Microsoft CEO jokes about Yahoo bid, Search users


Recommended Posts

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp Chief Executive Steve Ballmer may be experiencing a case of bidder's remorse after making an unsolicited $42.3 billion offer to buy Yahoo Inc.

Speaking to a group of nearly 2,000 Microsoft enthusiasts at a technology conference in Seattle, Ballmer asked how many people use Yahoo as their primary Web search engine.

Only a handful of arms went up -- fewer than for Microsoft's Windows Live search. The overwhelming majority raised their hands for Google Inc, which Microsoft is seeking to challenge as an online advertising powerhouse.

After the tepid response for Yahoo's search, Ballmer said jokingly: "Wow! We offered 31 bucks a share."

Yahoo and Microsoft, which rank No. 2 and 3 in Web search respectively, are at a stand-off. Microsoft has said its $31 a share offer is fair, while Yahoo has said the cash-and-stock offer significantly undervalues the company.

source

It's a surprise that this jerk isn't driving the company into ground since he's been alone at the helm.

He isn't? He is. The legacy of his stupidity is only beginning to manifest itself. It's not only Ballmer that's the problem, it's whoever is managing Live. All they do is mindlessly copy Google, such as Live News being the latest example. Microsoft isn't doing anything to offer an alternative or superior product, it offers clones with extra eye candy and proprietary Microsoft crap (e.g. Silverlight) tacked on FOR NO BENEFIT TO USERS.

That is the root of the problem. Ballmer and his gang of thugs aren't concerned about what users want, all they're concerned about is Microsoft stock. If they gave a damn, they'd stop copying Google and Apple and expanding into markets where they offer NO BENEFIT, and concentrated solely on the few products they have that people are stuck with: Windows and Office. Ballmer seems to think the MS OS-Office suite monopoly cannot be defeated, but if MS continues to make any more Vista-like products, if Windows 7 sucks as much as Vista, Ballmer is going to get a very rude awakening by 2010 from Apple, Linux, Google, and VMWare.

And maybe even Yahoo, if MS fails in crushing them.

You know, it's not even MS's monopoly that bothers me. What bothers me is that MS tries to kill off superior products and replace them with it's own Windows flag-branded garbage. When MS can't compete, it buys the competition, or uses it's monopoly to destroy them. What's the benefit to users from all these inferior MS knockoffs that Ballmer is pushing?

He isn't? He is. The legacy of his stupidity is only beginning to manifest itself. It's not only Ballmer that's the problem, it's whoever is managing Live. All they do is mindlessly copy Google, such as Live News being the latest example. Microsoft isn't doing anything to offer an alternative or superior product, it offers clones with extra eye candy and proprietary Microsoft crap (e.g. Silverlight) tacked on FOR NO BENEFIT TO USERS.

That is the root of the problem. Ballmer and his gang of thugs aren't concerned about what users want, all they're concerned about is Microsoft stock. If they gave a damn, they'd stop copying Google and Apple and expanding into markets where they offer NO BENEFIT, and concentrated solely on the few products they have that people are stuck with: Windows and Office. Ballmer seems to think the MS OS-Office suite monopoly cannot be defeated, but if MS continues to make any more Vista-like products, if Windows 7 sucks as much as Vista, Ballmer is going to get a very rude awakening by 2010 from Apple, Linux, Google, and VMWare.

And maybe even Yahoo, if MS fails in crushing them.

You know, it's not even MS's monopoly that bothers me. What bothers me is that MS tries to kill off superior products and replace them with it's own Windows flag-branded garbage. When MS can't compete, it buys the competition, or uses it's monopoly to destroy them. What's the benefit to users from all these inferior MS knockoffs that Ballmer is pushing?

That has to be the funniest rant I've ever read. You obviously know very little about what Microsoft is doing. But don't listen to me, I'm a Microsoft newsposter, so I'm biased anyway ;)

I dunno, I switched from Vista to OSX...its a nice scene change, But I honestly cant say I have any less problems.

Hell after the new Safari 3.1.1(osx) update the machine locked up shutting down.

He isn't? He is. The legacy of his stupidity is only beginning to manifest itself. It's not only Ballmer that's the problem, it's whoever is managing Live. All they do is mindlessly copy Google, such as Live News being the latest example. Microsoft isn't doing anything to offer an alternative or superior product, it offers clones with extra eye candy and proprietary Microsoft crap (e.g. Silverlight) tacked on FOR NO BENEFIT TO USERS.

That is the root of the problem. Ballmer and his gang of thugs aren't concerned about what users want, all they're concerned about is Microsoft stock. If they gave a damn, they'd stop copying Google and Apple and expanding into markets where they offer NO BENEFIT, and concentrated solely on the few products they have that people are stuck with: Windows and Office. Ballmer seems to think the MS OS-Office suite monopoly cannot be defeated, but if MS continues to make any more Vista-like products, if Windows 7 sucks as much as Vista, Ballmer is going to get a very rude awakening by 2010 from Apple, Linux, Google, and VMWare.

And maybe even Yahoo, if MS fails in crushing them.

You know, it's not even MS's monopoly that bothers me. What bothers me is that MS tries to kill off superior products and replace them with it's own Windows flag-branded garbage. When MS can't compete, it buys the competition, or uses it's monopoly to destroy them. What's the benefit to users from all these inferior MS knockoffs that Ballmer is pushing?

+1

Instead of saying Ballmer is a lunatic, why not explain why, I really interested in how he is any worse or better than Bill Gates at running Microsoft other than coming off as a mad man.

On another note, I really hate how lots of Microsoft services have different menu bars. Live services and MSN are suppose to different I know but even their services don't go together in any appealing way. Go to Live Search, then look at Live maps, Live Spaces, MSN, Hotmail. They are all over the place.

Ballmer seems to think the MS OS-Office suite monopoly cannot be defeated, but if MS continues to make any more Vista-like products, if Windows 7 sucks as much as Vista, Ballmer is going to get a very rude awakening by 2010 from Apple, Linux, Google, and VMWare.

Vista is bad?

iWonder what MS would be like if Jobs took the helm. :whistle:

It would be on the verge of bankruptcy before a more successful company cuts them a cheque. Then they would ridicule that company and then hypocritically accuse them of stealing ideas.

God bless Steve Jobs and Jonathan Ives.

iWonder what MS would be like if Jobs took the helm. :whistle:

Why people think Apple is the biggest threat to Microsoft?

Has anyone actually seen Balmer throwing chairs when the iPhone got released? He just laughed!

Let's see you do better.

I doubt someone can throw chairs further. Your point is valid, and I'm 100% with you.

That's nice since they aren't one.

Windows is not a monopoly? Holy gee, everyone type rm -rf / !

Edited by Azmodan
Riiiight, except Steve Jobs wasn't with Apple during that time. Apple's return to success only started after Jobs returned. Congratulations on not knowing what you're talking about though.

I think you need to read some instead.

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • The 2TB Samsung 990 PRO NVMe SSD hits lowest price in over three months by Sayan Sen Yesterday, we covered a really good deal wherein you can get a 4TB TeamGroup T-FORCE G50 NVMe PCIe Gen4 SSD for a low price of just $400 with a special discount coupon. That's just $100 per TB, making it a very good offer during these hard times. The deal is still live, so you can check it out in its dedicated article here if you do not want to miss out. Meanwhile, if you don't have that kind of budget but still wish to buy an SSD for a good price, the 2TB variant of the TeamGroup SSD at $280 its lowest price in over three months. Meanwhile, those seeking 2TB but faster performance can check out Samsung's 990 PRO, which has hit the lowest price also in the last quarter or so, as it's on sale for $370 (purchase links under the specs table down below). Thus, you want a faster drive, get the 990 Pro, or you want more capacity, grab the TeamGroup 4TB linked in the first para. The 990 PRO is a PCIe Gen4 NVMe SSD and still one of the fastest drives available today for under $500. Speaking of fast, sequential reads and writes are rated at 7450 MB/s and 6900 MB/s, respectively. The random throughputs for reads and writes are 1400K IOPS and 1550K IOPS, respectively. The 990 PRO is based on Samsung's 7th Gen V-NAND flash, and it too is TLC. It packs 2 gigs of LPDDR4 DRAM cache, which helps the random performance. The endurance rating for this is 1200 TBW (terabytes written), which should be sufficient for most users. The Samsung 990 PRO is compatible with the PlayStation 5, but if you are going to use the 990 PRO on a PC, check out the Samsung Magician app that lets you track your drive's health, update its firmware, customize various settings, and more. The tech specs are given below: Specification TeamGroup T-FORCE G50 2TB Samsung 990 PRO 2TB Interface PCIe 4.0 x4, NVMe 1.4 PCIe Gen 4.0 x4, NVMe 2.0 Form Factor M.2 2280 M.2 2280 Controller InnoGrit Controller Samsung In-house Controller NAND Flash 3D TLC 3D TLC DRAM Cache None (HMB supported) 2GB LPDDR4 Sequential Read (Max) 5,000 MB/s 7,450 MB/s Sequential Write (Max) 4,500 MB/s 6,900 MB/s Random Read (4K) Up to 600,000 IOPS Up to 1,400,000 IOPS Random Write (4K) Up to 700,000 IOPS Up to 1,550,000 IOPS TBW (Endurance) 1,300 TBW 1,200 TBW MTBF 3,000,000 hours 1,500,000 hours Operating Temperature 0°C to 70°C 0°C to 70°C Storage Temperature -40°C to 85°C -40°C to 85°C Shock Resistance 1,500G / 0.5ms 1,500G / 0.5ms Heatsink Patented Graphene Heat Spreader No Get them at the links below: Samsung 990 PRO SSD 2TB (MZ-V9P2T0B/AM): $369.99 (Sold and Shipped by Amazon US) TEAMGROUP T-Force G50 2TB SSD (TM8FFE002T0C129): $279.99 (Sold by TeamGroup, Shipped by Amazon US) Good to know This Amazon deal is U.S. specific, and not available in other regions unless specified. We only use first-party seller links (at the time of article publishing); ensure that you purchase from a first-party seller link only. Check out Today's Deals on Amazon | or our recent tech deals. Become a Prime member (for Students or SNAP) via Neowin Get Prime Access - Prime for half price (for qualifying Medicaid, EBT, SNAP) Subscribe to Prime Video, Audible Plus, Music Unlimited or Kindle Unlimited via Neowin As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
    • If you can't spell a simple word that 2nd graders learn, your entire argument is suspect.
    • And here goes the "Won't someone think of the children" brigade. Get stuffed mate. This has NOTHING to do with making the internet safe. It's about tracking adults, spying on your online activity, and sending the boys around when they don't like something you post. Also, again, parliament have voted TWICE against this, and Starmer is going ahead anyway. THAT is anti-democratic bullsh**. They will use this law to track you, they will use this law to control you, and they will use this law to punish you if they don't like what you do, even if it's legal. And your data? Say bye bye to that. It'll be on the darkweb in weeks. I'm not some rando online. I've been an IT professional for 40 years, many of it in security. I know exactly what this means and what will happen to your data. I do not consent and I will not comply.
    • "...but it may not be Microsoft's fault" seems like a reasonable way to tease what is going on without leaving the user with a false impression that an update is the problem. A title isn't a summery, it is meant to entice the user to read the article. It should not contain a misleading premise; which this title does not. You could maybe complain that the first paragraph should have included that detail. The writing style popularized over 100 years ago in newspapers will cover the most important information as soon as possible with details and nuance added later; the idea being that with each new paragraph you have less of the reader's focus.
    • Samsung Galaxy XR arrives in the UK with new AI and enterprise features by Fiza Ali Samsung is bringing its Galaxy XR headset to the UK several months after the device made its debut as the first headset built on Google's Android XR platform. The headset was first teased in late 2024 alongside Google's introduction of Android XR before making its commercial debut in 2025. Developed in collaboration with Google and Qualcomm, Galaxy XR combines mixed reality experiences with Gemini-powered AI features, allowing users to interact with digital content using voice, gestures, and visual inputs. While the hardware itself remains largely unchanged from the version Samsung unveiled last year, the company is using the UK launch to spotlight several software enhancements that have arrived through recent updates. Among the most notable additions is deeper integration with Google's ecosystem. Galaxy XR users can explore destinations through Google Maps' Immersive View, receiving AI-powered recommendations and contextual information from Gemini while navigating virtual environments. Furthermore, entertainment experiences have also expanded; users can watch 180-degree and 360-degree videos on YouTube, browse spatial content converted into 3D, and ask Gemini questions about on-screen content without interrupting playback. Samsung is also highlighting mixed-reality features such as Circle to Search, which allows users to identify real-world objects through hand gestures while using the headset's video pass-through mode. Another feature automatically converts photos and videos into spatial 3D experiences. Moreover, the headset now also supports Android Enterprise, allowing organisations to manage deployments using existing Android management tools. Annika Bizon, Vice President, Product and Marketing, Mobile Experience, Samsung UK & Ireland, talked about the device, stating: The headset is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 platform and features dual 4K Micro-OLED displays. The tech giant says that users can expect up to 2.5 hours of battery life. Samsung also confirmed that Galaxy XR will continue receiving software and security updates as the company works alongside Google and Qualcomm to expand the Android XR ecosystem. Galaxy XR is now available for pre-order and will go on sale on 8 July. Customers interested in trying the headset before launch can visit Samsung KX in London and selected Samsung Experience Stores from 17 June. Finally, the company will also host a livestream on 19 June showcasing the headset's capabilities and answering questions from prospective customers.
  • Recent Achievements

    • First Post
      Jocimo earned a badge
      First Post
    • Week One Done
      suprememobiles48 earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Month Later
      Windows Guy earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • One Month Later
      Prasann earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Week One Done
      Prasann earned a badge
      Week One Done
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      519
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      174
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      91
    4. 4
      Steven P.
      81
    5. 5
      ATLien_0
      70
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!