5 ms·
Pivoting to internet didn't work great for Bill Gates. Nobody really used MSN other than for chat and possibly hotmail, the browser wars were lost, and the bulk
by bonzini 2y ago
Pivoting to internet didn't work great for Bill Gates. Nobody really used MSN other than for chat and possibly hotmail, the browser wars were lost, and the bulk of the revenue was done on Windows at the time Nardella took the helm. However Microsoft was big enough to afford a failure.
- WalterBright 2y agoMicrosoft pivoted to the internet very successfully in the 90s under Gates, and the stock went up like a rocket. Nadella didn't arrive until a full 10 years later. I appreciate the value Nadella brought to the company (as I own some MSFT), but have pivoted away from Windows to Linux for development work. I remain with Windows 7 for other uses, so much so I bought a complete set of spare parts for my Win7 box for when it inevitably fails.
- bonzini 2y agoIn the 90s what made MSFT shoot up was Windows becoming a household name, and Windows NT becoming the standard enterprise setup (often at the expense of mini-mainframes like the AS/400, rather than Unix); not Microsoft network. The (almost successful) EEE strategy with Internet Explorer was the only part of Gates's internet strategy that survived the 90s. This also explains why Ballmer went full in on Windows: there had been no pivot to speak of.