Barney's Blog

Blog archive

Ballmer Out of Touch on Vista Logos

Steve Ballmer defended himself, it seems, even more than his own company in a class-action lawsuit over "Vista Capable" logos. Many consumers are angry after buying a Vista Capable Computer (I call them VCCs) only to find out it only ran lower-end versions of the OS. And sometimes, even that was a stretch.

Ballmer claims he was out of the loop and not part of the logo decision. I believe him. Heck, this guy is busier than Paris Hilton at an all-male revue! But Ballmer's reasonable excuse doesn't excuse the misleading logo program itself. Consumers and the fee-hungry lawyers (who'll get most of the award, anyway) are right on this one.

I have a feeling Microsoft has learned a lesson on Vista and that, in fact, Windows 7 will be far better. And if it is, the glorious economics that are the PC market will continue to shine. Here's an example of those economics: I'm willing to help buy Mac laptops for my kids Lauren, David and Nick, but can't bring myself to shell out $1,100 for a low-end Mac lapper of my own. That's Apple's problem, and the PC's Main Street, blue-collar, Joe Six-Pack advantage.

Are you impressed or blasé about the price to power ratio of today's PCs. Vote yea or nay at [email protected].

Posted by Doug Barney on October 08, 2008


Featured

  • Microsoft Dismantles RedVDS Cybercrime Marketplace Linked to $40M in Phishing Fraud

    In a coordinated action spanning the United States and the United Kingdom, Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit (DCU) and international law enforcement collaborators have taken down RedVDS, a subscription based cybercrime platform tied to an estimated $40 million in fraud losses in the U.S. since March 2025.

  • Sound Wave Illustration

    CrowdStrike's Acquisition of SGNL Aims to Strengthen Identity Security

    CrowdStrike signs definitive agreement to purchase SGNL, an identity security specialist, in a deal valued at about $740 million.

  • Microsoft Acquires Osmos, Automating Data Engineering inside Fabric

    In a strategic move to reduce time-consuming manual data preparation, Microsoft has acquired Seattle-based startup Osmos, specializing in agentic AI for data engineering.

  • Linux Foundation Unites Major Tech Firms to Launch Agentic AI Foundation

    The Linux Foundation today announced the creation of a new collaborative initiative — the Agentic AI Foundation (AAIF) — bringing together major AI and cloud players such as Microsoft, OpenAI, Anthropic and other major tech companies.