4 ms·

> On one hand, expect to hear many people outside Microsoft to boo this move since J. Allard seemed to be one of those "young executives who Got It". On the oth

> On one hand, expect to hear many people outside Microsoft to boo this move since J. Allard seemed to be one of those "young executives who Got It". On the other hand, Steve Ballmer is left with less choices seeing those red numbers in Excel Spreadsheet almost overflowing whatever the data type in cell G-14, H-15 and K-25. I'm confused. Did you read the article? "The Entertainment & Devices Division has posted operating profits in the company's most recent two fiscal years, and it's on track for another profitable year, rebounding from the billions of dollars in losses it posted as the Xbox business was getting up to speed." Why on earth would "this shake-up" be needed?

muhfuhkuh 16y ago
>Why on earth would "this shake-up" be needed? Because you can't be top dog in the pack when you're looking at Nintendo's cute wagging backside inching further away. Wii is the PS2 of this millennium. There's no way the PS3 or XBox 360 will touch it. Microsoft isn't used to being second fiddle. Hell, look at how they're stagnating in the web browser arena. Firefox and Chrome et al. are eating away at IE and MS doesn't seem to care because they can't control the browser with all these open standards anyway. Bing is an also ran that can't even come close to Google's dominance, no matter how much money they throw at consumers with that cashback scheme. The reason they became successful (then, with the introduction of Windows 95, dominant) is that they were cheap and kinda worked. That's great in the era of big iron and 20lb. "portables" and all that. But now, people are willing to pay for "just works" and "magic". Plug, main screen turn on, device do thing, you use and it no hard. When the vast majority of users are obsessed with social networking, writing small little text/tweets, bite-size 2D addictive casual games with one-button control, and playing music and youtube videos, how are you going to cash in on that if you're a Microsoft? Try to replicate Zynga and Twitter? Then what? Watch as you're yet again late to the party and throwing massive gobs of money down the pit to fill it up and catch the competition? Maybe -- and this could be the key -- MS needs to start _aquiring_ technologies instead of trying to reinvent them like they're some garage startup. Go buy some big sexy new technology, actually ship it (or hell, ship surface/origami/courier/etc.). Because you're not going to outsexy Apple or outcasual Nintendo playing by their rules. You just won't.
- joubert 16y ago
  A millennium is a very very long time :-)
- WalterGR 16y ago
  I can't tell if you're talking about Microsoft as a whole or E&D specifically. Because you bring up laptops and Bing, I'll assume the former. > Microsoft isn't used to being second fiddle. Hell, look at how they're stagnating in the web browser arena. Microsoft plays second fiddle all the time. Aside from Windows, Office, and (_maybe_) VS, nearly all their products are ranked second (or lower) in popularity. MSN Messenger. Bing. Windows Mobile / CE. Xbox. Windows Server. IIS. SQL Server. > Bing is an also ran that can't even come close to Google's dominance, no matter how much money they throw at consumers with that cashback scheme. I've heard good things about Bing. Claiming they bought all their users is disingenuous. > When the vast majority of users are obsessed with social networking, writing small little text/tweets, bite-size 2D addictive casual games with one-button control, and playing music and youtube videos, how are you going to cash in on that if you're a Microsoft? Try to replicate Zynga and Twitter? Then what? You don't, and you then compare the current financials of Microsoft, Zynga, and Twitter. > Maybe -- and this could be the key -- MS needs to start _aquiring_ technologies instead of trying to reinvent them like they're some garage startup. Microsoft acquires companies _all the time_. It's a common criticism: "Microsoft has never created anything. They've just bought out companies that create things." "Like some garage startup"? Hardly. > Go buy some big sexy new technology, actually ship it (or hell, ship surface/origami/courier/etc.). Whatever criticism Microsoft deserves, failing to ship is hardly among it.
  - hello_moto 16y ago
    Yes, Microsoft is used to play second fiddle. But then again, didn't they clean up (or there were some stuff going on) their Online divisions couple months ago (or even last 1 or 2 years ago)? Once in a while, there will be divisions that would require some changes. Couple years ago, Vista (or the OS div) was the main target. They moved Steven Sinofsky from Office to OS. Once the situation over the OS div is better a bit, then the Online division. They brought up various outsiders if I remember correctly. Some from Yahoo!, not sure if they get anyone from Google (most likely not). Then Bing showed up. Now it's the E&D that got their piece of Ballmer Pie. PS: I'm probably speculating.
hello_moto 16y ago
If you look at what they've produced (that particular division) so far are pretty much copies of successful stories out there. And they knew they will be in the deep red for a while once these copied-products are out. This story will be like this for a while and I'm not sure that's a good way to run a business financially or mentally (for the employee). Yes, they are finally profitable (after almost 9 years?). But sometime you'd have to check the casualty as well. In this case, it looks like the Microsoft brand is the foremost casualty.
jsz0 16y ago
Why on earth would "this shake-up" be needed? Perhaps once it crossed that line from being a money pit to a profitable division Microsoft decided it was time to put the "grown ups" in charge to juice up profits using all the marvelous techniques cut-throat business minded people excel at. That's a total guess on my part but it seems like something Microsoft would do.

muhfuhkuh 16y ago

>Why on earth would "this shake-up" be needed? Because you can't be top dog in the pack when you're looking at Nintendo's cute wagging backside inching further away. Wii is the PS2 of this millennium. There's no way the PS3 or XBox 360 will touch it. Microsoft isn't used to being second fiddle. Hell, look at how they're stagnating in the web browser arena. Firefox and Chrome et al. are eating away at IE and MS doesn't seem to care because they can't control the browser with all these open standards anyway. Bing is an also ran that can't even come close to Google's dominance, no matter how much money they throw at consumers with that cashback scheme. The reason they became successful (then, with the introduction of Windows 95, dominant) is that they were cheap and kinda worked. That's great in the era of big iron and 20lb. "portables" and all that. But now, people are willing to pay for "just works" and "magic". Plug, main screen turn on, device do thing, you use and it no hard. When the vast majority of users are obsessed with social networking, writing small little text/tweets, bite-size 2D addictive casual games with one-button control, and playing music and youtube videos, how are you going to cash in on that if you're a Microsoft? Try to replicate Zynga and Twitter? Then what? Watch as you're yet again late to the party and throwing massive gobs of money down the pit to fill it up and catch the competition? Maybe -- and this could be the key -- MS needs to start _aquiring_ technologies instead of trying to reinvent them like they're some garage startup. Go buy some big sexy new technology, actually ship it (or hell, ship surface/origami/courier/etc.). Because you're not going to outsexy Apple or outcasual Nintendo playing by their rules. You just won't.

joubert 16y ago
A millennium is a very very long time :-)
WalterGR 16y ago
I can't tell if you're talking about Microsoft as a whole or E&D specifically. Because you bring up laptops and Bing, I'll assume the former. > Microsoft isn't used to being second fiddle. Hell, look at how they're stagnating in the web browser arena. Microsoft plays second fiddle all the time. Aside from Windows, Office, and (_maybe_) VS, nearly all their products are ranked second (or lower) in popularity. MSN Messenger. Bing. Windows Mobile / CE. Xbox. Windows Server. IIS. SQL Server. > Bing is an also ran that can't even come close to Google's dominance, no matter how much money they throw at consumers with that cashback scheme. I've heard good things about Bing. Claiming they bought all their users is disingenuous. > When the vast majority of users are obsessed with social networking, writing small little text/tweets, bite-size 2D addictive casual games with one-button control, and playing music and youtube videos, how are you going to cash in on that if you're a Microsoft? Try to replicate Zynga and Twitter? Then what? You don't, and you then compare the current financials of Microsoft, Zynga, and Twitter. > Maybe -- and this could be the key -- MS needs to start _aquiring_ technologies instead of trying to reinvent them like they're some garage startup. Microsoft acquires companies _all the time_. It's a common criticism: "Microsoft has never created anything. They've just bought out companies that create things." "Like some garage startup"? Hardly. > Go buy some big sexy new technology, actually ship it (or hell, ship surface/origami/courier/etc.). Whatever criticism Microsoft deserves, failing to ship is hardly among it.
- hello_moto 16y ago
  Yes, Microsoft is used to play second fiddle. But then again, didn't they clean up (or there were some stuff going on) their Online divisions couple months ago (or even last 1 or 2 years ago)? Once in a while, there will be divisions that would require some changes. Couple years ago, Vista (or the OS div) was the main target. They moved Steven Sinofsky from Office to OS. Once the situation over the OS div is better a bit, then the Online division. They brought up various outsiders if I remember correctly. Some from Yahoo!, not sure if they get anyone from Google (most likely not). Then Bing showed up. Now it's the E&D that got their piece of Ballmer Pie. PS: I'm probably speculating.

hello_moto 16y ago

If you look at what they've produced (that particular division) so far are pretty much copies of successful stories out there. And they knew they will be in the deep red for a while once these copied-products are out. This story will be like this for a while and I'm not sure that's a good way to run a business financially or mentally (for the employee). Yes, they are finally profitable (after almost 9 years?). But sometime you'd have to check the casualty as well. In this case, it looks like the Microsoft brand is the foremost casualty.

jsz0 16y ago

Why on earth would "this shake-up" be needed? Perhaps once it crossed that line from being a money pit to a profitable division Microsoft decided it was time to put the "grown ups" in charge to juice up profits using all the marvelous techniques cut-throat business minded people excel at. That's a total guess on my part but it seems like something Microsoft would do.