Does anyone in Silicon Valley care about Windows anymore?

April 12, 2011 By Robert Scoble

VMware Cloud annoucements.

Microsoft is today showing off pieces of the next version of Windows (we’re all calling it Windows 8 ) but I’m wondering if anyone cares anymore about Windows in the tech enthusiast space.

Why do I say that?

Well, at nearly every tech industry event lately I’ve noticed an almost complete shift away from Windows-based computers. Here, take a look at a panoramic photo I shot this morning at the VMware Cloud Foundry announcement (which was very interesting open source Platform-As-A-Service introduction, more Thursday when I get a video up). This room had only two PCs that I could see. The entire rest of the room was on Macs or iPads. Keep in mind that in this one room was a mixture of marketers, developers, executives, press folks, and hard-core geeks.

I noticed this same ratio at TEDx. At Web 2 Expo. At Stanford University events. At Facebook events. And other places.

Now, you could say “well, Silicon Valley is just weird and they all buy Apple stuff.” But, note that VMware is run by many former Microsoft executives (I met Charles Fitzgerald in the hallway, who is one of the smartest strategists I’ve ever met, and Mark Lucovsky was on stage this morning. You can see him at the front of the room in that panoramic photo behind one of the three VMware Macs. He even joked about his former Microsoft role “I developed DLL hell at Microsoft” he said).

But I saw the same shift at LIFT in Geneva, Switzerland and LeWeb in Paris and while the World Economic Forum had more PCs in the audience than at VMware, there were a TON of iPads.

Something is going on here, but why isn’t it showing up in market share numbers?

Is this the new “tech divide?” Those who are passionate about tech are going to get Macs and everyone else is gonna get a PC because their boss probably bought one for them assuming that if you only do email, Excel, and Powerpoint that there’s no need for you to have a Mac?

What does this mean for Windows 8?

When Steve Jobs noted that the iPad is ushering in a “post-PC world” I wonder if he knows something we don’t: that early adopters, influencers, geeks, developers, and Silicon Valley insiders are going “all Mac, all the time?”

Are you? If you’re still excited by Windows, why?

Here’s Facebook’s team that developed messaging, same kind of “mostly Mac” ratio:

Filed Under: Web

http://openskymedia.com Jason

I just have two words: “Think Different”
http://twitter.com/nelson3748 Nelson

i am passionate about my apple laptop and Ithings; on the other hand, i build my own desktops. W7 is excellent. i know that most of the planet is still W, and the apple transition is slow but steady. so, what are you thinking?! out here in the sticks, AT&T kicks butt as well. silicon valley is an island, you need to get a realistic perspective. PS love your vision anyway
http://about.me/satyajit Satyajit Sahu

I don’t get the ‘Macs are more expensive than a PC’ logic, they are two diff things (just like someone in the market for a minivan won’t go to Porsche store to compare). And what’s with the ‘Silicon Valley techies are paid too much’ argument? I think techies elsewhere have more disposable income (way lesser cost of living) than valley.
Its a mindset, when it comes to buying one or the other.
Do you value time? After being a Unix user, I was a windows user for 9yrs before I started using Macs. Realized I wasted almost 20% of my time struggling with Windows issues, and I could reclaim that time to be more productive. Valley is about developers who want to do more with the resources they have. Hence the popularity of Macs and Linux.
Macs, IMO, are real value for money – if you want to be productive, creative, worry-free…. having said that, I think Windows are still easier for lot of normal folks, Macs require some learning curve.

iPads are a different beast altogether, and shouldn’t be brought into comparison. Its (mostly) a readonly device, good for consuming some fun stuff, but useless as a productivity tool. The guys who walked into VMWare conf with iPad in hand, were prolly playing Angry Birds!
http://profiles.google.com/ebonfortress Pavel Penkov

I really don’t understand why this is happening. I use Windows at home and Mac at work and don’t see any difference. Actually, I like Windows more, because it is easier to customize it (anyone tried remapping keys in Mac OS X?) and there’s a lot more free utilities for Windows while even the trivial utility for Mac will cost you money. And prices are outrageous (probably AppStore will change that) – at some moment TextMate cost more than full-fledged IDE.

COlden

Have you even looked at Fink etc? Use open source software.

Remapping keys on Mac OS? There are tons of options. http://doublecommand.sourceforge.net/

http://profiles.google.com/ebonfortress Pavel Penkov

Mapping Caps Lock to Esc requires two (!) buggy utilities. On Windows I’ve done it with excellent AutoHotkey.

http://profiles.google.com/grantheppes Grant Heppes

Here at Virginia Commonwealth University there is at least 3iPad users for every 50 students. There are least 40 percent of students carrying Macs. I get asked constantly why I use a windows netbook, a Macbook and my Android Tablet. They find it odd that I would use both windows and mac. I honestly prefer each for different reasons.

I use my windows netbook for note taking but when I am on campus all day (I hate using chargers for obvious reasons). I use my Macbook for note taking when I know I will be only away from charger for a few hours. I use my tablet for those classes where attendance is manditoy but I know that I will not be paying attention and browsing the web instead.

I am a fourth year Business Marketing major and VCU is an artsier school.
http://profiles.google.com/grantheppes Grant Heppes

My mom could care less about multitasking. She wants to respond to emails and read the news. An iPad or an Android tablet would easily cover all her needs. I only say an Android tablet because her friends always send those damn flash videos to her.
http://profiles.google.com/logikonline Dave Friedel

I love Apple hardware… but still use Windows on the MBP. Windows 7 is great for getting work done but my wife uses Apple to consume information.

Windows = Creation
Apple = Consuming
Linux = Enthusiast

Next time look what is “on” the computers and not the shell. Sure I dual boot, but I never use OSX.
http://profiles.google.com/logikonline Dave Friedel

I love Apple hardware… but still use Windows on the MBP. Windows 7 is great for getting work done but my wife uses Apple to consume information.

Windows = Creation
Apple = Consuming
Linux = Enthusiast

Next time look what is “on” the computers and not the shell. Sure I dual boot, but I never use OSX.
http://www.podglo.com Anonymous

I think the use of a Mac in the tech enthusiast space is more about elitism then technology. What can you do on a Mac that you can’t do on Windows? In fact, Windows is more flexible then the Mac is, has more software available, you don’t have to pay for patches, stability and security issues are virtually gone on Windows 7, and the IE browser is one of the fastest. You can also run Chrome, Firefox, and Safari and a plethora of development tools and IDEs. I look at the Mac when I want to do something and I find one or two choices, I look at Windows and I have 10 or 20. Windows PCs cost less, run faster, and have many more choices of hardware configuration. As a tech enthusiast I can do more experimentation and try out many more technologies using a Windows box when compared to a Mac, period. When I really want to geek out though, Linux is the winner. It is where the real cutting edge stuff is being done.

In the end it is more about fads and believing that you are better then others because you can afford a pretty, sleek Mac. It is like driving an expensive car around to show how much better off you are then others. It is like the days when all the geeks wore those ugly glasses and pocket protectors. Macs are the new pocket protector…that is really what the headline of this article should say.

Anonymous

Well, just being able to run bash and being able to script endless tedious tasks on great hardware does it for me. I could’ve bought some cheaper hardware and put Ubuntu on it, but the thing with Mac is that I can do all of what I can do on a PC and more.

Plus I can also run Ubuntu and Windows with Virtual Box. The hardware is just great and in comparison with say the HP Envy (which someone has in the office), the form factor is just pretty amazing. Any other laptop with the same hardware specs that I have on my Macbook is usually huge, noisy and heavy.

This thing also just works as expected right out of the box. I also love the Fact that GarageBand comes installed, this is a really really cool app if you compose music, or edit music or podcasts. I’ve not found something that’s so friendly and easy to use in Windows or Ubuntu.

I don’t think it’s a fad at all, if it is, it started around the time Apple switched to Intel, everywhere I started going I saw more and more macs, the fad is still there.

It’s not about believing you’re better than others. To me, I’m lucky to be able to afford a Mac, I spend probably 10 or more hours a day working in front of my screen, I might aswell work with a great tool. To me, it’s money well spent since I don’t have to deal with many of the headaches Windows users don’t realize they deal with everyday.

http://www.podglo.com Anonymous

I work on Mac and Windows. To me Mac gives me more of a headache. I have bugs on the Mac and I have to pay $30+ to fix them. I try to use wifi and I can’t browse to a non-standard port. I go online to find out how to resolve the issue and I am forced to physically go to a ‘genius bar’. How is that better?

As for scripting, you have Cygwin, Perl, WSH, Window Task Scheduler etc., etc., etc. You can run other operating systems in Windows Virtual PC. Of course you can’t install OSX because 1) Apple does not allow this in their OS licensing 2) Mac OS X specifically checks to ensure that it is installing on Apple hardware 3) Mac OS X requires that the computer has an APIC (this all is just so friendly to the tech enthusiast, isn’t it?!?). That being said, I’m sure if you do a little searching you will find out that it is possible, even though it violates licensing. What if I want to do something on OSX that is a little different or out of the ordinary (this is common for a true tech enthusiast)? How is that experience on Mac? In a word it is lousy. In fact, it reminds me of supporting computers prior to the Internet. Almost impossible to find the information you really need.

I recently bought a Toshiba Satellite M645-S4050 for under $700. It has equivalent or better specs then a 13″ Macbook Pro that starts at $1199. I turned it on and it worked. No configuration issues, nothing. It just works. It is not noisy or hot. The form factor is just as nice, if not better. With the savings I can buy a top of the line app for composing or editing music or podcasts if I wanted to but I would probably just download one for free.

I completely disagree with this… “but the thing with Mac is that I can do all of what I can do on a PC and more.” It is just not true. The number of applications out there for Windows is just leaps and bounds greater then the number of applications out there for the Mac. In fact, I think the number of applications out there for Linux is even greater then for the Mac.

Also, ‘I’m lucky to be able to afford a Mac’ is code to me for I have plenty of money and can afford to do this when other people can’t. An attempt to be humble about the fact that you have the money to be able to afford to do this. It’s like a guy saying, “I’m just lucky to be able to afford this Mercedes.” Maybe fad is to strong a word. But elitist is not.

Don’t get me wrong though, I use Windows, Mac, and Linux machines all of the time. They each have their strengths but I think making a statement that Silicon Valley doesn’t care about Windows anymore shows that, perhaps, Silicon Valley needs to rethink what they are doing. From the perspective of a tech enthusiast, tying yourself so completely to one vendor or technology is a bad think and has a negative effect on innovation. Perhaps this indicates that Silicon Valley is losing some of its capability to innovate.

Anonymous

All fair points. People can certainly do everything on other brands, otherwise they’d be out of business.

In the end a lot of little great details that you can appreciate on the mac amount to a lot for people like me.

As for working on Windows like a unix minded programmer, the experience is really uncofortable. The cygwin shell doesn’t have a proper look and feel, things like selecting text, copying and pasting are ridiculously broken, I wonder how many hours of my life I’ve spent going to the Menu on top to be able to Mark text because it just doesn’t support it like in Linux or Mac.
Little things like that add up. Don’t get me started on all the nuances of working on Windows, how it will try to do all it’s updates when you try to shutdown your computer and you need to run with it, let alone having to deal with antivirus software.

I bet if we went to work together outside, you on your toshiba, me on my mac and both of us didn’t bring a power adapter, I’d be working a few hours after your computer ran out of battery. I’ll take a look at the Toshiba Satellite M645-S4050, sounds great for the price.

That and other details that got me to buy Macbooks on an essay I wrote a long time ago, the list of reasons keeps growing.

And I want to make clear that I’m no Apple fanboy, there’s plenty of internet evidence on how much I like to bash on Apple’s flaws on many of their product, most notably the iPadMania which I still don’t get (they seemed to have nailed it with iPad 2 though), and their draconian thinking when it comes to iTunes and their AppStore.

I also think the title of the post is nice link bait, of course the world and Sillicon Valley still cares a great deal about Windows. 90% of my customers are running on a windows machine and that’s why I still need to use it, however, Robert makes a point with his picture, it’s something we’ve all been noticing when we go out there and meet with developers and web social butterflies, everyone is sporting a macbook these days. I personally think that they’re actually not that expensive.

Nowadays you can get a decent entry level macbook for about $1,000 so no elitism there.

I’ll retract my statement that I can do more with the mac, I guess I went a little too far there. However, in terms of out of the box media and software capabilities the price of the Mac might be more because you’re paying for a lot of great software that comes with it (that’s your savings right there, apple just makes sure they nail you with their software before you go somewhere else = lack of freedom)

Whatever the case, it’s still a Windows World. Windows is still putting the food on the table for the majority out there, it’s just not on the news, everyone seems to be focused on what’s going on in the web, on mobile apps, but the truth is that Windows and a lot of desktop software is still rocking hundreds of millions (if not billions) a year on top of Windows.

As for paying for repairs, I don’t know where you’re going, that’s one thing that I do love about mac, support on the apple stores has always been free for me (I’ve had fans, keyboards, hardrives, batteries replaced, ipods, headphones,etc. all free), I think that’s also part of the high cost of the machine, Apple makes sure you pay for the computer and spare parts when you pay the full price of the computer.
Anonymous

You make a lot of valid points that I find I want to disagree with but struggle to do just that. So for me the interesting thing is why do I want to disagree with you? I don’t own anything Apple but I do respect the way Apple have innovated like no other company. Reinventing the smart phone, bringing a keyboard free tablet out where companies like Microsoft had failed miserably in the past.

So while I agree with you that on paper Windows gives you more choices. The experience of using those choices is inferior on Windows. I’m not simply comparing OS X to Windows 7 here, for me its a bigger game than that now. It’s OS X, Windows 7, Windows phone 7, Android/Linux and IOS.

Taken overall Apple have been innovating over the last few years like no other company. Everyone is playing catch up with Apple. Tablets are all coming to market now that copy ipad. Laptops are influenced by Apple, smart phones are absolutely influenced by Apple.

It’s perhaps naive to talk about Windows 7 as a platform that’s trouble free now. I count myself as a bit of a nerd that can google my way out of trouble with Windows but trouble does come, nothing like as regular as it did under 98 and then XP and when you factor in the huge shift that’s starting to happen now with tablets and phones taking the place of laptops, a strong case can be made for going with Apple.

Other companies are copying Apple very well and will create better products, you could and indeed have argued that is so and that’s a great thing I want to see. I’ll probably end up buying a tablet with android at some point when the resolution is high enough that I can treat it as a real replacement for reading magazines. Apple won’t be the first to innovate there (they are stuck with having to double resolution for legacy reasons and that’s hard when you’re at 1024x and have to jump to 2048), that’s already happening with other companies but you have to admit these companies are standing on the shoulders of Apple and incrementally innovating around what Apple have done before.

Finally, while I agree there is a lot of elitism out there with Apple, the far more important point for me is one you raised about competition. It’s absolutely fantastic that Apple are doing so well right now, as it has to be scaring the hell out of Microsoft and forcing them to bring us better product. Everyone wins when there is real competition, and I think we are starting to see Apple become real competition for Microsoft.

Long may Linux in all its forms, Apple and Microsoft try to out innovate each other, bring us better products and platforms to geek out on and so in the end I find myself agreeing with a lot of what you’re saying but feel you’re missing the point slightly putting all your eggs in the flexibility basket.
COlden

What $30 fixes have you bought? How does that relate to Apple?

http://tylercordaro.com/ tylerc66

Its the hardware I have been a long time Windows users and bought a mac 2 years ago and the computer is just built better. MS needs to create there own computer from the ground up make it simple, clean and powerful and I think it would have a chance to come back.
http://twohourblogger.com Martyn Chamberlin

Awesome. Long live Apple. This is a good sign. I mean, I’m typing this on a MacBook Air and everything.
guest

I think a lot of this has to do with the hardware. There isn’t a single PC company laptop that even approaches the quality/aesthetics of the Mac laptops. I owned Dells attempt, the Adamo, and it was frankly pathetic in comparison.
http://twitter.com/jackschofield Jack Schofield

What, you don’t have printers in Belgium?

Either way, I’m glad you have €3,000 or so to support your approach. I just use an ultralite PC that cost a lot less than an iPad, and use the Alt-Tab key combo….
http://www.facebook.com/dondodge Don Dodge

I think the bigger question is does ANY operating system matter? Will the browser become the de facto operating system? I wrote about that today. http://dondodge.typepad.com/the_next_big_thing/2011/04/do-windows-or-mac-operating-systems-matter.html
http://twitter.com/jackschofield Jack Schofield

XP came out in the same time-frame as OS X 10.0 (Cheetah). Since you’ve probably paid good money for Puma, Jaguar, Panther, Tiger, Leopard and Snow Leopard since then, I certainly hope it makes XP look dated! Mind you, so do Vista and Windows 7….
http://technbiz.blogspot.com paramendra

The tech heavy crowd might be all Mac. But it will take a mainstreamed Chrome Notebook to finally say bye bye to Windows. It is about moving the action completely to the browser. Microsoft needs to move to IE10, not Windows 8.

Anonymous

>> The tech heavy crowd might be all Mac. <<

Not so. There are millions of us (yours truly included) who are tech-heavy and wouldn't touch a Mac. I develop with Visual Studio and have been a developer for 35 years never even coming close to the Mac platform. Forget about saying goodbye to Windows and quit drinking the Apple Kool-Aid. They're both competent platforms – neither is going away. All this fighting over which is "best" is nuts.

What's great is that there ARE multiple platforms, so pick the one you like and enjoy it. This isn't a race for world dominance. (Or at-least it shouldn't be).

http://technbiz.blogspot.com paramendra

I have a PC myself.

Anonymous

Wow. Made it through all those comments

What hasn’t been made explicit, and perhaps some people here may not remember all the way back to ancient times, is the concept first [presumably] popularized by Gates: Capture the minds and hearts of the developers, Capture the applications. Capture the applications, capture the marketplace. SV developers can assumed to be the birds in the mineshaft of developer’s platform preferences.

That said, it may be the Unix’y aspect to OS X that is winning the day, and these developers are not developing apps so much for the Apple platform (Objective C? Give me a break) but the cloud. It just so happens they are doing it on Apple hardware, which may, of course, result in a modicum of apps being developed for Apple hardware as a side effect.

And, yes, people will ‘work’ on desktops and ‘play’ on tablets. There is a new severe bifurcation of the PC market occurring.

Anonymous

>> That said, it may be the Unix’y aspect to OS X that is winning the day … <<

Winning what day? Get real. If you get around a group of Apple developers you're going to hear that OS/X is the "only" platform that the 'world is going to'. Get around a similar group of Windows developers and you'll hear the same thing about their platform.

There is no objectivity to this article or this long argument.

http://mattters.com Michael Davis

It is not all that complicated or fuzzy. There has been a massive move away from desktop applications (Windows) to cloud applications (and smartphone apps). The majority of cloud applications are unix’y. It is a pain to setup a development environment on a Windows box that resembles the unix’y deployment environment [this is what I do and it is indeed a PAIN]. Therefore it behooves one to have a unix’y box as development hardware. OS X just happens to be a little more comfortable for some people than the other unix’y box alternatives.

This is not to say that Windows won’t linger around for a long while, and MSFT may figure out a bold way to reinvent Windows to make it more relevent [e.g. turn Windows into a new kind of browser: a massive multiplayer metaverse ala Snowcrash. And Silverlight is a step in this direction]. But it will probably just die a slow death ala most previous large corps [except IBM].

Anonymous

Interesting viewpoint. However I think the death of Windows is being greatly exaggerated. Doesn’t really matter to me, I guess. I can throw a rock in any direction and 9 out of 10 hits will be a Windows box. Until that situation makes massive changes I’ll continue to develop for it.

Cheers…

http://www.facebook.com/ken.ihara Ken Ihara

I like Windows because it is so easy to make useful peripherals and other hardware that communicates with the operating system. I recently launched a new product for Windows (Google “gizmag and piano” and you’ll probably find it, if you’re interested). Now I’m working on making a Mac version, and I am finding it to be much more difficult and expensive.

Its wonderful that PC’s are so inexpensive and common — practically disposable!
http://www.facebook.com/people/Randolph-Lee/1371741417 Randolph Lee

Why do otherwise sane people promote Windows 7. It’s slow, buggy, a victim of UI churn, and has about 5 improvements (out of 20,000 features) over XP. Oh yeah, and MS removed at least 50 of XP’s features, good ones too, so let’s see: that’s 5 improvements vs. 50 missing features. And slow. And buggy. And stuff has been all shuffled around so that you have to google to find it. And when you do find it, if you’re lucky, it still works the way it worked in XP. If you aren’t lucky, the thing you find has been re-factored just enough so that it no longer makes sense to a person who knows XP, but after a half-hour, or an hour of experimentation or so, you finally figure out how to make it work, and then what? It works, just like, wait for it, it worked in XP. Wow! What an epic win, Redmond!
Anonymous

No, because obviously if it was, you wouldn’t be using Windows XP
Anonymous

Macs can never be the dominant brand of PC. At least, not with their current model. They are over priced, and control their hardware. It never ceases to amaze me how people always complain about how unstable Windows is and how stable Mac is. OF COURSE it is! Because they completely control your environment! Windows has to support an infinite number of hardware configurations, so OF COURSE there are going to be issues.

If Apple opened up the Mac to any hardware, guess what? It would be incredibly unstable, too! That’s why they won’t do it. And THAT is also why they can never be the dominant PC with this model. It would totally kill the hardware market.

Yes, among the rich of silicon valley, of course they can all afford Macs. But, some of us still like to build our own computers, which you can NEVER do with a Mac.

All my computers are dual boot Windows 7 / Linux Mint. And they are half the price of a comparable Mac.

Anonymous

I have a Dell Inspiron 1545. I use it constantly for development and everything else I do. The machine runs 16 hours a day (sleeps with me at night) and is seldom shut down. Aside from making normal Windows updates and stuff like that the machine is in a constant state of use. Running Windows 7 Ultimate. It has crashed 0 times since I put it into operation in December ’09. My total investment in the box is less than half of what it would have been with an equivalent Macbook (not that I’d have used a Macbook for development but you get my drift). The hardware is still in nearly new shape even after the beating it takes from my heavy use. I’d say a “stock” PC is a pretty good value.
Anonymous

I have a Dell Inspiron 1545. I use it constantly for development and everything else I do. The machine runs 16 hours a day (sleeps with me at night) and is seldom shut down. Aside from making normal Windows updates and stuff like that the machine is in a constant state of use. Running Windows 7 Ultimate. It has crashed 0 times since I put it into operation in December ’09. My total investment in the box is less than half of what it would have been with an equivalent Macbook (not that I’d have used a Macbook for development but you get my drift). The hardware is still in nearly new shape even after the beating it takes from my heavy use. I’d say a “stock” PC is a pretty good value.

http://www.marcstober.com Marc

Those who go to tech conferences aren’t even representative of most tech workers never mind the general population.
http://www.facebook.com/eltonjain Elton Jain

well well well…don’t forget that if there was no PC, there was no MAC or Google, or any industry as is today…. I still use Windows and W7 for all purposes….Window’s the best thing on earth, and no one can take the share…. and about future? don’t ya worry, gates will get windows to the cloud too
http://stjones911.myopenid.com/ Steve

“NEVER have I even thought about using anything other than a Mac.” That would be why you can’t appreciate the Mac’s limitations….
COlden

Here in Northern Europe Macs are everywhere. I guess it’s more about what you can afford, but the product is really great as well.
COlden

That’s a very odd measure of a “good” operating system. The number of bugs divided by hardware is not a win for the user!

The real issue is how well does the OS perform for the average user. In that respect Mac OS X performs a whole lot better, you even admit as much in terms of bugs.

I challenge your claim that Mac users experience “around the same amount of bugs”. That’s certainly not the reality for Mac users, what bugs I ask. Windows is a different [buggy] world.

As for hardware architecture; are you forgetting that Mac OS runs on two sets of hardware? Still PowerPC and Intel x86. You’re careless with your facts and probably don’t know much about either platform.
Anonymous

Ok, you say I’m making up sales, yet you say ‘probably’; — who’s full of it here? I could point you to recent articles quoting that Apple is selling fewer Macs, but why bother — you’d rather read sales literature in ‘MacWorld’

Go ahead, live in your little world.

Anonymous

This is all getting a bit silly. There is nothing to be gained from insulting each other and I’m not just referring to tdavis. As a real geek,bordering on nerd I can’t understand why these discussions have to turn mean and have replies that sound like people are defending slighted daughters.

This is just hardware and software were discussing. Surely as a techie you can appreciate all the choice we have and understand that we need competition from more companies, not less.

Imagine a world where only Apple existed. I promise you the innovation would be gone, not needed because who else can you turn to? Same goes for Microsoft and for years we were heading towards that complete monopoly, at least in the OS space. Look how long we were left with XP.

And everyone is selling less on laptops as the tablet form factor takes over.Apple are doing incredibly well there but those android tablets are out innovating Apple. It’s great fun watching all this unfold in the news and a little sad we all can’t be a little more excited about competition as opposed to being offended by it.

Anonymous

well this is the kind of crap Scoble creates. He’s always been a drama queen, even getting fired at Microsoft for it.

Now he’s the worlds ‘most influential’ braggart with a job of being, well a braggart. He can’t even have a blog without spattering an ad for his employer at the top, or he’d probably lose this job too. I mean really, any of you that’d do that? Jeesh.

The world is moving on. I wish they’d move on from all this childishness and pandering to childishness.

Maybe I’ll pick up a copy of ‘MacWorld’, maybe I’ll just think about what I’m likely to ever read in ‘MacWorld’ and leave it at that.

Maybe I’ll just think about what Roberts ever going to have to say about anything and let it go at that too.

Learning anything?

Anonymous

I’m wondering why you are reading Scobles articles really but that’s your prerogative. I find it easy to see how you’d react badly to what Robert writes sometimes. He doesn’t mince his words and comes right out with it. My first introduction to his work was at Channel9, remember those Microsoft videos he did? I found those were excellent, he was both passionate and not afraid to ask the kind of questions I was interested in having answered. Not following the kind of details that had been cleared as OK from some press release. I also learned back then that Robert is a very friendly happy guy. And so when I read his words online, I’m reading them with that happy geek in mind and it colours the text for me. You see a drama queen and I see a happy geek that can’t wait to have his say about something he’s found out or thinks. Who’s right? Beats me,

I also find he’s very insightful in what he writes and records, or I wouldn’t be following his work I guess.

Anonymous

Well I guess I got trolled. Thats what Scoble does. He doesnt even work in the industry, never really did. At Channel 9 he got paid to cheer-lead the Microsoft thing, here on his blog he’s cheer-leading again, anything that gets him noticed. Why anyone listens amazes me.

As to the point, the world has moved on from it, he doesn’t want that because its what pays his rent.

Go figure why he’d want to fuel the fire, if you’re dense.
http://scobleizer.com Scobleizer

You are an idiot. While working at Microsoft I often cheerleaded Apple or Google. I don’t work in the industry? I work for Rackspace which hosts more Websites than anyone else. That’s the industry. You have no clue what work I do. Especially if you think I’m a cheerleader. Geesh.
http://scobleizer.com Scobleizer

By the way, I was NOT fired from Microsoft. In fact they tried very hard to keep me and, even, gave me a huge raise as I was walking out the door. They’ve tried several times to hire me back, too. But I guess accuracy isn’t your strong point. Contact my former boss Jeff Sandquist to learn the truth. He’s @jeffsand on Twitter.
Anonymous

Whatever. What do you do for Rackspace, are you a developer? no. Youre a cheerleader. They hired you because you have this troll following.

Go on milk it.

And I watched the Microsoft thing happen, whether they asked you to resign or told you to GTFO or you would be fired, it doesnt matter.

You didnt do anything at Microsoft anyway, except cheerlead the dolt that came to channel nine to sit in court and listen to you, well, cheerlead.

Thats just the facts.

Eventually people figure stuff out. They figured out Microsoft, and probably eventually will figure you out too.

I did.

Tell me, is it better to be an idiot, or a famous idiot?

I’m not an idiot, and I may not be famous, but I’m sure not a famous idiot.
http://scobleizer.com Scobleizer

I didn’t realize that only developers did “work.” Here’s what I do at Rackspace: http://www.quora.com/What-does-Robert-Scoble-do-at-Rackspace?q=Rackspace+Scoble

I wasn’t forced to resign. I wasn’t fired. Talk to Jeff Sandquist. You are libeling me and that makes you a non-famous idiot, or, worse, criminal.
Anonymous

I don’t like getting into arguments, there just no fun, but I do have to say that as far as what’s being written, you’re the one throwing personal insults around. I’d really look in the mirror if you want to see who the troll is in this thread.

And as for suggesting Robert doesn’t work in the tech industry. That’s the silliest thing I’ve read since my 6 year old niece texted me asking why sheep didn’t shrink in the rain.
Anonymous

I don’t like getting into arguments, there just no fun, but I do have to say that as far as what’s being written, you’re the one throwing personal insults around. I’d really look in the mirror if you want to see who the troll is in this thread.

And as for suggesting Robert doesn’t work in the tech industry. That’s the silliest thing I’ve read since my 6 year old niece texted me asking why sheep didn’t shrink in the rain.
Anonymous

Ok, name me one thing he’s built? Tell me why he’s got that adv tacked on the top of th blog? Because that’s why they hired him.

I just stated that PC’s and Mac sales are off, and its because the old way is dead. Then the trolls started in.

People like Robert that never really did anything, but they follow people on Twitter so they have a right to speak.

And I know what Robert does. He mouths off, and mouthed off about Ballmer at Microsoft being dense, or ugly, and he may be both, but only an idiot puts that on a public blog about your boss’s boss’s boss’s (etc) boss.

So I’ve proven, he’s never built a thing, and that he’s an idiot.

He’s proven he’s a troll all by himself.

So, back to my point.

Microsoft is dead, Robert wants to cash in on the death by hyping it up.

The PC is dying. All you *real developers out there, and there might be a few that would read anything Robert said, wise up.

The days of DLLs COM COM+ DCOM and pretty much anything else Robert ever cheerleaded as the best thing since his mother stopped breast feeding him are gone.

Why do you read about the same dead troll arguments from Robert. He’s got no cred.

Move on.
Anonymous

You have issues you need to work out. Just not with me.

I’ll let the lolcat take it from here.
Anonymous

Like I said, I didnt start the troll.

Resorting to trolling images is lame.

I also note you dont refute any of it.

By troll rules, I win.

SUCKS 2BU. /rolls eyes

Like I said, why anyone reads any of this is beyond me.
http://scobleizer.com Scobleizer

Thanks! You can’t deny the impact of those pictures, can you? The Computer History Museum is filled with companies that used to have lots of market share. Or, just ask Nokia whether market share matters. It doesn’t.
Anonymous

You really can’t deny it very well, as a lot of the comments here have shown.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Patrick-Thompson/614050759 Patrick Thompson

I still get excited by my PC – It runs Linux…
Anonymous

fanboi much?
http://scobleizer.com Scobleizer

I didn’t censor your comment.
Chris

How can you justify making an argument about a tool that, in your own words, you admit that you have never even thought about using.

“(drag and drop is soooo much better than, however it is that Windoze users do things)” – How would you know if you havent used it?

I dont like macs, I like Windows, shoot me down in flames for it if you wish, but I use both regularly; and i prefer using Windows.
Anonymous

That’s pretty much how I view the iPad – as a big iPod Touch (or iPhone). Nice box but if you’re using an iPhone already it just seems like an extra gadget to carry ’round. I can see why people like it for reading and stuff but I find the iPhone4′s “retina” display very readable so I do all my reading there (if not on my laptop).

http://scobleizer.com Scobleizer

It’s very clear you haven’t really used any apps. That’s where the differentiation between iPhone and iPad is VERY clear.

Anonymous

Naah … I’ve only got about 60 of ‘em on my iPhone. I haven’t used any apps.

COlden

in Europe? I think you should stick to your part of Europe. In my region of Northern Europe Macs, iPhones and iPads are everywhere.

The prices are high, but so are our salaries…

Tikky

Apple reseller salaries, I suppose?

Anonymous

And your highly-intelligent full of solid references and information is better?
http://profiles.google.com/boctorbill Bill Cernansky

Microsoft invented Berkely Unix? Wow, that’s a revelation!

http://empoprise-bi.blogspot.com/ John E. Bredehoft (Empoprises)

Well, I do remember XENIX back in the day…

Something

I am not sure what quality of photographer that you are but. The mac has fallen way behind in this regard. I agree the mac is way overpriced for what you get. The quality in the newer macs are also really poor. How many out there have gone through three hard drives already, too many to count.
Exolon

I’m honestly not sure why so many tech geeks buy Macbooks. I picked up a white 13″ Macbook in 2007 and still use it at home, but (no matter what rabid fanboys say) it certainly didn’t offer as much bang per buck as a similarly-specced PC. A lot of people seem to be won over by the stylishness of Apple gear, which to me feels very sleazy and airheaded.
The only real win for the Mac is having an underlying Unix OS and the usual set of tools, as well as Macports and Fink to help bridge the gap between OS X and the easy package management of Debian/Ubuntu/etc.

Regarding iPads, I don’t think I’ll ever buy one after experiencing the evil, controlling hand of Apple trying to restrict how I use my iPod in so many ways. Why can’t I just write a short program, compile it with gcc and upload it to the device? I have to use XCode? I have to PAY APPLE a yearly fee to upload my own software to my own device? No thanks. Will get an Android phone/tablet next time…

Anonymous

My use for Apple is limited to my iPhone4 (which is excellent) and my wife’s iPod touch. They’re great devices. I don’t worry about “jailbreaking” them because these are boxes that I just want to work with no fanfare – and they do work. If I wanted to do anything else like development for them, however, forget it.
Anonymous

My use for Apple is limited to my iPhone4 (which is excellent) and my wife’s iPod touch. They’re great devices. I don’t worry about “jailbreaking” them because these are boxes that I just want to work with no fanfare – and they do work. If I wanted to do anything else like development for them, however, forget it.

@chupchap

I still use Windows and that too XP at that, because I don’t care much about the OS anymore. The only apps I am using actively on my desktop are chrome and firefox. For these apps it doesn’t make much of a difference which OS I’m using.
To use an analogy, I don’t care if my car runs on diesel or petrol, I just need to commute that’s all =)
http://empoprise-bi.blogspot.com/ John E. Bredehoft (Empoprises)

Christine, I wonder how many Mac users go under the hood? A college-age relative of mine has a Mac, and that relative, while using the Mac applications for video editing and the like, would probably never dream of muckying around in *nix or dual-booting.
Anonymous

That doesn’t surprise me. Same model as I use. PC and iPhone4. The iPhone connects to our Exchange Server flawlessly – works even better than the Blackberry I had. I’m a Windows developer myself and this combination works great.
Anonymous

Aww, don’t worry about Randolph – his mother dressed him funny. He doesn’t have anything better to do than post nonsense.
Anonymous

Uhh … yeah, as opposed to what?
Anonymous

Concur, Bob. I’ve been a developer for 35 years. I have never had any trouble finding work to do for the Windows platform.

Don’t get me wrong, the Apple platform is also an excellent one but it doesn’t have nearly the penetration (or the flexibility) that the Windows platform does. Let the Apple fanbois say all the want to about its superiority but the proof is in the numbers. Go walk around in any office supply store, Best Buy, what have you. Apple has a presence, but about a 10% presence. Everything else is being developed for Windows. People don’t care about Windows? Uh huh … just keep drinking the Kool Aid folks.

All the talk about the Mac being “higher quality” than an equivalent PC reminds me of the old Amway business (which has since morphed into Quixtar or whatever). Piece-by-piece, item-by-item you compare the products and find that the “Amway” product (Apple in this case) is 3 times as expensive and of equivalent (or lesser) quality. I just checked the pricing of a laptops on Best Buy. Machines made by Apple seem to be priced 2.5x the equivalent PC with exactly the same specifications. EXACTLY the same specs.

I’m not against Apple, not at all. I have an iPhone4 and love it. But don’t try to convince me that the Mac is worth 2.5x the price of that Dell sitting right next to it with exactly the same specs. I’ve been at this for far too long to be fooled by that nonsense.
http://plankhead.com Zacqary Adam Green

I don’t think anybody in the rest of the world cares about Windows anymore. But that’s not to say they care about OS X instead. People are getting tired of platforms.

You’re onto something, Robert, with people getting excited about iPads, but that brand loyalty isn’t going to last much longer. Other tablets will start matching its capabilities, and when one of them has an advantage over another, it’ll just be frustrating. iPad users will look at Android/WebOS/whatever tablets and ask, why doesn’t mine have [x] that the other guy has? Android users will look at iPads/WebOS/whatever tablets and ask, why doesn’t mine have [x]? WebOS users will look at iPads/Android/whatever tablets, and ask why doesn’t mine have [x]? And then people will get tired all over again.

That’s why VMWare is getting so big, because, like you always say, it’s the apps that matter. Or, in a broader sense, it’s the capabilities that matter. Who cares whether you have a desktop, a laptop, a tablet, a phone, a gigantic touchscreen desk, a gesture-controlled thingamabob, a cranial implant, or some kind of biological computer grown in a petri dish? Shouldn’t they all be capable of executing the same tasks, or at least augmenting one another seamlessly? Why should we have to worry about whether X app can run on Y OS with Z hardware bells-and-whistles?

Nobody cares about Windows, nobody cares about Macs, and nobody cares about iPads, even if they don’t know that yet. All they care about is stuff just working, without having to worry about petty brand differences.
http://technbiz.blogspot.com paramendra

Diversity.
http://www.youtube.com/dfmediainc Triny D

We were wrong to get excited about operating systems. Software is a feature not a product
Anonymous

Although the point about the things being ‘moved around’ is valid. Things that you could just right-click->Properties in XP are now at least 5 clicks and 4 windows away in Vista/7, which is simply ridiculous.
Anonymous

Example: There is no reason for Network and Sharing to be in my way when I need to get to the properties of a network adapter or wireless network. This was simple and fast in XP. Actually XP was nigh on PERFECT if you wanted to find something system related quickly and there were several ways to do it. Windows 7 has made some routes unnecessarily difficult to navigate.

Before you retort, allow me to point out that this is a fact, not an opinion.
http://twitter.com/agoedde a_goedde

Whenever I look at a Mac, the first thing I notice is my reflection in the glossy screen. Until Apple fixes this, there’s no way I’ll go any further in exploring whether a Mac might be for me.
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Does anyone in Silicon Valley care about Windows anymore?

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