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Ballmer's quest to compete with Google

September 26, 2008, 9:44am PDT | Length: 00:07:03
At a Churchill Club event in Santa Clara, Calif., Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer talks to Ann Winblad, a partner at Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, on its long-term strategy to battle Google in the search market. Ballmer says that to succeed, the company will have to find a way to change the experience and the economics of search, redefining the category.
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Talkback Most Recent of 19 Talkback(s)

  • Young Frankenstein
    What ya think? Doesn't he look like him?
    ZDNet Gravatar
    tburzio
    26th Sep 2008
  • Peter Boyle was the monster in Young Frankenstein.
    The doctor in Young Frankenstein was Dr. Frankenstein, the
    creature/monster did not have a name. And yes, Ballmer
    does have a striking resemblance to Peter Boyle in Young
    Frankenstein.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    B.O.F.H.
    26th Sep 2008
  • Thank you
    For the insightful comment.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Fil0403
    29th Sep 2008
  • Except Ballmer is Nowhere NEAR As Sympathetic or Likeable!
    Sorry, but Ballmer reminds me of High School football coaches I've known - loud, bullying, obnoxious, someone who mistakes chair-throwing for passion. But that's not really germane to the topic under discussion.

    What IS germane is that Ballmer wants to play Gates's game of "I'll copy what you're doing - and push out so many copies of it and lobby to get my version in over yours that you'll drown under my marketing muscle!" - only he's nowhere near as good at it as Gates was. It doesn't feel like a strategy as much as Ballmer desperately flailing about for something That Is All His and Not Bill Gates's.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    drprodny
    29th Sep 2008
  • Ignorant
    What ya think? Doesn't your comment sound like it?
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Fil0403
    29th Sep 2008
  • Microsoft manufactures software computer parts
    If I were Dell how would I view this compete with Google stuff.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    BALTHOR
    26th Sep 2008
  • No such thing as "software computer parts"
    If I were you I'd stop doing drugs.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Fil0403
    29th Sep 2008
  • My, Fil0403! Are You a PAID Shill for MicroShaft?
    Or do you do it b/c you have no life...?
    ZDNet Gravatar
    drprodny
    29th Sep 2008
  • Ugh.
    Thought I was getting an article, not a video. Didn't watch.

    To the point: Ballmer says to succeed at competing with GOOG, M$ has to "change the experience and economics of search". Translated: since GOOG has done exceptionally well at the search experience and making it pay, M$ can beat GOOG by making search no longer profitable. Can there be any other interpretation?? As usual...M$ can subsidize another unprofitable division via its two tired-horse standbys.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    techboy_z
    26th Sep 2008
  • Microsoft needs to aim for what Google will be doing
    As Google is accelerating into the distance, that's kind of difficult. Google just entered a Microsoft market with the Google Phone. This technology is so good, I think it will blow away Windows CE.

    How can microsoft VOIP compete with Skype also. Skype, a tiny company, with an infrastructure-less phone system. Go for skype, you don't need a guy running the system on your own box, and you don't need a box at all.
    Much cheaper, and it's already so good.

    I think Microsoft need to reinvent themselves, but aiming for me-too products is guaranteed to generate failure.

    Their main product was exceptional at the time, because the only GUI around was tied to expensive hardware, and the office suite worked very well with the GUI.

    Apart from some penetration into the server market, that's pretty much the story to date.
    Personally I think it's time for Microsoft to make hardware and become excellent at it. Dell are stopping manufacturing, IBM doesn't anymore, pretty much everything else is offshore, so what's the problem?

    They did a good job with the Xbox, Xbox360 was a disaster (hardware wise) but they can learn. A Microsoft laptop would be interesting... (and a desktop range, with a top of the range 8 core in the lineup).

    Google will enter this space also at some time of course, so best to get established.

    Imagine that Apple, Microsoft and Google hardware. It would be a battle and a half, and the customer would win win win.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    stevey_d
    27th Sep 2008
  • Microsoft doesn't need to do anything
    "As Google is accelerating into the distance, that's kind of difficult."
    There's a difference between accelerating into the distance (Google Search) and already having 90+% market for more than a decade (Microsoft Windows).

    "This technology is so good, I think it will blow away Windows CE."
    Maybe, but when you talk about Windows Mobile 7 the story is probably a little different.

    "How can microsoft VOIP compete with Skype also."
    Assuming that's a question, I would say hardly, but then again I wouldn't say it was easy to compete with IBM, Lotus Notes, Apple Macintosh, etc., either (and look where they are now).

    "Go for skype, you don't need a guy running the system on your own box, and you don't need a box at all."
    How many people do you know using Skype out of their PC?

    "Much cheaper, and it's already so good."
    Much cheaper than what? (a product you don't even really know yet?)

    "I think Microsoft need to reinvent themselves, but aiming for me-too products is guaranteed to generate failure."
    I think the world's largest software company (the one responsible for that OS that has 90+% of the market) knows a thing or two about how to generate success, they don't need strategy lessons.

    "Their main product was exceptional at the time, because the only GUI around was tied to expensive hardware, and the office suite worked very well with the GUI."
    Their main products are exceptional, because they are superior to the competition, namely in terms of compatibility and usability.

    "Apart from some penetration into the server market, that's pretty much the story to date."
    Apart from Internet Explorer, Office, Windows, Windows Media Player, Windows Server, Xbox, yes that's pretty much the story to date (i.e. being superior to the competition).

    "Personally I think it's time for Microsoft to make hardware and become excellent at it."
    Personally I think it's time for people to start living with the fact that Microsoft is (still) the largest software (not hardware) company in the world.

    "Dell are stopping manufacturing, IBM doesn't anymore, pretty much everything else is offshore, so what's the problem?"
    The problem is that companies like Apple do it and, apart from the iPod, are not doing really that well (unless you prefer hype to numbers, and consider having 10-% market a success, in which case we can say that Microsoft is successful in the search market, which I personally find ridiculous).

    "They did a good job with the Xbox, Xbox360 was a disaster (hardware wise) but they can learn."
    For a so-called "disaster" (hardware wise or not), I'd say it's doing pretty well (20+ million units sold, around 1 million behind the leader and IMO-superior Nintendo Wii).

    "A Microsoft laptop would be interesting... (and a desktop range, with a top of the range 8 core in the lineup)."
    I personally don't want a company to own my laptop and tell me what I can do with it and not (if I would I'd buy a Mac), things are fine the way they are IMO.

    "Google will enter this space also at some time of course, so best to get established."
    My advice to them is "good luck".

    "Imagine that Apple, Microsoft and Google hardware. It would be a battle and a half, and the customer would win win win."
    I don't think the customer would win that much by having 2 more companies fighting hardware among the tens of companies that already "hardware"; IMO customers win by having Microsoft employees making the best (Windows Vista) even better (Windows 7).
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Fil0403
    29th Sep 2008
  • Ugh.
    You don't watch the video but you comment on comments made by Steve Ballmer on that video; no wonder your comment is so ignorant.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Fil0403
    29th Sep 2008
  • They can't win
    They cannot win because they are out of touch and stodgy,
    and have never won at any market where people actually
    have a choice.
    Maybe some more commercials with television comedians.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    HollywoodDog
    27th Sep 2008
  • That's what people said with Windows and Office
    They can win because they are simply the world's biggest software company and they already did with Office, Windows, Windows Media Player, Windows Server, etc., and I don't know in which sad country you live in, but in my small one (Portugal) I can choose OpenOffice (free), Mac, iTunes (free) / QuickTime (free) / WinAmp (free), Linux, etc..
    Maybe some more idiots with ignorant comments.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Fil0403
    29th Sep 2008
  • Okay - You Just Have No Life, Fil0403
    Doesn't your Mommy cut off your Internet access when she catches you trolling for MicroShaft...?
    ZDNet Gravatar
    drprodny
    29th Sep 2008
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