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Former Microsoft executive says Ballmer culls internal rivals to retain power

uk.reuters.com

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Re: Former Microsoft executive says Ballmer culls internal rivals to retain power

#81

Post by brudgers »

chuckmans3 wrote: post #59
brudgers wrote: post #57

Every call for Ballmer's ouster ignores two important points. He is the second largest shareholder. His college buddy is the largest. No analyst has clout with the shareholders. Nobody inside does either. What I see in Sinofsky's departure is a clear signal that the type of politics which this article assumes to be the proper way of creating succession is being deprecated within Microsoft. What I mean is that the arg…

> Every call for Ballmer's ouster ignores two important points. He is the second largest shareholder. His college buddy is the largest. This is an important point. These types of articles imply that he's running the company as an ego trip instead of a heavily-invested individual shareholder. Very key to keep in mind.

He was given founder's equity despite not being a founder because he was brought onboard to run the business side of the business.

Re: Former Microsoft executive says Ballmer culls internal rivals to retain power

#82

Post by outside1234 »

chris_wot wrote: post #2

There does seem to be a lot of own goals going on at Microsoft at the moment. But then again, some of the "talent" that has left is still making those own-goals. Stephen Elop went to Nokia, and instead of using the one thing that I believe could have competed in the market - Maemo and then Meego - was dropped in favour of Microsoft's operating system. That's an own goal, if ever I've seen one. So IMO, it's not really…

i was with you until you didn't say Android. they really should have picked Android and done what Samsung has done.

Re: Former Microsoft executive says Ballmer culls internal rivals to retain power

#83

Post by twoodfin »

chris_wot wrote: post #60
noarchy wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand that. Retail jobs don't tend to be high-salaried positions, with superior benefits packages. They're not the six-figure jobs we read about here on HN all the time, with catered meals and other embroidery. Nonetheless, the company needs people to fill those jobs, and finds them. Is there some kind of intervention that you'd advocate that wouldn't devastate the company?

You are sort of missing the point a little. Walmart frequently causes market imbalances with its massive buying power, forcing suppliers to make extremely low profit margins. A good deal of manufacturing went to China from the U.S. due to Walmart's practices. That's really not good for the U.S. economy. On top of this, I'm not really sure I care if Walmart does fail. What I'm saying is that if it does, then that sing…

A good deal of manufacturing went to China from the U.S. due to Walmart's practices. That's really not good for the U.S. economy.

In a vacuum, no, but how can you be sure that the aggregate value of cheaper retail goods for Walmart's shoppers wasn't better for the U.S. economy?

And it's not as if U.S. manufacturing output has shrunk. It's still the greatest in the world, though obviously we're not making as many consumer goods as 20 or 30 years ago.

Many smaller or medium sized players would probably be a healthier thing for the U.S. economy.

There are at least half a dozen smaller or medium size competitors for Walmart shoppers' dollars. Take a look at the performance of Costco vs. Walmart, for example. The former has competed exceedingly well by playing the game very differently in some respects, while also being smart and efficient in a way that much of the pre-Walmart retail landscape wasn't.

Re: Former Microsoft executive says Ballmer culls internal rivals to retain power

#84

Post by nitid_name »

hkarthik wrote: post #79
codingthebeach wrote: post #74

MS revenues have grown by 45 billion dollars under Ballmer ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Ballmer ). Without Ballmer .NET would not have existed and the XBox would not exist as it exists today. I have no great love for the guy but I've yet to read a convincing argument for his ouster. Just priggish former executives badmouthing the company that lifted them into the 1%.

Saying Ballmer is responsible for the existence of both .NET and Xbox is like saying Al Gore invented the internet. There were lots of very smart leaders and engineers involved in the creation of both of those and their contributions far outweigh Ballmer's decision to "green light" those projects back in the late 90s.

"During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet. I took the initiative in moving forward a whole range of initiatives that have proven to be important to our country's economic growth and environmental protection, improvements in our educational system."

I don't know, it seems fair to say that the person who made decisions about the direction of development that fostered the development has a claim on having caused said development.

Re: Former Microsoft executive says Ballmer culls internal rivals to retain power

#85

Post by ianstallings »

f055 wrote: post #11
pbateman wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

His net worth is $15.7 billion[1] so I doubt he's concerned about "squeezing as much out of it as he can". [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Ballmer

Good point, but on the other hand rich people have a weird habit of trying to get even richer. I'm not saying it's wrong btw.

It's the same drive that everyone has, to progress in their life. They see the money as a way to count up all their successes. Not an unheard of algorithm. Not my personal one but not unusual.

Re: Former Microsoft executive says Ballmer culls internal rivals to retain power

#86

Post by gdilla »

jmspring wrote: post #78
gdilla wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

imho, the biggest reason for his ouster was that he had no internet strategy - his plan A was buying Yahoo. No innovation, no imagination, no results.

Web strategy? Like media? Does a technology company need to have a content/media component -- which Yahoo basically is. Azure is a decent extension to the MS development ecosystem. Xbox and Xbox Live seem to be doing well -- I don't use either. Bing, while not Google, has it's fans. Where MSFT was late to the game is in their approach to the post-PC era. WinCE/WinMo were "ok" at the time, then the iPhone came along.…

I meant Search and their media holdings. Not cloud services. Sorry for not clarifying.

Re: Former Microsoft executive says Ballmer culls internal rivals to retain power

#87

Post by stormen »

jmspring wrote: post #78
gdilla wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

imho, the biggest reason for his ouster was that he had no internet strategy - his plan A was buying Yahoo. No innovation, no imagination, no results.

Web strategy? Like media? Does a technology company need to have a content/media component -- which Yahoo basically is. Azure is a decent extension to the MS development ecosystem. Xbox and Xbox Live seem to be doing well -- I don't use either. Bing, while not Google, has it's fans. Where MSFT was late to the game is in their approach to the post-PC era. WinCE/WinMo were "ok" at the time, then the iPhone came along.…

Microsoft has lost; there's no getting back the head start they once had. It's not like Windows 8 is going to set the record straight and grow Microsoft to 10x the size of Apple and Google combined, like it once was. In part, this is because of their utterly flawed understanding of internet and the way humans (not businesses) work. Steve Ballmer is a joke of a CEO; a loud, screaming monkey that thought the iPhone was "cute". The guy is a moron.

Re: Former Microsoft executive says Ballmer culls internal rivals to retain power

#88

Post by rbanffy »

gawker wrote: post #65
rbanffy wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, but it's Ballmer's job to prove himself competent for the job he occupies. I'd be disappointed if he did that by voting for himself.

The company is still afloat and still profitable - he's doing a much better job than quite a few CEOs out there.

I'll give you he's not the most incompetent CEO out there, but turning the Microsoft he received from Gates into something that's "still afloat" is not that much impressive.

Re: Former Microsoft executive says Ballmer culls internal rivals to retain power

#89

Post by dpark »

meaty wrote: post #8

Probably throws chairs at them... To be serious, this is normal in most corporates. It starts when you let the MBA* with the personality disorder in, you're fucked. I've watched three companies fall at the hands of such people. * This is not true of all MBAs, but I seem to see a trend where there are more borderline psychopaths.

> This is not true of all MBAs, but I seem to see a trend where there are more borderline psychopaths.

You "seem to see a trend"? On what is this observation based? On your detailed survey of the published clinical literature? Maybe on all the research you collated while assisting in the latest revision of the DSM? Perhaps on the personality assessments you've performed as part of a dissertation for your doctorate in psychology?

Or perhaps on nothing, and instead you are in no way qualified to make this sort of claim.

Re: Former Microsoft executive says Ballmer culls internal rivals to retain power

#90

Post by velodrome »

nitid_name wrote: post #84
hkarthik wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Saying Ballmer is responsible for the existence of both .NET and Xbox is like saying Al Gore invented the internet. There were lots of very smart leaders and engineers involved in the creation of both of those and their contributions far outweigh Ballmer's decision to "green light" those projects back in the late 90s.

"During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet. I took the initiative in moving forward a whole range of initiatives that have proven to be important to our country's economic growth and environmental protection, improvements in our educational system." I don't know, it seems fair to say that the person who made decisions about the direction of development that foster…

I think the question you need to ask is whether the outcome would still be the same if the "decision maker" did not exist.

It's fair to say that Steve Jobs was a decision maker. Did he not take the "initiative"? Would Apple exist as it is today without him? Certainly not.

Also, President Bill Clinton ordered Selective Availability for GPS. Basically allowing for more precise GPS coordinates for civilian use. Do you think this decision did not help foster the use GPS system in cars?

My point is that decision makers cannot claim FULL credit for the development of a technology but they can claim credit nonetheless.

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