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Microsoft reorganizes

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Re: Microsoft reorganizes

#71

Post by AmVess »

josephpmay wrote: post #48
clavalle wrote: post #43

If their new tack is as sharp and focused as that memo, Microsoft is in trouble. "We will be all things to all people by getting rid of anything that is not a huge profit center. Those profit centers will be organized in appropriate silos. Those silos will assign people to product committees for collaboration with other silos on individual products. Each committee will have a leader (Champion) who reports to the laye…

It's doublespeak straight out of 1984.

I won Buzzword Bingo by the end of the second paragraph.

Re: Microsoft reorganizes

#72

Post by venomsnake »

podperson wrote: post #62
sbierwagen wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's talking more about Windows Phone, the Windows 8 apps, and Xbox.

Those may be walled gardens, but they're not very big.

XBOX commands sizable chunk of a very lucrative market. If we have luck the console industry will implode soon because the current model is unsustainable, but at the moment XBOX is not not very big.

Re: Microsoft reorganizes

#75

Post by venomsnake »

astrodust wrote: post #39
czr80 wrote: post #7

Wow, re-organising the company by function. They're going all in on copying Apple. Who knows if it will work, but it's a fascinating experiment.

I wonder if they can still preserve the "culture" of having as many as fourteen superiors in one long, risk-averse chain.

If they lose it they could always import some from the EU commission excess supplies. Seems that there is no global shortage for spineless inefficient bureaucracies.

Re: Microsoft reorganizes

#76

Post by astrodust »

gecko wrote: post #66
astrodust wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure this is such a great idea. Doesn't the OS for the XBox have entirely different concerns than Windows for Enterprise? You cannot make an OS that works just as well for Billy the 10 year old gamer, and Mega Co. with 400,000 employees. Apple's recognized this and decided to pretty much abandon enterprise. Linux has fragmented into different distributions (server, desktop, mobile) each with a different focus…

You answered your own question the second after you asked it. Look at Linux first. Note that it happily goes from cell phones to supercomputers. The reason that works is because "Linux" doesn't actually that much. Really, it means the kernel and (usually) the GNU userland. (Though note that Android proves that you can swap out the entire userland and still get something that people will call Linux.) Supercomputers do…

The Linux kernel is used in a lot of different devices, this is true, but it's also a lot leaner than the Windows one. Although efforts have been made to pare down what Windows is, it's still got a footprint gigantically bigger than Linux. Where Windows can squeeze on to an ARM system, Linux runs on embedded systems that are even smaller.

The thing that's the most broken about Microsoft's strategy is it's not just the kernel being thrown everywhere, but the user interface. That's the most incoherent part of their strategy. Does the accounting department need to use the same UI as the Xbox? It's so confused.

OS X and iOS are similar, but not the same thing, although not as different as, say, Ubuntu is to Android. It's possible that the Ubuntu phone project might blur this distinction in time, it seems possible.

What I mean mostly is that just because Windows and it's user interface can run on all these different platforms doesn't mean it's an optimal approach. Then again, Microsoft has never shied away from monoculture. They're the Monsanto of software.

Re: Microsoft reorganizes

#78

Post by canistr »

It wasn't immediately clear in Ballmer's statement, but is the Office division moving under the Cloud services group? It's interesting that they are putting their money-making operations (Office + Server&Tools) under Cloud with Satya Nadella instead of moving it over to Application Services under Qi Lu. Which, given the name, you would think Office would move under Applications.

Re: Microsoft reorganizes

#79

Post by apalmer »

jaynate wrote: post #53

Complete and utter lack of focus is what I read: "Going forward, our strategy will focus on creating a family of devices and services for individuals and businesses that empower people around the globe at home, at work and on the go, for the activities they value most."

I really was intrigued by comparing this vision to the previous vision of putting a computer in every home...

The previous was while completely open ended at least on some level measurable. The current is basically saying, we will make stuff to help customers do whatever wherever.

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