3 ms·

The Lost Decade: Why Steve Ballmer is no Bill Gates.

4 points by genieyclo 17y ago

Last month Microsoft rolled out Windows 7 and opened the first of a chain of new retail stores. As usual with such announcements, there's been loads of hoopla and ginned-up excitement. But mostly people are just relieved. Windows 7 replaces Vista, one of the most disastrous tech products ever. It also caps the end of a decade in which Microsoft's founder, Bill Gates, stepped aside, and the company lost its edge.

jleyank 17y ago
What if it doesn't matter who the CEO was... Maybe it was the sheer size of Microsoft that limited its ability - hard to turn on a dime when the numbers are that big. IBM was everything in the computer business, and then they just ceased to be interesting. At some point, Google will probably go the same route.
- genieyclo 17y ago
  Depressing even if true. Can only hope for new life from new companies.
- protomyth 17y ago
  The same could have been said about Apple in 1995. The CEO can bring focus or can allow the turf war.
human_v2 17y ago
Microsoft got comfortable, bottom line. They made XP (which rocks so hard, btw) and then felt like they won and stopped innovating. The article points out that Ballmer had a blind spot because he wasn't a techie, which I think is very accurate. Once MS was winning, they decided they had XBOX to keep them afloat but didn't really continue innovating. Now they are struggling to catch up with the innovations other made during the MS comfortable-on-top period. Really, imo, they should re-release XP.