How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around • Hacker News Board

Re: How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around

#291

Post by outworlder » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 5:06 PM UTC

j-pb wrote: post #261

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…

We're a 40 person Design agency, that has been running on Mac hardware for almost 40 years now. Everybody of us used to be a huge apple fanboy, now every one of us hates them with a passion. They completely ignored their customers for the iPhone money grab. Their hardware and software used to be synonymous with quality, nowadays their shoddy quality has become a meme at work. "Oops reboot." - "What did you expect, it…

> Everybody of us used to be a huge apple fanboy, now every one of us hates them with a passion.

Neither of these extremes are healthy attitudes. It's a company, making machines. That's all there is to it.

Re: How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around

#292

Post by lotsofpulp » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 5:07 PM UTC

WorldMaker wrote: post #282

simonh wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The last iteration of the phone was loved and was genuinely an interesting product, but by then it was way, way too late. The disastrous limitations and compromises in the earlier iterations doomed the series.

The phone carriers doomed Windows Phone. AT&T and Verizon both agreed they didn't want to sell three OSes, they barely wanted to sell two. You could have the best phone OS there is, but if no one is selling it it doesn't matter.

MSFT could have opened up retail stores with their boatloads of cash like Apple.

But they didn’t want to take the risk with a low margin high cost center activity like providing in person support and expanding headcount. Hence no reward.

And with their recent closing of Microsoft stores, it’s clear that they are doubling down on rent seeking from Office and Windows licenses.

Re: How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around

#293

Post by rabidrat » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 5:07 PM UTC

acoard wrote: post #254

scarface74 wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As far as Cook. There is no next iPhone. The iPhone was a once in a lifetime product. There were already 1 billion phones being sold a year when the iPhone was introduced - Jobs said he wanted to sell 10 million phones and capture 1% of the market. The smart phone (not the iPhone) has 70-80% penetration. What we call an electronic communication device that’s always connected may change, but there is no larger conceiv…

Humour me – if the iPad isn't innovative as it's simply a larger iPhone, how is the Watch innovative? Is it not simply a smaller iPhone with a strap? I recognize Apple's A series and S series chips are different, but both the chips and watch in general seem like incrementalism to me.

Smaller requires more innovation than larger.

Re: How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around

#294

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 5:07 PM UTC

ogre_codes wrote: post #260

moolcool wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those bullet points mostly focus on scaling existing products, and seem more Ballmer-like than Nadella-like IMO.

Airpods/ Beats/ Watch is a $25 Billion/ year business with 40%/ YoY growth. Neither product existed when Jobs was alive. That's something Nadella hasn't even managed, let alone Ballmer.

[deleted]

Re: How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around

#295

Post by somethoughts » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 5:10 PM UTC

tinyhouse wrote: post #279

munchbunny wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Later got an MBA from Chicago but that's a BS degree for the resume. What makes you think that? The tech industry on aggregate has plenty of disdain for MBA's, both the degree programs and people with those degrees. Some of it is deserved, but MBA's aren't automatically BS degrees.

Maybe calling it a BS degree is too harsh. But I have a major problem with programs that exist just to milk money, cost a fortune ($90K for like 15 months in some schools), and almost everyone who is enrolling in these programs do it for the wrong reasons (i.e., not for the knowledge but for the prestige and networking; but I don't blame them, it's part of the system and they are just following the rules). They are a…

Perhaps it can be BS but perhaps (and perhaps unfortunately) it can also be a necessary BS credential/rubberstamp if you want to move into management at big tech.

And if it can flip you from an marketing engineer in a fading semiconductor fabrication (Applied Materials) industry into a leading a $1-2 Trillion adtech/AI company and equip you with the skills necessary to handle being on the frontlines of a DOJ trial.

https://magazine.wharton.upenn.edu/issues/spring-summer-2020...

Re: How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around

#296

Post by Beldin » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 5:10 PM UTC

baldfat wrote: post #277

FreeFull wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

His cancer was the least deadly of the cancers and with treatment he would have lived much longer. My mom had stage one pancreatic cancer 4 years ago and she is still alive today and cancer free for over four years. So it is possible.

There's pancreatic cancer and cancer of the pancreas. (There might be more, i know about these two). The difference in life expectancy is staggering. One is basically starting the clock (in months to a handful of years), with the other, recovery is possible.

Re: How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around

#297

Post by Miraste » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 5:10 PM UTC

ThrowawayB7 wrote: post #206

Miraste wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I'll concede the Xbox One wasn't Ballmer's fault, but he still gets a fair share of the blame for WP. It was (or should have been) Microsoft's most important new initiative for years, Ballmer could clearly see that it was failing, and yet he kept promoting Myerson and giving him more power. A better CEO would have intervened.

Re: How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around

#298

Post by microtherion » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 5:11 PM UTC

ogre_codes wrote: post #197

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).…

> 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…

Agree with all of this. I also think Cook should get credit for the Apple Pay / Apple Card ecosystem, and for Car Play.

In addition, under Cook, Apple also made great strides in ecological manufacturing and supplier accountability. And early on, Cook had the courage to fire a highly visible but toxic executive.

Re: How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around

#299

Post by jayd16 » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 5:13 PM UTC

ogre_codes wrote: post #260

moolcool wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those bullet points mostly focus on scaling existing products, and seem more Ballmer-like than Nadella-like IMO.

Airpods/ Beats/ Watch is a $25 Billion/ year business with 40%/ YoY growth. Neither product existed when Jobs was alive. That's something Nadella hasn't even managed, let alone Ballmer.

Azure seems to have made $12B in Q3 2020 and that didn't exist when Jobs was alive.

Re: How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around

#300

Post by ThrowawayR2 » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 5:13 PM UTC

burntoutfire wrote: post #39

skummetmaelk wrote: post #4

Nadella turned Microsoft into a data mining operation just like the rest of the FAANG gang and the market rewarded him. Surveillance capitalism must be regulated out of existence.

What is Microsoft doing with all that data? Google and Facebook optimize ads based on it, but what does Microsoft need it for?

> "What is Microsoft doing with all that data?"

Error reporting and usage telemetry, same as many apps and websites.

Ever notice how, for all the furor about Windows telemetry, nobody is ever able to explain how that data is being abused or point out anything specifically that's problematic? That's because the people who keep bringing it up haven't been able to find any (yet, of course) despite proclaiming loudly how terrible it is. That really tells you all you need to know about them.