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Is Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer really America’s worst CEO?

What's offtopic about that?

Is Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer really America’s worst CEO?

They have one, it's called "Google Chrome". Also, spellcheck is a great help there, it'd help Larry correct his sentence from "There also we be ..." to "There also we are ..." instead of munged up by phone's autocorrect "will be".

Right, but not even 20 years ago they were a bit player in the office products business, and not a player at all in the game console business.

Their console business is still not sustainable after all these years.

Just completely forget that there is, oh I don't know, the XBOX.

The whole XBOX business has been a cash sink for Microsoft. Don't forget that the Entertainment division collects the royalties from Android makers (that is hundreds of millions for free) and still it is in the red ( http://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/xbox.jpg ).

This is slashdot. There won't be hot singles ads flashing up on the folks that hang out here. There will be ads for "Fleshlight" popping up.

Or vagina.

http://www.geekwire.com/2012/raunchy-windows-azure-dance-routine/

Or you go to the website of the email address: http://donuts.co/

From their Team page:

Dan Schindler
Co-Founder and Executive Vice President, Sales and Marketing

From their about us page:

Donuts is a domain name registry bringing variety and choice to Internet naming.

The company was founded by long-standing industry executives with experience in registry and registrar operations and industry regulation, and who have successfully launched top-level domains (TLDs), built industry-leading companies, and brought value and choice to the domain name marketplace.

Donuts has applied for more than 300 TLDs and intends to secure and operate each. The company is well-resourced by substantial funding from multi-billion dollar private equity and venture capital funds.

Looking at their investors, they have a lot of VC money. Looks like a startup trying to cash in on this. Though, it could be looked at in another light, that they are trying to provide a multitude of TLDs for people to use.

A news story about the company: http://www.geekwire.com/2012/seattle-area-startup-raised-100m-series-financing/
They have $100 million in funding.

Here, future reader. Although the link will probably be broken 10 minutes after this post.

`In 1991, Myhrvold predicted the emergence of the iPhone down to the smallest detail' link

I'm quite frankly amazed as to why at the time, he didn't patent the innovation ?

It looks rectangular with round corners, and a flat black screen...

Going the DRM-free route is truly surprising and appreciated, but it's tainted by the eBooks all being more expensive than the paperback versions. That's a hard sell for a lot of people. :-/

I agree that going DRM free was a surprise, especially from JKR, who has long been very much adverse to ebook releases, often citing piracy as one of her objections. Apparently once you are filthy rich its not such an issue any more.

As for the Ebooks being more expensive, this too may fall, because until Apple got involved with ebooks, it didn't use to be that way. Books in Ebook format used to be 5 to 7 bucks, 9 bucks for a best seller. Then Apple enabled the publishers to adopt their so called Agency Model, and all the ebook prices jumped. Everybody else had no choice but to go along. The DOJ is currently looking into this, and in fact there are already indications that some publishers are quietly talking settlement.

Because of Apple's well placed friends, it took an EU Investigation to nudge the DOJ into action.

Cut workforce, moved a lot of stuff to other countries, and most important - it's because they're hugely profitable and pay a regular dividend.

Investors like profits, but they LOVE dividends, especially in this economy.

So when it comes to OS vendors, we have Apple being the most profitable, Microsoft at #2, Google at #3, and RedHat at #4.

Any distro except RedHat running at a profit? Canonical? Nope, never did, never will. Mandriva? Struggling to stay out of bankruptcy court. Suse? Dependent on another $100 million of "license purchases" over the next 4 years since it was purchased by Microsoft's new BFF Attachmate. Fedora? Supported by RedHat. Debian? Survives on donations, not really enough to pay for staff. Mint? Thanks to Canonical dropping the ball, Mint actually now has two paid full-time staff!!!.

None of the distros, with the exception of RedHat, is something that an investor should put serious money into. And that's unfortunate, but it should tell you that fragmentation is a disease, and maybe Canonical closing up shop sometime in the next couple of years will wake people up.

You may want to check those figures again.
http://mobile.twitter.com/cdaffara/status/169836817376493568
"B&N lawsuit: MS asks $7.50-$12.50 per Android device = 3.8%-6.3% of Nook price. And they contest Moto 2.25% request."

http://www.geekwire.com/2012/judge-microsofts-android-tactics-hard-bargaining-patent-misuse

The 2010 research paper "discovered that Microsoft's support website recommends the use of invalid CPs (codes) as a work-around for a problem in IE." This recommendation was a major reason that many of the 11,176 websites provided different code to the one requested by Microsoft.

Watch this part of Jon Stewart show, it has your questioned answered.

Here's the rap video thing, if you can stomach it: http://www.geekwire.com/2011/windows-phone-rap-sleek-microsoft-inside

Sorry if I messed the link up - I don't usually post URLs.

http://www.geekwire.com/2011/microsoft-shareholder-meeting

I would have left too if those were the best answers I could come up with for those questions.

IE sends Firefox Team Cupcake

You don't understand the patent system. Even if the patent is frivolous, it takes expensive litigation to invalidate one patent, forget the thousands Microsoft has registered for Pg Up/ Pg Down to double click.

The patents are frivolous, software patents, with a lot of prior art and can be said to apply to absolutely any computing device these days:

http://www.geekwire.com/2011/microsoft-cites-new-patents-vs-android

The major phone and tablet makers who signed deals with Microsoft are Samsung, HTC who are also coincidentally the only major Windows Phone manufacturers.

Also Microsoft has been in less of a hurry to go after companies with major Windows PC manufacturers like Asus, Acer, Sony etc.

Microsoft is clearly using these patents to stifle Android, and this raises serious anti trust concerns. Many of these patents would not stand up well to a challenge, and many like the FAT patent and the filename system are patents companies are forced to use to maintain compatibility with existing standards.

Also, Microsoft charges more to license these patents than it does to license its Windows Phone operating system:

"The book retailer claims also that the fees Microsoft was demanding were equal to or greater than those it demanded for an entire operating system, Windows Phone, even though the patents covered only "trivial and non-essential design elements" of the Android user interface".

Microsoft is using gangster extortion tactics.

In Barnes & Noble's own words to the court:-
At the meeting, Microsoft alleged that the Nook infringed six patents purportedly owned by Microsoft. Microsoft had prepared claim charts purportedly detailing the alleged infringement but insisted that it would only share the detailed claim charts if Barnes & Noble agreed to sign a non-disclosure agreement (“NDA”) that would cover the claim charts as well as all other aspects of the parties’ discussions. Noting that the patents were public and that the infringement allegations pertained to Barnes & Noble’s public product, Barnes & Noble refused to sign an NDA.

Insisting that an NDA was necessary, Microsoft discussed the alleged infringement on a high level basis only. Microsoft nevertheless maintained that it possessed patents sufficient to dominate and entirely preclude the use of the Android Operating System by the Nook. Microsoft demanded an exorbitant royalty (on a per device basis) for a license to its patent portfolio for the Nook device and at the end of the meeting Microsoft stated that it would demand an even higher per device royalty for any device that acted “more like a computer” as opposed to an eReader.

After sending the proposed license agreement, Microsoft confirmed the shockingly high licensing fees Microsoft was demanding, reiterating its exorbitant per device royalty for Nook, and for the first time demanding a royalty for Nook Color which was more than double the per device royalty Microsoft was demanding for Nook. On information and belief, the license fees demanded by Microsoft are higher than what Microsoft charges for a license to its entire operating system designed for mobile devices, Windows Phone 7

So Microsoft is not trying to license their trivial, dubious software-patents under Fair Reasonable and NON Discriminatory terms. They are trying to drive up the cost of open source beyond what it would cost to purchase windows from them. They are sleazy slimy bullies. Will no longer use or recommend their products to ANYONE.

Sometimes I think that Ellison and Jobs were successful BECAUSE they are/were assholes. They have a vision and relentlessly execute it; screw everyone else.

One could say that about Darth Vader.

And let's put emotions aside.

Agreed.

Well, not entirely. I've noticed your signature for awhile, and I agree wholeheartedly with that! Planning to do something like that the next time I build a website myself.

There are no absolutes when it comes to good and bad, it is all dependent on your point of view.

Maybe. I agree, but a moral objectivist would disagree.

However, a battered wife *is* a bad thing, and by this I mean that it is universally recognized as being a bad thing.

Well, not universally, but...

I am talking about western culture (say, north america and western Europe) which is the only culture I really know.

Mostly. There are certainly subcultures who disagree, but I would agree with your premise, and I'd even apply it beyond that -- while it is not recognized by most islamic countries as a bad thing, I would argue that it is still a bad thing there.

So, a battered wife could be made to believe she deserves what she gets. This is for me nothing else than a form of indoctrination, much like you can make people believe it's a good idea to hijack a plane and crash it into a tower. I don't know how it works...

As an armchair psychologist, I'd guess Stockholm syndrome at least, probably coupled with low self-esteem. Even when they get out of these relationships, these women will internalize the abuse to the point that they will subconsciously seek out abusers, and end up in another abusive relationship. At least, that's my best guess as to why battered wives tend to go from one abusive relationship to the next, while there are many women who will never be abused at all.

Note that I'm not trying to place the blame with the victim here. I'm only pointing out that this cycle exists, and that if she wants to break the cycle, it's not enough to divorce the abuser, or even to jail him. (Of course, the ideal solution is for the abuser to stop abusing...)

Buying a phone with a walled-garden type app store *is not* considered to be a bad thing by most people.

I think the point you continue to miss here is that the analogy is not that it is bad for a person to buy a phone. To stretch the analogy further, that would be blaming the victim. It is not the wife's fault she got hurt, even if she "should've known" that the husband was going to hurt her.

Your point is a good one, but you probably want to word it like this:

Selling a phone with a walled-garden type app store *is not* considered to be a bad thing by most people.

Still, that's a weaker point, because I do consider it to be a bad thing, and I'm not the only one. I can also offer an actual argument for this, and I think it's a good argument. I certainly wouldn't argue that it should be a legal matter -- Apple should be allowed to sell iPhones -- I just think they are morally wrong to do so.

One reason I think this is that it is Apple's goal -- they've made no secret of this -- to expand this model everywhere they can. Macs now include an App Store, though they also allow (for now) traditional apps to be installed by third parties. The iPad was an entry into the tablet space, which was previously occupied mostly by machines running a full desktop version of Windows.

And because they do so well with this model, others follow suit. The next version of desktop Windows will include a mode with an exclusive app store. It's really looking like, in the very near future, general-purpose computers on which I can download an app from anywhere (or program my own) will be expensive hobbyist items, and the computers everyone uses every day will only be able to run approved apps.

And even by explaining to people what exactly happens int

Yes, more details on the patents would be appreciated but the companies involved with these deals must be given more information

What the fuck are you talking about? Microsoft is not giving the information to anyone unless they sign a NDA for public information.

Too bad software made for Windows 8's default "Metro" interface will only be available through Microsoft's App Store. Win32 programs will still be available from other sources, but Metro apps will not.

"In the latest parody remix of Downfall, the classic war film that depicts Adolf Hitler's last days in Berlin. the fictional Hitler unhinges upon learning of HP's decision to abandon WebOS and the TouchPad.

What is Bitcoin? For somebody whos never heard of it before, how do you describe it?

Mike Koss: Bitcoin is a digital currency. The really interesting thing about it is that it's totally decentralized. No government agency, no bank stands behind it. It was a geek by the name of Satoshi Nakamoto who started it in January 2009. He just invented a protocol and said, if you want to join me in this activity, we will all share in this new world of creating our own currency.

So how does it work, exactly? Can you give us a Bitcoin 101 on the mechanics? How do you get a Bitcoin, how is it created, and what's the economy like?

Peter Vessenes: Fundamentally, how you get a Bitcoin would be just like how you buy anything else. You could buy one online because they're digital. You can come by Startpad. Mike will sell you one, or I will sell you one. Or ten or whatever you want. The way most people are obtaining their Bitcoins is just through some economic transfer.

http://www.geekwire.com/2011/rewind-risks-aside-seattle-startup-vets-see-potential-in-bitcoin

This one is If you want to help then recommend the Nook over any other ereader. Amazon caved and payed MS.

We have come to this point because we bitch on slashdot while they bitch to congress and the senate. Get it? How about you join us and write a letter to your congressman and senator about this? Explain to them that Microsoft is again abusing their monopoly in the marketplace by running an extortion campaign to drive up the price of competing products to push them out of the marketplace. Point to the statements from Barnes and Noble

They are doing everything in their power to damage Linux in the marketplace.
They are threating manufacturers actively using litigation to increase the cost of deploying Linux on a device/computer above that of Windows. This is a sleazy tactic but Microsoft is proving itself to be one of the sleaziest companies in tech right now.

The racket goes like this. Microsoft enters your store/shop/company
Microsoft: "You know, Its a dangerous neighborhood around here. You need some protection."
You: "Protection? From who?"
Microsoft: "Well.. from us mainly... IF you fail to get protection from us then you will feel the full wrath of our boys in our legal department."
Microsoft: "Oh and by the way. The specifics of our protection deal is under NDA. You cannot talk about it got it?
You: :-O

http://www.geekwire.com/2011/microsoft-cites-new-patents-vs-android

"In its quarterly filing, Microsoft indicated that the consumer PC market was the primary culprit for the decline — pointing in particular to a 40 percent decline in netbook sales in the consumer market. That’s more evidence of the iPad’s impact on the market. Many consumers are opting for the Apple slate rather than Windows-based netbooks to fill the gap between the PC and the phone."

Stick a fork in the netbook, it is done. It's niche has been largely taken over by a combination of the smartphone and the tablet. To blame "fanboys" for 40% market moves is ridiculous to the extreme and not a little trollish.