TightWind is written by Kyle Baxter. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Steve Ballmer was interviewed by PC Magazine at the end of September. Ballmer’s answers were generally bad, but his comments on Apple were particularly odd:

We’re going to talk about why—look, PCs are better than Macs. That is not something that can be debated. 32 out of every 33 times, somebody buys a PC instead of a Mac. I’m not saying that there are not some things that people like about Macs, apparently there are. But have you ever seen a cheap Mac? No.

You know, they like to act like Macs are lightweight, there are much lighter weight PC notebooks. Macs—do they have the best battery power? Of course they don’t have the best battery power. Macs tend to have nice screens, but can you get nicer screens for a PC? Of course. Do Macs work in business? No, they do not.

Well, Steve, the Mac Mini is pretty cheap.

Ballmer’s anger at Apple’s being mentioned is clear. Apple’s success — his protest notwithstanding — is getting under his skin. Notice the sarcasm throughout his comments, and emotional arguments (PCs are better because they’re cheap and because Macs don’t work in business? Okay, Steve).

This shows how concerned Microsoft is about Apple’s resurgence, and that they have no clear strategy for doing so. Microsoft is a mess.