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BornAgainMac said:
This pisses Bill off too.

Microsoft would have really had a huge hit if Apple didn't have iTunes and the iPod. WMA would have been the standard music format, having a Media PC would have been cool to store all your music in it's native Windows format well integrated in the OS. The Windows Media Video format would probably be stronger too. Microsoft lost the music format war and that would have made it very difficult to switch away from Windows.

Also most of the Microsoft employees would be using Windows Media as their music format of choice.

I hope someone makes a movie called "Pirates of Silicon Valley 2 the Wrath of Jobs". Or at least a Star Wars parody like the one in this thread. Bill's face is even starting to look like the evil Stars Wars character.

Bornagainmac,

Have you seen this Bill Gates parody/cartoon?
http://webtrips.com/billy.htm
It's not a Star Wars parody but it's still funny.
 
Bill is right if Apple stops innovating...

inkswamp said:
"You can make parallels with computers: Apple was very strong in this field before, with its Macintosh and its graphics user interface--like the iPod today--and then lost its position," Gates said.

You can draw those parallels but only if you keep it extremely simple can you draw the same conclusions from those situations. There are tons of differences between how the old Apple Computer handled the Macs and how the new Apple Computer is handling the iPod. The primary ones:

* Apple never had a lead in the computer market the way they do in the mp3 player market....

* Apple was extremely arrogant about its computers when the Mac first came out and assumed that cheesy-ass evangelizing and a killer new concept (as opposed to building relationships with retailers and doing heavy advertising) would carry the day for them. Wrong. Are they doing that with the iPod? No.

* Macs never attempted to be inexpensive or compete with low-end machines for market share when prices started to fall in home computing. The iPod is going after the low-end part of the market aggressively.

* The GUI on the Mac was a great concept but the machines themselves were not technologically more impressive than what other companies offered. iPods generally are better machines overall than the competition.

* Gates is mixing apples and oranges here. Another gadget replacing the iPod isn't even remotely close to what happened with the Mac. What happened with the Mac was that another company came along, copied the great idea and made it more cheaply and marketed the thing to death. Those are two different situations. I don't see how this and that are parallel at all.

Anyway, there are more problems with the parallel that Gates is drawing, but those are the primary ones. He's just plain wrong and I can only conclude that he's smarter than that and knows damn-well that he's wrong. His comments are clearly yet another attempt for Microsoft to spread FUD in a market they don't dominate.

I agree with most of what is said above... and would like to add the following:
1) Steve was not running the company when Apple was #1 and arrogant, over priced, and not innovating in face of Microsofts first GUI - Sugar Water guy and the rest of the knuckle head CEOs did that.
2) Steve has learned through Next and Pixar the value of making your product continuously better and staying ahead of the competition (new OS every 12-18 months, Mac Mini, iPods from $100 to $500).
3) HP+iPod.
4) Motorola iPod Phone?

Mr Gates is correct if Apple stops innovating, like Microsoft does when there is no competition... they only trot out half baked OS's when Linux or Apple rubs their nose in it.

Keep improving the software/hardware faster than the competition can copy it, Steve. Obsolete your product or your competition will.
 
This quite obviously Gates' attempt to condescend the iPod. He thinks he can do it again like he did with the personal computer 20 years ago...
 
Jmitch said:
This quite obviously Gates' attempt to condescend the iPod. He thinks he can do it again like he did with the personal computer 20 years ago...
True. He doesn't own the software that powers iTunes and the iPod interface OS.
 
my first post, yay

The biggest problem with the motorola phone supporting ITunes is that all of the carriers have shuned it. Acording to any news source, they do not want it. It will allow us to put music on our phones by linking it up with our computer. The greedy carriers want us to do it over the air so they can make more money off of our already high phone bills. They want us to pay a buck and a half to two dollars PER SONG to do it over the air as an MMS, and if you cancel service, you lose all your music. They will cry foul if we are able to do it without them getting a pice of the pie. Most likely, we will never see the phone.

If Moto is goign to suceed with this phone they may have to do it on thier own without the carriers.

Or better yet, what I think Apple needs to do is to purchase the chipset and circuitry from Moto for a quadband worldwide GSM service, and set it into the IPod, then sell it unlocked through the Apple website so that anyone who uses GSM in the world can put thier SIM card into the phone, bypassing the carriers altogether. That way we get an IPod with phone capabilitlys, instead of a phone that can support ITunes. Believe me, it will make a huge diffrence.

The device will be a IPod Photo first and formost, and if we want to use only one device for the day, we can pull the SIM card from our carrier locked phone, and throw it into the IPod, so we can make calls over your IPod. If another day we want to have a full featured phone, we can put the SIM card back in our phone, and use it that way.

How about a 2.0 megapixil camera in the IPod? Ok, that may be an overkill. :D

------------------------------------------------------
Yea, I know my spelling is jacked up.
 
Lacero said:
True. He doesn't own the software that powers iTunes and the iPod interface OS.

The question is will people buy what they think is better. Gates has enough corporation power with his money to market whatever his company spits out. The question is...


... what will you choose?
 
MS's swiss cheese security nightmare?

iGary said:
Well let's see why Billy might be stressed.

Longhorn is receiving some of the most negative press anything Microsoft has worked on, and not just one or two analysts - lots of them.

Apple is in the limelight right now, and secretly, Bill hates this - wouldn't you?

Apple is a hip, cool finely tuned machine right now compared to MS's swiss cheese security nightmare.

There is a lot to be said for the market determing how much your system is tested, Windows being in front by far. Apple on the other hand is patching flaw after flaw which would be considered critical if on Windows. Apple however likes to quietly release things pretending they weren't such a big deal. Only time will tell how Apple ends up but given what I've seen out of them up till now they aren't nearly as strong on the security front as they should be, or people like you make them out to be.
 
AidenShaw said:
I have a high IQ (more than +2), a high income, several post-graduate degrees - and no Mac.

Awesome. I am very proud of you!

applause%203.jpg
 
AidenShaw said:
Don't you love statistics?

This is more elitist claptrap, nothing more.

Are you surprised that people who buy expensive computers make more money than those who buy cheap computers?

Are you surprised that IQ and income are related? Or that IQ and final level of education are related?

I have a high IQ (more than +2), a high income, several post-graduate degrees - and no Mac.

Get over yourself....

Wow, all that going for you and still no Mac! YOU REBEL! Stand up for what you believe in, stick it to Apple!! Prove the statistics wrong...

:rolleyes:
 
padrino121 said:
There is a lot to be said for the market determing how much your system is tested, Windows being in front by far. Apple on the other hand is patching flaw after flaw which would be considered critical if on Windows. Apple however likes to quietly release things pretending they weren't such a big deal. Only time will tell how Apple ends up but given what I've seen out of them up till now they aren't nearly as strong on the security front as they should be, or people like you make them out to be.

Because it isn't a big deal. Sometimes the exploit being patched on Mac OS X is just a local exploit meaning you have to physically be at the console in order to take advantage of the hole.


Patches on windows are a big deal because it's unsecure BY DEFAULT. Also, Microsoft has a rep for doing bad patches or patches that break things in ways that they can;t be fixed. With Windows, applications can install without your knowledge by piggy backing on other apps (granted, the same thing COULD happen on a Mac with this one), by browser holes and other ways. Everyone will blame SP2 on breaking things, even though it doesn't. The reason it "breaks" the app is because the app depends on a Internet connection being open on a certain port. You just need to poke a hole in the Windows Firewall.

I had quicken installed on my last PC when I bought it, but my wife with a limited account was unable to run it. Programmers are slow to chenge the way things are done because microsoft knows everyone is just going to make themselves an administrator. Until Microsoft does something with a real UNIX like security model, they are going to be vulnerable.

Until Microsoft FORCES the developers to be more diligent with their install procedures, there will be problems.
 
mickhyperion said:
Mp3 playing cell phones will no more defeat the iPod than photo capable cell phones have any chance of defeating the camera industry.
I think you are wrong. There are more camera phones sold in the world right now than cameras. I agree that the cameras in phones so far has been a joke. But if you look at what is coming righ tnow I think you change your mind. The reason for the poor pic quality has been much more been due to optics than Mpx.
The latest Nokia Phone uses Carl Zeiss optics. The new SE K750i come with 2 Mpx. Within two years we are going to see high quality optics combined with > 5Mpx. I seriously doubt that you would be able to differ a blow up from a 5 Mpx and 12 Mpx, given that both cameras had high-end optics.
 
Dr.Gargoyle said:
I think you are wrong. There are more camera phones sold in the world right now than cameras. I agree that the cameras in phones so far has been a joke. But if you look at what is coming righ tnow I think you change your mind. The reason for the poor pic quality has been much more been due to optics than Mpx.
The latest Nokia Phone uses Carl Zeiss optics. The new SE K750i come with 2 Mpx. Within two years we are going to see high quality optics combined with > 5Mpx. I seriously doubt that you would be able to differ a blow up from a 5 Mpx and 12 Mpx, given that both cameras had high-end optics.

Agreed, the camera business is up shitcreek because of mobile phones - and most people who take pix with phones aren't worried about quality because they don't print them - simply MMS them to their mates.

Personally, I'd find a phone with a decent camera very useful indeed - can't wait.

In the same vein, a phone with a built-in MP3 player would be useful for me - I don't want to carry (or indeed buy) seperate items. If it all bluetoothed with my car, even better.

Let's face it - all this will happen, you can't stop technology. :)
 
Philsy said:
In the same vein, a phone with a built-in MP3 player would be useful for me - I don't want to carry (or indeed buy) seperate items. If it all bluetoothed with my car, even better.
When it comes an phone/iPod I think we have a problem.
First of all, the interface of the phone would have to change completely. Just look at the existing mp3 able cellphones. Does anyone use them as mp3 players???
Secondly, if you travel internationally you will not be able to use your phone (UMTS, GSM, PDC, CDMA,....)
Finally, the life cycle of a cell phone is MUCH shorter than that of an iPod. I change Phone at least once a year. Many people change phone several times per year.
In a far distant future I do think that all these gadgets will converge. My best friend work at Nokia. He told me several years ago that they was working on a device that they called trusted personal friend. The idea was to combine creditcards/mp3/PDA/camera/phone all in one.
They have been conduted real test in Finland, where you are able to pay for carwash, carparking, groceries, ... with your phone. When the test was conduced it was done through IrDa. Since this was about 5 years ago, I think they ran into some problems. Anyhow, I am sure about the convergence, but it will take time.... Much longer than we think.
 
Dr.Gargoyle said:
When it comes an phone/iPod I think we have a problem.
First of all, the interface of the phone would have to change completely. Just look at the existing mp3 able cellphones. Does anyone use them as mp3 players???
Secondly, if you travel internationally you will not be able to use your phone (UMTS, GSM, PDC, CDMA,....)
Finally, the life cycle of a cell phone is MUCH shorter than that of an iPod. I change Phone at least once a year. Many people change phone several times per year.

It must be possible to come up with an interface that works - my SE phone lets my access a range of features reasonably simply (OK, not as elegantly as an iPod scroll wheel)

Re travelling - I thought 3G was an international standard? Besides, the US is, I believe, the only country that is a problem when it comes to compatibility.

So what if you change your phone/MP3 player once a year? At least it would be up to date. How many people here still use a 1G iPod, I wonder?
 
Philsy said:
It must be possible to come up with an interface that works - my SE phone lets my access a range of features reasonably simply (OK, not as elegantly as an iPod scroll wheel)

Re travelling - I thought 3G was an international standard? Besides, the US is, I believe, the only country that is a problem when it comes to compatibility.

So what if you change your phone/MP3 player once a year? At least it would be up to date. How many people here still use a 1G iPod, I wonder?
One of the reasons why I think iPod has become so popular is its simplicity. It does one thing, but it does it DAMN good. Just look at the new SE W800i (the walkman mobile)... It makes me want to emigrate. I live 500 meters from where it was constructed. iPod was a struck of genious. It is very hard to top that, or even do something similar.
3G is not an international standard. you have WCDMA (next gen of CDMA, the terrible standard they use in US :p ) and you have UMTS (European). What is worse is that UMTS has been differentiated too. If you buy a UMTS phone in Japan you wont be able to use it in Europe. It is a mess to put it simple.
Well, I know a lot of people that cherish their beloved 5Gb 1G. IMHO I think people tend to become more emotional with their iPod than their cell.
 
Dr.Gargoyle said:
One of the reasons why I think iPod has become so popular is its simplicity. It does one thing, but it does it DAMN good. Just look at the new SE W800i (the walkman mobile)... It makes me want to emigrate. I live 500 meters from where it was constructed. iPod was a struck of genious. It is very hard to top that, or even do something similar.
3G is not an international standard. you have WCDMA (next gen of CDMA, the terrible standard they use in US :p ) and you have UMTS (European). What is worse is that UMTS has been differentiated too. If you buy a UMTS phone in Japan you wont be able to use it in Europe. It is a mess to put it simple.
Well, I know a lot of people that cherish their beloved 5Gb 1G. IMHO I think people tend to become more emotional with their iPod than their cell.

Maybe Apple could have another stroke of genius and come up with a UI for mobile phones - it must be possible to do better than the adequate systems we have now.

Interesting about 3G, but I guess for most people it's not a big issue - and one that they'd have whether their phone had an built-in MP3 player in or not. Can't see me going to Japan or the US in the near-future, I'm not a big fan of raw fish or fat-filled burgers :)
 
Philsy said:
Maybe Apple could have another stroke of genius and come up with a UI for mobile phones - it must be possible to do better than the adequate systems we have now.

Interesting about 3G, but I guess for most people it's not a big issue - and one that they'd have whether their phone had an built-in MP3 player in or not. Can't see me going to Japan or the US in the near-future, I'm not a big fan of raw fish or fat-filled burgers :)
I would much rather have a iPod with a Phone than the other way around. I too would prefer a all in one gadget, but a good one. Not the crap that is out there now.
I have three cellphones active right now...lol... one GSM, one UMTS, and one CDMA... Why cant they agree on ONE standard???? :(
 
cell phones are big in europe, from what ive read a lot more shown off then here in the states or even japan for that matter.... or asia in general
 
CubaTBird said:
cell phones are big in europe, from what ive read a lot more shown off then here in the states or even japan for that matter.... or asia in general
Europe is one or two years before US when it comes to mobile tech. More like one year today. Japan has been a about one year before Europe in tech. Japan has always been advanced in new tech. The main reason Europe is before US, is due to Nokia and Ericsson. Nokia (Finland) has about 34% of the cellphone world market. Ericsson (sweden) has about 40% of the system market. Don't confuse Ericsson (systems) with SonyEricsson (Cellphones).
SE has about 5% of the worldmarket. Old Ericsson (before the merger with Sone cellphones) was known to make very good and advanced phones, but couldnt make profit (sounds familiar huh?)
Cellphones aren't status over here anymore, on the contrary infact. Most kids (very young kids) runs around with the latest cells. People with no work tends to favour cellphones too, so i would say that cellphones over here are becomming almost anti-status....lol
 
CubaTBird said:
cell phones are big in europe, from what ive read a lot more shown off then here in the states or even japan for that matter.... or asia in general

I think we're past the showing off stage - it's just something everyone uses and no big deal. Young kids at school may show off their phones but not adults.

Of course, if I had an Apple iPod-inspired phone that would be a different matter. I'd be bragging about it to everyone ;-)
 
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