Risky in a legal sense maybe? It seems to me Microsoft has been really trigger shy about pushing forward on integrating all their various services and non-PC products closely with Windows due to their past problems with DOJ/EU. I feel like if they made a big push to integrate things like Zune Pass, Xbox Live integration, Windows Phone, cloud services, Bing search/maps, etc they would have a much more compelling platform. All their competitors are doing it so maybe they now have the cover they need with the DOJ/EU to wrap everything together.
Here's the bit I found most interesting, wherein Steve has a hard time selling the idea that "Windows" is somehow the same whether it's the Windows 7 variant on the HP pad or a WP7 phone. The interviewer wanted to know if the latter was coming to tablets, but Ballmer didn't pick up on that or tried to deflect the implicit fragmentation question.<p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKB8XEXm3Oo#t=2m54s" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKB8XEXm3Oo#t=2m54s</a>
I thought Scoble's take on this was actually kind of interesting.<p><a href="http://scobleizer.com/2010/10/22/starbucks-cio-shows-why-next-version-of-windows-is-risky/" rel="nofollow">http://scobleizer.com/2010/10/22/starbucks-cio-shows-why-nex...</a>
I dunno. I'm kind of having a flashback to the 2003 Longhorn video. Wasn't that kind of the same message, promising all the risky and exciting things that were in a release mere months away?
Hrmm...people still listen to Balmer? As far as I am concerned, Microsoft would be in the exact same position today (or maybe even better off) if there was no one in top spot.<p>It has become a well-oiled machine that can just continue churning out Windows & Office versions.<p>There will be no one to drive new product innovation, granted, but there is no one there right now either.
His argument that Windows is no longer a game changer seems somewhat faulty.<p>He claims Apple has impact because they decided not to support flash, so he is now moving Starbucks to HTML5.<p>But if Microsoft decided to not support HTML5, would he still be using HTML5? I personally would still hedge my bets with more people using Windows than Macs.
Microsoft has never released a new version of Windows without referring to it as a "bet-the-company" release. This includes Vista. Just because they say it, doesn't mean it's true -- in fact it's probably never actually been true.