A vote for Bill Gates as interim Microsoft CEO • Hacker News Board

Re: A vote for Bill Gates as interim Microsoft CEO

#11

Post by sliverstorm » Fri, Aug 30, 2013, 9:21 PM UTC

unono wrote: post #4

Microsoft should seriously consider hiring Elon Musk or a famous, Googler, Eric Schmidt, Sergey Brin, or Larry Page, though the googlers might not pass anti-trust investigations. The need a PR makeover, and Google and Tesla are the best brands in tech. Another choice, PG. It would be refreshing to genuine tech talent at the top instead of another career climber. PG could turn Microsoft into a giant startup factory an…

Is pg actually a tech talent? No offense to pg, but my understanding of the man is he is a good investor, not necessarily a technical genius or a kickass CEO.

Re: A vote for Bill Gates as interim Microsoft CEO

#12

Post by the_economist » Fri, Aug 30, 2013, 9:26 PM UTC

bajsejohannes wrote: post #6

I'd much rather have Bill Gates continue trying to save the world.

If he had a second tenure at Microsoft as successful as the first, his efforts to save the world would be even more well-funded.

Re: A vote for Bill Gates as interim Microsoft CEO

#13

Post by wslh » Fri, Aug 30, 2013, 9:26 PM UTC

bajsejohannes wrote: post #6

I'd much rather have Bill Gates continue trying to save the world.

Yes, I agree. I think there are professional candidates in the industry to manage Microsoft.

Re: A vote for Bill Gates as interim Microsoft CEO

#14

Post by drblast » Fri, Aug 30, 2013, 9:28 PM UTC

sliverstorm wrote: post #11

unono wrote: post #4

Microsoft should seriously consider hiring Elon Musk or a famous, Googler, Eric Schmidt, Sergey Brin, or Larry Page, though the googlers might not pass anti-trust investigations. The need a PR makeover, and Google and Tesla are the best brands in tech. Another choice, PG. It would be refreshing to genuine tech talent at the top instead of another career climber. PG could turn Microsoft into a giant startup factory an…

Is pg actually a tech talent? No offense to pg, but my understanding of the man is he is a good investor, not necessarily a technical genius or a kickass CEO.

Come on now, really?

http://www.amazon.com/On-Lisp-Advanced-Techniques-Common/dp/...

Re: A vote for Bill Gates as interim Microsoft CEO

#15

Post by sliverstorm » Fri, Aug 30, 2013, 9:29 PM UTC

drblast wrote: post #14

sliverstorm wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is pg actually a tech talent? No offense to pg, but my understanding of the man is he is a good investor, not necessarily a technical genius or a kickass CEO.

Come on now, really? http://www.amazon.com/On-Lisp-Advanced-Techniques-Common/dp/...

What? I was asking a question. Perhaps unlike many here, I don't know his full background. So sue me.

Re: A vote for Bill Gates as interim Microsoft CEO

#16

Post by rvivek » Fri, Aug 30, 2013, 9:29 PM UTC

the_economist wrote: post #12

bajsejohannes wrote: post #6

I'd much rather have Bill Gates continue trying to save the world.

If he had a second tenure at Microsoft as successful as the first, his efforts to save the world would be even more well-funded.

It's rarely about the money at this point. It's probably time and bandwidth that's limiting his efforts.

Re: A vote for Bill Gates as interim Microsoft CEO

#17

Post by unono » Fri, Aug 30, 2013, 9:29 PM UTC

sliverstorm wrote: post #11

unono wrote: post #4

Microsoft should seriously consider hiring Elon Musk or a famous, Googler, Eric Schmidt, Sergey Brin, or Larry Page, though the googlers might not pass anti-trust investigations. The need a PR makeover, and Google and Tesla are the best brands in tech. Another choice, PG. It would be refreshing to genuine tech talent at the top instead of another career climber. PG could turn Microsoft into a giant startup factory an…

Is pg actually a tech talent? No offense to pg, but my understanding of the man is he is a good investor, not necessarily a technical genius or a kickass CEO.

harvard comp sci phd, repopularized lisp, successful sale to yahoo, created the biggest tech news forum (HN),

Most Importantly - has almost turned creating startups into an assembly line.

Re: A vote for Bill Gates as interim Microsoft CEO

#18

Post by ignostic » Fri, Aug 30, 2013, 9:30 PM UTC

unono wrote: post #9

sharkweek wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I legitimately can't tell if this is serious or not

Totally serious. Much of Apple's meteoric rise in the 2000s was because of the Steve Jobs brand, and Apple 2000s is the success you want to copy. All the above listed are the biggest names in tech today. There are others, Gates, Ellison, Zuckerburg, but I don't consider them as talented as the ones I listed.

Let's look outside the startup world for second.

Managing large, sprawling corporations is nothing like starting a company with a few products. I'm not saying it's harder, but it requires a different skill set. Neither Musk nor Graham have a proven history managing large and diversified companies. MS doesn't want them, and I seriously doubt they'd even be interested in the job. It'd be like recruiting Lebron James to play baseball.

Re: A vote for Bill Gates as interim Microsoft CEO

#19

Post by zalzane » Fri, Aug 30, 2013, 9:31 PM UTC

unknownian wrote: post #5

unono wrote: post #4

Microsoft should seriously consider hiring Elon Musk or a famous, Googler, Eric Schmidt, Sergey Brin, or Larry Page, though the googlers might not pass anti-trust investigations. The need a PR makeover, and Google and Tesla are the best brands in tech. Another choice, PG. It would be refreshing to genuine tech talent at the top instead of another career climber. PG could turn Microsoft into a giant startup factory an…

>PG could turn Microsoft into a giant startup factory Has that ever been Microsoft's goal?

I don't think it would even be financially feasible.

If microsoft was to fund 500 internal startups tomorrow, what's the chance any of them would even produce any real revenue? Out of the thousands of startups that are active today, how many of them have even the remote potential to generate 1b in revenue, or even be successful? This isnt even considering how maintaining 500 internal startups would be a micromanagement nightmare. How can you tell if someone is worth keeping? With the failure rate of startups so high, does that mean you should fire startup cells when they fail?

The resources that would be used to maintain such a division would probably be much better used focusing on one new, amazing product - backed with loads of market research and QA. You cant ship that kind of product with 5 developers and a years worth of hotpockets.

Re: A vote for Bill Gates as interim Microsoft CEO

#20

Post by Zigurd » Fri, Aug 30, 2013, 9:31 PM UTC

Two problems with that:

Bill Gates hasn't got Steve jobs's ego,and he hasn't got anything to prove.

The days where PCs took over from minicomputers, and where Microsoft was the disruptor, are long gone. It isn't clear if Gates or anyone else can make Microsoft disruptive again.

That's too bad, because one of the few sources of truly novel work in operating systems is Microsoft Research.