Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to retire within 12 months

Post by leetrout » Fri, Aug 23, 2013, 3:34 PM UTC

JulieCompt wrote: post #243

film42 wrote: post #241

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Microsoft saw social and search and thought, "we must create our own!" While apple saw social and search, and said, "that's not our market, let's have google handle that for us." Edit: Apple did acquire ping, but that was social music, which is a bit different. They also introduced siri, which simply plugged in to preexisting search services (Google in iOS 6, Bing in iOS7) so it really is agnostic on that front.

Apple tried social and search* with Ping and Siri. It flopped. But nobody holds it against Jobs

Post by x1024 » Fri, Aug 23, 2013, 3:36 PM UTC

at-fates-hands wrote: post #283

fauigerzigerk wrote: post #94

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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…

>>>>>He will be remembered for missing mobile Windows 7 and 8 were the first mobile OS that didn't completely rip off Apple, had the first original interface since Apple's iphone and you're saying they missed the target? Seriously? WP 8 has some incredibly original features my Android and Apple friends swoon over. Not to mention the platform is completely wide open for developers. It's not completely crowded out like…

Post by logicallee » Fri, Aug 23, 2013, 3:38 PM UTC

fauigerzigerk wrote: post #197

eykanal wrote: post #145

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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.

Post by stephencanon » Fri, Aug 23, 2013, 3:42 PM UTC

smackfu wrote: post #308

stephencanon wrote: post #113

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You need to consider both the dividend and inflation; $35 in 2000 dollars is $47 today. In the intervening time, they paid a total dividend of $7.69. I haven’t done the full inflation-adjusted dividend computation, but I would guess that it works out pretty close to a wash, but slightly in the red.

Well, technically it's not inflation you should take into account, but a safe alternative investment, like government bonds. But that probably just makes things worse.

Post by macspoofing » Fri, Aug 23, 2013, 3:42 PM UTC

lbarrow wrote: post #23

He'll be remembered as a terrible CEO. Ballmer took over as CEO in 2000. In the 13 years since then, Apple has experienced an unprecedented resurgence. Google and Facebook have gone from being obscure startups to giants. The tech industry went through the bubble, recovered, and today is stronger than ever. What happened to Microsoft? While the rest of the tech sector exploded and prospered, it stayed still. A MSFT sh…