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Windows chief Terry Myerson out as Microsoft reorganizes
- maxxxxx 9y ago'and one transition we have been planning for is for Terry Myerson to pursue his next chapter outside Microsoft. " Gotta love corporate speak. Do they even realize how awful that is?
- ocdtrekkie 9y ago"We just think the best place for Terry is to be not here."
- 52-6F-62 9y agoAh, the most regular one I hear, and one of my favourites: "We just wanted to let you know we've exited John. We spoke and he agreed it was time to pursue new opportunities elsewhere. There's nothing nefarious going on, so we wanted to reassure you there's nothing to worry about. Business as usual." :|
- smacktoward 9y agoI guess at least they managed to avoid calling it his "incredible journey."
- TheOtherHobbes 9y agoIs anyone very excited to introduce his replacement yet?
- komali2 9y agoWhat else are they gonna do? "Fuck this guy amirite boys? Eat shit Terry!" Personally I have no problem with politeness, even if it's a veneer. There's a reason cities full of millions of people can function without clawing eachother's throats out, and it's got nothing to do with Law.
- maxxxxx 9y agoThis is not politeness but it's a cynical play with words. They should just say "We have decided to replace Terry Myerson".
- komali2 9y agoDoesn't that do a disservice to Terry? The guy's been there what, two decades? They probably are grateful to him for their time there. Why load headlines with any form of negative language whatsoever? Why plop any mines into future interviews he may have with other companies?
- maxxxxx 9y agoIt's clear to everyone that he has been fired. Otherwise they would have let him resign by himself. Saying "we have been planning for is for Terry Myerson to pursue his next chapter outside Microsoft" is a stab in the back. Not only did they show him the way to out but they also gave him a kick in the ass while on the way out.
- komali2 9y ago"Fired" is such a loaded word. There are many reasons for a company to want someone to leave, and not all of them necessarily "negative." Off the top of my head, when the oil and gas market dipped in 2014, tons of great engineers lost their jobs because the companies simply didn't have work for them. Or a CEO that's really good at 5-50 startups simply not being a good fit for scaling 50-100 and upwards of 1000s of employees. Etc.
- radarthreat 9y agoYou don't have to go home, Terry, but you can't stay here.
- mistermann 9y agoI really hope they make fixing the long standing Windows usability issues a priority rather than adding even more "features" that nobody wants or uses.
- moistoreos 9y agoThis is one of the reasons I'm transitioning to linux for my new build at home. I will use Windows 10 only to game. I'm going to strip Windows to it's bones and transition personal stuff into Linux & my Macbook. ... now if only GPU prices would come down. Goddamn blackchain craze.
- AskewEgret 9y agoYou're going to find it very hard to have a gaming PC that is also stripped down to its bones. Windows 10 Pro N is a good starting point for a non-annoying Windows "Experience", but I'm fairly certain you can't game with it.
- komali2 9y agoDepends on what you mean by "stripped down." Candy crush can be removed through the registry editor (I know, I know) as well as all the other weird bullshit apps. Cortana can be silenced, etc. What am I missing for stripping on my rig?
- chrisper 9y agoDoes dual boot not annoy you?
- komali2 9y agoAt least in my case, my rig has more than enough power to run debian in VirtualBox at native resolution. Works better than the native installation on my work thinkpad actually... one more excuse to work from home when I get the chance ;)
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- Bhilai 9y agoI remember last year Microsoft did some major reorgs as well. Is it typical for Microsoft size organizations to re-org so much ? While re-orgs are probably good for re-organizing the workforce around a set of goals but I think for lower level managers and individual contributors these are very distracting. Constant change in leadership affects employee morale.
- ThrowawayR2 9y agoInteresting. Terry Myerson was the head of the Windows Phone division through WP 7, 8 and the early part of WP 10 and bore at least some responsibility for its (lack of) success before being promoted to head of the Windows division as a whole. The inclusion of the much derided tie-in ads in Windows required at least his tacit approval. The general impression was that he was one of Satya Nadella's darlings. One wonders what finally felled him?
- fwgwgwgch 9y agoHe was promoted after his phone failures by ballmer (to clear the timeline)
- halo 9y agoWindows Phone was good. The subsequent attempts to turn desktop Windows into Windows Phone were infuriating and ill-conceived. Almost everything that I liked about Windows Phone did not translate to the desktop.
- AnimalMuppet 9y agoAnd what I liked about the desktop did not translate to a Phone-ified desktop, either.
- notafxn 9y agoWindows Phone was definitely NOT good. It was stable, and it was visually appealing. But it was always "almost there". It always gave you the impression that the next update would get there, but updates were super slow, if you would get them at all.
- Amezarak 9y agoAt some point MS switched update strategies for WP to cut out the carrier delays. Everyone gets WP updates on time if your device is still supported. They still seem to come out once every month or two, though there haven't been any major feature updates in a long time.
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- cwyers 9y agoThis provides a lot more detail on what's going on, instead of focusing on the (admittedly shocking) news about Myerson: http://www.zdnet.com/article/heres-how-and-why-microsoft-is-splitting-up-windows-in-its-latest-reorg/ http://www.zdnet.com/article/heres-how-and-why-microsoft-is-...
- jbob2000 9y agoHe's lead windows for the last 21 years. He gave us Windows 2000, ME, Vista, 8, and 10. I am not surprised his time is up. Microsoft has lost the next generation of computer users to Android and iOS because of their regular release of completely botched products. The enterprise company I work for just rolled out their Mac program and we are slowly transitioning from Windows. It's time for a shake up.
- cwyers 9y agoSteven Sinofsky led the Windows division from 2009 through 2012.
- fwgwgwgch 9y agoJbob2000 I'm sure the "enterprise company" You work for also agrees with you that java was a failure before android was launched. What "enterprise company" is it? Is it called "please please somebody not-a-compettitor do it so it can be an example"?
- orev 9y agoI hope this gets them to focus Windows 10 back on corporate uses, or at least giving back some reasonable aspect of control. Candy Crush ads built in to Windows Pro is just absurd. MS already lost the mobile war, so they should be focusing on where they really shine, not trying to dumb it down to straddle multiple markets at once.
- tvanantwerp 9y agoI've worked harder to make Windows 10 Enterprise actually useful than for any other version. Lot's of Group Policy and Registry edits are required to strip out the cruft, and even then it often leaves things broken. Windows 10 is the PC equivalent of a crappy Android phone with your carrier's impossible-to-remove bloatware baked into it. Absolutely horrible experience.
- funkymike 9y agoI see ads in Windows 10 Enterprise. Microsoft has conceded to turning Windows into the OS equivalent to browser add-on malware.
- fwgwgwgch 9y ago> malware Source or example of malicious stuff done?
- ssahoo 9y agoI hope the new windows chief will take updates mess on top priority.
- sumitgt 9y agoPutting Scott Guthrie in charge of Cloud and AI seems like a great move.
- kerng 9y agoThis is provably good for Microsoft. I watched a couple of presentations and Myerson never came across as very savvy in presenting their technologies. Not sure about his internal doings though, but they should have always used someone else to demo and present things.
- VonGuard 9y agoMicrosoft makes the most stable, easiest to use desktop OS, especially since Apple started slowing dwindling MacOS to make it into some kind of iOS varient. Windows still drives me nuts, has ads, gets stuck in tablet mode when I'm on a desktop, and has driver issues from time to time, but the OS has grown to become my favorite desktop environment in the past few years, if for no other reason than that everyone else keeps screwing around and tweaking things that don't need tweaking. Linux GUIs have been getting all fancy with it, Apple thinks desktops are just for making Apple software, and yet Windows remains a great place to play games, watch movies, browse the Web. It's by far and away the fastest, most responsive desktop GUI out there. I hope it gets back to basics.
- albedoa 9y ago> Microsoft makes the most stable, easiest to use desktop OS > Windows still drives me nuts, has ads, gets stuck in tablet mode when I'm on a desktop, and has driver issues from time to time Stop, you're making this macOS user jealous.
- VexorLoophole 9y agoMixing some things together, uh? You can't tell me that you windows drives you nuts, and keeps tweaking and tweaking making it worse. Still it is (your opinion) better as linux GUIs or Apple's one. And as arguments you mention playing games, watch movies, and browse the web?! All three are possible on all mentioned systems. The last two even in the completely same way as on windows (besides user interface). I am just glad that i switched to the other two options and never had to look back. Apple also fucks up things. Still a pretty solid system for my use case. Also i am not able to see the iOS-varent movement you mentioned. Also Linux GUIs get better and better. It shocks me everytime what Windows Users tolerate while bashing the other two system, when i have to configure something on our AD (only used Windows Server in house). Inconsistent GUI Designs on expensive software, xbox gaming center preinstalled on a SERVER EDITION, everything shuffeled together, ...
- komali2 9y agoI can't speak for the server stuff, but objectively speaking gamers should be using Windows 10. Even just ignoring DirectX, it has the highest compatibility with the most popular games and most up to date drivers. I use Debian for work but the gaming rig is straight Windows. Shame SteamOS never took of, I was into it (got the steam wifi dongly doo on the TV in the living room with four steam controllers lol)
- RcouF1uZ4gsC 9y agoIf I read this correctly, Windows is no longer a top level division of Microsoft and is a part of Experiences and Devices. This is huge. Few companies have reinvented themselves as many times as Microsoft has. From developer tools (BASIC) to Dos to Windows to Office and now to Cloud and Services. Under Nadella, Microsoft has regained the agility for which it was famous for under Bill Gates.
- contextfree 9y agoSort of. Windows shell/app/device teams got merged with other "experience" teams (i.e., Office), while Windows platform teams got merged with other platform teams (i.e., Azure)
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- oregontechninja 9y agoLinux (various OS's on that kernal) have been objectively more stable and easier to use than windows since windows 8 came out. I plugged an Ubuntu machine into my work network and could print to any printer without installing any extra drivers! Updates ONLY when I want them. Also, no bloatware or unnecessary personal assistant tied to every search feature. Microsoft should've just polished windows 7.
- chrisper 9y agoUbuntu installs by default updates automatically. Even if you choose no automatic updates during install.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- atomicnumber1 9y agoReading all these comments concludes... Windows 10 - Nightmare macOS - Slow & buggy. Linux - No Apps & Games, Frequent changes in fancy GUIs I think we've run out of options here. It's 2018 and we still don't have a solid Operating System. This is really sad. I just hope fuchsia takes off really well.
- jyrkesh 9y agoLol, we still don't even know what Fuschia really IS.
- guelo 9y ago100% men. No women in a memo mentioning about 20 execs.
- johnmalatras 9y agoAs someone joining Windows and Devices group out of college this summer, should I expect this to affect me?
- canekong 9y agoHey John, I work at MS too and welcome! As for how this may impact you, you should speak with your recruiter and connect with your hiring manager. Please do not hesitate to ask. Personal experience differ, but here's my story. When I joined MS 9 years ago it was in the midst of the big layoffs, and my recruiter reached out immediately after news broke and made sure that everything is still in place and I am still due to start in the summer after my graduation, and I've been happily working here since. Good luck!
- johnmalatras 9y agoAwesome, thanks for sharing your experience! I’ll reach out to them if I don’t hear anything. Looking forward to joining you all!!
- quantummkv 9y agoIt's a bit disconcerting to see the apparent narrow mindedness of educated, technical people in regards to the forced windows update system. Linux's way of manual updating is better than windows, only because the only people using Linux are capable of understanding security issues and will update as soon as is is convenient. The majority of the windows user base is of people who do not understand and maybe do not want to understand the security issues. Windows had the option to manually control the update process in windows 7. The HN demographic updates on time, grandma and the guy in accounting don't. They won't update until a major security issue reaches the mainstream. Even then the majority don't update simply because unlike us, they do not have the knowledge to do so. Microsoft had to make a hard choice, and they made the hard choice. That hard choice is the reason 98% of wannacry infections were on windows 7 and barely 1% on windows 10. If ubuntu somehow ends up replacing windows in hands of the general public, don't be surprised to see the same update system to appear in it.
- RandomBK 9y agoThe key issue is one of control. I don't mind having an automatic update system, so long as there is some way of telling the os "I know what I'm doing - let me handle this". In a similar vein, updates should respect explicit configuration choices made on the system, and not re-enable things like Cortana without permission.
- pritambaral 9y ago> If ubuntu somehow ends up replacing windows in hands of the general public, don't be surprised to see the same update system to appear in it. If that happens, don't be surprised when a fork of Ubuntu comes out without the forced updates. > The majority of the windows user base is of people who do not understand and maybe do not want to understand the security issues. Windows had the option to manually control the update process in windows 7. The HN demographic updates on time, grandma and the guy in accounting don't. They won't update until a major security issue reaches the mainstream. Even then the majority don't update simply because unlike us, they do not have the knowledge to do so. The choice doesn't have to be between 'update now' and 'update never'. There are more polite ways of pestering people into doing something good, than completely hijacking their system. The choice doesn't have to be between 'security updates AND feature updates, together' or 'nothing at all'. The "feature" updates don't have to include ads and auto-reinstalled Candy Crush. The "security" updates don't have to auto-enable explicitly disabled telemetry settings of users. All of the development machines in my office either auto-apply security updates or prominently nag us to manually apply updates that can/could not be automatically applied. None of them reboot in the middle of a development session. None of them auto-install feature updates or ads or sponsored apps. All of them run Kubuntu LTS.