Ballmer Says Customers Don't Like to Pay for Things

Today's FamilyFirst pick is an interview with the always-quotable Steve Ballmer in the London Daily Telegraph.

When i purchased my first PC back in 1993, it was from an independent system builder. It likely had pirated copies of Dos 6.2 and Windows 3.1 on it (as well as Geoworks, a GUI interface that made Windows look sick).

Many indies would install the same copy of DOS and Windows over and over. The big computer manufacturers sold licensed copies of OS's on their systems, of course.

The end result was that Microsoft became the overwhelmingly dominant OS worldwide while making millions upon millions despite being actively pirated.

Well, Microsoft has decided the pirating must come to an end. And they have also decided that their products are well worth shelling out cash to own. And they have spent untold millions integrating lots of protective features into their code that makes certain that nobody rides for free any more.

And their public image has taken a pretty strong beating because of it.

I got mad enough to erase my legal copy of XP Media Edition in favor of Ubuntu Linux. So have many others, particularly Vista owners.

This interview with Microsoft's CEO has him waxing poetic on his frustration with customers wanting something for nothing, and how Microsoft will try to accommodate them in the future.

While still not showing much concern over Linux's increasing popularity, he is genuinely scared of Google. As well he should be.

Microsoft has long done what's good for Microsoft. The customer experience has always taken a back seat to Microsoft's pushing their proprietary technologies out there so the world will have to pay for their use.

Google, on the other hand, has provided innovations aimed straight at attracting customers.

I got a Gmail account three years ago and have never considered going back to my own spam-plagued domain email accounts. Google's spam filter gets well over 99% of the crap while snaring perhaps one legitimate message out of 200. Its interface is slick, fast, and easy to use. Plus, they offer free POP service so I can read my email on Evolution.

Ballmer is talking about advertisers picking up the bill on some Microsoft products so consumers can skate on paying for it.

I have one question for you. Would you use Vista if it came with built in advertising?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2007/10/02/cnmicro102.xml

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