Ballmer's Retirement Was Earlier Than Originally Planned

[exfileme]

Ballmer's retirement is sudden and sooner than originally planned.

Ballmer's Retirement Was Earlier Than Originally Planned : Read more

 

[memadmax]

"Ballmer's Retirement Was Earlier Than Originally Planned"

Thank GOD....

 

[alidan]

My original thoughts on timing would have had my retirement happen in the middle of our company's transformation to a devices and services company focused on empowering consumers in the activities they value most

lets focus a bit

My original thoughts on timing would have had my retirement happen in the middle of our company's transformation to a devices and services company focused

little more

transformation to a devices and services company focused

lets hope they stop everything balmer wanted to do.

 

[hrhuffnpuff]

This smells, I personally think he was forced out or given an ultimatum. Or both since his products except Win XP, 7 and Xbox (360 included) sucked universally.

 

[irish_adam]

alidan dont be stupid, microsoft has to change and everyone seems intent on focusing on the recent mistakes but Balmer is a huge part of the reason that Microsoft is so big. Even if you dont take into account he has been with the company since the inception of windows he was in charge of the company for some of their biggest successes, the Xbox and the xbox 360, windows xp and windows 7

Microsoft took a gamble with windows 8, i mean they had to do something the PC industry has been in a decline now for a while and without it microsoft is nothing. I mean yeah it was a flop and most consumers hate it (including me) but atleast they are trying to innovate and diverse which is what they need right now.

Blame Balmer all you want but hes no idiot, he knows Microsoft has to change its just that no one really knows how. I mean how do you revolutionise an OS to revitalise the industry?

 

[Learn_w_Graffix]

After spending several hours with Windows 8 attempting to change settings so someone else’s new laptop would actually boot up (which it eventually did), it gives me some small satisfaction to point out the following behind-the-scenes message of this article.
For all the "Windows 8 is so great!" comments by the few people that claim to like it, this says, very loudly, "WINDOWS 8 IS BAD!" How bad? Really bad. It is so bad that it even bumped Steve Ballmer out of Microsoft. THAT bad!

 

[alidan]

alidan dont be stupid, microsoft has to change and everyone seems intent on focusing on the recent mistakes but Balmer is a huge part of the reason that Microsoft is so big. Even if you dont take into account he has been with the company since the inception of windows he was in charge of the company for some of their biggest successes, the Xbox and the xbox 360, windows xp and windows 7

Microsoft took a gamble with windows 8, i mean they had to do something the PC industry has been in a decline now for a while and without it microsoft is nothing. I mean yeah it was a flop and most consumers hate it (including me) but atleast they are trying to innovate and diverse which is what they need right now.

Blame Balmer all you want but hes no idiot, he knows Microsoft has to change its just that no one really knows how. I mean how do you revolutionise an OS to revitalise the industry?

so, a software company should change into a hardware manufacturing company? no lets use a better word here... adult toy company?

want to know what microsoft should have done?

make windows 8, and give it 3 modes, phone, tablet, computer.
let the user decide what they want, and let them chose on boot up.
for phones, have it by default always boot phone mode unless user specified.

require 2 usb ports

bam. dock the phone/table into a hdmi out so it uses the tv as a screen and there, instant pc with wireless keyboard and mouse of your choice.

allow the pc to boot to desktop and dont take out a key feature (start menu)

there, a product like that makes sense, not a toy you buy a 150$ keyboard cover for.

want to know what they should have did about... what... 10 or so years ago...
made a mobile os, a rudimentary phone os they could have kept alive as a pet project, there you would have had an in in the cellphone market from day one that way and the iphone would have been nothing.

remember microsoft is first and foremost a software company, why would to move away from something that when done right prints money?

 

[house70]

Blame Balmer all you want but hes no idiot, he knows Microsoft has to change its just that no one really knows how. I mean how do you revolutionise an OS to revitalise the industry?

how about this: implement all he changes you want, but leave options alive for people (and more importantly corporations) that want the classic desktop/Start button view.
That way, the few ones that feel adventurous could use the Metro interface, the rest could stay with the classic desktop. And by classic desktop I mean keep all the functionality behind it, as well.

 

[itchyisvegeta]

not soon enough

 

[back_by_demand]

PC sales were in a slump well before Win 8, but the real question is if anyone else here was worth $15billion would you really have waited till 57 to retire? I would have been sunning on my yacht well before then.

 

[chumly]

When someone tries to attack your baby, you show them your teeth. Gates was just doing the same thing any mother would do.

 

[john15v16]

IT'S ABOUT FREAKIN' TIME!!!

 

[halcyon]

It may have been earlier than planned but it can't come soon enough.

 

[stevejnb]

alidan dont be stupid, microsoft has to change and everyone seems intent on focusing on the recent mistakes but Balmer is a huge part of the reason that Microsoft is so big. Even if you dont take into account he has been with the company since the inception of windows he was in charge of the company for some of their biggest successes, the Xbox and the xbox 360, windows xp and windows 7

This is one thing I wonder about. The same people who will praise the XBOX, Windows XP, and Windows 7 to the rafters in one breath will scream that Ballmer was the worst thing to ever happen to MS. The guy had to weather the fruits of Gates' legal transgressions as head of the company and, while doing so, produced the two OS's that people widely hail as the best there are. Ballmer has some blunders on his record but,while Windows 8 may well prove to be one of them, he also has some astounding successes. Why do people blame Ballmer for 8 but not give him credit for 7 and XP? And the XBOX for that matter?

What I also wonder about is... If so many of you want Windows 7 so damned bad that you more or less wanted Windows 8 to be Windows 7 version 2.0, why not just stick with Windows 7? *Lots* of people still use XP, so I don't see why many of you act like 8's existence is preventing you from using 7. As it happened, 8 is a pretty darned handy multi-purpose OS, and 7 is still there if you want a desktop based OS.

 

[back_by_demand]

Buy Yahoo and install Marissa Mayer as CEO, given choice between her and Ballmer being hot and sweaty I think that choice makes itself

 

[rantoc]

No shit, after the line of failures MS have done lately its a wonder they don't sue his ass for abysmal management. Earn billions while destroying company's seems to be quite normal, all that while the staff with low wages work their ass off to save the company - Seems fair, doesn't it?

 

[neiroatopelcc]

I don't like what they've done with their OS and I like the surface rt even less, but I think Ballmer's become the scapegoat needed by a company not flexible enough to change in time.
The modern ui nonsense is hurting windows, but it is (in the long run) how an operating system needs to be.
If the vision of 'everything in the cloud' that almost all tech & software companies want is comming to pass, you won't be needing that nifty little start menu anymore. You'll just need a bookmark or an icon. If they want an OS capable of catering to that demand, then then windows 8 idea is the right one. They just tried it a few years before the consumers were ready.

 

[davewolfgang]

I don't like what they've done with their OS and I like the surface rt even less, but I think Ballmer's become the scapegoat needed by a company not flexible enough to change in time.
The modern ui nonsense is hurting windows, but it is (in the long run) how an operating system needs to be.
If the vision of 'everything in the cloud' that almost all tech & software companies want is comming to pass, you won't be needing that nifty little start menu anymore. You'll just need a bookmark or an icon. If they want an OS capable of catering to that demand, then then windows 8 idea is the right one. They just tried it a few years before the consumers were ready.

Sorry, but that's not how an OS "needs to be". And OS needs to be able to be adjusted for what the user who's paying money for it wants. You'll notice most all windows users aren't sheeple who take whatever iMachines gives them.

And no - the cloud idea is not coming to pass - as much as they are pushing and "wanting" it to. Sure for FB and instapics and #Posteveractivityeverysecondoftheday are in the cloud, but with all the (clearly) easily hackable and government spyable "cloud" services (h*ll - it's not even spying - all the gubment has to do is offer them $$$$ and they GIVE access.....) - there's not many business that can Legally have their stuff out there like that. Sure - a Word or PowerPoint that needs to be shared between two offices in two different cities - great for the cloud, but a companies REAL working data - it's got to be secured. And the cloud ain't secure.

And until there are no bandwidth caps (no matter how "big" they are) - the cloud idea won't ever get past personal users who don't know better.

 

[stevejnb]

alidan dont be stupid, microsoft has to change and everyone seems intent on focusing on the recent mistakes but Balmer is a huge part of the reason that Microsoft is so big. Even if you dont take into account he has been with the company since the inception of windows he was in charge of the company for some of their biggest successes, the Xbox and the xbox 360, windows xp and windows 7

Microsoft took a gamble with windows 8, i mean they had to do something the PC industry has been in a decline now for a while and without it microsoft is nothing. I mean yeah it was a flop and most consumers hate it (including me) but atleast they are trying to innovate and diverse which is what they need right now.

Blame Balmer all you want but hes no idiot, he knows Microsoft has to change its just that no one really knows how. I mean how do you revolutionise an OS to revitalise the industry?

 

[spartanmk2]

Not soon enough, though.

 

[zodiacfml]

Windows 8 is the craziest product that came out from Microsoft. Windows RT came close though I've heard that it was a safety net if Intel didn't get their act together.
Microsoft just didn't know what to do........or simply, they can't produce something cool anymore.
The xbox is only successful since they had it right that x86 is the better way to make games.

 

[booyaah]

If I made an OS my motto would be 'Choice, Freedom, Modularity'

So sick of hearing the word 'innovation' being thrown around. Just because you make something different does not make it innovative. It also has to be successful.

It would be awesome to see Mr. G come back out of the shadows and lead his company back into the forefront like Jobs did with Apple.

 

[teh_chem]

"Ballmer's Retirement Was Earlier Than Originally Planned"
--and later than we had hoped for...

 

[brucen13]

Time has shown Ballmer was a much better senior manager than CEO. He knows how to get things done once the order is handed down. Put in the driver's seat, he's driving around lost and doesn't want to ask for directions. Most of his past projects were reactionary, based on what other companies were doing. Ballmer missed so many opportunities in the market (just look at the windows phone and now the tablet). He bought and integrated successful companies rather than innovating, again, because he's a good senior manager that knows how to get things done in that type of environment. For those of you that say he was successful, the better comment is he surrounded himself with successful people. Xbox is a perfect example of success based upon other's brilliance and Ballmer's management. There's nothing wrong with being second-in-charge if that is what you are good at; I just wish Microsoft had figured that out sooner than they did.

 

[eddieroolz]

His demeanor was my favorite aspect. He will be missed.