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Satya Nadella – Microsoft's CEO

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Re: Satya Nadella – Microsoft's CEO

#261
post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not Microsoft that was/is bad, it's having any single entity have too much power. In my opinion, right now, that is Google, and that's why we need a stronger someone - anyone. And Microsoft fit the bill.

Doesn't Microsoft have 90% of the desktop? About the same dominance in "Office apps", along with their proprietary formats keeping people uncomfortable using "compatible" software. That dominance is almost 2 decades old and it's quite hard to fix. When most people get a job, they're going to be using Microsoft because that's what they will be given. I've never been somewhere where I'm told which search engine to use.…

Who ares about the market share or the desktop? Microsoft does not make significant new revenue from their installation base. Google however does with their platforms (web and mobile), so does Apple (on mobile mainly).

I think it's very interesting to see an internal MS manager with a background in Bing and Azure to become CEO, interesting times are sure ahead.

Re: Satya Nadella – Microsoft's CEO

#262
post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't Microsoft have 90% of the desktop? About the same dominance in "Office apps", along with their proprietary formats keeping people uncomfortable using "compatible" software. That dominance is almost 2 decades old and it's quite hard to fix. When most people get a job, they're going to be using Microsoft because that's what they will be given. I've never been somewhere where I'm told which search engine to use.…

Their influence on desktop is slowly eroding, though, and the new battlefield is the internet.

Yep. I honestly could see the desktop being relegated to only scientists, programmers, IT, and possibly gamers, with mobile and tablet devices replacing it for nearly everyone else. This kinda makes me sad, seeing as I'm in the programmers group, and our fun toys (desktops) are starting to go away, but ultimately it's probably the right direction for society.

Re: Satya Nadella – Microsoft's CEO

#263

I hope the new CEO has the courage and the power to set out a vision and stick to it for more than just a few years in a row. Microsoft under Ballmer has been a study in short attention span. Changing themes, names, and directions every three to five years. When I was a Windows sysadmin back in the day, it was incredibly frustrating to build anything on the Microsoft platform because by the time you wrapped your brai…

The Zune is at the foundation of Microsoft's Metro design language.

Re: Satya Nadella – Microsoft's CEO

#264
post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with a lot of what you're saying, except I wanted to point out that I still greatly prefer native email clients (I'm 24, for what it's worth). Outlook is actually a very competent piece of software on OS X and I use it at work; it's easily on par with Mail.app for me. I prefer either of these to any web email interface I've used, as they are considerably more responsive (even Gmail seems laggy in comparison).

You should try Thunderbird. I switched from Outlook a few years ago and have never looked back.

Here we go, and I use Thunderbird and would switch to Outlook (if it would be available for Ubuntu..)

Re: Satya Nadella – Microsoft's CEO

#265
post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not Microsoft that was/is bad, it's having any single entity have too much power. In my opinion, right now, that is Google, and that's why we need a stronger someone - anyone. And Microsoft fit the bill.

>It's not Microsoft that was/is bad, it's having any single entity have too much power. I can't come to the same conclusion. Just look at how much innovation has happened to areas that Microsoft dominated as opposed to those dominated by Google. Google basically sets fire to whatever it gets into. Look at how much they've enriched the developer space in those areas. Everything Microsoft is still stuck in the early 20…

I'm guessing you haven't tried MS's latest desktop platform developer suite?

Re: Satya Nadella – Microsoft's CEO

#266
post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a Chromecast (plugged into the HDMI input on my Xbox One, actually). I don't see that being a credible threat to Xbox among consumers who can afford an Xbox. Possibly something used in tandem when there's not a native app (the Xbox apps for YouTube and Netflix are a much better experience than Chromecasting from a laptop or phone for me). What do you mean by cloud gaming? Something like the Ouya or Steam's new…

Cloud gaming is when a server renders your content for you, then streams the video to you. So you could play a very resource intensive game on e.g. a cheap tablet.

In the US, at least, I see that severely limited by the small usage caps most of us with wired connections live under.

I expect it to follow whatever path Netflix et. al. blaze. Depending; Moore's Law is very much alive, but doesn't apply to batteries. What's the attraction of a cheap tablet vs. a not quite so cheap capable tablet now, or a cheap capable tablet tomorrow, and how much will this depend on battery capacity?

Re: Satya Nadella – Microsoft's CEO

#268
post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They abandoned it when they dominated developer mindshare, which they do not today. Also, I'm not talking about a posix layer that is all but hidden, I'm talking about making Windows a posix system. Coreutils (or something like it), a free compiler, a terminal.

Microsoft already provides "something like" coreutils, free compilers, and a console subsystem. While these things could use considerable improvement — particularly the console subsystem — I'm not sure that the best approach for either Microsoft or the market is to encourage a POSIX/GNU monoculture. I'd rather see Microsoft incorporate good ideas from the competition into future products, and vice versa.

Well sure, I guess my problem is that the current console is terrible, including the powershell.

Re: Satya Nadella – Microsoft's CEO

#269
post #160

I'd never thought I'd say this after the years of aggressive (and at times anti-competitive) dominance but I think the world needs a strong Microsoft again. Although Microsoft remains very strong in the corporate world, its presence in the Internet and mobile worlds are now pretty limited and leaving the two power-houses of Google and Apple to shape the industry. Satya has done a good job with Azure, and it will be i…

Microsoft = closest company ever made in software. They don't contribute as the rest of the companies and, they take years to advance in many topics. they had their strong with 95, XP, but then...

Re: Satya Nadella – Microsoft's CEO

#270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From a technical standpoint, I'd love to see Microsoft starting to gain more traction in the developer world. Coming from Java and Objective-C, I'm pretty excited about C# and .NET, which seem much friendlier towards us developers.

Microsoft's handle on language development (thanks to Anders Hejlsberg) is the best in the industry.

Thanks to Don Syme? F# surpasses C# as a language, and a lot of the CLRs power comes from proper generics. And Simon Peyton Jones (Haskell is pretty neat, isn't it)?

C#'s a nice contender against Java, but in my hindsight, it had an overly limited vision.

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