Socialize the development, privatize the profits.
Satya Nadella Added $850B to Microsoft
101–110 of 138 posts
Re: Satya Nadella Added $850B to Microsoft
#102Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's too charitable. I wouldn't accept the vetting of any football-related news by a journalist who referred to the NFL as a "ball management organization."
I would if they cited their sources so I could verify their claims for myself. In my eyes it's OK for the journalist of an article like this to not to be an expert in the field, but they should be able to provide a somewhat coherent summary of a topic and allow readers to perform their own analysis on the parts they care about.
I would argue that one of the foremost responsibilities of a journalist is to make a condensed and correct retelling of a story. If any part of the story could be wrong and requires readers to second-guess and look up stuff for themselves, the article is basically worthless or perhaps even of negative value, since people may have to spend resources correcting its misconceptions in the future.
Re: Satya Nadella Added $850B to Microsoft
#103Re: Satya Nadella Added $850B to Microsoft
#104Re: Satya Nadella Added $850B to Microsoft
#105Earlier quoted context omitted.
I feel that reflects quite well Steve Jobs vs Tim Cook as well. Jobs just wanted to make 'insanely great' products [for their users], with the side effect of profit, while Tim Cook is probably fixated on efficiency and Shareholder value. Apple has had record profits and performance, but most will tell it's not the same and its future is not so certain. It seems paradoxical that trying to maximize shareholder value at…
> Tim Cook is probably fixated on efficiency and Shareholder value. Tim was the 2nd in command of Apple for years. Easy to forget this, but Apple's success in the 2000s is partially attributable to Tim as well (not to forget all the other brilliant folks at Apple).
Ballmer was the 2nd in command of MSFT for years as well, doesn't he deserve the same credit as Cook?
Re: Satya Nadella Added $850B to Microsoft
#106Earlier quoted context omitted.
Actually, Ballmer did quite well at MS. He consistently increased earnings via Windows and Office during his tenure as CEO. He was a very good businessman. He was not, however, a product guy. Witness their failures with the Zune, mobile, early cloud computing. His problem was that he always tried to do what would be best for Microsoft and not the customer. You can get away with this if you already have an install bas…
>His problem was that he always tried to do what would be best for Microsoft and not the customer What on earth is this doublespeak? If he always did what was best for Microsoft, we would not be discussing what his problem was in managing Microsoft. That's not how "what's best for Microsoft" works.
Firstly, notice the word tried. But in leads into the problem with many business people. "Best for mircosoft" would have been customers locked into a MS ecosystem where people were forced to buy the whole album to get a few songs the way the labels wanted it. That's what they tried to do, but obviously the customers didn't agree.
Re: Satya Nadella Added $850B to Microsoft
#107Earlier quoted context omitted.
Counter-counterpoint: but there's a lot less onstage dancing and screaming.
> but there's a lot less [...] screaming Far-far aside: I watched his recent appearance on the daily show. Regardless of your views of him (he gave off a more sympathetic sheen as a basketball team owner and public service contributor [usafacts] than he did as a business man), but man does he not have an inside voice. He (or rather anyone around) would not function in an open plan office.
Semi-related to your aside, but I sometimes feel like the impression that people hold against Ballmer as CEO at Microsoft, was that he was a bit of a "basketball team owner". He was absolutely fired up with team spirit (sometimes to a fault). He never really "played" (wasn't very technical), but he loved to watch the sport and figured he knew good plays when he saw them. In the end, he needed to have better "coaches" working for him on the team, or to stop incentivizing (stack-ranking) the "coaches" to play mostly safe plays.
Good/bad/and indifferent a lot of the takes on Ballmer seem to reflect how much you think a tech company needs a "basketball team owner".
Re: Satya Nadella Added $850B to Microsoft
#108Earlier quoted context omitted.
>His problem was that he always tried to do what would be best for Microsoft and not the customer What on earth is this doublespeak? If he always did what was best for Microsoft, we would not be discussing what his problem was in managing Microsoft. That's not how "what's best for Microsoft" works.
Firstly, notice the word tried . But in leads into the problem with many business people. "Best for mircosoft" would have been customers locked into a MS ecosystem where people were forced to buy the whole album to get a few songs the way the labels wanted it. That's what they tried to do, but obviously the customers didn't agree.
His problem, as an executive, was not "trying to do what is best for Microsoft". His problem, as an executive, was failing to do what is best for Microsoft.
Re: Satya Nadella Added $850B to Microsoft
#109Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Tim Cook is probably fixated on efficiency and Shareholder value. Tim was the 2nd in command of Apple for years. Easy to forget this, but Apple's success in the 2000s is partially attributable to Tim as well (not to forget all the other brilliant folks at Apple).
Ballmer was the 2nd in command of MSFT for years as well, doesn't he deserve the same credit as Cook?
I'd probably agree. It might also be a Peter Principle thing where Ballmer/Cook were great at busdev/ops respectively while Gates/Jobs were more inspiring leaders.
Re: Satya Nadella Added $850B to Microsoft
#110> The company is the world's strongest supporter of the Linux open source coding system Citation needed. Also, a gentle reminder that Satya Nadella, as amazing as he might be, is not the sole reason why Microsoft's stock price has gone up.
The phrase "coding system" provides a good hint of the level of insight possessed by the journalist.
Well to be fair, the target audience for this newspaper is stuffy finance types.