6 ms·

What were the key Ballmer era highlights? == Negatives == * Clashes with Gates during CEO transition of power: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121261241035146

What were the key Ballmer era highlights? == Negatives == * Clashes with Gates during CEO transition of power: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121261241035146237.html http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121261241035146237.html * Developer relations / motivational speaking (thanks mathattack): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvsboPUjrGc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvsboPUjrGc * Employee retention (thanks JonnieCache, Ziomislaw): http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/microsoft-ceo-im-going-to-fing-kill-google/2005/09/03/1125302772214.html http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/microsoft-ceo-im-going... * Windows Phone: http://www.forbes.com/sites/markrogowsky/2013/07/18/if-you-havent-seen-a-windows-phone-lately-its-because-theyre-practically-disappearing/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/markrogowsky/2013/07/18/if-you-h... * IPTV platform Microsoft Mediaroom (thanks nixy): http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/02/03/bt_vision_upgrade/ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/02/03/bt_vision_upgrade/ * Vista (thanks balakk, danieldk) * Internet Explorer neglect and market share declines. == Mixed == * Failed Yahoo acquisition (thanks michaelpinto, seanmcdirmid, throwaway1979): http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/press/2008/may08/05-03letter.aspx http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/press/2008/may08/05-03le... == Positives == * Xbox / games division (thanks benihana) * Enterprise successes (thanks gregd, facorreia) * Facebook investment (thanks riffraff) [edits: updates per reply comment suggestions]

benihana 13y ago
Positives: Xbox/Games division
- Ensorceled 13y ago
  One almost gets the impression that Xbox slipped under Ballmer's radar and didn't get his full attention :-)
  - gmacdon89 13y ago
    I loled. I have thought this as well. something along the lines of he was concentrating on office when a division of microsoft was able to continue working without his interruption.
- rlanday 13y ago
  Are people saying this because the Xbox actually makes money, or just because it’s popular and seems successful? The most recent overall look at profits I’m aware of is this one: http://www.neowin.net/news/report-microsofts-xbox-division-has-lost-nearly-3-billion-in-10-years http://www.neowin.net/news/report-microsofts-xbox-division-h... If this is accurate, Microsoft has been turning a profit in recent years, but not enough to make up for years of losses from the first Xbox and the first few years of the Xbox 360. They’re about to launch a new system, which probably means they’re again going to be losing money again for a while.
  - darkchasma 13y ago
    Mindshare and a device in the living room is what keeps Microsoft from slipping into IBM territory. And with the consumerization of IT, OSX or Linux would be even more present today I suspect.
mathattack 13y ago
Did you capture the speech where he's ranting and raving to motivate the troops?
rdl 13y ago
Positives: Only threw away 10-20b on pointless acquisitions (aQ, etc.). Successfully avoided buying Nokia, or pulling an HP/Compaq Fiorina fiasco, and didn't buy a big dying services organization to chase IBM. Also didn't do like HP's board with the lawsuits and revolving door CEOs and such. Avoided major criminal activity.
- derefr 13y ago
  This should sound like a ridiculous set of "positives", but it doesn't. Instead, I'm thinking--when you put it that way, Ballmer certainly wasn't the worst they could have done. Not by far.
- gnoway 13y ago
  "Avoided being caught and held responsible for major criminal activity." I suspect this is a more true statement.
- seanmcdirmid 13y ago
  Got lucky on yahoo.
- devx 13y ago
  How about paying $8 billion for Skype, a zero-profit company, and almost paying $40 billion for Yahoo?
  - lotso 13y ago
    Skype is about to pull in 2 billion in revenue. Surely there's some profit there.
  - sbuk 13y ago
    I'm pretty sure Skype was strategic. Lync as a unified communications platform is all the more interesting because of it.
gregd 13y ago
Not entirely sure any of these can be attributed to Ballmer but Microsoft has been entirely successful in the enterprise. Active Directory (copied, but marketed better than Novell), Group Policies, Visual Studio (arguably the best IDE available today), Sql Server, .NET, Azure. And trust me, I am no fan of Ballmer. I think this announcement is the best thing to happen to Microsoft in a LONG time.
- balakk 13y ago
  Azure probably will get credited to Ray Ozzie. Rest of them are from Gates era. There are some monumental fuck-ups that happened under his guard though - Vista, Windows Phone are enough proof.
  - danieldk 13y ago
    Vista Most hardware was not powerful enough for Vista when it was released. It's the pressed who killed it. Windows 7 received glamorous reviews. However, in hindsight, Vista and 7 are not all that different. Most of the changes that daily users would encounter are cosmetic. Windows Phone Microsofts primary problem was that it was late and (as one of the consequences) there are not that many Windows Phone apps. However, WP7 and WP8 were generally quite well-received by the media. Windows Phone is really a nice phone OS, what Microsoft f*cked up is the transition from WP7 to WP8.
    - Pxtl 13y ago
      Vista was a catastrophic death march until it launched, though. It was pushed back year after year after year. The long gap between XP and Vista was not intentional.
      - smacktoward 13y ago
        Not only was Vista development pushed back, but the whole process was restarted two years in when it became clear that the original version was a disaster (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Development_of_Windows_Vista#Mid-2004_to_Mid-2005:_Development_.22reset.22 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Development_of_Windows_Vista#Mi...).
facorreia 13y ago
Xbox. Server and tools (e.g. System Center 2012 R2, Windows Azure). Increasing profits. E.g., FY 13 profits of $26.76 billion against FY 12 profits of $21.76 billion. That 5 billion dollars of additional profit in that fiscal year. I wonder how much profit Ballmer's detractors generate? Relevant: How Apple's profits stack up against Google and Microsoft http://www.theverge.com/2013/7/23/4549094/apple-microsoft-google-profit-revenue-margins-q2-2013-chart http://www.theverge.com/2013/7/23/4549094/apple-microsoft-go...
neuro 13y ago
Here's the key Ballmer era highlight https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvsboPUjrGc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvsboPUjrGc
- JonnieCache 13y ago
  Yeah we all know it's that video, and then him throwing the chair at that guy.
Ziomislaw 13y ago
* throwing chairs @ people he doesn't like
bojan 13y ago
I question the relevancy of that article from Forbes regarding Windows Phone. It is written by a Contributor, so it is basically an editorial piece. The sentence "Nokia becomes a low-end smartphone-maker" strikes me as particularly weird, as Nokia was always a low-end phone maker. While their sales are down in the US, they are on a (very slow) rise almost everywhere else. In Latin America, WP is now ranked 2nd (http://techcrunch.com/2013/08/22/windows-phone-snags-second-place-in-latin-america-validating-the-nokia-microsoft-relationship/ http://techcrunch.com/2013/08/22/windows-phone-snags-second-...). WP is definitely not a widely successful platform, but it is not yet a total failure, and given some more attention from Microsoft, it may yet succeed in being relevant. edited for typos.
michaelpinto 13y ago
Maybe the failed Yahoo acquisition wasn't a bad thing? Would Microsoft have really improved Yahoo? Would Yahoo give Microsoft growth? If anything not doing that deal was a good move.
- seanmcdirmid 13y ago
  That was definitely a bullet dodged: a very good thing.
throwaway1979 13y ago
The failed Yahoo! acquisition could be seen as a positive.
nixy 13y ago
Negatives must also include Microsoft Mediaroom, the much yelled at[1] IPTV platform which was recently handed over to Ericsson for an undisclosed sum which I can't imagine yielded a good ROI for MS. [1] http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/02/03/bt_vision_upgrade/ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/02/03/bt_vision_upgrade/
riffraff 13y ago
I think the investment in FB should be considered successful. IIRC the deal in 2007 was at one fifth of the current facebook value, plus they got to sneak bing in the platform, and cut out google.
dragontamer 13y ago
Mixed : Investment into Nook. I'm still convinced that eReaders are a good future for distributing books. It isn't Microsoft's fault that the Nook is failing (Barnes and Noble need to pick up the slack), but I think its a good idea that Microsoft branches out into that distribution platform. Its a Hail Mary pass to attempt to get into the eBooks market, but probably the best attempt that Microsoft could reasonably make. Actually, even if Nook ends up losing money for Microsoft, I'd argue it was a good move.
tmister 13y ago
Add another positive, he knew that LOC is not a good measurement of software development[1] [1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWylb_5IOw0&feature=player_detailpage#t=2338 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWylb_5IOw0&feature=player_de... (go to 38:59 time mark)
clarky07 13y ago
==Positive== He grew revenue and profits at incredible levels. He doesn't get credit because the stock price hasn't gone up, but that is just because he took over during the tech bubble and Microsoft was greatly overvalued at the time. I think profit has more than tripled since he started.
- crazypyro 13y ago
  In the last year alone, he has increased profits by around 20% (which is 5 billion dollars, not pocket change). People don't give him enough credit.
jypepin 13y ago
Xbox in positives I guess... but I don't agree on the whole game division... the "Games for windows" system is just horrible -
BrandonM 13y ago
What about Microsoft developing some of the best enterprise programming tools in the world? I don't use any of the following, but I have to admit that they are (or at one time were) best-in-class is basically all of them: * C#, F#, and all of .NET * Visual Studio * SQL Server * DirectX * ActiveX[1] [1] ActiveX is not the best technology, but it paved the way for the AJAX programming that everyone does today.
- fhd2 13y ago
  > ActiveX is not the best technology, but it paved the way for the AJAX programming that everyone does today. You can safely add AJAX to the list, XMLHttpRequest is from Microsoft as well. I never had much symphathy for Microsoft, but I can't help but respect some of the things they've done, both in the Gates and Ballmer eras. They used to really care about developers.
  - politician 13y ago
    I've often heard XMLHttpRequest described as an "own goal" instead of a "win".
- hannibal5 13y ago
  It's good to realize that most of it was developed as response to innovation elsewhere. And they don't make up for those horrible Visual Basic versions they pushed for years. Famous quote from 90's: "Anybody who thinks a little 9,000-line program that's distributed free and can be cloned by anyone is going to affect anything we do at Microsoft has his head screwed on wrong." - Bill Gates (regarding Java, shortly before Microsoft licensed Java and cancelled the Blackbird project)
- bborud 13y ago
  Imagine if they hadn't been hell bent on only releasing those tools for Windows. Imagine if they had made them cross platform. Their programming tools may be great. But I will never care. Because I'd rather hit myself with a stick than use Windows.
lucasjans 13y ago
Lost here is Steve's wasted money chasing success in the media space. Failed advertising platform acquisitions (aQ), billions spent trying to get MSN and then Bing off the ground.

benihana 13y ago

Positives: Xbox/Games division

Ensorceled 13y ago
One almost gets the impression that Xbox slipped under Ballmer's radar and didn't get his full attention :-)
- gmacdon89 13y ago
  I loled. I have thought this as well. something along the lines of he was concentrating on office when a division of microsoft was able to continue working without his interruption.
rlanday 13y ago
Are people saying this because the Xbox actually makes money, or just because it’s popular and seems successful? The most recent overall look at profits I’m aware of is this one: http://www.neowin.net/news/report-microsofts-xbox-division-has-lost-nearly-3-billion-in-10-years http://www.neowin.net/news/report-microsofts-xbox-division-h... If this is accurate, Microsoft has been turning a profit in recent years, but not enough to make up for years of losses from the first Xbox and the first few years of the Xbox 360. They’re about to launch a new system, which probably means they’re again going to be losing money again for a while.
- darkchasma 13y ago
  Mindshare and a device in the living room is what keeps Microsoft from slipping into IBM territory. And with the consumerization of IT, OSX or Linux would be even more present today I suspect.

mathattack 13y ago

Did you capture the speech where he's ranting and raving to motivate the troops?

rdl 13y ago

Positives: Only threw away 10-20b on pointless acquisitions (aQ, etc.). Successfully avoided buying Nokia, or pulling an HP/Compaq Fiorina fiasco, and didn't buy a big dying services organization to chase IBM. Also didn't do like HP's board with the lawsuits and revolving door CEOs and such. Avoided major criminal activity.

derefr 13y ago
This should sound like a ridiculous set of "positives", but it doesn't. Instead, I'm thinking--when you put it that way, Ballmer certainly wasn't the worst they could have done. Not by far.
gnoway 13y ago
"Avoided being caught and held responsible for major criminal activity." I suspect this is a more true statement.
seanmcdirmid 13y ago
Got lucky on yahoo.
devx 13y ago
How about paying $8 billion for Skype, a zero-profit company, and almost paying $40 billion for Yahoo?
- lotso 13y ago
  Skype is about to pull in 2 billion in revenue. Surely there's some profit there.
- sbuk 13y ago
  I'm pretty sure Skype was strategic. Lync as a unified communications platform is all the more interesting because of it.

gregd 13y ago

Not entirely sure any of these can be attributed to Ballmer but Microsoft has been entirely successful in the enterprise. Active Directory (copied, but marketed better than Novell), Group Policies, Visual Studio (arguably the best IDE available today), Sql Server, .NET, Azure. And trust me, I am no fan of Ballmer. I think this announcement is the best thing to happen to Microsoft in a LONG time.

balakk 13y ago
Azure probably will get credited to Ray Ozzie. Rest of them are from Gates era. There are some monumental fuck-ups that happened under his guard though - Vista, Windows Phone are enough proof.
- danieldk 13y ago
  Vista Most hardware was not powerful enough for Vista when it was released. It's the pressed who killed it. Windows 7 received glamorous reviews. However, in hindsight, Vista and 7 are not all that different. Most of the changes that daily users would encounter are cosmetic. Windows Phone Microsofts primary problem was that it was late and (as one of the consequences) there are not that many Windows Phone apps. However, WP7 and WP8 were generally quite well-received by the media. Windows Phone is really a nice phone OS, what Microsoft f*cked up is the transition from WP7 to WP8.
  - Pxtl 13y ago
    Vista was a catastrophic death march until it launched, though. It was pushed back year after year after year. The long gap between XP and Vista was not intentional.
    - smacktoward 13y ago
      Not only was Vista development pushed back, but the whole process was restarted two years in when it became clear that the original version was a disaster (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Development_of_Windows_Vista#Mid-2004_to_Mid-2005:_Development_.22reset.22 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Development_of_Windows_Vista#Mi...).

facorreia 13y ago

Xbox. Server and tools (e.g. System Center 2012 R2, Windows Azure). Increasing profits. E.g., FY 13 profits of $26.76 billion against FY 12 profits of $21.76 billion. That 5 billion dollars of additional profit in that fiscal year. I wonder how much profit Ballmer's detractors generate? Relevant: How Apple's profits stack up against Google and Microsoft http://www.theverge.com/2013/7/23/4549094/apple-microsoft-google-profit-revenue-margins-q2-2013-chart http://www.theverge.com/2013/7/23/4549094/apple-microsoft-go...

neuro 13y ago

Here's the key Ballmer era highlight https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvsboPUjrGc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvsboPUjrGc

JonnieCache 13y ago
Yeah we all know it's that video, and then him throwing the chair at that guy.

Ziomislaw 13y ago

* throwing chairs @ people he doesn't like

bojan 13y ago

I question the relevancy of that article from Forbes regarding Windows Phone. It is written by a Contributor, so it is basically an editorial piece. The sentence "Nokia becomes a low-end smartphone-maker" strikes me as particularly weird, as Nokia was always a low-end phone maker. While their sales are down in the US, they are on a (very slow) rise almost everywhere else. In Latin America, WP is now ranked 2nd (http://techcrunch.com/2013/08/22/windows-phone-snags-second-place-in-latin-america-validating-the-nokia-microsoft-relationship/ http://techcrunch.com/2013/08/22/windows-phone-snags-second-...). WP is definitely not a widely successful platform, but it is not yet a total failure, and given some more attention from Microsoft, it may yet succeed in being relevant. edited for typos.

michaelpinto 13y ago

Maybe the failed Yahoo acquisition wasn't a bad thing? Would Microsoft have really improved Yahoo? Would Yahoo give Microsoft growth? If anything not doing that deal was a good move.

seanmcdirmid 13y ago
That was definitely a bullet dodged: a very good thing.

throwaway1979 13y ago

The failed Yahoo! acquisition could be seen as a positive.

nixy 13y ago

Negatives must also include Microsoft Mediaroom, the much yelled at[1] IPTV platform which was recently handed over to Ericsson for an undisclosed sum which I can't imagine yielded a good ROI for MS. [1] http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/02/03/bt_vision_upgrade/ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/02/03/bt_vision_upgrade/

riffraff 13y ago

I think the investment in FB should be considered successful. IIRC the deal in 2007 was at one fifth of the current facebook value, plus they got to sneak bing in the platform, and cut out google.

dragontamer 13y ago

Mixed : Investment into Nook. I'm still convinced that eReaders are a good future for distributing books. It isn't Microsoft's fault that the Nook is failing (Barnes and Noble need to pick up the slack), but I think its a good idea that Microsoft branches out into that distribution platform. Its a Hail Mary pass to attempt to get into the eBooks market, but probably the best attempt that Microsoft could reasonably make. Actually, even if Nook ends up losing money for Microsoft, I'd argue it was a good move.

tmister 13y ago

Add another positive, he knew that LOC is not a good measurement of software development[1] [1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWylb_5IOw0&feature=player_detailpage#t=2338 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWylb_5IOw0&feature=player_de... (go to 38:59 time mark)

clarky07 13y ago

==Positive== He grew revenue and profits at incredible levels. He doesn't get credit because the stock price hasn't gone up, but that is just because he took over during the tech bubble and Microsoft was greatly overvalued at the time. I think profit has more than tripled since he started.

crazypyro 13y ago
In the last year alone, he has increased profits by around 20% (which is 5 billion dollars, not pocket change). People don't give him enough credit.

jypepin 13y ago

Xbox in positives I guess... but I don't agree on the whole game division... the "Games for windows" system is just horrible -

BrandonM 13y ago

What about Microsoft developing some of the best enterprise programming tools in the world? I don't use any of the following, but I have to admit that they are (or at one time were) best-in-class is basically all of them: * C#, F#, and all of .NET * Visual Studio * SQL Server * DirectX * ActiveX[1] [1] ActiveX is not the best technology, but it paved the way for the AJAX programming that everyone does today.

fhd2 13y ago
> ActiveX is not the best technology, but it paved the way for the AJAX programming that everyone does today. You can safely add AJAX to the list, XMLHttpRequest is from Microsoft as well. I never had much symphathy for Microsoft, but I can't help but respect some of the things they've done, both in the Gates and Ballmer eras. They used to really care about developers.
- politician 13y ago
  I've often heard XMLHttpRequest described as an "own goal" instead of a "win".
hannibal5 13y ago
It's good to realize that most of it was developed as response to innovation elsewhere. And they don't make up for those horrible Visual Basic versions they pushed for years. Famous quote from 90's: "Anybody who thinks a little 9,000-line program that's distributed free and can be cloned by anyone is going to affect anything we do at Microsoft has his head screwed on wrong." - Bill Gates (regarding Java, shortly before Microsoft licensed Java and cancelled the Blackbird project)
bborud 13y ago
Imagine if they hadn't been hell bent on only releasing those tools for Windows. Imagine if they had made them cross platform. Their programming tools may be great. But I will never care. Because I'd rather hit myself with a stick than use Windows.

lucasjans 13y ago

Lost here is Steve's wasted money chasing success in the media space. Failed advertising platform acquisitions (aQ), billions spent trying to get MSN and then Bing off the ground.