Microsoft, Steve Ballmer and the Surface...

In the news we have been hearing about Steve Ballmer and what a mistake it was for him to buy Nokia.

The news has also been happy to have something to write about as well because Microsoft just laid off over 18,000 employees from Nokia and the media loves a tragedy.

However there was no tragedy, and we have been reluctant to write about it because it just gets us all worked up so we have avoided the subject for as long as we could, but we can't anymore.

Recently it has been brought to our attention to read Matt Smith from Digital Trends and his rant about the Surface from Microsoft.

This was basically our motivation to write about what we have been seeing for years and what we have been seeing lately in the market.

Matt Smith doesn't like the Surface because it's doing really well for MS and when a company puts out good news media hates it :-(

The Surface is becoming a very popular product because it's built very well and the design is better than any design that is on the market today.

All 2 in 1 designs are flip overs that leave the keyboard on the bottom which will be slid across the surface it sits on, which will scratch the keys and pick up debris.

Sure it's an all in one and all you have to do is carry one device whereas the Surface is two devices and you have to be responsible for two pieces all the time, but still it's a better design.

The other thing Matt Smith writes about is the future of the Surface and that MS may stop developing it's own hardware and abandon the product.

This is ridiculous and even if MS does stop developing their own hardware they won't abandon a product that is bringing in 117% of it's revenue right now.

They will more than likely give it to Samsung to develop and will be a smart decision because hardware and tooling is very expensive and they know this.

MS will save money by having someone else design the product because they can trade out Software with development and they can trade services which is better than paying out loads of cash.

However, this will also come to an end because barter only goes so far, because in the end you still have to pay Uncle Sam, and Uncle Sam doesn't take Steak and Potatoes in trade for taxes.

Which takes us back to the Nokia purchase...

This was the smartest move that Steve Ballmer and MS could ever do because the knowledge they acquired was priceless.

They saw first hand what it takes to tool a shop and the employees they would need to run an operation like this.

They gained years of experience and saved billions of dollars by this move and more than likely used it to their advantage with their Surface Production line.

As for the recent layoffs was the plan from the beginning. MS never intended to keep Nokia mobile and to prove this, if you remember Stephen Elop the "CEO" of Nokia Mobility was looking for a Job the minute the Venture started, remember...he applied for the CEO position.

MS actually did these employees of Nokia a favor, because the "TRUE CEO" of Nokia and still CEO of Nokia didn't have to fire the employees due to a huge decline in sales that Nokia had been experiencing for years.

MS gave those employees an opportunity to shine and more than likely MS found a few gems in the crowd and gave those gems a new Job with MS.

MS didn't lose any money from their purchase of Nokia, they purchased it for 7.2 billion dollars and just wrote off 7.2 billion dollars, but the information they gained was priceless.

As for Steve Ballmer he's doing fine and just bought a Basketball Team and is now working for himself and still making money.

Ballmer didn't have to work for the rest of his life and had enough money for 3 generation to live off and left MS with 22.7 billion dollars of personal wealth and left MS with over 50 billion dollars in corporate wealth.

Just to put it into perspective on how smart Ballmer is, he drove to California and before his car cooled down he had bought an NBA team, now go to Seattle, where they have a collective of people consisting of Public Officials, CEO's and Personal Wealth and they can't even buy a cheap ass Hockey team let alone a Professional Basketball team.

Microsoft has been ahead of everyone by 10 years and still is ahead of everyone by 10 years regardless of losing in Phone Sales.

If you haven't noticed phones sales are tapering off which leaves Google/Apple and Samsung left with nothing to sell.

Microsoft is so far ahead in the Enterprise business that it dwarfs the competition. So when Windows 10 comes out they will be light years ahead of Google and Apple and MS already has a customer base in place.

As for the Surface the name says it all...the "PC" evolved into the Tablet and soon the tablet will be obsolete considering they are creating wearable's like Glasses and Watches.

Computers will be built into the surface of countertops/refrigerators/walls and eventually with the Kinect technology/Cloud and Quantum Physics..."Mid Air" :-P

Google doesn't have this Apple doesn't have this, Linux doesn't have this technology, Microsoft does and they are continually advancing far beyond it's own self.

We see phones going away altogether and your wearable device will be connected to an ear device that is virtually undetectable.

Voice commands don't allow for anonymity and will be replaced by thought control. Stephen Hawking can talk without moving his lips or using his voice, so this technology is right around the corner.

As for Linux and as cool as it is and that it's free is still not user friendly. We are still stuck on the WiFi card and are just thinking about going out and buying a compatible card for Debian, but we have also read that NDISWRAPPER can be used on this card, it's just that we haven't had the motivation to do it.

We really like Debian and believe that it's an up and comer, but Microsoft has just made their programs so easy to use that people won't be motivated to learn Linux.

When Linux becomes like Windows is today will it be used more frequently, but it has a long way to go. example: Google Chrome, long long ways to go...

Linux is Powerful and is used in lots of devices, but those devices are built to do just certain things that people just press a button and go.

People see a GUI and they think it's a Window and that is what they are familiar with so as far as most people are concerned it's just Windows.

Back to the Evolution of computers...this is very important considering that computers have just evolved which means that it's just a software thing now and making software compatible.

You're not going to see huge advancements in technology for a long time other than just common sense things that need to be made to work.

Social Media and texting are already getting old and people aren't compatible with each other with all this technology and lack fundamental skills of "Basic Conversation"

People are coming to America that refuse to talk the English language and it's too hard for people to learn 90 thousand different languages which is why we need to make a universal language because English is not the accepted Language anymore.

The technology that needs to be created is not some sign written in Spanish and English, it's a voice communicator device that you talk into that outputs whatever language is needed to communicate with one another.

You talk English and press translate to Russian and the person hears Russian and the interpreter is a Software not a person.

We know that Apple and Google have put all their eggs into one basket, but MS has many eggs and many baskets and they have a phone as well that counts for 7% of their bottom line, so they cover all avenues.

Now MS has applied one OS for all the devices that are out there which makes switching from device to device easy and that is what people want, easy peasy lemon squeezy and familiarity.

The familiarity is that MS will work on ALL devices so whatever device you have that you are used to can be used with an OS that looks the same everywhere you go.

The other advantage that MS has is that the root of their business is Software, so just because they don't have a lot of apps doesn't matter because MS is a software house, so they can make their own apps cheaper/reliable/compatible and secure.

We still don't recommend upgrading from anything other than Windows 8, but some people don't know any better and they love drama, they love to complain and they require attention all the time.

Business has been real slow for the 3rd party resellers out there and this type of person is just the jolt they need.

Microsoft is ran by a Board of Directors and Shareholders and Satya Nadella is just the voice for them so he will do what he does in the ever popular cloud department he maintains.

The only sad part about it is that if MS doesn't show results, people will need answers which puts him on the chopping block which would mean he would lose his job altogether.

Most CEO's have big ego's so, like a good ousted CEO he can go into politics and talk about the good ol' days with Carly Fiorina :-D

As for whether or not MS abandons it's tooling division and hardware development department for the Surface is a moot point because Samsung would love to build anything for MS and are prepared and fully trained to do so.

Toshiba is another company that MS can work with to design their products so again, it doesn't matter if they keep the division or not because it'll have served its purpose and that is MS is now familiar with how hardware and software needs to be designed in order to work perfectly with one another...and that's a fact!

**UPDATE**
It has been brought to our attention that Linux is better than Windows and that we have been speaking lies or as they say "Miss Truth" well let's see...

1. Linux is easier  to load  than windows...
answer: Yes it is and we already mentioned that "Linux is Easier to Load than Windows" remember...let's remind them..."Debian installs all updates and software on Install, MS Windows does not and requires you to download about a 1gb of updates before you can use it.
...you know, Important updates and...Optional Updates ;-) "
http://5hvnzon.blogspot.com/search?q=Debian so we agree

2. Linux  is cheaper  than windows...
answer: This one is argumentative because Microsoft is going to upgrade Home Users for free from Windows 7 on UP, but business users will have to pay for it anywhere from 119.00-199.00. However, most business customers use a Home version of Windows called "Windows Home Premium" so you know that "most" of the business users are going to "take advantage" of that free upgrade...and that's a fact! Linux on the other Hand is free for all versions all day, so yes Linux "can" be cheaper in "some" situations...and that's another fact! but like we said...argumentative ;-)

3.  You load  Linux has almost everything you need...
answer: This is "absolutely" true and again we will remind them that we already admitted this, remember..."Debian loads a full on Office Program completely compatible with MS Office, but MS Windows won't load an Office Program on install."
refer to the first blog... http://5hvnzon.blogspot.com/search?q=Debian so again, we agree...

4. You can't load Debian...
answer: Actually we did load Debian, we just couldn't install the Wireless card because it wasn't supported by Debian. We did however read about a way to load it off the Windows Driver using a Process called NDISWRAPPER, but like we said, we lost our motivation. What pissed us off the most is that Debian supports every driver before and every driver after, it's just the one card literally the "ONE" card in between that it didn't support and for the life of us we don't understand why and that just pissed us off that we had the "ONE" card that it didn't support. One series after or one series before and we could have loaded it :-( However, we loaded Debian right out of the Gate and even did a "DUAL BOOT" with Windows which we are still using.

5. Window phone is not a good choice...
answer: We completely agree, we hate SKYPE. We always liked GPhone better than SKYPE for a long time because it was an additional install. GPhone loaded with Gmail, but SKYPE for the longest time didn't, but since 2013 they solved this. However we never loaded SKYPE on Outlook because it was a pay for and as soon as our GPhone ran out we just didn't have the interest to pay for it considering that Cell Phones included Nation Wide Unlimited Calling and Unlimited Text so what's the point? You could be tied down to a computer or you could be on the move with a Mobile Phone...hmmm that's a tough one...ON THE MOVE :-D As for whether or not SKYPE is better than GPhone is a moot point because it's not as important anymore, at least not for now.

6. Window phone is not a good choice cont...
answer: We're not sure if they were referring to the SKYPE program or the actual Windows Phone, so we decided to answer in two parts. If you have read our latest blog you would know the answer to this question :-D, but just in case you missed it, here it is again...
http://5hvnzon.blogspot.com/2015/07/microsoft-flag-ship-phones.html so again, we agree...

Now as much as we like Linux and all 40 million of their Desktops :-D we also like Windows, and we like Apple and we like Google and anyone else for that matter, and like everything it depends on what you need it for is why you choose what you do.

We could go on all day about what Linux "can't" do like the issues it has with printing interfaces, the lack of a central technical support center, legacy gaming compatibility and it continues. We love Debian and in our Opinion is one of the Best Desktops we have seen thus far.

As for "LINUX" this is very confusing to most so let us help you. Linux is the core. Linux is like DOS, it's a black screen with a Blinking Cursor, but what makes Linux different is the "DESKTOPS" that they build for it, like what they did with Microsoft's Windows Desktop. The difference is that Microsoft has finalized a Desktop for Windows called 10 and was decided in 7 and 8 was the BETA.

Linux/Debian/Ubuntu/KDE/GNOME/ETC... are still in development and like we said, Microsoft is 10 years ahead of the competition.

sidenote: Windows 10...10 years ahead...Windows 10...10 years ahead get it :-D pun intended ;-)

Now for the last Argument that Linux users always fall back on...Linux is the most secure and our answer to that is..."ALL SOFTWARE CAN BE HACKED"...and that's a fact!