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An internal team 'hoodwinked' Bill Gates into launching the Xbox project

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Re: An internal team 'hoodwinked' Bill Gates into launching the Xbox project

#121

Post by nailer »

rantwasp wrote: post #48
nailer wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When he started Microsoft had the most popular OS, web browser and mobile OS. A decade later they lost all three and their market cap barely moved.

one could argue that Windows is the most popular consumer OS even today (keep in mind the HN is not representative for what people normally run). Also, a decade later, Microsoft is experiencing a software renaissance, in part, due to the the work Ballmer setup. One example: Azure. In the cloud space there are 2 gorillas: AWS and Azure (everything else is vaporware and at this point I don't think it would be wise to b…

The most popular consumer OS is Android. Arguing anything else goes against all known stats.

Microsoft's renaissance is mainly due to Nadella focusing on software and services instead of selling Windows. You mentioned Xbox as a way to support Ballmer. The Xbox story mentioned in the article does not support Ballmer.

Agreed re Azure but I don't know if Ballmer was still focusing on Windows for Azure, which seems likely. Keep in mind Azure is mostly Linux instances today.

Re: An internal team 'hoodwinked' Bill Gates into launching the Xbox project

#122

Post by jmkd »

grababner wrote: post #74

'He tells us: "Eventually somebody would come back to you with your idea – they would say, 'Hey, you know, this doesn't need Windows at all'. And you have to control your urge to fucking kill them, because you've been telling them that for two years and now they finally come up with it like it's their idea. But that's the Jedi mind trick." ' OMG. I learned this a few years ago working in a corp environment with stubb…

The art of diplomacy is to let other people have your way

Re: An internal team 'hoodwinked' Bill Gates into launching the Xbox project

#123

Post by refurb »

oblio wrote: post #87
unishark wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's what set Steve Jobs apart. Your typical executive could take months between rejecting your idea and proposing it as their own. But Jobs could compress this down to a week.

I'm amazed how absolutely every character flaw Jobs had gets turned into a positive. If I had a nickel for how many times I've seen this happen on the internet, I'd be rich.

That’s the genius of Jobs. You get a woman pregnant then deny the child is yours. Afterwards you acknowledge your error and have a great relationship with the kid and name a product after them.

That’s true genius.

Re: An internal team 'hoodwinked' Bill Gates into launching the Xbox project

#124

Post by refurb »

avalys wrote: post #104
oblio wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm amazed how absolutely every character flaw Jobs had gets turned into a positive. If I had a nickel for how many times I've seen this happen on the internet, I'd be rich.

That's because "character flaws" on a personal level are often required to achieve exceptional results. Not sufficient. But often required. If Jobs were a quiet, contemplative, respectful person who was careful to keep track of where he heard what idea and assign credit where credit was due - it's unlikely we'd have Apple. That's just a different personality type.

No. That’s just coverage bias. The leaders who are successful but aren’t dicks don’t have a ton of stories about them in the media about being brilliant dicks.

Re: An internal team 'hoodwinked' Bill Gates into launching the Xbox project

#125

Post by simonh »

naikrovek wrote: post #93
grababner wrote: post #74

'He tells us: "Eventually somebody would come back to you with your idea – they would say, 'Hey, you know, this doesn't need Windows at all'. And you have to control your urge to fucking kill them, because you've been telling them that for two years and now they finally come up with it like it's their idea. But that's the Jedi mind trick." ' OMG. I learned this a few years ago working in a corp environment with stubb…

> Sounds strange I know. There is nothing strange about that, unfortunately. It's just how people work. Things like this are also why I sincerely hope that humanity eventually dies off and is replaced by literally any species, natural or artificial, that bases decisions on logic and facts. There is no such thing as a meritocracy when humans are involved, no matter how much we delude ourselves to believe otherwise.

The problem with that is logic doesn’t provide goals, priorities or motivation to achieve them.

I was thinking about this recently while watching Raised By Wolves. The Androids express feelings and emotions, but this isn’t necessarily unrealistic. That could be a useful way to encode goals and evaluate priorities.

Re: An internal team 'hoodwinked' Bill Gates into launching the Xbox project

#126

Post by zeristor »

grababner wrote: post #74

'He tells us: "Eventually somebody would come back to you with your idea – they would say, 'Hey, you know, this doesn't need Windows at all'. And you have to control your urge to fucking kill them, because you've been telling them that for two years and now they finally come up with it like it's their idea. But that's the Jedi mind trick." ' OMG. I learned this a few years ago working in a corp environment with stubb…

Perhaps this had been done to you in turn...

Re: An internal team 'hoodwinked' Bill Gates into launching the Xbox project

#128

Post by 3pt14159 »

nailer wrote: post #18
rantwasp wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

nah. I think Balmer did wonders for Ms. It’s really easy to blame the guy but I think it’s important to look at the context (of when he took over, what he actually did) also, he is the only CEO I routinely saw at the “corporate gym” in Redmond before the pandemic struck. No bodyguards, no nothings. Like a regular dude going to the gym, hanging out in the sauna/jacuzzi. He had a super positive attitude towards the sta…

When he started Microsoft had the most popular OS, web browser and mobile OS. A decade later they lost all three and their market cap barely moved.

I'm sorry, but their market cap is like 10x in the past decade. Their revenue streams are different now, yes, but they recognized they'd lost the platform with the SaaSification of most things and they wisely moved into other areas. Yes, they could have tried something else that kept them as the winners of the OS game, but vertical integration wasn't really in their bloodstream. Platforming and services were.

Re: An internal team 'hoodwinked' Bill Gates into launching the Xbox project

#129

Post by Scapeghost »

bennysonething wrote: post #100

"world's most reviled software" Right, yeah, people hated Microsoft's software so much that they bought it by the bucket load. Also that comment about midway being problematic. Why is it problematic!? Did WW2 not happen? Who'd actually be offended?

Boy Microsoft's software is the most pirated in the world.

In my corner of the 3rd world and the countries around it many people have computers but almost nobody pays for software.

Re: An internal team 'hoodwinked' Bill Gates into launching the Xbox project

#130

Post by saurik »

grababner wrote: post #74

'He tells us: "Eventually somebody would come back to you with your idea – they would say, 'Hey, you know, this doesn't need Windows at all'. And you have to control your urge to fucking kill them, because you've been telling them that for two years and now they finally come up with it like it's their idea. But that's the Jedi mind trick." ' OMG. I learned this a few years ago working in a corp environment with stubb…

If your goal is to change the world--incepting some politician to change their position or some businessperson to alter their product--that makes a lot of sense... if you are working for some company extracting value from you, why would you ever do this? I can't imagine it would help your career any... shouldn't you be spending all of that effort finding a less toxic place to work?
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