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How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around

economist.com

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Re: How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around

#221

Post by eezurr »

tonyedgecombe wrote: post #110
MrBuddyCasino wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Windows 2000 was peak Windows UX. XP was tolerable, but already started the decline with gimmicky UI stuff that made things actually worse. I'll die on this hill.

Give me Windows 2000 with WiFi support and security fixes and I'd be happy forever.

Here you go: https://w2k.phreaknet.org/guide/

http://blog.livedoor.jp/blackwingcat/archives/1299806.html

There's a person in Japan that is actively (edit: maybe not active) working on modernizing windows 2000

Re: How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around

#222

Post by ogre_codes »

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:

You are over-generous.

Android - Acquisition

Doubleclick - Acquisition

GSuite - Acquisition

AppEngine?? - Is that still around?

Google is indeed rudderless, but it's been mostly just milking their search cash cow for a long time.

Re: How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around

#223

Post by WhompingWindows »

xiphias2 wrote: post #23

I'm using Windows 10 because I want to run modern programs, but I still don't see the usability of the operating system to be as good that it was with Windows 7. If I go to settings, or open the start menu, I have latencies measured in seconds, even though I have a fast gaming laptop. As a comparision on my iPad most of the settings windows have about 0.2s rendering latency (some shorter, some longer), but in reality…

Amen. I've used all the versions of Windows for a couple decades and there seems to be a randomness to their improvements. Updating is just a fact of life, something we must do, it doesn't inherently come with "upgrades" for us as the consumers.

What % of the improvement in computer technology has come on this slow crawl of OS, vs all the hardware, browser apps, etc?

Re: How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around

#224

Post by ThrowawayB7 »

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!

Apropos of nothing, I will note that pretty much all of Microsoft's testers got laid off in 2014, shortly after Nadella became CEO, and were never replaced. Whether it was in motion while Ballmer was still CEO or not, Nadella still would've had to acquiesce to it for it to happen and bears responsibility.

Re: How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around

#225

Post by ProAm »

scarface74 wrote: post #214
ProAm wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Things like USB ports, touchbar, etc... Mac still makes a good laptop, but in a historical sense I think this is a still a lowpoint for their hardware comparatively to themselves in quality and functionality.

Apple has been aggressively ditching “legacy” ports since the first iMacs in 1998. How is Apple going USB-C only now different than the original iMac going USB only?

USB-C is fine, its the number of ports that is the issue and not consumer friendly..

And I think USB-A isn't quite legacy just yet (it's OK they ditched the VGA and/or DVI ports), there are still a lot of need for one of those ports. Same with a card reader slot. I also think there is a need for a headphone jack even though bluetooth is qutie viable.

Re: How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around

#226

Post by ogre_codes »

godelmachine wrote: post #212
ogre_codes wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Another example of such uninspired CEO that keeps making good quarters but tarnishes his company advantages is Tim Cook. I can't wait for him to be replaced. Comments like this make zero sense to me. Apple might be better if Jobs was still alive. But without a time machine, and potentially better medicine, that's not an option. Under Cook Apple: - Increased profitability and market share massively. - Created the mo…

>> potentially better medicine Jobs refused conventional treatment to treat his cancer until it was too late. He placed heavy emphasis on oriental mysticism.

There is a lot of conjecture about Jobs death, I try to avoid delving into speculation too much.

Re: How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around

#227

Post by unethical_ban »

raunakdag wrote: post #218
hevelvarik wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If when people say big tech they exclude msft (and include Facebook), they are simply wrong. .net, sqlserver, power bi, hell office are the blood flowing through Government and industry. Gaming is also tech and azure will get there if they just keep at it. The startup world is only a slice of the pie, and not the largest or most important . If you don’t live on the coasts, and you want to invest in a stack that will…

No matter what technologies MSFT have, the number one thought in people’s minds these days when you say big tech is simply FB G Amazon and Apple. It’s no longer MSFT up there with them. Definitely a stigma thing.

Who cares?

They have sustainable business models in several segments, and even though they aren't on the cutting edge of pop culture, they're doing well.

Re: How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around

#228

Post by alarge »

CountSessine wrote: post #198
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).…

and my impression was that all good things that started under his regime (Azure, more openness) I think a lot of that was Ray Ozzie. I guess Balmer deserves some credit at least for hiring him? MS under Ballmer lost couple of generations of programmers A lot of younger programmers may not realize this, but in the 90’s, all roads led to Microsoft. If you were a programmer and you didn’t know at least some of the MS ac…

The comment about the 90's is simply not true. I've been a successful (e.g., getting paid) developer since the 80s and have never been in the Microsoft stack. With the exception of a small bit of VMS-hosted development in the 80s, everything I have done in my career has been hosted on some sort of Unix. And I'm not some outlier. Sun Microsystems dominated the 90s for problems of just about any scale beyond the small workgroup.

I make this point because many of us (both engineers and customers alike) pushed back hard against Microsoft. They actively fought against open standards and interoperability. We literally thought of them as the evil empire. Even as late as the mid 2000s, when I was at Yahoo and there was talk of a Microsoft acquisition, I would have quit rather than work at Microsoft.

Economics aside, changing that toxic culture is what I appreciate most about Nadella's time as CEO. He has (it appears) made Microsoft into a citizen.

Re: How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around

#229

Post by ska »

apetrovic wrote: post #38
tiffanyh wrote: post #8

I'm as big of a Satya fan as anyone, but someone who doesn't get enough credit is Ballmer. It wasn't a coincidence that on the day Ballmer stepped down and Satya became CEO (2014), Microsoft also announced Office for iOS, Cloud first strategy, and a whole slew of cloud/Azure product announcements. All of which was developed under Ballmer watch and he handed off the launch and continued execution to Satya.

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 isn't Jobs.

But Cook isn't Ballmer, either.

Re: How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around

#230

Post by FreeFull »

godelmachine wrote: post #212
ogre_codes wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Another example of such uninspired CEO that keeps making good quarters but tarnishes his company advantages is Tim Cook. I can't wait for him to be replaced. Comments like this make zero sense to me. Apple might be better if Jobs was still alive. But without a time machine, and potentially better medicine, that's not an option. Under Cook Apple: - Increased profitability and market share massively. - Created the mo…

>> potentially better medicine Jobs refused conventional treatment to treat his cancer until it was too late. He placed heavy emphasis on oriental mysticism.

While that's true, pancreatic cancer is nasty enough that even with prompt treatment, there was a good chance he'd succumb to it anyway, although he'd definitely have way better chances.
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