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Bill Gates Damns Zune With Faint Praise
from the the-anti-Jobs dept
By now, most people are aware of the "reality distortion field" that surrounds Steve Jobs. Folks attending his keynotes or product launches talk about how it's almost a religious experience, where he really does make you feel like the latest iPod nano is the greatest device ever invented. It's no secret that Bill Gates has a rather different personality -- but it's still quite bizarre to see the level of faint praise Gates gives the Zune as its second generation launches:
"For something we pulled together in six months, we are very pleased with the satisfaction we got.... It was just so-so on the software side. I'm sure a year from now we'll do even better."He does insist that the satisfaction was "superhigh," but satisfaction and passion are two very different beasts. Of course, this fits right in with how Microsoft has attacked this problem from the beginning: designing the product by committee, rather than coming up with something that they can be passionate about. When even your CEO can't show much passion about your products (especially when those products are up against Steve Jobs' latest products), you've got a problem.
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You do realize...
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Re: You do realize...
Personally, I don't like Zunes or i-Pods. On the other hand I could (almost) worship the creator of i-Phone, and am forced to admire the omnipresence of MS Office, even as I seek an alternative.
Realism such as Mr Gates displays is refreshing - but, let's face it, it's boring as hell. At least Mr Jobs gives the old blood pressure a workout regardless of which way you look at him!
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Re: $200 for 8gb?
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You do also realize....
I wholeheartedly agree with Galt's statement of "..it irks me that we fail to be balanced in our evangelism for one company as against another."
I respect Gates for being a realist and not proclaiming the arrival of heaven-on-earth each time a new edition of the iPod is released like Steve Jobs.
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Re: You do also realize....
Fascinating. If it was about realism, there would be no advertisement and marketing. And no matter how much people whine and complain about "overstatements" and "exaggerations" in advertisement, if it wasn't for them, most people would not check out anything new. If a "realist" starts promoting a product for his company, you are in trouble.
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music is overrated
I do not mean that as an insult to anyone who loves music. I love the technical side of music (I play tuba and baritone in various ensembles). I am just amazed at how many students have an iPod on campus. Music is definitely an industry worth dominating. It's where the money is.
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Re: music is overrated
I wish we could edit these comments... :(
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Bill gates is CEO again?
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Maybe he isn't the best spokesperson for the product?
Bill, keep trying to save lives and skip talking about gadgets.
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You are an absolute idiot.
You are stating that you would spend your hard earned money on an inferior product when the guys making it are admitting it is an inferior product simply because of some bizzare hatered of the way steve jobs says what he has to say. You are beyond a fanboy. You are an ABSOLUTE IDIOT. Good luck with your zune.
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You did read all the stuff Gates said when the zune first came out, right?!? The "ipod killer" articles are the best. Try Google, it free.
"Also the prices on the new Nano's is horrible. $200 for 8gb? In Apples dreams!"
The Nano is currently the best selling new ipod model, and it outsells the zune 8:1 mainly because of its form factor.
Dude, You gotta try a bit of reading. You do know how, right?
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Re: Sketcher
The Nano and the Zune are non-competitive (until yesterday) The iCrash outsells the Zune 8-1 - granted, but if it not for MSFT, the ipod would own 95% of the market, keeping 10% away from the competition is not a bad thing - makes all parties work harder to be better, faster and cheaper.....Look at Windows OS - No viable competition, no need to fret about holes in security(don't go telling me that Linux is viable - I sell the damn thing, it isn't)....if you build it they will spend stupid amounts of money on it!!!!
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Ummm...not so much
Really?
Tell that to SanDisk and Creative...they outsell the Zune too. M$ is #4 in sales. The only victims of Microsoft being in the player market are their own customers in the "Plays for Sure" space. You know, their OLD iPod killer strategy. ;)
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Gates outdoes Jobs in Long run
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Cognative Dissonance at its best...
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easy
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bottom line
Aherrr...it's not almost a religious experience, it IS a religious experience.
(harp music)
ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
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Personalities.
Steve Jobs is the kind of guy that thinks people should worship his 3am diarrhea and believes it so passionately that he will preach it out with the charisma of one of those wacko miracle healer evangelists, and sell it to people who gobble it up.
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I must admit. . .
THE POWER OF JOBS COMPELS YOU!
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Superwhat?
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Zune 2 vs iPhone introductions
“Zune 2: Mediocrity grows on trees”
http://counternotions.com/2007/10/03/zune-2-mediocrity-grows-on-trees/
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How many?
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What does he think of Vista?
I got it for free, thank god!, and installing it made all my peripheris that I was using (unkown devices) whose manufacturers still have "Vista Drivers coming soon" on their websites.
A bit of honesty about Vista would be nice. Not the irrelevent Zune devices.
Microsoft has been "ME TOO" of the software industry far too long.
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