Ballmer Realized He Was a Problem at Microsoft

[exfileme]

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer realized the company would change faster without him.

Ballmer Realized He Was a Problem at Microsoft : Read more

 

[robax91]

CEO steps down, cashes out. Cha-ching.

 

[spentshells]

Late to the game for mobile, it won't be long before that market starts a decline, just like the tech bubble before it.

 

[wemakeourfuture]

spentshells , November 24, 2013 3:44 AM
Late to the game for mobile, it won't be long before that market starts a decline, just like the tech bubble before it.

There is NOTHING similar to the current market with the tech bubble market. Nothing at all. From earnings, guidance, evaluations, any metric you can find. Completely and utterly different states between the 2 markets.

 

[SteelCity1981]

Gee he thinks.... but you know what they say the first step to realizing you have a problem or in Ballmers case were the problem is to admit it.

 

[spentshells]

spentshells , November 24, 2013 3:44 AM
Late to the game for mobile, it won't be long before that market starts a decline, just like the tech bubble before it.

There is NOTHING similar to the current market with the tech bubble market. Nothing at all. From earnings, guidance, evaluations, any metric you can find. Completely and utterly different states between the 2 markets.

Overvalued companies, an obvious limit to expansion, lack of actual growth only perceived growth..

 

[Shin-san]

I could see a company like Microsoft getting a bunch of dead weight over time, and that weight can actually make it very difficult to get things done. Do you think that the Internet Explorer team enjoys making a mediocre web browser? The engineers on it probably want to kick Google Chrome's ass.

They have gotten better scores than Chrome for a short time, but they probably can't keep that momentum going for long

 

[iamadev]

@Shin-san

They actually regularly out perform other browsers for periods of time. IE is certainly not a terrible browser any more. The problem they have is the almost yearly cadence they have which means it only improves roughly once every year whereas the other browsers have smaller incremental improvements throughout the year.

The IE team are making a very decent browser, the bad image it has is just that; an image.

 

[JD88]

Internet Explorer needs a new name.

 

[coolitic]

So it was Ballmer and Gates that made Microsoft good? So it was he that opposed all the changes that made every human being hate microsoft?

If ballmer supported the old ways, then I support him.

 

[Gurg]

W8 was a complete blunder and he should have been fired far sooner.

 

[brandonjclark]

Not sure if that last "crying" video was a shot but I found it inspiring. Most people would love to be led by someone with such passion.

 

[eklipz330]

IE nor WIN 8 are bad. IE has improved a lot since the XP days, and it my browser to go to just in case chrome acts funky. i dont appreciate the built in bing engine though, never seems to work as well

the problem with windows 8 is not necessarily the OS. it's VERY stable. the problem is that people do not like change. and windows 8 was a very dramatic one. they should have eased in the metro UI, possibly made it an option over shoving it down people's throats. the appstore is also pretty laughable. windows was close to perfection as it was. they should/need to incorporate new technologies into their future OS's, maybe something like the kinect or leap motion. that's the only way to continue moving forward IMO. nowadays computers are so jam packed with resources that we are peaking when it comes to productivity. now we just need new input methods to make it even better.

 

[Innocent_Bystander-1312890]

"There is NOTHING similar to the current market with the tech bubble market. Nothing at all. From earnings, guidance, evaluations, any metric you can find."

I have one thing to say to that... Twitter goes IPO and explodes to 1.7x on opening day, never having made a single dirty cent in its miserable existence. Tell me it's not a bubble.

the only thing different between today and '99 is today it's not click-throughs that replace earnings, it's registered users...

it'll blow all the same though.

IB

 

[The_Trutherizer]

Holy cow. This level of corporate indoctrination would make me puke if I was ever exposed to it.

"Balmer up at 4:30. Be there! He's gonna cry. They will play the theme from dirty dancing. TV will be there. Be... There... Or else"

 

[JOSHSKORN]

Maybe if Windows Vista was actually Windows 7, and Windows 7 was actually Windows 8.1. Microsoft got too far behind in the mobile market. IMO, the Windows SmartPhone should've already been replacing the Desktop, but we still don't have that, yet. Part of that is Microsoft being sluggish to get Windows 8/8.1 out there and part of it is that the hardware in Smartphones still doesn't quite cut the mustard for something like that, yet. If the OS was out there sooner, we might have better hardware, nowadays for something like that.

 

[brightsmith]

IMO, the next Microsoft CEO should be separate operating system for example: Windows 7.1 for desktop/workstation (start menu+aero+desktop style+high DPI support+native USB 3.0 driver+etc), Windows 8.x for tablet/phone (metro+touch optimized). Then stop forcing users to use Microsoft services by default. Give space for the user the freedom to choose, and make sure that Microsoft protects user privacy by not cooperating with the NSA.

 

[brightsmith]

IMO, the next Microsoft CEO should be separate operating system for example: Windows 7.1 for desktop/workstation (start menu+aero+desktop style+high DPI support+native USB 3.0 driver+etc), Windows 8.x for tablet/phone (metro+touch optimized). Then stop forcing users to use Microsoft services by default. Give space for the user the freedom to choose, and make sure that Microsoft protects user privacy by not cooperating with the NSA.

 

[Stevemeister]

So now we see a classic corporate blunder . . . ignoring or de-emphasizing your core business to chase other areas where they will be trying to displace numerous incumbents in a market that itself is getting close to saturation.

 

[vaughn2k]

HAHA! What took you so long??

 

[boytitan2]

Your making it hard for me to hate you Ballmer.

 

[omnimodis78]

The IE team are making a very decent browser, the bad image it has is just that; an image.

Excuse me, I have to chime in and say that while it's true that there's a lot of soured perception (due to very real bad history) of IE, the fact that their newest browser has to have compatibility mode enabled to view their own site (OWA) doesn't quite install confidence.

 

[nitrium]

I have one thing to say to that... Twitter goes IPO and explodes to 1.7x on opening day, never having made a single dirty cent in its miserable existence. Tell me it's not a bubble.
the only thing different between today and '99 is today it's not click-throughs that replace earnings, it's registered users...
it'll blow all the same though.

At least someone here gets it. Most the high-flying tech companies are in serious bubble territory. Amazon? Netflix? Facebook? Twitter? None of these companies are making anywhere near enough (if they are even making ANY money) to justify their stratospheric stock prices.

 

[IndustryStandard]

Without denying Ballmer's resistance to change and general wackiness, it's refreshing to see a CEO shed tears with their retirement, not to mention staying with the same corporation for as long as he did.

 

[cats_Paw]

There are so many things going badly nowdays that a CEO who is rather old not beeing able to keep up with the world is nothing special.
Hell, im 29 and I cant understand my EX anymore who is 25.