How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around • Hacker News Board

Re: How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around

#331

Post by burnte » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 5:51 PM UTC

skywhopper wrote: post #25

burnte wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it's the job of a CEO, but most CEOs aren't that good.

Right, many CEOs don’t seem to understand their own business all that well, much less are they able to deal with the political and cultural challenges of driving a company in the right direction. So many CEOs are just filling space at the top while their company just sort of continues working under its own inertia. Nadella is one of the few who not only clearly had a meaningful vision for his company, but was able to…

Nadella understands something most CEOs don't: The core business of any business is making money. Ballmer thought Microsoft's core business was Windows, Nadella understands it's software as a whole. Ballmer thought for MS to win, Linux had to lose. Nadella understands as long as MS is selling software and services, they win. Ballmer was a great number-two for Gates, but not a leader. Not everyone has it, and that's ok.

Re: How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around

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Post by pbronez » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 5:53 PM UTC

toast0 wrote: post #241

mumblemumble wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a consumer, I loved the phone. As a developer, I was afraid to touch it. Dumping the old Windows Mobile platform for Windows Phone was understandable, but the compatibility break between Windows Phone 7 and Windows Phone 8 was really off-putting. Though I think the biggest problem there is that it didn't happen in a vacuum. It was one more event in a fairly long list of Microsoft technologies and APIs that were sh…

If you bailed out after WP8, you missed the really tragic one. Windows Mobile 10 changed everything again (and had the gall to call the new one 'Universal' apps), and they missed their target of all the wp8 phones being upgradable to wm10, and for those that were upgradable, the OS was awful for the first year, and Edge was a worse experience than Mobile IE (which says a lot). Oh, and they decided to only target the…

Friggin' windows phone. So much wasted potential...

Re: How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around

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Post by anentropic » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 5:55 PM UTC

RandallBrown wrote: post #316

mabbo wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember being an intern at Microsoft in 2009 and going to a talk with Ballmer. What I remember is the most charismatic human being I've ever seen. The man could have been a cult leader. He had and maybe still has power in his ability to speak. Any question we asked (and we were interns, we asked lots of them) he had not just an answer but a good answer. He spoke of his failures well too: "They ask if we should mak…

I was at MS for his last company meeting and you're right. That guy has charisma and PASSION for Microsoft. I never liked working there, but watching him scream "I LOVE THIS COMPANY" while in tears made me feel like I was part of something huge and important.

It sounds terrifying TBH :)

Re: How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around

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Post by ogre_codes » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 5:56 PM UTC

microtherion wrote: post #318

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…

> Avoided the sort of ridiculous cash burning acquisitions to inflate growth It's funny how Apple has often been exhorted by industry observers to make large acquisitions, and instead has done quite well with smaller ones. Beats has been a commercial success. PA Semi (dating back to the Jobs era) was the foundation to a hugely successful VLSI design division. The success of Siri is a bit more disputed, but it's playi…

This is exactly why I mentioned it, Microsoft burned through 10s of billions in bad acquisitions, Google has a few massive multi-billion dollar mis-steps.

Re: How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around

#335

Post by admax88q » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 5:57 PM UTC

zebra100 wrote: post #305

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…

+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) w…

I don't really have a horse in this race, but I'm not sure that the best defense against

> Another example of such uninspired CEO that keeps making good quarters but tarnishes his company advantages is Tim Cook.

is

> but Tim Cook added $1.7 Trillion to apple's market cap since taking over as chief executive.

Re: How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around

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Post by varispeed » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 6:05 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…

Apple under Tim enjoy short term gains and greed has blinded them. The company will soon start failing because of their anti-consumer and anti-environment culture. They create false image of themselves to be super friendly innovative brand for creative people, but the truth is far from this. Their products are designed to fail and to be only repairable by Apple. If your charging port dies on a new Mac, you cannot repair it yourself even if you have all required tools and skills. Their policy is essentially if it breaks you have to pay us through the nose or buy a new model. Then there is the anti-competitive Apple Store that is milking the iOS ecosystem and developers.

Re: How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around

#337

Post by varispeed » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 6:07 PM UTC

microtherion wrote: post #298

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…

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.

> Apple also made great strides in ecological manufacturing and supplier accountability

Do you have evidence of that? It seems like it is quite the opposite. Apple prefer to destroy not working phones or Macs instead of repairing them. They make sure independent repair shops cannot repair any of their products and design them in a way so that they fail in short space of time, so customers can either pay for repair through the nose or buy a new Mac.

Re: How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around

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Post by hartator » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 6:07 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…

Hum, I think this is missing the main points. AirPods and Watches are gimmick. Nothing crazy innovative happened to the iPhones - apart the flatnessisation of iOS which in my opinion was a mistake - and Macs actually went backwards. The real Tim Cook test will be the ARM Macs. Can be game changing or it can’t sink Macs for good.

Re: How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around

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Post by loufe » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 6:10 PM UTC

abhinav22 wrote: post #122

wesleywt wrote: post #99

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You get large amount of storage and an always updated product. I am gladly paying for subscription.

Fair enough. I just have a general aversion to subscriptions, they add up over time! And how many times do we need to repay for Office? I have probably bought it at least 5 times in the last 20 years, but that’s partly on me too for not being organized and transferring licenses over. Storage imo is a non point since it’s very easy to get free or super cheap storage with a bit of searching. My girlfriend used Dropbox…

IT all depends on your needs. I'm using Libreoffice and Google Drive at home myself, as I'm cheap. But if I was doing more than the occaisional financial spreadsheet, or had lots of writing, or had lots of backups to do my need starts to change. At the end of the day, their success is evidence enough that people heartily agree with their value proposition in light of other offerings.

Re: How Satya Nadella turned Microsoft around

#340

Post by ulkram » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 6:12 PM UTC

ohazi wrote: post #280

ck425 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The things is I never read about any major decisions Sundar Pichai has made. There's tons online about Tim Cook, Satya, Netflix's various SLs, Daniel Ek, Elon Musk (admittedly more about his tweets than business strat these days) etc. But I never read about Sunder Pichai's strategies or decisions. What is he actually doing?

Collecting a check? What's the incentive to do anything at that level? He's going to walk away after 5-10 years with OOM a billion dollars regardless of how anything he does or doesn't do pans out for Google. Why not just play the quiet card and pin anything that happens to the fiefdom lords who now have free reign and no oversight? If good things happen, he gets credit for delegating well. If bad things happen, it's…

My sense is that people who think like this don't make it this high up. Sundar has already had opportunities to sell out much earlier; Money stopped becoming a problem for him long ago.