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Mom Blasts Ballmer Over Kid's Vista Experience

Posted by Zonk on from the i-know-bill-gates-i-call-him-money-for-short dept.

Lucas123 writes "While on stage at a Gartner's ITxpo conference today, Ballmer got an ear-full from the mother of a 13-year-old girl who said after installing Vista on her daughter's computer she decided only two days later to switch back to XP because Vista was so difficult. Ballmer defended Vista saying: 'Your daughter saw a lot of value'; to which the mother replied: 'She's 13.' Ballmer said that Vista is bigger than XP, and 'for some people that's an issue, and it's not going to get smaller in any significant way in SP1. But machines are constantly getting bigger, and [it's] probably important to remember that as well.' Says the mother: 'Good, I'll let you come in and install it for me.'"

2 of 767 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Still by allthingscode · · Score: 1, Troll

    She probably went back to XP because she hasn't been exposed to Linux, one of the perks of being a monopoly.

    I switched my family to Debian form XP, switched the default desktop from Gnome to KDE, and my kids haven't missed a beat. It's been especially nice for them because none of that crap gets installed on Linux that was constantly getting installed on Windows, taking up hard drive space, slowing down the machine, making it impossible to shut it down, etc.

  2. Re:Love/Hate Relationship? by zanaxagoras · · Score: 1, Troll

    13 year olds see a lot of value in Zwinkies, expensive ring-tones, and fake plastic jewelry. So when it comes to deciding value, "she's 13" is a perfectly good answer. 100% incorrect. The 13 year old didn't buy and install Vista. Most 13 year olds don't have the option of buying things themselves, because they have no criteria. Therefore, the reply "she's 13" is actually irrelevant to Ballmer's statement, since it was the mother's decision and responsibility to buy and install Vista, NOT the 13-year-old's.

    This is no different than a frustrated Dad on a late Xmas eve struggling to assemble a very simple toy or bicycle and not having the skill/patience/RTFM-skills to succeed, and, rather than accept his own shortcomings, turns around and exploits the kid's Xmas morning disappointment to unfairly berate the manufacturer.