<blockquote>
Well, what goes around comes around.
At the <a href="http://news.cnet.com/Dell-Apple-should-close-shop/2100-1001_3-203937.html">Gartner Symposium and ITxpo97 in 1997</a>, Dell founder and CEO Michael Dell famously gave his two cents on Apple to a crowd of IT executives: ”What would I do? I’d shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders,” he notably said.
Flash forward nearly two decades, and the world’s third-biggest computer manufacturer is going private in a $24.4 billion deal that also gives $13.65 per share in cash to shareholders. <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-05/dell-taken-private-as-pc-market-slump-hastens-24-billion-buyout.html">Bloomberg</a> called the company’s move “the biggest leveraged buyout since the financial crisis.”
</blockquote>
Oh man, oh man, oh man... Crazy world we live in right? I don't believe in karma, but if I did, I would be cracking some remarks about karma right now.
The orginal article on CNet from 1997 <a href="http://news.cnet.com/2100-1001-203937.html">is availalbe here</a>.

9to5Mac

Shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders

<blockquote>
It’s too bad that <a href="http://bgr.com/tag/dropbox/">Dropbox</a> isn’t a publicly traded company, because it would be a great time to buy its shares now that <a href="http://bgr.com/tag/microsoft">Microsoft</a> (<a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=msft">MSFT</a>) CEO Steve Ballmer has given it his <a href="http://bgr.com/2012/11/15/ballmer-interview-2012-android-ios/">patented reverse-kiss-of-death</a>. Ballmer, who <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eywi0h_Y5_U">previously predicted the iPhone would flop because it lacked a physical keyboard</a> and that <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10083590-94.html">Android would fail because Google wasn’t slapping OEMs with any licensing fees</a> to use it, <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-01-29/microsofts-steve-ballmer-does-not-fear-dropbox-or-an-office-less-ipad">told BusinessWeek</a> on Tuesday that the cloud storage company was just a “little startup” that posed no threat to Microsoft’s own SkyDrive cloud service.
</blockquote>
Man, how do I get a piece of Dropbox?!?

Brad Reed on BGR

Ballmer's Reverse Kiss of Death


So here it is, the BlackBerry 10 OS no the BlackBerry Z10 hardware. It's taken RIM FOREVER to get here, but I'll say this, I have not seen anything that really looked competitive with the iPhone like this since the Palm Pre OS (was it called Web OS I think?). Yes Android folks, you read that right.
The one thing though is, I'm not sure about all these swiping gestures for key features — they just aren't discoverable. That said, this looks like it has real potential. Also, this is notifications done right. I mean seriously, I don't have many complaints with iOS, but one of my big ones is that Apple STILL doesn't have notifications right (and again for you Android people, neither does Android). But I like the look of this notification system.

BlackBerry 10 vs. iPhone 5

<blockquote>
Ponder that for a second.
This statistic is from <a href="http://money.cnn.com/gallery/technology/2012/09/07/apple-iphone/index.html">September 2012</a>, but I'm posting it because I'm not sure I caught it when it was first announced.
It's also worth noting today is the iPhone's <a href="http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2007/01/09Apple-Reinvents-the-Phone-with-iPhone.html">6th Birthday</a> (<a href="http://www.loopinsight.com/2013/01/09/happy-sixth-anniversary-iphone/">via</a>).
I'm trying to remember what Steve Ballmer said about the iPhone when it was first announced..... Oh yeah! <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eywi0h_Y5_U">Now I remember</a>.
</blockquote>
He said:
<blockquote>
“No chance the iPhone is going to get any significant market share.” — <a href="http://youtu.be/eywi0h_Y5_U">Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, 2007</a>
</blockquote>
I wonder how he's feeling about all that now? More importantly, how is he still CEO?

DailyExhaust

No Chance for the iPhone

<blockquote>
The iPhone 5 might not be a big departure visually from the previous generation, but Apple is packing a punch with its new smartphone.
The iPhone 5 arrives September 21 and its immediate rival will be the <a href="http://www.techhive.com/article/2000501/jelly-bean-to-be-pushed-to-galaxy-s-iii-by-october.html">Galaxy S III</a>, which Samsung claims to have sold 20 million units of so far. But that's not all; Motorola and Nokia will also launch new flagship phones later in the year, the <a href="http://www.techhive.com/article/2000442/nokia-lumia-920-vs-the-world-spec-showdown.html">Lumia 920</a> and the <a href="http://www.techhive.com/article/2000443/hands-on-with-motorolas-latest-droid-razr-smartphones.html">Droid RAZR HD</a>.
</blockquote>
You look at that line up and tell me which one is the best looking and easiest to use? Apple doesn't play the tech specs game, but the iPhone 5 stacks up pretty well. I know which phone I would buy of these four.

TechHive

The 5 vs. The Competition

<blockquote>
Now that Microsoft's Windows 8 and Windows RT operating systems <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2012/8/1/3188541/windows-8-rtm-development-complete">have been finalized</a>, we're starting to see more and more ARM-based Windows RT tablets from OEMs. At IFA 2012 this week, <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2012/8/30/3279058/dell-xps-10-windows-rt-tablet">Dell</a>, <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2012/8/29/3277059/samsung-ativ-tab-specs-windows-rt-announcement">Samsung</a>, and <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2012/8/29/3276484/asus-vivo-tab-vivo-tab-rt-tablets-windows-8-windows-rt">Asus</a> all had their Windows RT-powered tablets on display. We've seen <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2012/6/5/3064818/toshiba-windows-8-devices-prototypes/in/2834848">some prototypes</a> running <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2012/6/5/3064839/qualcomm-winrt-snapdragon-s4-reference-tablet">older builds</a> of Windows RT, and even <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2012/6/4/3062235/asus-tablet-600-windows-rt-tablet-windows-8/in/2834848">production models</a> running the new operating system — but most vendors have been reluctant to let us get a good look at Microsoft's ARM OS.
</blockquote>
Wow, this looks really awful.

Tom Warren at The Verge

Windows RT Video Demo

<blockquote>
Pretty standard stuff. Plug AC, plug keyboard, plug mouse but when I got to the speakers cable, I just skipped it.
Why bother setting up the audio?
It will likely break again and will force me to go on a hunting expedition to find out more than I ever wanted to know about the new audio system and the drivers technology we are using.
</blockquote>
Exactly! I’ve played with Linux. I know exactly what he’s saying.
<blockquote>
Others found that messing around with their audio card every six months to play music and the hardships of watching video on Linux were not worth that much.
</blockquote>
…
<blockquote>
So Linux was left with idealists that wanted to design the best possible system without having to worry about boring details like support and backwards compatibility.
Meanwhile, you can still run the 2001 Photoshop that came when XP was launched on Windows 8. And you can still run your old OSX apps on Mountain Lion.
Back in February I attended FOSDEM and two of my very dear friends were giggling out of excitement at their plans to roll out a new system that will force many apps to be modified to continue running. They have a beautiful vision to solve a problem that I never knew we had, and that no end user probably cares about, but every Linux desktop user will pay the price.
</blockquote>
The bottom line, who wants to spend all their time fiddling with their drivers, going into the command line to tweak things to make them run right, recompiling their software to make it run on the latest distro(s), or generally deal with these headaches all the time?

Miguel de Icaza

What Killed Linux

<blockquote>
<img src="/images/blog/2012/08/30/samsung-air.jpg" alt="samsung-air">
</blockquote>
Now where have I seen this sort of design before? I just can’t put my finger on it.

The Verge

New Samsung Laptop Doesn't Look Familiar At All…


<blockquote>
There will be no banner ads on the Google homepage or web search results pages. There will not be crazy, flashy, graphical doodads flying and popping up all over the Google site. Ever.
</blockquote>
Huh. Good to know.
So this isn’t a crazy, flash, graphical, doodad flying and popping up all over the Google site eh?
<a href="http://google.com">Google.com</a>
<img src="/images/uploads/google-nexus-homepage-ad.jpg" alt="google-nexus-homepage-ad">
I already miss Marissa Mayer at Google.

Google's Official Blog

No Ads on Google Home Page. Ever.

<blockquote>
Samsung, who is currently locking horns with Apple over various infringements with regard to cell phone and tablet patents, has just opened another retail store. This store is just a block away from Apple’s own store in Sydney, Australia and what’s more if you walked in without noticing the missing Apple logo outside, you may think you had walked into an Apple Store.
</blockquote>
I mean this is really just ridiculous. Just go look at the pictures and tell me they aren’t completely copying the look and feel of the Apple store. These people have no shame.
<blockquote>
…they even dress the sales staff in the traditional blue polo shirts worn by Apple Genius staff.
</blockquote>
Hilarious! Just Hilarious!

iMore

Samsung's 'Original' Store. No Copycatting Involved…


<blockquote>
Microsoft’s (MSFT) 10-year old operating system, Windows XP, is still the most popular platform in the world but Windows 7 isn’t far behind. According to data from Web analytics firm Net Applications, Windows XP captured a 42.86% share of the market in the month of July, compared to Windows 7′s 42.21%. Microsoft’s latest operating system has seen tremendous growth over the past year, though; in July 2011, Windows 7 held a mere 29.6% share of traffic while Windows XP had more than 52%.
</blockquote>
Depressing.

XP Still Leads

<blockquote>
The OS gives users enough freedom to get themselves in trouble with apps in the background, for example. Also, Google assumes you want to be signed in to services like Google+ and Google Talk all the time. With iOS, I always know what I’ve got going on; with Android, I feel at times like the OS is in charge. It’s unsettling from time to time.
</blockquote>
Yeah, sounds great…
Look, I think we Apple guys are bending over a little too far backwards to give Apple’s competition the benefit of the doubt.

Posts tagged “The Competition” from the blog