7 ms·

Microsoft should split up the company into smaller ones. This is something that should have happened with the anti-trust case a decade ago, but unfortunately i

by steven2012 13y ago

Microsoft should split up the company into smaller ones. This is something that should have happened with the anti-trust case a decade ago, but unfortunately it didn't happen. I said to myself at the time, it would have been the best thing for the software industry if we saw Microsoft split up into an OS company and an applications company. Now, I think they should split off Windows, Applications, X-box, and Mobile. There are a lot of very smart people at Microsoft still, but they are all stymied with the culture of everything having to center around Windows. X-box was best when it didn't have Windows shoved down it's throat and the same goes for Mobile. Now, Windows is having Mobile shoved down its throat by an increasingly desperate and frenetic management that is drowning in incompetence, and they're taking everyone down around them. What they need to do is just admit that the industry is changing on too many fronts too quickly, and this idea of having horizontal integration across multiple products is unfeasible. Having integration of Internet Explorer into Windows, or the same with Office worked. But they keep going back to the same well too many times. They need to let each market grow organically, and let their good PMs and engineers make the best products they can, not the best products that will keep selling Windows.

TylerE 13y ago
XBox always ran Windows. Even the original XBox was running on a modified Windows 2000 base and kernel.
tstrimple 13y ago
I disagree completely. That's essentially the way things were a few years ago. A big part of Microsoft's problems, both internal and external, come from the fiefdoms that sprung up around the different divisions. They were effectively different companies with the same CEO. They rarely communicated well and this lead to a lot of unnecessary duplication of work. Microsoft is now on a path to unifying the ecosystem and this is fantastic from a developer perspective. I can write an app for Windows 8, and the vast majority of code for it can be reused directly on a Windows Phone or Xbox app. That is significant. As much as people complain about Windows 8, unifying the UX across the platforms is a Good Thing. Using a Windows Phone, Windows Tablet and Xbox all feel very similar. None of that happens with different companies.
- corresation 13y ago
  Using a Windows Phone, Windows Tablet and Xbox all feel very similar. None of that happens with different companies. Why should a game machine, controlled by a gamepad, operate anything like a touchscreen smartphone, or a keyboard and mouse controlled desktop? There is absolutely no value to that, and it is exactly what is being pointed out as the problem with Microsoft: Everything hinges on trying to leverage and push other parts of Microsoft's empire (Windows 8 has been a relative disaster commercially because of this misdirected unifying vision, just as it would be if Honda gave their cars motorcycle handlebars to unify the product line), and the end result is that the few products that should do well are diminished because of it. Microsoft is now on a path to unifying the ecosystem and this is fantastic from a developer perspective. Microsoft has always been unifying the ecosystem, to largely disastrous results. DNA. OLE. WinFS. And on and on. Longhorn was a total disaster for exactly this reason, someone declaring "You know what would be cool -- if one single technology foundation served every one of our products. Let's call everyone into a meeting!", where suddenly the only superficially similar needs of Exchange, Access, Windows NT, and so on all have to try to come to some consensus (hint - it never happened. It was a disaster from top to bottom). Metro is more of the same, though Microsoft became committed to pushing it through. It was a gimmick for a short while, but is there anyone who says "Boy, I should would like an Xbox One because it works like the desktop I no longer use and is like the Microsoft tablet I will never own"?
  - tstrimple 13y ago
    A game machine controlled by a gamepad is almost identical to a touchscreen smartphone (Windows Phone 8) or a touchscreen tablet (Windows 8) with the exception of lack of gestures. You essentially move the pointing device (finger or selection box) over the tile you want to activate and press it. They aren't as radically different as you imply. The Windows Phone, Windows 8 Metro (on touch screens and tablets) and Xbox One UI are all great and very information dense compared to what you see on competing devices. For the second part, only DNA from your list is an effort to unify the platform and it has been superseded by .NET. Are you seriously going to argue that .NET hasn't been successful in unifying development across the ecosystem? There are still a number of API differences between Windows Phone and Windows 8, but they are converging. The same with Xbox. Are you going to argue that being able to reuse all of the code behind an app's user interface across all of Microsoft's products isn't a good direction to move?

TylerE 13y ago

XBox always ran Windows. Even the original XBox was running on a modified Windows 2000 base and kernel.

tstrimple 13y ago

I disagree completely. That's essentially the way things were a few years ago. A big part of Microsoft's problems, both internal and external, come from the fiefdoms that sprung up around the different divisions. They were effectively different companies with the same CEO. They rarely communicated well and this lead to a lot of unnecessary duplication of work. Microsoft is now on a path to unifying the ecosystem and this is fantastic from a developer perspective. I can write an app for Windows 8, and the vast majority of code for it can be reused directly on a Windows Phone or Xbox app. That is significant. As much as people complain about Windows 8, unifying the UX across the platforms is a Good Thing. Using a Windows Phone, Windows Tablet and Xbox all feel very similar. None of that happens with different companies.

corresation 13y ago
Using a Windows Phone, Windows Tablet and Xbox all feel very similar. None of that happens with different companies. Why should a game machine, controlled by a gamepad, operate anything like a touchscreen smartphone, or a keyboard and mouse controlled desktop? There is absolutely no value to that, and it is exactly what is being pointed out as the problem with Microsoft: Everything hinges on trying to leverage and push other parts of Microsoft's empire (Windows 8 has been a relative disaster commercially because of this misdirected unifying vision, just as it would be if Honda gave their cars motorcycle handlebars to unify the product line), and the end result is that the few products that should do well are diminished because of it. Microsoft is now on a path to unifying the ecosystem and this is fantastic from a developer perspective. Microsoft has always been unifying the ecosystem, to largely disastrous results. DNA. OLE. WinFS. And on and on. Longhorn was a total disaster for exactly this reason, someone declaring "You know what would be cool -- if one single technology foundation served every one of our products. Let's call everyone into a meeting!", where suddenly the only superficially similar needs of Exchange, Access, Windows NT, and so on all have to try to come to some consensus (hint - it never happened. It was a disaster from top to bottom). Metro is more of the same, though Microsoft became committed to pushing it through. It was a gimmick for a short while, but is there anyone who says "Boy, I should would like an Xbox One because it works like the desktop I no longer use and is like the Microsoft tablet I will never own"?
- tstrimple 13y ago
  A game machine controlled by a gamepad is almost identical to a touchscreen smartphone (Windows Phone 8) or a touchscreen tablet (Windows 8) with the exception of lack of gestures. You essentially move the pointing device (finger or selection box) over the tile you want to activate and press it. They aren't as radically different as you imply. The Windows Phone, Windows 8 Metro (on touch screens and tablets) and Xbox One UI are all great and very information dense compared to what you see on competing devices. For the second part, only DNA from your list is an effort to unify the platform and it has been superseded by .NET. Are you seriously going to argue that .NET hasn't been successful in unifying development across the ecosystem? There are still a number of API differences between Windows Phone and Windows 8, but they are converging. The same with Xbox. Are you going to argue that being able to reuse all of the code behind an app's user interface across all of Microsoft's products isn't a good direction to move?