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How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around

economist.com

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Re: How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around

#201

Post by dom96 »

goku99 wrote: post #47
cblconfederate wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

agree to this. They had a good going with windows 7. The freaking windows 10 photos app intermittently hangs forever when opening a simple image file. I was just using Videos and it crashed when opening settings. Skype is still a disaster years after swinching from skype classic. The abomination that replaced control panel is designed intentionally like a maze from which you cant get out. I dare you to find the bluet…

wait.... i am not the only one whose image viewer takes like 10s of seconds to show up! It's so horribly slow that i instead open browser and then drag the image onto browser. I beat default 100% of time!

Wow, I thought I was the only one too! Ridiculous how bad this damn app is. It just makes me more angry dealing with it now that I will know that it's not just my PC that's to blame.

Re: How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around

#202

Post by k1t »

cabaalis wrote: post #124
nix23 wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Activate Godmode ;-) Create a Folder with the Name: GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

Wow, so today I learned this is a thing. IDDQD. There can be only one.

For the lazy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Master_Control_Panel_s...

The Windows Master Control Panel shortcut, labeled All Tasks and also called Windows God Mode by bloggers and All Tasks folder by at least one Microsoft developer, is a shortcut to access various control settings in Windows Vista and later operating systems, including Windows 10. By creating a folder with a certain name, users have access to all of the operating system's control panels from within a single folder.

The shortcut is implemented by creating a folder with the extension .{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}. GodMode was the original folder name used when the feature was publicised, but any name can be used.

Re: How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around

#203

Post by ProAm »

hanley wrote: post #132
ProAm wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the various disastrous incarnations of Windows Phone Surprisingly the phone was loved. What wasnt loved was the one desktop everywhere so when they tried to push 'Metro' to the PC, tablet and phone it struggled. But the tiled phone interface was good, and a lot of people liked it. I really think Ballmer and Cook are manifestations of the same person. Mac OS quality is the worst it's been in probably a decade+? Hard…

The Windows phone was loved because it had excellent Nokia hardware. The software was not loved and the app store was lacking.

> The software was not loved and the app store was lacking.

The app store was definitely lacking. In my own circle of real life users I did not meet one person that did not really like the phone (software included). Granted this is just my own experience so very limited but its also a group of non-technical people just sharing with me. I never heard one complaint in fact it was usually more accolades.

Re: How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around

#204

Post by Silhouette »

wastedhours wrote: post #123
Silhouette wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not easy to get a large company, fat off the proceeds of boxed software to actually reinvent their business model to shift to what lots of companies actually want I'm not so sure. The biggest problem Windows has long had in this respect is that its application installation and update model is awful. Installation is haphazard and every program does its own thing. Updates even more so. Data security and applicatio…

All of that makes sense from a user perspective, but why take 30% of a wide base of consumers and businesses when you can take 100% from the most profitable ones? They want to sell you an Office365 subscription for each user, whose computing needs are provided by a remote desktop served on Azure compute, which you access from a Surface device, where your business information is stored and accessed through databases o…

We're just seeing the next swing of the eternal localised-centralised pendulum. At some point, it will swing back, as people realise that handing control of things they depend on over to centralised organisations that will naturally tend to act in their own interests isn't necessary or desirable, and as businesses realise that a lot of the claimed advantages of cloud computing are overstated or entirely illusory. There are some clear advantages to everyone being connected online, but it's not necessary (from a technical perspective) for everyone to follow the models that have become popular so far in order to enjoy those advantages.

The question is when that will happen, because obviously the powerful interests running Big Software are almost all heavily invested in promoting the cloud model for now since they're the ones most able to benefit from it. It wouldn't surprise me if the effective opposition eventually comes from some sort of grass roots movement towards open hardware and open software, even if it takes a decade or more, rather than from any of the established tech giants voluntarily changing strategy within that time frame. It's just a shame about all the billions we're going to waste due to lost productivity and security/privacy problems with the dumbed down software and corporate exploitation that will be the norm for IT in the meantime. :-(

Re: How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around

#205

Post by abhinav22 »

scarface74 wrote: post #145
abhinav22 wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of us already bought office before in a perpetual license. I’m not sure but I assume companies also had perpetual licenses of Office, so for them to fork over a consistent stream to Microsoft for O365 just to ensure they have the latest version with all the updates is quite expensive over the long run. But most people think in terms of the sticker cost of 1 year and Office 365 and other subscription apps look ch…

The idea that “most” people aren’t subscribing to Office365 doesn’t jibe with MS’s financial reporting.

Sorry I worded poorly - we don’t like it but we are stuck with it to some degree due to it being always updated (not sure if they even allow personal users now to buy a perpetual license?)

Re: How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around

#206

Post by ThrowawayB7 »

Miraste wrote: post #62
apetrovic wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Steve Ballmer was a guy who restlessly milked two Microsoft cash cows (Windows and Office) to accommodate investors quarter after quarter. He didn't have a vision or courage to push Microsoft in some other direction, and my impression was that all good things that started under his regime (Azure, more openness) was either reactionary or he simply didn't care (most of early open source push was from his lieutenants).…

Cook hasn't damaged Apple nearly as much as Ballmer hurt MS. During Ballmer's tenure, Microsoft launched the Zune, the various disastrous incarnations of Windows Phone, Windows 8, and the Xbox One (which halved its marketshare vs the 360). Cook may not be innovative, but he has yet to have a real failure, much less a disaster on the scale of those.

Y'know, the CEO doesn't personally make all the decisions at a company. Specifically:

> "Windows Phone"

You can lay that at Terry Myerson's feet. The several breaks in backward compatibility was a big factor in ensuring WP had no apps.

> "Xbox One (which halved its marketshare vs the 360)"

That was crappy decision making by Don Mattrick. He also had a hand in killing Flight Simulator IIRC.

Re: How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around

#207

Post by pietromenna »

known wrote: post #183
pietromenna wrote: post #101

How can I read the full article without having a economist subscriber? It is really annoying to have this walled garden for news that do not support price parity for lower income countries (I live in one).

https://archive.vn/FHixO

Thank you!

Re: How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around

#208

Post by whoopdedo »

scarface74 wrote: post #145
abhinav22 wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of us already bought office before in a perpetual license. I’m not sure but I assume companies also had perpetual licenses of Office, so for them to fork over a consistent stream to Microsoft for O365 just to ensure they have the latest version with all the updates is quite expensive over the long run. But most people think in terms of the sticker cost of 1 year and Office 365 and other subscription apps look ch…

The idea that “most” people aren’t subscribing to Office365 doesn’t jibe with MS’s financial reporting.

Making it free for a year on new computers with automatic renewal is an easy way to inflate the subscription numbers. How many people are silently paying for something they don't use and aren't concerned about because it's "only" $10 a month?

Re: How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around

#209

Post by Shounak »

nailer wrote: post #168
sorenjan wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder what your thoughts are on Sundar Pichai. Has Google created anything interesting under his leadership? I would put Cook above Pichai if I ranked top tech CEOs.

Google hasn't had a major new product for a decade. Prior to 2010: Search, Doubleclick, Maps, Mail, GSuite, AppEngine (which was first serverless platform). All of which were category makers or category killers. Since 2010:

Waymo

Re: How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around

#210

Post by sramam »

baxtr wrote: post #28
ToFab123 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If there is someone at Microsoft who didn't got enough credit it was Ray Ozzie. Remember him when he was Chief Software Architect? He started Azure / Microsoft transition to the cloud. He created that shift in focus that Microsoft now rides on. Had he not gotten that brief period as BillG's replacement, Microsoft would have continued to live in the past where windows and on-premise office suite was king. Ray Ozzie ch…

Maybe it was a team effort and many are to be credited?

This.

This [1] wired interview provides an insight into the structured thinking at Microsoft/Gates even back in 1996.

I'm sure this kind of thinking permeates any successful company, to have a video of this depth, and now available for public viewing, is really unique.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFFlO7yBIBM

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