CE-Oh no he didn’t!: Steve Ballmer calls Dropbox ‘a fine little startup’

CEOh no he didn't! Steve Ballmer calls Dropbox 'a fine little startup'

Microsoft is no stranger to industry flak, but it's always better to give than to receive, right? Steve Ballmer thinks so, and in a recent Bloomberg interview, he took a second away from talking up the new Office 2013 to smite Dropbox, saying that the 100 million users it boasts "sounds like a pretty small number to me." He recovered slightly by adding "I'm not beating on Dropbox," only to follow it with the finishing blow: "They're a fine little startup and that's great." We doubt anyone else would call Dropbox a startup at this point, but Microsoft's chief can't be seen complimenting a SkyDrive rival now, can he? After having to defend the user stats for Redmond's Yammer, he was also quizzed on the undying native Office for iPad rumor, to which he had "nothing to say," apart from "we'll see what we see in the future." If these snippets aren't quite enough, then head to the source link for the full interview. Ballmer may be a little less shouty these days, but it's good to know he's still capable of delivering the odd high-caliber burn.

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Via: The Verge

Source: Bloomberg

CE-Oh no he didn’t!: Tesla’s Elon Musk calls the Fisker Karma a ‘mediocre product at a high price’

CEOh no he didn't! Tesla's Elon Musk calls the Fisker Karma a 'mediocre product at a high price'

"I don't think very highly of Henrik Fisker," Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors, told Automobile magazine in a recent interview. Musk was recalling events leading up to a 2008 lawsuit in which Tesla accused Fisker of pilfering its hybrid technology to build the Fisker Karma. Musk isn't a fan of the automobile, and suggests its creators put form over function. "It's a mediocre product at a high price," he says. "[Fisker] thinks the most important thing in the world -- or the only important thing in the world -- is design, so he outsourced the engineering and manufacturing." Still, Musk concedes that Fisker's eye for aesthetics paid off in some respects. "It looks good," he said. "Particularly from the side it looks good."

The magazine gave Henrik Fisker a chance to respond, who said that he was "delighted that Elon thinks the Karma is a good-looking car," and stressed that Tesla and Fisker are targeting different customers with two "totally different technologies." He was quick to address the firms' previous legal squabbles too, "to set the record straight, Fisker won in court... a judge threw out the case and awarded costs to Fisker." True enough, but in light of recent events, we can think of at least one Karma owner who might agree with Musk.

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CE-Oh no he didn't!: Tesla's Elon Musk calls the Fisker Karma a 'mediocre product at a high price' originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Aug 2012 08:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Autoblog  |  sourceAutomobile Magazine  | Email this | Comments

CE-Oh no he didn’t!: Tesla’s Elon Musk calls the Fisker Karma a ‘mediocre product at a high price’

CEOh no he didn't! Tesla's Elon Musk calls the Fisker Karma a 'mediocre product at a high price'

"I don't think very highly of Henrik Fisker," Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors, told Automobile magazine in a recent interview. Musk was recalling events leading up to a 2008 lawsuit in which Tesla accused Fisker of pilfering its hybrid technology to build the Fisker Karma. Musk isn't a fan of the automobile, and suggests its creators put form over function. "It's a mediocre product at a high price," he says. "[Fisker] thinks the most important thing in the world -- or the only important thing in the world -- is design, so he outsourced the engineering and manufacturing." Still, Musk concedes that Fisker's eye for aesthetics paid off in some respects. "It looks good," he said. "Particularly from the side it looks good."

The magazine gave Henrik Fisker a chance to respond, who said that he was "delighted that Elon thinks the Karma is a good-looking car," and stressed that Tesla and Fisker are targeting different customers with two "totally different technologies." He was quick to address the firms' previous legal squabbles too, "to set the record straight, Fisker won in court... a judge threw out the case and awarded costs to Fisker." True enough, but in light of recent events, we can think of at least one Karma owner who might agree with Musk.

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CE-Oh no he didn't!: Tesla's Elon Musk calls the Fisker Karma a 'mediocre product at a high price' originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Aug 2012 08:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Autoblog  |  sourceAutomobile Magazine  | Email this | Comments

CE-Oh no he didn’t!: Acer’s JT Wang tells Microsoft to ‘think twice’ about Surface

CEOh no he didn't Acer's JT Wang tells Microsoft to 'think twice' about making Surface

Acer executives have criticized Microsoft's decision to build its own tablet in the past, but now the firm's CEO has offered Redmond a more direct warning. "We have said [to Microsoft] think it over," Acer CEO JT Wang told the Financial Times. "Think Twice. It will create a huge negative impact for the ecosystem and other brands may take a negative reaction." Microsoft has acknowledged Surface's potential to frustrate its OEM partners, telling the Security and Exchange Commission that competing directly with manufactures might "affect their commitment" to the firm's platform. Not only does Wang agree with this admission, he seems worried that Microsoft will cause this damage for nothing. "It is not something you are good at," he continued, "so please think twice." Polite, but a bit bold. Then again, Acer has never been shy about telling Microsoft exactly what it thinks.

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CE-Oh no he didn't!: Acer's JT Wang tells Microsoft to 'think twice' about Surface originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Aug 2012 01:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceFinancial Times  | Email this | Comments

CE-Oh no he didn’t!: Valve’s Gabe Newell says ‘Windows 8 is a catastrophe for everyone’

CE-Oh no he didn't!: Valve's Gabe Newell says 'Windows 8 is a catastrophe for everyone'

Always-outspoken Gabe Newell, the big cheese at Valve, made quite a few interesting statements at this year's Casual Connect conference, including the quote above. Gabe believes Microsoft's impending update will drive manufacturers away from the OS and he reiterated Valve's plan to make the entire Steam catalog available on Linux as a "hedging strategy." During the onstage discussion, he also weighed in on the longevity of touch input, which he estimates at a decade, the possibility of tongue control and the future of wearable computers. Other classic quotes include "the next version of Photoshop should look like a free-to-play game," which Adobe apparently didn't quite understand -- and frankly, neither do we.

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CE-Oh no he didn't!: Valve's Gabe Newell says 'Windows 8 is a catastrophe for everyone' originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Jul 2012 08:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Joystiq  |  sourceAll Things D  | Email this | Comments

Sergey Brin clarifies Apple and Facebook critique, says statement was ‘distorted’

Sergey Brin clarifies apple and facebook critique

Sergey Brin wasn't too happy with how his critique of Apple and Facebook was represented in the media following an interview he gave to the Guardian. In a post on Google+ (hey, if he won't use it, who will?) Brin lamented that, "my thoughts got particularly distorted... in a way that distracts from my central tenets." The founder believes that undue attention was given to his complaints about Facebook and Apple's "restrictive" walled gardens, when he sees oppressive governments and state-sanctioned censorship as much larger issues. Of course, while Brin does say he admires his competitors, he never truly backpedals from his criticism or says that it was taken out of context. To let Sergey explain himself, hit up the source link.

Sergey Brin clarifies Apple and Facebook critique, says statement was 'distorted' originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Apr 2012 12:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Slashgear  |  sourceSergey Brin (Google+)  | Email this | Comments

Sergey Brin says the internet is under attack by governments, Apple and Facebook

Sergey Brin says the internet is under attack by governments, apple and facebook

One of the qualifications for scoring a CE-Oh no 'round here is actually being a CEO -- so Sergey Brin does not receive that honor. We will, however, draw attention to what some might call his hyperbolic ramblings. In an interview with the Guardian, Google's cool uncle said he was worried about the state of the internet and that his company could not have flourished in an online ecosystem like today's. According to Brin, the threats are coming from all sides -- most notably governments. While oppressive regimes like those in China and Iran get top billing, the US doesn't escape without criticism thanks to SOPA and PIPA which seemed perilously close to passing with support from the media industry. The co-founder also took shots at Apple and Facebook, which he said have built "really restrictive" walled gardens. For more smack talk from one of the most influential men in the tech industry, hit up the source link.

[Image via Thomas Hawk]

Sergey Brin says the internet is under attack by governments, Apple and Facebook originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Apr 2012 11:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Telegraph  |  sourceThe Guardian  | Email this | Comments