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December 12, 2006

rivals

Jim Allchin’s secret identity: Mac-man?

Posted Dec. 12, ’06, 8:41 AM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Apple » Rivals

Jim AllchinSee this man? This is James Edward “Jim” Allchin, co-president of the Platform Products and Services Group at Microsoft. Allchin is one of the primary movers behind Windows Vista, although he’ll be retiring after the OS ships.

But Allchin harbors a deep, dark secret. He wants a Mac. Truly, madly, deeply.

During a recent lawsuit against Microsoft over anti-competitive behavior, an email from Allchin to Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer came to light, in which Allchin stated: “I would buy a Mac today if I was not working at Microsoft.” The subject of the email was that Microsoft was losing sight of what its customers wanted in terms of developing Vista.

In a blog entry posted today, Allchin takes the email for a spin, insisting that the Mac comment was intended “for effect” and was “purposefully dramatic.” Okay, sure. What else do you have to say, Jim?

Windows Vista has turned into a phenomenal product, better than any other OS we’ve ever built and far, far better than any other software available today, in my opinion. It’s going to be available to customers on Jan 30, and I suggest everyone go out and get it as soon as you can. It’s that good.
Wow? Really? Okay. I’ll just pop over to the—wait just a darned second there. You can’t pull a fast one on me. A Microsoft employee telling me to buy Microsoft products? What do you think I am?

Allchin, you may recall, was proposed as a candidate for replacing Steve Jobs. I’m not sure that’s a logical decision at all, but I do think we’ll be keeping an ear to the ground after Vista ships and Allchin retires. Perhaps he’ll be singing a different tune.


1 Comments

Larry V Author Profile Page said:

Allchin is delirious if he thinks that Windows Vista is "far, far better than any other software available today." Perhaps it is the best Windows OS to date. After such a long development process, I should hope it is. But the best piece of software out there, period? Even ignoring Mac OS X and most versions of Linux, there are plenty of third-party Windows applications that I would place above Windows itself.

December 12, 2006 1:44 PM

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