back to article Ballmer talks 'post-PC' Microsoft with Windows 7 beta

Steve Ballmer has stressed the relevance of both Windows and the PC in an increasingly fragmented world of computing devices and web access, while introducing the next version of Windows. Opening the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada, Microsoft's chief executive announced the Windows 7 beta's availability in …

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  1. dave hands

    A voice crying in the wilderness.

    Hello. Remember us - Microsoft?

    Anyone?

    Please don't buy a Mac.

    We're still the same Microsoft, er, I mean, we're different now, we've learned.

    Look, mmmmm Windows 7 - now even faster and more secure.

    Why is everyone laughing?

    Please don't buy a Mac.

    Look we've sold 20 million phones with WIndows on. OK, we haven't sold them and we know there's precious little alternative for the mobile manufacturers. But still, please don't buy a Mac.

    Hello?

    Anyone?

  2. John

    dell back in the 90s?

    Dell has been pre-installing cruft in the 2000s too.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    Ballmer

    Can I be the first person to ask - does Steve Ballmer know anything about computers at all? Can he even use one? Has he ever even used the Internet?

  4. Ash
    Thumb Down

    Advertisments in search results on mobile platforms

    Why?

    The screen is only 1.5" tall unless you buy a touchscreen WinMobile device (obviously what they're pining for), but not many consumer mobile phones have the screen real estate to afford any of it being taken up by rubbish you don't want to see.

    Fail.

  5. Roger Greenwood

    Goodbye windows mobile

    I got a T-mobile G1 yesterday. Fantastic. Really, really amazing. My windows based unit will be duly recycled to one of the kids very soon.

  6. N

    What utter cobblers

    "Windows will remain at the centre of people's technological solar system"

    If thats the case, Im from a different universe & grateful for it.

  7. Steve

    Coiuldn't agree more

    Compred to Mac OS X and the majority of Linux disto updates, Windows 7 is a valid upgrade in that is contains lots of new stuff.

    However, there is an awul lot of stuff on blogs and comments stating how much better is already is than Vista and "it's what Vista should have been"....WTF?!

    It's like the transition from Windows 95 to 98, or Win2k to XP - it's the fucking same! Features like the UAC config tool aren't new, it's just that in Vista you needed to edit the registry or a group policy to do it.

    Other stuff are to be honest cosmetic. It's Vista with a new SP and a few new features!!! Now I like Vista personally, always ran it on new hardware (rather than a desktop from 2004!) and I understand the point. Never had a problem with it.

    Yet El Reg, most of it's commenters and a shit load of press slate Vista - but are singing the praises of Windows 7. It's madness, as very little has changed in terms of architecture, security, permissons, UAC, driver support etc.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    me-too me-too

    "Ballmer announced some of Microsoft's me-too Web 2.0 services are now no longer in beta"

    Microsoft may not be first out of the gate with every service or piece of software, but in many cases they do lead by example. Where is Google's GDrive for example? Microsoft have had Skydrive for ages. Where is the alternative to Windows Live Mesh? There is none. What is the best of breed blogging client? Windows Live Writer.

    Just because it's cool to bash Microsoft, doesn't mean The Register needs to be a sheep and join in.

    Now I need to go take a shower, because as an IBMer I feel dirty for supporting Microsoft.

    ;)

  9. tony72
    Joke

    No longer in beta

    "Ballmer announced some of Microsoft's me-too Web 2.0 services are now no longer in beta - namely Windows Live Essentials."

    Have they learned nothing from Google? If it's no longer in beta, it's obsolete.

  10. Daniel

    If they won't buy it, foist it upon them.

    It really does look like the possibility of buying a PC with a decent operating system that isn't bundled with a tonne of rubbish you don't want seems to be fleeting away. I checked out the bankrupcy sales for some new base units, the other day, but it was just full of Vista machines.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Odd, that...

    "When I say 'Windows' I'm sure you think about a PC, even though we are extending to the phone and the cloud."

    I distinctly recall having a WINDOWS mobile phone a few years back.

    Dunno about the cloud, but it was certainly a steaming pile.

  12. Flocke Kroes Silver badge

    Windows center of the solar system?

    So it is expensive to get to and intense radiation will quickly kill you. I am happy for windows to stay there.

  13. R Callan
    Flame

    "best version of Windows ever."

    Has there ever been a release of windows that was not the:

    Best

    Fastest

    Most secure

    Most reliable

    version of Windows ever?

  14. Jason
    Alert

    5 billion opportunity

    Sounds a bit of a strange comment to me. A person buys a mobile, a household buys a PC.

    If anything as mobiles do more with data I think there market share will reduce. Especially if windows mobile is anything to go by.

  15. David Whitney
    Stop

    Live essentials crapware?

    Somewhat unfortunate you choose to single out Live essentials seeing as

    a. They're solid products, vast improvements over the products they replace

    b. They're the bloat that microsoft has REMOVED from Windows 7, now making them optional

    c. It's exactly the same thing that happens on every platform, they're just honest and have given it a name.

    Ever tried to use them?

  16. Shakje

    @R Callan

    Win ME

  17. David Viner Silver badge
    Happy

    ...PC in every desktop and every home...

    "IN" every desktop?

    On top is usually the preferred location ;-)

  18. Eponymous Cowherd
    Coat

    Buy Windows....

    Or the furniture gets it!

  19. Ken Hagan Gold badge

    Re: dell back in the 90s?

    "Dell has been pre-installing cruft in the 2000s too."

    This is a smart move on their part. Every sane person will re-install the OS if it comes despoiled with such junk, and at that point Dell can turn their backs on any support queries. Result!

  20. Doug Glass
    Paris Hilton

    Would Somebody Please ....

    ...throw water on this monkey.

    Paris because even she knows who Margaret Hamilton was.

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Linux

    RE: Couldn't agree more

    Steve wrote: "Yet El Reg, most of it's commenters and a shit load of press slate Vista - but are singing the praises of Windows 7. It's madness, as very little has changed in terms of architecture, security, permissons, UAC, driver support etc."

    Ummm. So it's still shit? I thought it was going to be the "best version of windows ever".

    ...errr, wait a minute. I've just realised that's not going to stop it being shit, is it?

    Considering there are a LARGE number of users who want to do nothing more than browse the net and read their email, why would they want or need windows 7 anyway? Oh yes, to cover over the security holes in previous versions (which they haven't done anyway). If I was in that situation, I'd be feeling pretty pissed off and I would expect a VERY VERY good OS. Windows 7 doesn't sound too much like one so far. Hell, even IE8, the new browser for Win7 doesn't work.

    If I was M$, I''d seriously consider scrapping the pile-of-cards that is Windows and creating a new OS with a "Windows emulator" built in for anyone who really needs it.

  22. zenkaon

    errr

    "Windows will remain at the center of people's technological solar system"

    will it fuck

  23. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    @ dave hands

    You sir win best comment of the week. Please report to your nearest bar for a drink on me :-).

  24. Watashi

    Portable PCs

    I want a single computing environment that can be accessed on any suitably specced device. It should be able to tell whether I'm accessing it via my phone, my car or my PC, and it should be possible to run it either locally on top of a hardware layer or as hosted either on a server or in a virtual machine. I don't want to turn a DVD into a coaster because I lose my network connection half way through the burning process, and I need to be able to listen to music on my phone even when I have no signal, but I still want to be able to access it on a net cafe or at work.

    With storage costs being so low and with processing power now high even in small, cheap devices, I see no reason why I should need a live net connection to be able to work with my centralised, net hosted environment. What I suggest would be a central net based service that downloads your computer environment onto your device when you buy it. The environment then runs locally, with any changes being uploaded to the image held on the server. When I turn on my PC, updates to the image made on one device will be applied to the cached image on my hard drive, thus minimising the data transfer. However, it should be possible to access this environment without having to download it at all.

    This way I get the best of both worlds - the convenience of cloud computing combined with the stability and computing power associated with PC computing.

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