An article I pointed out previously sums it up best – people don’t want to think about installing software and loading drivers and making sure the app they buy is compatible with their system. They have no want to worry about the underlying system, they want to just click and go, something Windows is notoriously unable to provide to people. The fact that Ballmer and his lackies keep trying to reuse and recycle Windows for every project that hits the market proves they have no idea what they’re doing. Instead of building a single device with a dedicated, built from the ground up Operating System to support that device, they keep trying to shoehorn Windows 7 into every platform they can conceive and it just doesn’t work.

It’s pretty damn clear to me Ballmer hasn’t even used a tablet! And the comment, "Apple has "done an interesting job" with the iPad" is just stupid and pathetic. Apple has done in three months for the tablet what Microsoft hasn’t been able to do in nearly a decade. Own up to it Steve.

Ballmer also states Microsoft, "needs to make things happen, like we did with nebooks". I’m sorry, what did you do for netbooks again? Aren’t you the same Ballmer who said there was no need for netbooks and there was no need to replace the PC? Now, you’ve made things happen? Damn, you sure do back pedal a lot.

Microsoft and Ballmer are just being vague because they really have no plan. Fracturing a market with confusing options is tablets simply isn’t going to work. People don’t want to make choices about processing power or the weight. They want to choose the amount of storage that’s right for them and be done with it. Until Ballmer can understand that huge difference they will never make headway in this market.

If the Kin and Courier are any indication of what Microsoft is capable of lately, the idea of a successful Microsoft tablet is dead. It just won’t happen.

Microsoft’s Ballmer: Windows 7 slates are ‘job number one’

And clearly I’m not the only one. Give this article a read and let me know what you think the future of Microsoft and Steve’s roll in it will be.

Steve Ballmer has one more chance to save his job

Personally I think Steve should step down. He just wants to work on what he personally understands not what the market actually wants. He thinks netbooks are a joke and that bit him in the ass. He thinks tablets are a waste of time (even though they have been trying to make the tablet market world for them nearly a decade). He thinks he will dominate a mobile market ruled by hundreds of millions of other devices. He think he can slap a search engine together and get millions of people using it over night.

Microsoft has been resting on the heels of Windows and Office for too long. They need to get something moving. Sure, Sharepoint is cool, but you need more than one product to keep the company moving.

I think Microsoft should spend more time working with Apple and Google than battling them, but hey, I’m not a egotistical, power hungry, madman…

Personally I’m underwhelmed by their technology offerings and don’t think it will make much of splash in the months to come. They’re being outpaced at just about every turn by other companies who are more focused, more agile and who understand the game better.

This article is definitely worth a read:

Why Steve Ballmer’s CES keynote was boring: Microsoft is looking back, not forward