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Microsoft reorganizes

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Re: Microsoft reorganizes

#81

Post by venomsnake »

criley2 wrote: post #64
bornhuetter wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with you that Microsoft is becoming more closed, and that that is a bad thing. However, when you say "full steam ahead to the biggest walled garden on earth. We are still the Borg" it is so over the top that I can't take your comment seriously. Similarly to how I pretty much write off any comment that uses the terms M$ or "Cupertino idiot tax" unless used ironically.

If people want Microsoft to be "less closed", then they should stop avoiding Microsoft for platforms like Google and Apple, who are whooping Microsoft's ass by being far more closed. Between the anti-open Google+/Play/Hangouts universe and the anti-open iOS iGarden, I'm surprised that it has taken Microsoft this long to catch up to their anti-open competitors.

Openness has nothing to do with abandonment of microsoft. It has all to do with the fact that they could not deliver good mobile device. And still can't.

They made errors on every step of the game - allowed carrirs to have saying on the devices, abandoned all lessons learned from PCs and building ecosystems and threw an inferior iOS me too (the UI was better though, the ideology the same)

Re: Microsoft reorganizes

#82

Post by Zigurd »

All the critical decisions have already been made: Microsoft branded hardware, running Windows, everywhere. No courier. Bring XBOX solidly into the Windows fold. It's all Windows.

Why reorg? Who would accept the job of telling Ballmer that, when Nokia goes under, the "devices" part of that story is a fable? On top of that, the press release was apparently written by a student of Vogon poetry.

Re: Microsoft reorganizes

#83

Post by dman »

kvb wrote: post #29
brador wrote: post #15

What does 'dotted line report' mean?

See for instance http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matrix_management . Basically there's a solid line to your primary manager but a dotted line for secondary relationships.

I guess this is why you have to file multiple TPS reports?

Re: Microsoft reorganizes

#84

Post by jaynate »

apalmer wrote: post #79
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.

Agreed. And across business and personal use. "We will be all things to all people." If I'm a Microsoft employee there is not much here for me to get behind.

Re: Microsoft reorganizes

#85

Post by freehunter »

astrodust wrote: post #76
gecko wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 th…

My Windows Phone runs faster than my Android Phone on less hardware, for one example. I also know my car runs on Windows on pretty barebones embedded hardware as well. The two OSes also have slightly dissimilar user interfaces.

Windows is not Windows is not Windows in exactly the same way Linux is not Linux is not Linux.

Re: Microsoft reorganizes

#86

Post by loganfrederick »

mcdougle wrote: post #69
YuriNiyazov wrote: post #33

http://taffywilliams.blogspot.com/2011/07/write-3-letters-yo... A new CEO was hired to replace an outgoing CEO. The outgoing CEO met with the incoming CEO for an exit interview. During the discussion, the departing CEO stated he had placed 3 very important letters in his drawer just as his predecessor had done for him. He explained that the new CEO would find opening the letters in order most useful when a serious ev…

Reminds me of this: http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/1995-10-30/

Just a few comics later, he has this gem about "dotted-line" management. Frightening how relevant Dilbert is to this memo.

http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/1995-11-01/

Re: Microsoft reorganizes

#87

Post by InclinedPlane »

Hmmm, well, this seems to be some marvelous buzzword bingo / word salad. It's looking more and more like MS is well and truly clueless. They don't understand the market. They don't understand their strengths. They definitely don't understand their weaknesses. And Ballmer isn't going to leave until he has a heart attack or maybe two.

Edit: fine, I'll add some useful details. What are Microsoft's actual biggest advantages/disadvantages, how should they embrace the market? Advantages: the PC platform is still enormously powerful, and open, and they've still got huge ins with corporate computing. They could own the market on business oriented tablet form-factor computing but they don't have the vision. Disadvantages: stack ranking is poisonous to morale and retaining talent, the company is too monolithic (they used to be monolithic in multiple silos, now they're becoming monolithic in one giant silo, that's not better), and they still struggle with agility. The market? Android is the MS of the mobile generation, is it really so crazy to imagine that MS becoming the MS in mobile as well could be a route to success for them? And that's just what I could type in about 2 minutes.

Re: Microsoft reorganizes

#88

Post by cs702 »

I almost choked when I read Microsoft's new mission statement: "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."

In other words, Ballmer wants the company to "focus" on being everything to everyone!

Not a good sign for the business.

--

PS. Compare Ballmer's long, complicated memo to Google's mission statement: "to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful." (Source: http://www.google.com/about/company/ )

Re: Microsoft reorganizes

#89

Post by Metrop0218 »

cs702 wrote: post #88

I almost choked when I read Microsoft's new mission statement: "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." In other words, Ballmer wants the company to "focus" on being everything to everyone! Not a good sign for the business. -- PS. Compare Ballmer's long,…

This isn't an agile startup here, it's one of the world's largest software companies. I think aiming to do a lot isn't a big stretch.

Re: Microsoft reorganizes

#90

Post by stdbrouw »

cs702 wrote: post #88

I almost choked when I read Microsoft's new mission statement: "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." In other words, Ballmer wants the company to "focus" on being everything to everyone! Not a good sign for the business. -- PS. Compare Ballmer's long,…

Another way of interpreting this would be "Microsoft wants to get out of your way, it wants to be a (ubiquitous) platform so you can focus on what you're actually trying to do rather than on your OS or your device." Doesn't sound that awful to me.
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