Long story, short:
1. Realize the world is moving beyond Windows
2. Cede mobile OS to Android/iOS, that battle is lost.
3. Realize, next great revenue stream is the Cloud (Azure).
Microsoft’s Resurgence Under Satya Nadella
11–20 of 255 posts
Re: Microsoft’s Resurgence Under Satya Nadella
#12A VC friend of mine characterized these kinds of answers nicely: incredible, profound bullshit that no one seems to know how to cut through.
On a level specific to Microsoft, their biggest threat is how agreeable and self-deprecating everything they do is now. Corporate cultures thrive on hierarchy, and yet their employees are pretty comfortable admitting to their friends that Windows and Azure are crap. The quiet trie flippers at Google, Amazon, Facebook, Oracle and Apple never speak ill of the product. Those people go and hunt leakers.
Nobody at Microsoft wants to hunt leakers anymore. That bloodthirsty lust for dollars is what made it possible for a whole generation of middle managers to hit the country club in the first place. So what does it say that the us-versus-them mentality is gone?
The CEO should be going out and saying, "Come work for us. Look how much nicer we are. Trie flippers might score better on their programming quizes, but they're insufferable." Instead he's talking, in coded language, about expanding to serve the Chinese government, which is impossible in an organization that believes in personal freedoms and positive life outcomes.
On a meta-level, what do we do with all the CEOs who are essentially beneficiaries of our increasingly correlated bull runs? Has it really boiled down to, "Since non-mineral and utility revenues are correlated at huge market cap companies, you're a good CEO as long as your likable?"
Re: Microsoft’s Resurgence Under Satya Nadella
#13"When Satya Nadella took Microsoft Corp.’s helm five years ago, the conventional wisdom was that the company’s glory days were behind it." Have a look at this MS revenues [1] and consider why for a moment there is any 'conventional wisdom' like this? MSFT stock price did languish during this time of amazing growth which I guess validates that 'conventional wisdom' was in fact sour, but it's hard to see why it was. Ro…
They are small things, but they could also be good signals- a bit like canaries in the mine.
To say that differently, every story about Google or Facebook is usually some horrible thing. I would not touch their product with a 10 foot pole. A few years go, I uninstalled all facebook stuff and even whatsapps. Now I do not buy anything even remotely connected to google (such as android phones) because it gives me the creeps.
When I buy Microsoft hardware or software, I do not get this bad feeling. So I buy more of it.
You should not underestimate the power of a narrative or even impressions.
Re: Microsoft’s Resurgence Under Satya Nadella
#14The only product from Microsoft I use is Windows and they're ruining it. So, sorry Satya, but...
You don't use GitHub or LinkedIn or Skype either? You might also rely on sites that are built with Microsoft technologies (Stack overflow for example) or find that your workplace gets by with Excel. It's hard to say you don't use their technologies.
I don't use github or linkedin. I don't use skype either... because Microsoft ruined it and everybody left (for business now I use Hangouts and for gaming now I use Discord).
Re: Microsoft’s Resurgence Under Satya Nadella
#15https://outline.com/9BWnsj
Thanks
Re: Microsoft’s Resurgence Under Satya Nadella
#16A VC friend of mine characterized these kinds of answers nicely: incredible, profound bullshit that no one seems to know how to cut through. On a level specific to Microsoft, their biggest threat is how agreeable and self-deprecating everything they do is now. Corporate cultures thrive on hierarchy, and yet their employees are pretty comfortable admitting to their friends that Windows and Azure are crap. The quiet tr…
The mentality is still there, but years of polish has made it hard to detect by outsiders. I wouldn't for a moment attribute any of MSFT's moves to goodwill.
They were bareknuckled and bloody for years - they got slapped by regulators for it and it was forced under the surface.
Re: Microsoft’s Resurgence Under Satya Nadella
#17"When Satya Nadella took Microsoft Corp.’s helm five years ago, the conventional wisdom was that the company’s glory days were behind it." Have a look at this MS revenues [1] and consider why for a moment there is any 'conventional wisdom' like this? MSFT stock price did languish during this time of amazing growth which I guess validates that 'conventional wisdom' was in fact sour, but it's hard to see why it was. Ro…
> For whatever reason, the industry press never liked Ballmer, and I guess they like Satya
Ballmer made several missteps:
1. Fruitless foray into mobile with acquisition of Nokia and Windows Mobile and Windows Phone strategies.
2. Billion+ dollar acquisition of Skype that basically went no where.
3. Remember a company called aQuantive? Don't worry, neither does anyone else. Ballmer's MS purchased them for $6 billion.
That's off the top of my head, but I'm sure there are more examples.
Re: Microsoft’s Resurgence Under Satya Nadella
#18The only product from Microsoft I use is Windows and they're ruining it. So, sorry Satya, but...
You don't use GitHub or LinkedIn or Skype either? You might also rely on sites that are built with Microsoft technologies (Stack overflow for example) or find that your workplace gets by with Excel. It's hard to say you don't use their technologies.
I agree with you, I often find I like Microsoft's services and subsidiary products (those you listed).
I also use the crap out of Excel.
But he's right Windows is taking a dive. And other Microsoft products. Example number 1: Excel has these cheesy glide animations that do nothing but slow down imports.
I export a report from quickbooks to excel and if it's a large one it almost feels like Excel will crash just from processing so many animations.
I tried turning it off, but it's not as easy as it looks.
Re: Microsoft’s Resurgence Under Satya Nadella
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
You don't use GitHub or LinkedIn or Skype either? You might also rely on sites that are built with Microsoft technologies (Stack overflow for example) or find that your workplace gets by with Excel. It's hard to say you don't use their technologies.
I don't use github or linkedin. I don't use skype either... because Microsoft ruined it and everybody left (for business now I use Hangouts and for gaming now I use Discord).
I'll bet you use Azure though (even if you don't realize it). I guarantee you use apps/websites/services that leverage Azure.
Re: Microsoft’s Resurgence Under Satya Nadella
#20Long story, short: 1. Realize the world is moving beyond Windows 2. Cede mobile OS to Android/iOS, that battle is lost. 3. Realize, next great revenue stream is the Cloud (Azure).
Regarding #1, eventually I expect Microsoft to release their own Linux distribution and keep Windows as a GUI.
I would not be surprised if their failed project Astoria was reused to run android apps on that.