3 ms·
Hiring an enterprise guy as CEO seems like an admission of defeat in the consumer market for Microsoft to me. Yes, Ballmer wasn't a "consumer" guy either, which
by higherpurpose 13y ago
Hiring an enterprise guy as CEO seems like an admission of defeat in the consumer market for Microsoft to me. Yes, Ballmer wasn't a "consumer" guy either, which is precisely why they've missed so many consumer waves already since he's been at the helm. I don't know if they can afford another "Ballmer" in the consumer space.
I think Nadella will do what "feels natural" to him, and will move Microsoft "up-market" from the consumer space, which will probably become increasingly less profitable for them, so moving "where the profits are" (i.e. not in the consumer market) will start to make a lot of sense to them.
- ankitml 13y agoAn enterprise guy cannot be a consumer guy is a big assumption. He did well with the previous task he was assigned to - enterprise. It is not so obvious that he will be bad for microsoft's consumer business. The two areas are not mathematical disjoints.
- danbmil99 13y agoif this means MS dominance of the consumer space is a dying legacy, I'm all for it. Let them force their outdated tech on the captive audience of enterprise while they slowly decay into a has-been company with a dwindling but servilely dependent user base.
- bitcuration 13y agoRather than taking the perspective of enterprise guy vs. consumer guy, Ballmer as well as most other Microsoft executives are operational guy. The notion of moving towards where the profit is, is indicative of that. They work on Wall Street agenda, lack of vision, short and mid term revenue chaser. Safe bet is not going to take Microsoft up against apple or google. But keep the boat floating, bring in profit until it's over is what these generation of Microsoft leaders are. It will not change. The demise of Microsoft is inevitable.