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A vote for Bill Gates as interim Microsoft CEO

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Re: A vote for Bill Gates as interim Microsoft CEO

#41

Post by dredmorbius »

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.

pg's done vastly more to rid the world of spam than BG ever did.

Re: A vote for Bill Gates as interim Microsoft CEO

#42

Post by unono »

mcintyre1994 wrote: post #28
unono wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Alright, all great things for a startup guy but I don't think they're the qualities required for the CEO of a multibillion sprawling company. They have no need to popularise or use lisp, no need to sell companies and I'm not convinced this is bigger than eg /r/technology? Not that that's a bad thing, but it's a bold claim to say this is the biggest tech news forum. Way more importantly though, PG hasn't turned creati…

Microsoft's problem has been growth, and that's because they appear to always miss capitalizing on the new thing (web,search,mobile,social,tablets) - all things a startup guy is most talented at.

They lack vision, a guy who has vision himself and can herd cats (visionaries) is the best thing for them. PG's about as good as anyone at that.

Re: A vote for Bill Gates as interim Microsoft CEO

#43

Post by marcamillion »

Don't think this makes sense.

People seem to forget but MSFT's stagnation started under Bill's reign. It just continued under Ballmer.

Bill was the one that 'vowed to crush Google' by investing $2B in R&D in search and web services.

We see how much that worked.

I think they should get someone that can lead them into the web services future - not someone that is deeply attached to the desktop.

Re: A vote for Bill Gates as interim Microsoft CEO

#46

Post by sergiosgc »

benologist wrote: post #32
unono wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

How is any of that relevant to managing a company the size of a small city and financials the scale of a small country that makes a suite of software he doesn't appear to use much?

Not that I'm defending PG's suitability to the role, but, given Microsoft's size, if you require prior experience at running organizations this big, your candidate pool is awfully small. It's best to hire someone who knows the tech and the market, and assume that the organization stands for itself (i.e. does not require a major overhaul)

Re: A vote for Bill Gates as interim Microsoft CEO

#47

Post by jonnathanson »

jlgreco wrote: post #2

What in the world could you possibly offer Bill Gates if he had no interest in doing something?

Pretty much the only thing you could offer him would be the chance to save his baby. He started the company, he built it up, and now he could (in theory) save it. It's a legacy thing.

Bill Gates's legacy is pretty secure, and obviously he's not hurting for cash. And it seems as if he's in a more humanitarian mission at this stage in his life. But if there were anything that could lure him back, my guess is that it would be the goal of keeping Microsoft relevant -- making it into a 100+ year company.

Re: A vote for Bill Gates as interim Microsoft CEO

#48

Post by stingraycharles »

kmfrk wrote: post #36
the_economist wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Last I checked, Bill Gates was the richest person in the world. And that was something like a few weeks ago.

I find that hard to believe. Weren't there a few oil sheiks with more money?

Re: A vote for Bill Gates as interim Microsoft CEO

#49

Post by 4ad »

bad_user wrote: post #30
Zigurd wrote: post #20

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.

Oh, I really think you're underestimating Bill Gates. The days of disruption stopped for Microsoft when he left. For example, I bet that Bill Gates would have foreseen the iPhone as a really big threat from day one and we would now be marveling at one of his famous internal angry emails that changed Microsoft's direction (leaked because of a new anti-trust suit, no doubt). Bill Gates is no Steve Jobs, but he's a heck…

> Bill Gates would have foreseen the iPhone as a really big threat from day one and we would now be marveling at one of his famous internal angry emails that changed Microsoft's direction

Just like he foresaw the Internet as a big threat, right?

Re: A vote for Bill Gates as interim Microsoft CEO

#50

Post by unono »

zalzane wrote: post #19
unknownian wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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 micromanageme…

That's a good comment, however, I have to disagree. Those management problems are software problems. And I'm sure PG, as well as the other software talents at MS would relish the opportunity to systematize it in software.
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