Ford's Alan Mulally Could Be Next Microsoft CEO

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Galvin

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Yeah this makes no sense someone from engineering going to software. But gregstreet from blizzard from from marine biology to games. So its been done before. But I guess its a balance of how well you can manage vs knowing software.
 

dvo

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he's qualified to run a company, software or not. he did a pretty good job of turning ford around it would seem. and Microsoft needs an outside perspective from someone out of the industry to turn themselves around and make them relevant again. people complain that Microsoft has a habit of not listening to the consumers, well because he's not from a software company that makes him a consumer. Microsoft doesn't need another software engineer. they need someone who knows how to manage things and this guy would appear to be fully qualified in that department.
 

Tuishimi

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He has an engineering degree. He is familiar with development cycles, QA and reliability and has good management skills. The software industry needs more "engineers". He would be a decent pick.
 

Jonathan Tucker

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Hey Microsoft, just a heads up, you're gonna need more than a figurehead to popularize your company again with the masses. Last time i checked, that's the reason you got rid of Fatty McBadittude.

Pick someone who'll actually do the company a little justice for God's sake.
 

amk-aka-Phantom

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Just because this guy has some engineering degrees does not mean he's qualified to run a software company which, in fact, needs someone to throw out all garbage from its portfolio (Surface, Windows 8, etc.) and focus on what they do GOOD - Windows 7, Xbox (Xbox One is miles away from where it could be had MS not been so stubborn and blind) and so on.
 

nbelote

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One step forward but two steps back, eh? Microsoft only erred when it came too late to the game when it comes to smartphones and touch/tablets. Had the Surface RT launched before the iPad, it wouldn't be heralded as a "failure," it would've been a grand success.

Have you ever used a Windows tablet? And by that, I mean have you done more than play with a store display and walked away grimacing? I felt the same about the display, but then was given a tablet to use for several months. It became a staple in how I did business. That tablet was my primary computer, and the touch interface, the Start Screen, made it so much easier. Especially after Windows 8.1. Using one regularly changed my perspective. So until you walk the walk, don't try to talk the talk.
 

jhansonxi

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With Mulally I would expect more integration with vehicles, especially because of SYNC (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Sync).

A CEO doesn't necessary require deep knowledge of a company they are in charge of. That is delegated to division presidents and managers. The CEO just sets limits based on available resources and keeps things running smoothly so the lower managers can get their jobs done, make strategic business agreements with other companies, and major decisions that involve government agencies. It's the job of the marketing people, salespeople, engineers, and R&D to identify potential customers and provide products that they want.
 

bustapr

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well, the guy got Ford out of the shitter these last few years. Microsoft isnt exactly in a shitter position right now, but I feel this guy could definitely make better decisions for the company than what Ballmer did. It was seeen from a mile away that OEMs werent going to buy WinRT at $80 a pop. it was obvious people werent going to like the XB1 restrictions. It was plainly obvious people werent going to like heavily touch based turn that Win8 took because hardly anyone has a touch monitor(which OEMs tend to price a few hundred extra for).

If he takes the reigns, I just hope he has some logic which is whats been lacking the past few years.
 

damianrobertjones

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No... No... NO! Get another Bill Gates on the case, someone young, idealistic, intelligent and someone that wants to give something to people... It CANNOT all be about the money and this guy will be about the money.

NooOoOOooooo
 

Bolts Romano

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I would rather him to stay in Ford, make sure Ford getting better and better. A person with passion with what are they doing will not jump into new challenge , to the extent outside manufacturing line)
Microsoft need someone who has strong passion in what they are doing, like Gates, Google founders. Hp founders.

Some says not to let the company runs by people from Marketing or Sales , because they are good to convinced people to believe, a box of cereal is a steak, The problem with this, there is no fundamental behind it
 

Bolts Romano

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Who have drive Ford lately? can share with us how the Ford Sync works now?
How long does it take to get it right? This is just an in car navigation system and it takes so long to iron out the bugs and do not mention the UI
 
a business man? really? I understand the CEO needs to understand how the business world works and how to push products, but look how well that's working out for apple after they lost their Innovator...
 

goleksy

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I believe ABC did a special on him in regards to him saving ford. Great watch. This man is definitely qualified for this job. Hopefully he uses similar stratagies, as he's done with ford, and take everything back to the drawing board. Address all the problems that pertain to microsofts current direction and simply fix them. He single handedly saved Ford from financial ruin and avoided a tax payer funded bailout. He has my support.
 

goleksy

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I believe ABC did a special on him in regards to him saving ford. Great watch. This man is definitely qualified for this job. Hopefully he uses similar stratagies, as he's done with ford, and take everything back to the drawing board. Address all the problems that pertain to microsofts current direction and simply fix them. He single handedly saved Ford from financial ruin and avoided a tax payer funded bailout. He has my support.
 

Tuishimi

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@golesky

Exactly. People reading this see only that he is leading an automobile company and feel it disqualifies him from anything else.

A leader figures out what is right, what is wrong and puts together a team capable of leading the company, letting them do what they do best.
 

Grandmastersexsay

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Programmers are idiots. An engineer is infinitely more qualified to run a software company than some programmer. An engineer would ask why an OS has to take up 20 GB. Programmers don't care about a program's efficiency, they only care about how efficiently they can use their time to write the program. They don't care about anything at the hardware level because they usually don't understand it. Programmers want to use C to write machine language. Go ask a good programmer to design an ALU with nothing but NAND gates and you'll start to appreciate how little they know.
 

darkavenger123

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Can't believe lots of small minded person here yapping "oh, he is not a software engineer!"...CEOs post is to manage the company, not write programs or design architecture for the software. Lots of CEOs crossed industry during their career. It's the bottom line that counts and when it comes to managing money and mobilizing people, it's all the same.
 
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