How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around • Hacker News Board

Re: How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around

#301

Post by microtherion » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 5:13 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.

FWIW, Jobs was diagnosed in 2003, so he lived another 8 years after his initial diagnosis.

Re: How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around

#302

Post by ProAm » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 5:14 PM UTC

scarface74 wrote: post #278

ProAm wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

There was need for all of the “legacy” ports when the iMac was introduced. The idea of getting rid of ports and standardizing on one when it became technically possible didn’t start under Cook.

I agree didn't start but has definitely continued and has been encouraged under Cook.

Re: How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around

#303

Post by ThrowawayB7 » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 5:19 PM UTC

btilly wrote: post #274

ThrowawayB7 wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microsoft stock was flat under Ballmer because of hangover from the massive dotcom bust in 2000 and the DOJ consent decree which didn't expire until 2011. It would've been hard for anyone else to do better.

The DOJ consent decree was toothless and a non-issue. The one that hurt Microsoft was the EU decrees. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Corp._v._Commission may remind you of that. That said, the one thing Ballmer did right is that he took on the difficult problem of locking down Microsoft products on a security front. This was a hard and thankless task, but absolutely necessary in the long run.

You're correct about the EU decrees; I should have mentioned those as well.

Re: How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around

#304

Post by ogre_codes » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 5:20 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…

> I doubt that apple can keep its brand relevant without opinion leaders like design professionals.

I know a fair number of developers and most of them still use Macs. Not because they are fan boys, but because MacOS still sucks less than Windows.

For me and likely many, OS choice is a pragmatic thing and for the moment MacOS is the least bad option. It's going to be interesting seeing what happens with the new CPUs which have the potential to push the Mac ahead of the pack in terms of price/ performance as well.

> I mean, c'mon, even Ive left.

Ive is 54 years old. He's was at Apple for ~26 years when he left. I have no idea how wealthy he is at this point, but I wouldn't be surprised if he's a billionaire based on his position and likely large stock option grants in the 00s.

You are a designer, how many years would you put in cranking out designs for mass consumption consumer electronics after you were a many times over millionaire? How many black aluminium iPhones would you design? Another 40 years worth?

Re: How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around

#305

Post by zebra100 » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 5:20 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…

+1. I'm far from an Apple zealot, but Tim Cook added $1.7 Trillion to apple's market cap since taking over as chief executive. He certainly isn't the product visionary that Jobs was, but a rare few are. IMO Cook may have even been a better executer than Jobs, even if his decisions are more risk averse. And he has still taken a few notable ones – e.g. Apple's recent shift to services revenue (news, music, card, etc) was a surprisingly smooth & fast success. Barring some huge future misstep, I'd be surprised if he didn't go down as one of history's most successful company leaders in his own right.

Re: How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around

#306

Post by spaetzleesser » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 5:20 PM UTC

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.

Very true. Ballmer didn't make Microsoft cool but he left a very healthy, highly profitable company with plenty of reserves. I wouldn't call what Nadella did a turnaround but just a change of direction and focus. I am not too impressed either with what MS is doing with Windows right now. The Windows 10 developer story seems pretty confusing and I am urging my company to go away from Windows for our devices.

Re: How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around

#307

Post by RandallBrown » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 5:20 PM UTC

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.

It could be because I live in Seattle, but this seems completely untrue.

Re: How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around

#308

Post by ogre_codes » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 5:22 PM UTC

jayd16 wrote: post #299

ogre_codes wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

So Nadella is half as effective as Cook?

More seriously, I shouldn't have put the comparison to Nadella in there at all. They are both great CEOs.

Re: How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around

#309

Post by mellosouls » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 5:23 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…

Beats + AirPods, the two most successful headphone brands in the world

How are you working out "most successful"? Beats aren't rated particularly highly apart from by label-followers; while blinkeredness has always been a notable criticism of Apple product appraisal, it did in the past occasionally lead the field - that's not at all obvious with Beats etc.

Re: How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around

#310

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

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…

The control panel is just a big mess of old and new with a set of overlapping functionality. You need to know both because some features are in the old control panel and some in the new. It's hard to comprehend how a multi-billion dollar company hasn't been able to straighten this out since Windows 8 release in 2012.

The search function also still basically sucks.