Makes me smile reading this article about Ballmer poo-pooing Andriod.
Mr Ballmer predicted Google's decision not to charge for Android means "they're not going to put in the same kind of investment to improve the product". "I don't really understand their strategy ... if I went to my shareholder meetings and my analyst meeting and said, 'Hey, we just launched a new product that has no revenue model - yeah, cheer for me' I'm not sure my investors would take that very well, but that's what Google's telling their investors about Android," he said.
It is good that Ballmer does not get it. Let’s keep it that way.
Don’t fall for the ruse …
I have no doubt that Ballmer fully understands the business model and what Google is doing. What he is doing is spreading disinformation. Because he is a rich and powerful CEO, he continues to be considered a subject matter expert on the software industry. His goal is not entirely clear to me, but it is to his advantage to keep as many people off-balance and unsure about open source business models.
Re: Don’t fall for the ruse …
Of course, Karsten :-). It is funny to see him faint ignorance. Just needed to call it out.
Google maps had no initial revenue model and look how well it’s doing.
And so was google the search tool. when did msft get into the game?