Steve Ballmer, to the WSJ about Windows Phone 7:
In a sense, you could say we missed a cycle. We had some execution issues from an R&D perspective. In the time frame since the last significant release certainly the industry has moved, the technology has moved, the hardware has moved.
We said, we’ve got to move forward, not shoot for yesterday. We’ve got to shoot ahead in a way that’s delightful to users, accessible to developers and prioritize everything else we do around those elements.
Dear Microsoft,
First, let me say this: I use iWork ’09 almost exclusively. While all-Mac at home, I am the lone Mac user in my office. I simply export things as PDFs or Office documents and keep on living in the cozy world that is iWork. If you want me, you have to fight for me.
Secondly, I’ve watched the video of your hipster developers and product managers recently posted on the Mactopia website, and I’ve run a handful of the beta builds of Office 2011 over the last few months.
To get anywhere, a project inside Microsoft needs an executive sponsor, and for Pink, Allard had been that guy from day one. It was his baby. Of course, Allard was a visionary, an idea man; Lees – like most Microsoft execs – is a no-nonsense numbers guy, and to put it bluntly, he didn’t like that Pink existed. To quote our sources, Lees was “jealous,” and he was likely concerned that Kin was pulling mindshare (and presumably resources) from Windows Mobile’s roadmap. With enough pressure, Lees ended up getting his way; Pink fell under his charge and Allard was forced into the background.
The Kin wasn’t designed for early adopters of the most cutting edge hardware – that’s obvious. What it was designed to do, however, was work really well doing a couple of key tasks, most of them centered around social networking, photos and video, and some overarching concept of capturing your mobile / digital life in a whole new and easy manner. Lofty goals indeed for a product like this, and unfortunately for everyone, Microsoft misses the mark by a long shot. It’s not even close.
Dean Hachamovitch, the General Manager over Internet Explorer at Microsoft c himes in on the future of the web:
The future of the web is HTML5. Microsoft is deeply engaged in the HTML5 process with the W3C. HTML5 will be very important in advancing rich, interactive web applications and site design. The HTML5 specification describes video support without specifying a particular video format. We think H.264 is an excellent format. In its HTML5 support, IE9 will support playback of H.264 video only.
Frank Shaw, Microsoft’s VP of corporate communications:
At any given time, across any of our business groups, there are new ideas being investigated, tested, and incubated. It’s in Microsoft’s DNA to continually develop and incubate new technologies to foster productivity and creativity. The “Courier” project is an example of this type of effort and its technologies will be evaluated for use in future Microsoft offerings, but we have no plans to build such a device at this time.
While Office itself is a handy thing on a mobile device, the biggest thing I walked away from this video with is an impression that Microsoft has worked very hard to remove all the window chrome in their mobile OS. This UI is gorgeous.