There are no good guys in the war between Android and Apple. At least that’s the impression Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer gave in his interview with Reid Hoffman last night.
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During the interview, reports TechCrunch, Ballmer told the LinkedIn founder that the Android was “uncontrolled” and prone to malware.
Apple’s meanwhile was described as “highly priced” and “highly controlled”.
They’re not new arguments by any means, but it’s interesting that Ballmer felt strong enough to make them in such a public setting.
Despite sales of Microsoft’s Surface being less than spectacular, the inference is clear: in the OS version of Goldilocks, Windows is just right.
The Microsoft CEO reckons that his company’s products have been done exactly right and that, unlike its competitors, it’s worked closely with developers.
The Surface he said, fits perfectly in “both worlds — work and play”, He added that people playing with it for the first time often get that “Ooooh, Ooooh, Ooooh, I get it moment.”
Or, as he summarised it, in fully Crazy Eddie mode, “Wow, it just works!”
That he’s so eager to talk up Windows 8, and the devices running it, is just another indication of how important it is to Microsoft. We’ve spoken before about how it needs the OS to succeed, that it is something of a dice throw.
So far the dice seem to be rolling in its favour.
Ballmer said the tech giant is “happy with the spectacular start we got off to with Windows 8 and we’re always innovating, but from a strategy perspective we’re all in. We’re off to a very good start, and we have a great team.”
On the departure of Steven Sinofsky, the man who led the development of Windows 8, Ballmer said: “Sinofsky’s departure was his decision. We wish him well.”
Right that clears everything up then.
It;s also clear that Microsoft isn’t going to stop making hardware just because its partners don’t like it. “If we see an opportunity in the software/hardware seam, we’re going to take it,” Ballmer told Hoffman.
