 2010
Apple earns lots of money with their app store. But they are limiting their developers to the apple plattform. The World is running Windows on the desktop with thousands and thousands of developers out there. There are certainly lots of companies out there that are running their IT on Windows, but also would provide certain software apps to the mobile plattform (and IPhone hast lots of market share). On the other side, Microsoft could push Visual Studio 2010 and provide developers some good reasons for an update.
There are lots of possibilities for collaboration.

Sure, Bing as an exclusive search provider would could be another possibility.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: Apple and Microsoft CEOs may share stage time at WWDC 2010 ... has hell frozen over?
steve.ro 27th May 2010
I'd go there just to see Ballmer throw a chair at jobs.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: Apple and Microsoft CEOs may share stage time at WWDC 2010 ... has hell frozen over?
Loverock Davidson 27th May 2010
Um... not the first time an Apple and Microsoft CEO were together. There have been a couple of interviews with Steve Jobs and Bill Gates in the same room. ZDNet quality of journalism is going downhill really quick.
0 Votes
+ -
I have one message to Balmer
NonZealot 27th May 2010
It's a trick, get an axe.
0 Votes
+ -
I have to give it to you that's a good one!
James Quinn 27th May 2010
@NonZealot
Nice change of pace for you:P

Pagan jim
0 Votes
+ -
RE: Apple and Microsoft CEOs may share stage time at WWDC 2010 ... has hell frozen over?
Loverock Davidson 27th May 2010
@NonZealot
LOL, classic!
0 Votes
+ -
To join forces, pehaps?
OS Reload 27th May 2010
They both foresee dire challenges ahead, joining forces against their common nemesis is their best bet at resisting its fury.
0 Votes
+ -
Or just to entertain the audience, perhaps?
OS Reload 27th May 2010
I heard that Apple fans have been complaining to Jobs because the show's flair has been droping sharply in recent years.

Jobs obliged. This year they will have the monkey dance performed live.
0 Votes
+ -
Steve Jobs is going to dance the monkey dance?
John Zern 27th May 2010
or will he get the engineer that left the iPhone at the bar to do it? happy
0 Votes
+ -
Guess so. Apparently Ballmer balked.
OS Reload 27th May 2010
@John Zern

Rumors have it that Ballmer is too nervous, a typical case of stage fright. I suppose his coronary problems are playing a role too.

Jobs will have no other option but to take Ballmer's place. It's either that or disappoint his audience.
0 Votes
+ -
Or even better...
Rick_K 27th May 2010
The low-life that pick-pocketed the iPhone of of the Apple engineer. wink
0 Votes
+ -
I miss Bill Gates
Cylon Centurion 27th May 2010
Enough of Ballmer
0 Votes
+ -
Nah, Gates is a poor dancer
OS Reload 27th May 2010
Ballmer is better, and he can throw chairs too.

Gates is a better geek. Did you know Gates could code like this? (caution, that game is addictive.)
0 Votes
+ -
RE: Apple and Microsoft CEOs may share stage time at WWDC 2010 ... has hell
Rick_K 27th May 2010
So ZDNet has sunk to filing rumors as news stories? Talk about an all-time low. I guess it is a bit (mind you only a small bit) better than the constant Apple bashing, but still Does every article about Apple, have to contain a Microsoft reference?
0 Votes
+ -
It makes perfect sense...
GoodThings2Life 27th May 2010
A Windows-based, Visual Studio-based development tool means any/all of the following:

1) Silverlight on iPhone ... and therefore full, cross-platform development possible between iPhone and Windows Phone 7.

2) More iPhone developers, and see the previous item for why there will be more Windows Phone developers.

It's a win-win for Microsoft and a win for Apple.
0 Votes
+ -
People fail to realize...
bckerr 28th May 2010
that Microsoft bailed out Apple at one point and owns part of it...those two companies have been collaborating for quite some time now and pulling the wool over our eyes. Curse them!

Join the conversation!

Formatting +
BB Codes - Note: HTML is not supported in forums
  • [b] Bold [/b]
  • [i] Italic [/i]
  • [u] Underline [/u]
  • [s] Strikethrough [/s]
  • [q] "Quote" [/q]
  • [ol][*] 1. Ordered List [/ol]
  • [ul][*] · Unordered List [/ul]
  • [pre] Preformat [/pre]
  • [quote] "Blockquote" [/quote]
ie8 fix
Click Here
ie8 fix

The best of ZDNet, delivered

ZDNet Newsletters

Get the best of ZDNet delivered straight to your inbox

Facebook Activity

Blog Roll

Blog Archive

White Papers, Webcasts, & Resources
ie8 fix
ie8 fix