Michael Gartenberg Quotations

Vendors want to see you buy fully-configured, high-end systems. The question is, are there legions of users who resisted purchasing at that price? All of the major vendors are having systems in the sub-$1,000 range to offer new purchasers a chance.

There are some real competitive issues going on, and (Microsoft) needs to respond, not just with products and offerings for consumers but also (with) compelling products and APIs for developers, ... There's a recognition that people are embracing the Web as a platform, and they (Microsoft) want to be there as well.

There are enough compatible applications at launch so that Windows 2000 will not suffer as a result. With BackOffice, there is plenty of time to resolve issues, particularly with Active Directory design.

We've seen growing awareness of this notion of connectivity. And we'll continue to see this going forward in 2006.

The pricing model seems to be somewhat questionable here. People will ask why they need to spend that much money for a box.

The price sounds reasonable and should resonate with consumers,

Looks like a good solid name for Nintendo.

No doubt, I'm sure, the senior executives at Microsoft were pretty upset (with the latest Vista delay). Steven has a track record of shipping products (and he can) potentially take the reins and get the thing out the door and fix whatever process problems there are.

More importantly, they've done it in a way that seems to be fairly understandable by consumers so you don't have to have a whole IT department in your house to make this stuff work.

One of the reasons we saw the iMac targeted first is because it is the line that is going to be least impacted by the pro apps.

For the short term they're already on target with a good relationship. Apple's already reaped a lot of benefits.

With Mozilla, its core essence has been this notion about doing things for free. So in that case, it is a little different because it somewhat changes the DNA the organization was built upon, and it comes back to the recognition that being paid for services is not necessarily a bad thing.

Keeping it persistently available is a pretty big deal. I can position things so I can be working on my e-mail or word processing and still have the information available.

It does what it's supposed to do, and it does it well.

Microsoft has taken a lot of effort developing the phone first.

Microsoft has been able to keep this product secret for a year. For Microsoft, that's absolutely incredible.

When Steve Jobs says, 'One More Thing,' a catchphrase almost as familiar as the turtleneck and jeans, that's usually when the other shoe drops, when the bombshell hits. People are parsing the invitation the same way they're searching 'Lost' for new meanings and nuance.

When it comes to consumer electronics, the longer you wait, it's always going to be smaller, faster, cheaper.

The problem was that the devices weren't very good, the screens were terrible, the prices were too high and there was a terrible selection of content.

The experience isn't going to be radically different for the Apple user after this. There will be some adjustment, some tweaks here and there, but it is not going to be a dramatically different experience.

Expect that we'll have a lot to say about what it all means as well as the implications over the next few weeks.

We're talking about Apple, so it could be all of those things, none of those things, or something brand new.

When consumers look at this whole situation and the way things are fragmented, they may very well decide they are going to wait until the there is more of a shakeout or a clear standard.

Video was certainly the buzzword. There seems to be more and more interest in the video space in 2006 as well as more and more growth in the music space, with lots of people conspiring on how they can wring market share from Apple.

Browsing is a secondary feature that is very important on today's modern devices, but no one wants to spend the time and effort to reinvent the browsing experience when there are already great solutions on the market, ... Nokia is using a best-of-breed browser without the expense of having to build it all themselves.

Enterprises must understand that TCO (total cost of ownership) reduction is not a justification for a Windows 2000 desktop migration. Because of the high cost of migration, enterprises can actually lose money before they touch the first system.

There's no doubt that Microsoft has the potential to become a major force in the mobile space.

The strategy here of under-promising and being able to over-deliver is the right approach. Typically one of the thing that curses startups is when you peak too early, when expectations are set way too high, they discover there are issues.

The technology to build these is fairly simple. It doesn't require advanced development techniques.

The survey reinforces Microsoft's message to enterprises that Windows is a safe bet.

Sony was not early in the plasma TV market even though consumers showed interest in it. Other Asian competitors were able to get products out faster and capture the minds of consumers.

Often consumers don't have an easy way to get the pictures off the camera. So they use them as wallpaper and screensavers instead of printing them. It shows how consumers are changing the way they are interacting with digital technology. Consumers are realizing that there's many ways they can interact with their pictures other than just printing them out and pasting them into an album.

The browser has taken on the status of mission critical. You're not going to see many enterprises adopt this (Mozilla) when there is such a sense of gravity around IE,

You need to test your equipment and make sure you're ready to jump. You jump only after you've made an informed decision.

This is a question of extending their reach.

This is not such a watershed moment for Microsoft, but another step in a process that's been years in the making to get the right devices and the right partnerships out there and demonstrate to the market that this is a viable platform for these types of large scale projects. Typically what you do see in situations like this is that success breeds success.

This is significant because people have been waiting for 802.11n for quite some time. There are limitations in the existing standard that create problems for vendors who are trying to build network solutions in the home to handle things like video or music.

This blitz is a reminder of the fact that while enterprises are extremely important to the company, HP has not lost the focus on things that it excels at. The consumer market can be very lucrative as consumers move beyond using their PCs just for e-mail and word processing.

This indicates Microsoft's long-term commitment to this (field). Certainly they're not content with their position in the marketplace.

A lot of what we've seen in Vista has similarities with Tiger.

There's a lot riding on Vista. Vista must be successful if they want to be an important player in the digital home.

It's a bigger deal in name than in substance, ... Microsoft added some bells and whistles, but it's not a dramatic release. Unless you have a pressing need for one of the specific features that were added, it's not a product that most users will want to upgrade to.

It represents a big win for Apple and the Mac platform. But Apple doesn't represent a threat to AOL's business. Apple isn't a media company; it's not in online services. It's not the same threat as when Microsoft wanted interoperability.

It solves a lot of potential hold-ups for Macintosh adoption. Mainstream users who are looking to buy a computer are going to take a second look at Mac.

It will be interesting to see a couple of years down the road if we'll hear people grumbling that maybe all videos should be sold the same, maybe we're giving it too cheap.

This is a very good deal for the two companies.

Not until TVs become far more connected than they are now will this become big. It's right now still going to be far more for the enthusiast,

The mere notion that a Palm device could be built around anything but the Palm OS means that the market is shifting and that anything is possible.

The core trend is we're seeing high-speed wireless access integrated directly into the devices rather than requiring an add-on card.

In general, the older your hardware, the more likely there are going to be no drivers, and there might be BIOS problems,

Importantly, they've done it in a way that seems to be fairly understandable to consumers, who don't need an IT department at home to make this stuff work.

I don't think Microsoft plans on ceding this market to Apple or anyone else at this point in time. What that means in terms of tactical solutions, it's too early to tell. They're probably considering any number of different options.

How seamless does that mechanism need to be under this law? The devil here is in the detail. It's quite possible that Apple says they're in compliance with this law. No one is locked into Apple's music format.

The first steps will be to reorganize what they need in terms of head count, and the second is to reinvigorate and revitalize the product lines.

The issue with Linux has always been the desktop, ... a non-starter on the desktop for all kinds of reasons.