Dreams-Visions
Member
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/25/us-microsoft-idUSTRE74O8BQ20110525
Yes, this is kind of a big deal.
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Beginning of the end? Steve Ballmer is being asked to step down...
- Thread starter Dreams-Visions
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Yes, this is kind of a big deal.
D
Deleted member 22576
Unconfirmed Member
Holy Shit!
IamMattFox
Member
Ouch.
Dreams-Visions
Member
To be honest, it's surprising that he lasted this long. I feel like he's been on borrowed time most of this decade.
Where's J Allard these days?
Where's J Allard these days?
outunderthestars
Banned
Makes sense. They seem structurally unable to innovate at a pace remotely close to Google or Apple. Windows phone is the Zune of the phone world, they have no tablet OS, and their cloud computing offerings remind me AOL in late 90's: horribly clunky, dated, and borderline unusable.
notworksafe
Member
Who is there at Microsoft to replace him? Steven Sinofsky? Maybe Gates will come back (yeah right).
Dreams-Visions
Member
He was one of the main brains and visionaries behind the Xbox 360. Probably their only really successful commercial product outside of Windows.Whogie said:
Beginning of the middle for Microsoft. Beginning of the end for Mr. Ballmer. I expect his golden parachute to be massive.Raistlin said:
TacticalFox88
Banned
Apple domination incoming?
Dreams-Visions
Member
Hell naw. Microsoft rebirth incoming. Well, eventually.TacticalFox88 said:
notworksafe
Member
Over Microsoft? :lolTacticalFox88 said:
Office? Hotmail/Windows Live Mail? MSN Messenger? Those are all pretty popular.Dreams-Visions said:
Mr.Awesome
Banned
...Dreams-Visions said:
Dreams-Visions
Member
notworksafe said:
Mr.Awesome said:
sorry, I meant/was thinking about hardware. Keyboards, mice, webcams, Zune, Kin, WinMo, WinPhone7, etc. No really successful hardware products outside of the 360.
Goro Majima
Kitty Genovese Member
Microsoft really needs a guy who can compete and beat Apple's innovation instead of reacting to whatever they do.
I'm not sure how their business end of software development is going though. Regardless, they certainly have lost a lot of the "excitement" around the brand over the years.
Though ultimately, I wonder how much of their innovation and business plan has been hampered by the anti-trust suits against them?
I'm not sure how their business end of software development is going though. Regardless, they certainly have lost a lot of the "excitement" around the brand over the years.
Though ultimately, I wonder how much of their innovation and business plan has been hampered by the anti-trust suits against them?
outunderthestars
Banned
If he leaves does that mean that I can finally buy this?
The problem isn't their OS as much as it is that computing is moving beyond personal computers and into new forms that MS doesn't offer a viable product in.
Also, the vast majority of people who own computers don't need to upgrade them as often as they used to. I just left a college that still ran windows XP for every machine in the school.
hteng said:
The problem isn't their OS as much as it is that computing is moving beyond personal computers and into new forms that MS doesn't offer a viable product in.
Also, the vast majority of people who own computers don't need to upgrade them as often as they used to. I just left a college that still ran windows XP for every machine in the school.
![QUOTE]They're shuttering the division that developed the Courier.](http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2009/09/ms-courier-booklet.jpg[IMG][/QUOTE]They're shuttering the division that developed the Courier.)
Dreams-Visions
Member
They will always do that.hteng said:
But they need to be growing their web services in a profitable manner (Google) and if they really want to compete in the hardware market beyond the 360, they're going to have to do...Idunno...something very different. Maybe take more control over hardware specs like they have done with Win7Phone.
Dreams-Visions
Member
No, the team and division that was working on it was dissolved. I'm sure they've all been reassigned to other groups and projects.outunderthestars said:If he leaves does that mean that I can finally buy this?
notworksafe
Member
I think Steven Sinofsky (Head of Windows Team) is the best guy they have there. And yes, Office is the only one of those I listed that brings in profit, but it brings in a hell of a lot.Tron 2.0 said:
The Business Division, which includes Office had $11 billion in operating revenue last year. Server Tools made $5.5 billion, and Windows made almost $13 billion. (http://www.microsoft.com/investor/EarningsAndFinancials/Financials/fy10/Q4/SegmentRevenues.aspx).
So lets not kid ourselves, Microsoft is still making plenty of money.
Entertainment and Devices (Xbox, Zune, WP7) hasn't ever been a money maker for MS. It's all about Windows, Office, and Server stuff. I think eventually, especially if they keep Ballmer, they'll just become an IBM-ish company. Boring, but making plenty of money with business products and their OS.
outunderthestars
Banned
Dreams-Visions said:
And that has done poorly for them....
http://blogs.computerworld.com/1824...10_sales_were_less_than_675_000_warns_analyst
Dreams-Visions
Member
I say goddamnTron 2.0 said:
?
technically speaking, I think it's created some good standards for the hardware and ensured a level of consistency across hardware manufacturers.outunderthestars said:
But the tech specs weren't going to sell WinPhone7. That's going to require a small miracle...and some more positivity around the OS. Nokia might be that miracle.
notworksafe
Member
Mark Russinovich (made lots of little diagnostic prgrams including Winternals before being bought out by MS) and Steven Sinofsky are basically the only notable visionaries at the company. Of course, no one has ever heard of them but they'd be very good leaders if they want to go back to being an "exciting" company.alphaNoid said:
It's because they aren't exciting and their big consumer pushes fall flat on their faces. The least profitable division at MS (other than Online Sevices, which runs at a relatively small loss) is the most public facing one, unfortunately for them.Tron 2.0 said:
Makes sense. I don't think history will be kind to Ballmer. Under his leadership, Microsoft have been embarrassed time and time again. By Apple, by Google, by Mozilla, even by (god forbid) Nintendo.
Windows has stagnated pretty horribly. You look at the advances made in the same period of time by Apple and desktop Linux and you realise the extent to which the rot has set in. Windows 7 is a decent product, but it really represents where Windows should have been three years post-XP, not eight.
Windows Phone 7 is a great product that's simply too late. They let development stagnate and now they're paying the price.
There's barely a part of their business in which Microsoft isn't losing market share. Although desktop Linux has seen limited success Apple's market share is growing (who would have guessed that would true 10 years ago?). Apache (and therefore LAMP) is growing at a faster rate than IIS. IE has slipped from almost complete dominance of the web browser market to around 60%, once again because development stagnated. WP7 is stillborn. Google Docs is going to pose a real threat to Microsoft Office over the next few years.
It's time for a change, Microsoft need an innovator who understands software development. In Ballmer they have neither.
Windows has stagnated pretty horribly. You look at the advances made in the same period of time by Apple and desktop Linux and you realise the extent to which the rot has set in. Windows 7 is a decent product, but it really represents where Windows should have been three years post-XP, not eight.
Windows Phone 7 is a great product that's simply too late. They let development stagnate and now they're paying the price.
There's barely a part of their business in which Microsoft isn't losing market share. Although desktop Linux has seen limited success Apple's market share is growing (who would have guessed that would true 10 years ago?). Apache (and therefore LAMP) is growing at a faster rate than IIS. IE has slipped from almost complete dominance of the web browser market to around 60%, once again because development stagnated. WP7 is stillborn. Google Docs is going to pose a real threat to Microsoft Office over the next few years.
It's time for a change, Microsoft need an innovator who understands software development. In Ballmer they have neither.
Ballmer is really terrible imo, he has no vision.
He took five years to come up with an answer to the iPod, four years for the iPhone (after initially laughing at it), it looks like Microsoft will be years late to the tablet market too... For a company with the resources of Microsoft (both manpower and money) there is no excuse for them to be so late to the market every time. Microsoft spends $9.5 billion on R&D each year and what do they have to show for it?
J Allard would've been a good replacement IMO but he left the company last year.
He took five years to come up with an answer to the iPod, four years for the iPhone (after initially laughing at it), it looks like Microsoft will be years late to the tablet market too... For a company with the resources of Microsoft (both manpower and money) there is no excuse for them to be so late to the market every time. Microsoft spends $9.5 billion on R&D each year and what do they have to show for it?
J Allard would've been a good replacement IMO but he left the company last year.
outunderthestars
Banned
Tron 2.0 said:
Apple is going to bring in over 100 billion this year and has quarterly revenue growth of 83 percent and profit growth of 95 percent.
That is why the price of MS stock is stagnant: the company isn't growing or becoming more profitable. They seem to have plateau'ed.
Dreams-Visions
Member
I agree with everything but your assessment of Windows. Windows 7 did show up about 3 years later than it should have, but it is a solid OS. I agree that it took them several years too long to catch up to OS X. But it is there now in most appreciable ways...and hopefully will continue moving in the right direction.Polari said:
notworksafe
Member
Why do people say this? His division only has operated with a profit for the last few years, and even then it is a comparitively small one. I think a head of a larger division like Windows would be much better. Windows 7 was probably the biggest ad and consumer mindshare push Microsoft has done for an OS since 95 and it turned out really well for them in both positive mindshare and money.Sean said:
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