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Ask HN: Is Satya Nadella the best tech CEO of last decade?

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Re: Ask HN: Is Satya Nadella the best tech CEO of last decade?

#41

Post by voisin »

qbasic_forever wrote: post #24

Microsoft completely lost mobile. Like not just a few goofy phones like Kin, they just straight up have no relevance or marketshare or anything in what is clearly the future platform for all computing. A lot of this damage was done under Balmer, but IMHO Nadella has a lot of blame too. Microsoft has gone from domination of computing platforms and making money on every single device sale to competing for scraps in som…

> Microsoft completely lost mobile. Like not just a few goofy phones like Kin, they just straight up have no relevance or marketshare or anything in what is clearly the future platform for all computing.

Lost on mobile hardware and OS but their software (office, outlook, OneDrive) is extremely popular on mobile, no?

Re: Ask HN: Is Satya Nadella the best tech CEO of last decade?

#42

Post by ginko »

VWWHFSfQ wrote: post #32
zamnos wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> MS still lacks a industry leading 21st century consumer device The XBox division doesn't count?

I don't know any numbers but I would guess that Xbox is not close to being the market leader. Sony has that wrapped. Xbox is probably closer to Nintendo. They do, however, have a competitive platform which is important. Something they could never do with Windows Phone.

> Sony has that wrapped

Nintendo sold 4 Switches for every PS5 on the market.

Re: Ask HN: Is Satya Nadella the best tech CEO of last decade?

#43

Post by slondr »

bm-rf wrote: post #14
uberman wrote: post #2

I don't know how much of the MS turnaround can be attributed to him, but if we take it at face value that the CEO is responsible for everything, then MS definitely has had a dramatic positive run following Nadella taking the reigns from Ballmer. MS still lacks a industry leading 21st century consumer device and Nadella has not been able to change that but his bets on cloud computing, embracing of Linux and open sourc…

Best yet is VSCode into a docker container on a remote host. Feels like magic!

Emacs has been able to edit files transparently on remote hosts for longer than vscode has existed

Re: Ask HN: Is Satya Nadella the best tech CEO of last decade?

#44

Post by endisneigh »

osigurdson wrote: post #38
jansan wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple was on a winning streak when Tim Cook took over, so it does not look that impressive. But it is hard to imagine how he could have done a better job. Maybe Apple could have created a better browser :)

Good CEOs don't screw up the current business. Great CEOs make big bets that work out. Tim Cook is clearly in the "good CEO" category.

false. Great CEOs maximize returns for the shareholders. this is inclusive of big bets.

Re: Ask HN: Is Satya Nadella the best tech CEO of last decade?

#45

Post by froggychairs »

zamnos wrote: post #4
uberman wrote: post #2

I don't know how much of the MS turnaround can be attributed to him, but if we take it at face value that the CEO is responsible for everything, then MS definitely has had a dramatic positive run following Nadella taking the reigns from Ballmer. MS still lacks a industry leading 21st century consumer device and Nadella has not been able to change that but his bets on cloud computing, embracing of Linux and open sourc…

> MS still lacks a industry leading 21st century consumer device The XBox division doesn't count?

Video game consoles are technically 20th century invention. Xbox is just a continuation of that legacy even if the brand started in 21st

Xbox also isn’t top dog among the big 3. They’ve really struggled to ship big exclusive system sellers (which is a bummer. I’m a big fan of a lot of Xbox IP), so they certainly aren’t “industry leading”. Doesn’t mean the exclusives they’ve shipped aren’t good. They certainly are, just that their is no Xbox answer to God of War or Last of Us

GamePass is one of the biggest success stories to come out of Xbox and is certainly the dominant game streaming service

Re: Ask HN: Is Satya Nadella the best tech CEO of last decade?

#46

Post by HackeNewsFan234 »

kastden wrote: post #10
meerita wrote: post #7

[flagged]

Did ChatGPT write this?

I think so. I asked ChatGTP "Is Satya Nadella the best tech CEO of last decade?". The response was:

It is difficult to definitively say whether Satya Nadella is the best tech CEO of the last decade as there have been many successful and influential CEOs in the tech industry over the past ten years. However, Nadella has certainly made a significant impact on Microsoft and the tech industry as a whole since taking over as CEO in 2014.

Under Nadella's leadership, Microsoft has shifted its focus from being primarily a software company to being a more cloud-focused and diversified technology company. He has also overseen the acquisition of LinkedIn and GitHub, two major players in their respective industries. Additionally, Nadella has placed a strong emphasis on artificial intelligence and machine learning, which have become increasingly important in the tech industry.

Overall, Nadella's leadership and vision have helped Microsoft become one of the most valuable companies in the world, and he has been recognized for his achievements with numerous awards and accolades. However, whether he is the best tech CEO of the last decade is subjective and open to interpretation.

Re: Ask HN: Is Satya Nadella the best tech CEO of last decade?

#47

Post by phkahler »

tomstockmail wrote: post #29
gentleman11 wrote: post #19

Didn’t he oversee turning windows into spyware? In my mind, he’s the worst ceo of the last decade

Desktop windows is a dead end product. Extracting any value from the few that still use it is natural.

Windows is a platform for everything else Microsoft rents. Driving people away from it will hopefully work one of these days ;-)

Re: Ask HN: Is Satya Nadella the best tech CEO of last decade?

#48

Post by joelrwilliams1 »

zamnos wrote: post #3
uberman wrote: post #2

I don't know how much of the MS turnaround can be attributed to him, but if we take it at face value that the CEO is responsible for everything, then MS definitely has had a dramatic positive run following Nadella taking the reigns from Ballmer. MS still lacks a industry leading 21st century consumer device and Nadella has not been able to change that but his bets on cloud computing, embracing of Linux and open sourc…

Balmer said it best, 'Developers, developers, developers!' And then Microsoft bought Github.

You tell 'em, Steve...sweat-stained shirt and all...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxbJw8PrIkc

Re: Ask HN: Is Satya Nadella the best tech CEO of last decade?

#49

Post by voisin »

uberman wrote: post #2

I don't know how much of the MS turnaround can be attributed to him, but if we take it at face value that the CEO is responsible for everything, then MS definitely has had a dramatic positive run following Nadella taking the reigns from Ballmer. MS still lacks a industry leading 21st century consumer device and Nadella has not been able to change that but his bets on cloud computing, embracing of Linux and open sourc…

> MS still lacks a industry leading 21st century consumer device

Is this a prerequisite to being a great technology company today? Or is this just one vector that some competitors choose to compete on? For example, would we say Apple isn’t a great technology company because it doesn’t have an industry leasing office suite like MS and Google?

Re: Ask HN: Is Satya Nadella the best tech CEO of last decade?

#50

Post by suby »

You say that Windows is a Kraken, but it's been on a downward slide in my mind. I don't think Nadella gets enough flak for what is happening to Windows and Microsoft's attitude towards respecting users / privacy in general.

Some examples that I've seen posted to HN over the past few months

* Microsoft Edge leaks browser history to Bing - https://www.theverge.com/2023/4/25/23697532/microsoft-edge-b...

* More ads in Windows 11 start menu - https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/17/microsoft_windows_sta...

* Absolute junk shoved into the Windows UI - https://thomasbandt.com/the-day-windows-died? https://birchtree.me/blog/the-windows-11-trash-party/ https://www.tomshardware.com/news/windows-keeps-feeding-tabl...

Windows is in a boiling frog situation. It's been slowly accumulating dark patterns and anti-features like mandatory online-only accounts, while at the same time losing quality of life features like the ability to move your taskbar or to not combine apps in the taskbar.

I should be using Windows today. I grew up on Windows, I learned to program on Windows, I had a very difficult and bumpy transition in getting off of Windows. But I had to leave their ecosystem because they have absolutely no respect for the user, and at this point I do not trust them. I want to reiterate that these are recent things, I'm not mad at them for what they did in the 90's here.

They aren't treating Windows as a serious tool for getting shit done, they're treating it as a data-mine and advertising opportunity.

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