I don't see much in the way of inconsistencies. In _2006_, Don notes:
"Google knows that on a feature comparison basis there is no contest. Microsoft Office wins."
And, in the SAME blog posting also says:
"Feature comparisons aside, I think the real story is free online collaboration, which is the next battlefield."
Now that he's left MSFT, he says:
"I can’t think of a single feature missing from what I need every day. There may be some edge cases, but I haven’t bumped into any yet."
I haven't used Google Docs much, but haven't they improved significantly in the past three years? Furthermore, he noted while at MSFT that the killer feature is collaboration, not the number of unique word count statistics. I see little in the way of inconsistency here. Doesn't Ballmer change his arguments at least twice a year when it comes to dissing competitive offerings?
Technically, you're right. But in both cases he's carefully choosing his words to make his employer's product sound better.
It's patronising because it implies:
* that I'm not capable of noticing any drawbacks of the product, which he conveniently didn't mention, and
* that I would ever give any serious consideration to a spokesman's supposed opinions of his own company's product.
I would have much more respect for somebody who came out and praised the competition and acknowledged what they got right instead of what they got wrong. It would show much more confidence in his/her own product.
Many of those quotes are 2-3 years old. Google has been consistently improving their web offerings and the speed of web apps has been getting better and better.
I have changed my opinion of products and companies over a the span of years many times. I think we should agree that he can too.
"Google knows that on a feature comparison basis there is no contest. Microsoft Office wins."
And, in the SAME blog posting also says:
"Feature comparisons aside, I think the real story is free online collaboration, which is the next battlefield."
Now that he's left MSFT, he says:
"I can’t think of a single feature missing from what I need every day. There may be some edge cases, but I haven’t bumped into any yet."
I haven't used Google Docs much, but haven't they improved significantly in the past three years? Furthermore, he noted while at MSFT that the killer feature is collaboration, not the number of unique word count statistics. I see little in the way of inconsistency here. Doesn't Ballmer change his arguments at least twice a year when it comes to dissing competitive offerings?