Steve Ballmer to Retire as CEO of Microsoft

[JMcEntegart]

Ballmer is saying goodbye to Microsoft.

Steve Ballmer to Retire as CEO of Microsoft : Read more

 

[dr1337]

Finally!!!

 

[bustapr]

Hopefully, this new CEO will be extremely interested in bringing forth revolutionary products. Revolutionary products such as fancy eco-friendly toilets!

 

[wdmfiber]

Hopefully his replacemnt is somewhat of a techie. And not recklessly paranoid of the
competition or new tech(fads).

As the vast majority of posters on Tom's called "the Windows 8 failure"; even back before it launched(consumer trials). Yet, MS just continued barreling along... and we all watched the train go over the cliff.

 

[gilbadon]

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

 

[giovanni86]

Soon that image of him will disappear, hopefully. ^sigh for relief*

 

[toddybody]

THANK HEAVENS...Ballmer is on one end of the Leadership Extreme...Im just hoping they dont hire a hippie to parody what they think is cool (Apple-ish).

 

[Blazer1985]

Not going to judge his administration...
But every time that man opened his mouth a few million dollars went down the tube.

 

[spentshells]

Someone who will innovate not replicate.

 

[thesuperguy]

Despite all the hate towards Ballmer, at least he realizes it is time to move on and openly accepts this retirement.

 

[g00fysmiley]

better brush up and update my resume /dreams

 

[Onus]

Good riddance! He strikes me as a blowhard who has missed more than a few too many boats.

 

[ssdpro]

That's not a retirement folks... that's a consequence of Windows 8.

 

[SteelCity1981]

hopefully the new CEO will actually see how unpopular windows 8 is and make windows 9 much more lke windows 7 by giving people an actual start menu. having an option to disable metro entirely and giving people the option to enable aero glass, the things that most windows 8 users have complained about. In the meantime I would like to see another Windows 7 service pack just for the updates alone. let alone anything else. There have been prob over a thousand windows updates since the last service pack came out. A Windows 7 Serivce Pack 2 is long overdue.

 

[lpedraja2002]

" 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."

Hmm... I think this means something. Microsoft making PC's perhaps? I really hope the manufacturers keep at it with the Microsoft tablets, the full version not that crap Windows 8 RT which needs to be wiped off the face of the earth. I want to be able to buy an affordable laptop/tablet hybrid with a good enough APU to maybe do some light gaming.

 

[lpedraja2002]

Also, Microsoft needs someone who has the passion of an enthusiast, who really knows the products and what improvements needs to be made. From what I've read Steve Jobs was a hard ass when it came to "quality" and the launched products all met his standard which was very good imo. We need someone who uses Microsoft products enough to understand what needs to be changed.

 

[Hazle]

after W8's mediocre, if not poor, reception, Surface not selling & the xbone marketing disaster, it's about time. i just hope he's not too involved in choosing his successor, because the last thing we need is Ballmer 2.0.

 

[knightmike]

It's a good thing he's not an astronaut because he strikes me as the kind of guy that would fly the spacecraft towards a black hole and and bail out just before the event horizon leaving the ship and crew to perish.

 

[rantoc]

Hope there are someone with the right visions left in MS, after all Balmer made sure to kick anyone with at least 1/2 a brain to strengthen his position. Seems the investors have seen the same pattern repeat over and over....

 

[bison88]

Too little too late? Besides the X-Box Microsoft is the weakest in the consumer market than its ever been thanks to this clown. Of course Microsoft prides themselves on most their profits coming from business and enterprise customers, but there foothold on the consumer side of things has taken a huge hit. Practically laughable at this point.

Big question is who's going to replace him. We all knew it was a matter of time before the ones in power (shareholders) finally saw what everyone else saw. That he was no good for MS anymore.

 

[bubuhubu]

Yesss.

 

[stevejnb]

While Ballmer has enough failures under his belt to more than warrant him stepping down, I very much hope that MS doesn't give up it's approach to the desktop/mobile environment that they have with Windows 8.

Prior to Windows 8, whatever combination of mobile devices you were working with, you always had to act as an intermediary between mobile and desktop platforms. Mac OS/Windows/Linux VS Android/iOS/Windows Phone meant that any time you try and get your computer to talk to your phone/tablet, they spoke different languages (services, programming, etc) and you had to translate. Anyone who has wrestled using iOS devices beyond the very basic syncing with a PC probably knows what I'm talking about, as will most who have tried to get some good solution to get Officesuite Pro to integrate with your Skydrive/Google docs and seamlessly work with and update your office files on your PC. Windows 8, simply put, changes that, and if you've ever used both a Windows PC and a Windows tablet you know what I'm talking about - the devices can switch between tablet and desktop at the switch of a button, and speak the same language.

What's more, tablets were a crappy desktop solution prior to Windows 8 - focused more on being media consumption toys than actual productive units that could fulfill all your computing needs. Things like the Surface Pro and the Acer Iconia W700 have broken this mould - no more crappy app office knockoffs trying to get some work done, you get the real thing. When you're on the go, they work as tablets, when you get home, plug it into your monitor/TV with a Bluetooth or USB mouse and keyboard and you've got a full desktop workstation in under a minute of sitting down. If you do this with Android or iOS, you're still dealing with the - for a desktop, non-touch environment - garbage tablet OS full of half-arsed apps that don't work half as well sitting down as real desktop applications. If you do this with a Windows 7 tablet, you're saddled with a garbage tablet OS, using a touch screen to navigate things that were never designed for that. Windows 8 combines both environments, letting you pick which one you want with the press of a button, switching between tablet and desktop. I think a lot of you who are ecstatic about Android potentially coming to desktops are in for a letdown when it gets there unless you truly are blinded by irrational hatred for MS because, while Android is awesome on a tablet, sitting down at home and using a bunch of crappy apps on my desktop sounds about as appealing as trying to use Windows 7 with a touchscreen.

I know it's cool to hate Windows 8, but the Windows 8 approach to hybrid devices that can operate as either one is simply superior to Android/iOS's binary approach. They work all good and fine for tablets, but tablets have the potential to work as desktops very well - except that they are saddled with OS's that only work for tablets. Windows 8 gives you tablet or desktop environment at the click of a button, and those of you who think that a tablet can't operate as both very well are fooling yourselves.

 

[back_by_demand]

Gates will not return, so now we are stuck with an unknown element, at least Sinofsky got pushed overboard first. I reckon they should hire the Woz.

 

[house70]

Good riddance.

 

[gilbadon]

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS