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Microsoft’s Resurgence Under Satya Nadella

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Re: Microsoft’s Resurgence Under Satya Nadella

#161
post #117

It's important to know when to give up, sure, but what did he actually start? Everything that carries MS today (Azure, Exchange Online, subscription software, Office 365, XBox) was started and got traction under Ballmer.

Certainly starting new stuff is important, but I think it's worth pointing out that focusing your efforts is one of the hardest things to do. One could argue that it was more important for Microsoft to become competitive in things like Azure, than it was to start new things. It's kind of like how successfully retreating is, militarily, more difficult than successfully attacking, because you're already in a bad situation.

But, pretty soon, it will be time for Microsoft to prove they can start new stuff again, you're correct on that.

Re: Microsoft’s Resurgence Under Satya Nadella

#162

A big resurgence: They make an operating system that supports Linux with just a few clicks. They make hardware devices that can also natively run Linux very well, for when I need it. It feels like Apple when OSX was introduced, only better. Many people here may not like Windows 10, but the more I use it, the more I like it.

I am writing this from my personal Windows 10 machine and I am not a big fan. Random things that have aggravated me just in the last few days: * For some reason I suddenly had to create a pin a few days ago to login instead of my password. why? * skype is now magically in my list of background programs. * There is news in the start menu when I want to launch an app!? * whenever I want to do something a little hard, l…

Have you tried Linux recently? I installed arch a few months ago, and almost all of my steam games run on it out of the box (no extra setup required).

I have an AMD Vega 64 graphics card, drivers are all handled automatically.

My Xbox 360 controllers with wireless dongle are handled automatically.

If you want to use xbox one controllers, any bluetooth adapter will work out of the box, but you do have to install a package called xpadneo.

AMD drivers on Linux are great right now, and most hardware is supported with nothing extra.

Re: Microsoft’s Resurgence Under Satya Nadella

#163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well point one I think it's a shit way to disseminate information. Point two and more seriously, the alternatives aren't much worse in PowerPoint's case.

I don't disagree with you at all. But that is real work that millions of people get paid to spend millions of man-hours on. Specifically with PowerPoint. That's all I'm saying.

The question is what counts as "real work". Certainly work done with Google's office suite counts as well, considering that Google and many other companies run their businesses using it.

Re: Microsoft’s Resurgence Under Satya Nadella

#164
post #3

The only product from Microsoft I use is Windows and they're ruining it. So, sorry Satya, but...

You don't use GitHub or LinkedIn or Skype either? You might also rely on sites that are built with Microsoft technologies (Stack overflow for example) or find that your workplace gets by with Excel. It's hard to say you don't use their technologies.

My wife just spent several hours making a Word document, then it refused to save ... It didn't even say why it couldn't save. She is a long time Windows and Word/Office user, and pretty good with computers. But she is starting to hate technology more and more.

Re: Microsoft’s Resurgence Under Satya Nadella

#165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uh, Azure revenue, by many accounts, is greater than AWS: https://www.forbes.com/sites/bobevans1/2018/10/29/1-microsof... https://www.forbes.com/sites/bobevans1/2018/04/27/microsoft-... And sorry, G Suite is a joke compared to desktop Office for serious work. It doesn't matter what the youngin's prefer, what matters is what gets (or facilitates getting) real work done in the enterprise, which generally revolves aroun…

That seems more like an entrenched opinion that you've continually looked to reaffirm instead of opening your perspective. First, serious work & powerpoint? Really? Yeah in an enterprise organization that's largely stuck doing what they've been doing because it's worked - sure, but that's not a technology issue, it's a culture issue. For example, Google Sheets covers 80-90% of the use cases for Excel. But that's not…

An example would be a PowerPoint presentation showing a diagram linked to an Excel file using SQL Server as a datasource.

Dunno if something similar can't be done in Googles office suite as well though.

Re: Microsoft’s Resurgence Under Satya Nadella

#166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree that mobile and search were missteps, specifically putting themselves into a position of competing so poorly in those areas overall. It's also unrealistic to think that one company could own desktop, mobile, search, office, etc. Microsoft was going to own desktop, mobile, search? $300-$400 billion in revenue? $130+ billion in profit? No. That's absurd. Holding Ballmer to account for not conquering planet Eart…

> Microsoft was going to own desktop, mobile, search? $300-$400 billion in revenue? $130+ billion in profit? > No. That's absurd. Holding Ballmer to account for not conquering planet Earth is not a fair premise. I didn't say Microsoft needed to "own" mobile and search. They just needed to be competitive, instead of trying and failing which is what they did.

Online search is a natural monopoly - being simply "competitive" probably isn't possible, you either win (Google) or you don't (everybody else).

Re: Microsoft’s Resurgence Under Satya Nadella

#167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because SaaS isn't cloud computing. SaaS is essentially a fully available software application that you don't run on your own machines. There's similarities, but key differences that you can easily look up to better understand. Hence part of why most aren't huge fans of including O365 to claim Azure's bigger than AWS.

Do you think Amazon subtracts their own massive utilization of AWS out from their numbers? Not likely.

Do you think it’s a major fraction?

I doubt it, but that’s just speculation without anything to back it up.

So any concrete data would be interesting.

Re: Microsoft’s Resurgence Under Satya Nadella

#168
post #117

It's important to know when to give up, sure, but what did he actually start? Everything that carries MS today (Azure, Exchange Online, subscription software, Office 365, XBox) was started and got traction under Ballmer.

"Before becoming CEO, he was Executive Vice President of Microsoft's cloud and enterprise group, responsible for building and running the company's computing platforms, developer tools and cloud computing services"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satya_Nadella

Re: Microsoft’s Resurgence Under Satya Nadella

#169
post #168
post #117

It's important to know when to give up, sure, but what did he actually start? Everything that carries MS today (Azure, Exchange Online, subscription software, Office 365, XBox) was started and got traction under Ballmer.

"Before becoming CEO, he was Executive Vice President of Microsoft's cloud and enterprise group, responsible for building and running the company's computing platforms, developer tools and cloud computing services" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satya_Nadella

When I left MS in late 00s, he was still in Bing. From what I heard Bing, ironically, _still_ doesn't use anything Azure and builds its own cloud infrastructure. :-) Exchange runs its own bespoke stuff, too. I suppose much like Google Search, Gmail and Ads don't use GCP, but worse, because at least Google has one offering internally and one externally, whereas MS has multiple.

Re: Microsoft’s Resurgence Under Satya Nadella

#170
post #11

Long story, short: 1. Realize the world is moving beyond Windows 2. Cede mobile OS to Android/iOS, that battle is lost. 3. Realize, next great revenue stream is the Cloud (Azure).

Compare this to Steve Jobs second turn at Apple, in the same short format:

1. Realize Windows has won the PC war.

2. Improve the Mac by calling Next the Mac. Grow the Mac's market share year after year.

3. Concentrate on the next big thing. Ipod, Iphone, Ipad, etc

What does that give us? The question why Microsoft is unable to integrate their mobile OS strategically into their Cloud, in order to grow both.

(The Mac's growth is also due to iPod and the iOS devices.)

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