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Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to retire within 12 months

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Re: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to retire within 12 months

#191

Post by potatolicious »

bsullivan01 wrote: post #160
potatolicious wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think both are correct. Ballmer was gloriously good at extracting profits - out of existing, successful product divisions. I believe Ballmer has a firm grasp of the enterprise market, and Microsoft's revenue and profitability numbers reflect this. But new product development, particularly consumer product development, at Microsoft has largely fallen flat in the Ballmer years. WinPhone, Win8, Kin? So while Ballmer h…

"was gloriously good at extracting profits - out of existing, successful product divisions" If you forget that they now have 12 or so divisions with $billion plus in revenue.

Right, so they're doing fine now - and they will be doing fine for the near future.

But no product lines last forever - even Windows is bleeding market share, and upgrade rates are dropping like a brick. It seems a lot of people are happy with Win7 (or even WinXP) and not moving.

This strikes me as a Blackberry situation - market leader by a mile, but attempts to modernize and develop the Next Big Thing have all failed. They have enormous momentum and can coast for a long time - but what happens after? RIM failed to react to changing markets due to iPhone/Android, and arrogantly threw around their (momentum-based) sales numbers. Then those dried up.

Re: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to retire within 12 months

#193

Post by simonh »

jusben1369 wrote: post #169

I'm most interested with the "type" of CEO they replace him with. Broad categories: - Within Tech: They hire an Apple type key executive whose background is all around getting hardware/software/direct sales to work together. They want to move to be a super tight, integrated brand. - Outside of Tech: They hire from a GE type of company. This acknowledges that they're a sprawling behemoth and will stay that way. They n…

I want to live in a world where they hire Scott Forstall. It'll never happen, he's not an idiot, but oh boy would that be a ride!

Re: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to retire within 12 months

#194

Post by smoorman1024 »

mathattack wrote: post #166
smoorman1024 wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a strong assertion to say that it edged up based on news possibly getting out. After the NASDAQ halt yesterday the NASDAQ composite as a whole edged up. MSFT's movement looks correlated to this broader move. https://www.google.com/finance?q=INDEXNASDAQ%3A.IXIC&ei=mGoX...

Good point. I was thinking it was rumors getting out because of the gradual nature of the move, but I think that you're right. Traders were slow to put orders back into the market, which created a gradual drift up, rather than an instant reset in the market when it re-opened.

That said, I am one to believe that news always leaks at least to small indirect parties. It's not in those parties interest to spread the news or bet big enough to attract attention. It happens though.

Re: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to retire within 12 months

#195

Post by sker »

1337biz wrote: post #138
kabdib wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank God. (Speaking as an ex-Microsoftie). Hopefully MS will lose the "we need to put Windows on everything, including embedded systems" attitude. Windows is a horrible bloated mess barely capable of successfully running on a tablet PC, much less smaller things. (And if you've ever had to /build/ Windows . . . OMG. OMFG). There are core bits of Windows that are great; the I/O system is incredibly well done. Then the…

But what could be the future of MS look like a strategic perspective? I am pondering a bit about that. They are somewhat squeezed in between closed system and open source. How can they position themselves for a solid path for the future in that middle-ground.

I can't talk from a consumer perspective, but from a developer perspective, they need to open source everything .NET-related if they want to remain relevant.

With Ballmer gone, if people like Hanselman and ScottGu gain more influence within the company, I'm sure we'll see great things being open sourced.

It's hard to shift the company to open source with someone like Ballmer at the top, it would be like admitting defeat to the open source movement, and people in such positions of power never like to admit they were wrong in their strategy. It's human nature, I almost don't blame him.

Re: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to retire within 12 months

#196

Post by outside1234 »

mathattack wrote: post #140
RougeFemme wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not disagreeing, just clarifying. . .do you mean that the last 2 presidents and Bloomberg should have been/should be more involved in grooming folks within their respective parties to take their places?

Yes. Independent of your political stance, shouldn't Bush have groomed a few successors? You can see Obama's failure to groom the next generation when the top two candidates predate him by 20 years. NYC's mayor took a third term because there was no obvious candidate, and there's still not a good one.

I hadn't thought of that Bush failure! I'm adding it to the list as #523.

Re: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to retire within 12 months

#197

Post by fauigerzigerk »

eykanal wrote: post #145
fauigerzigerk wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree that he will probably not be remembered for having more than doubled revenue and almost tripled profits. He will not be remembered for transforming Microsoft into one of the most important enterprise software companies. Not for introducing .NET, C# or Kinect either. All of that will be forgotten. He will be remembered for missing mobile. He will also be remembered for caring a lot about developers and about d…

And for missing search. And for missing social. And for insulting OEMs. And for his failed Windows Vista launch, and Windows 7, and Windows 8. For one man, he sure has a lot of failures on his plate.

So has Steve Jobs missed social and search as well? No. All companies need not do the exact same thing. Missing mobile is relevant because it is eating into Microsoft's PC revenues, but social and search is a whole new business that Microsoft didn't need to get involved in at all.

In my view, Ballmer's mistake is to not go after Oracle and SAP much more than chasing Apple and Google.

Re: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to retire within 12 months

#198

Post by baggachipz »

davidbrear wrote: post #159

Steve Ballmer is the perfect example of why a business person should not run a software company. The opinion that "Steve knows how to make money" is a poor indicator of a successful leader. Microsoft has alienated developers leaving only enterprise developers to create boring interfaces for users causing many personal computer users to find something more aesthetically pleasing (OSX/Ubuntu). A company based solely on…

This is the tragedy that is a publicly-traded software company. Ballmer's sole responsibility as CEO is to maximize shareholder value, and the Board has to hold him to that. If A CEO prioritizes anything else, they will be fired and will become vulnerable personal lawsuits. It is literally their job description to make money over anything else. Taking the "long view" rarely appeases the Board, because short-term quarterly numbers are what determines the corporation's value.

Re: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to retire within 12 months

#199

Post by justincormack »

JaakkoP wrote: post #103
rdl wrote: post #33

Since the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has a huge percentage of its wealth still in MSFT stock, I think Bill Gates can make a case to himself that picking the best possible leader for MSFT will save hundreds of thousands of marginal children. If I were him, there would be two candidates: Qi Lu (insider, obvious choice), or, for the ultimate in turnaround ballerdom: Ben Horowitz (from a16z). Either would be a vas…

Never thought of Ben Horowitz until now, but since you mentioned it, I'd really like to see that happen! Chances are that Bill Gates becomes interim CEO and personally recruits the more permanent leader from the outside.

Not sure they can afford an interim leader. They need to got for someone who will be decisive soon.

Re: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to retire within 12 months

#200

Post by hvs »

eykanal wrote: post #145
fauigerzigerk wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree that he will probably not be remembered for having more than doubled revenue and almost tripled profits. He will not be remembered for transforming Microsoft into one of the most important enterprise software companies. Not for introducing .NET, C# or Kinect either. All of that will be forgotten. He will be remembered for missing mobile. He will also be remembered for caring a lot about developers and about d…

And for missing search. And for missing social. And for insulting OEMs. And for his failed Windows Vista launch, and Windows 7, and Windows 8. For one man, he sure has a lot of failures on his plate.

Windows 7 was hardly a failure.
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