i dont understand whats the big hate for steve ballmer. sure he was outrageous and probably made some bad decisions  but as a ceo he made the company profitable. in-fact if you look, microsoft has been extremely profitable under his belt even tho apple/ google took some of the big chunks out of their market share.

 

We've went over this for years so I'll let others chime in with the specifics. Giving Ballmer credit for company profit is truly looking at things on the surface. The profit margin is only because until recently the company was riding on what Bill Gate had setup. Bill was the head of technology until he stepped down in 2006 the exact time Ballmer cut Flight Simulator and other projects. When Ballmer had full control of Microsoft all the departments in the company started operating in full ciaos. The identity crises really started at this point. Windows 8 was the result of Ballmer in full control of Microsoft. Windows 7 was the last project Bill Gates worked on at the core level. He stepped down from Technology head to Chairman of the Board in 2006 where the W7 code was still in the works being a cleaned up version of Windows Vista. Ballmer's Windows 8 is a slapped on Metro interface on top of a Windows 7 desktop. No real forethought outside of screwing up the interface in a half backed attempt to compete with Apple and Android. Ballmer bought into the lie that PC's were dead even though 99% of the business and government markets around the world use desktops. Just like Flight Simulator was marketed towards gamers and failed (not counting Flight which was on a whole other level of failed foresight), Ballmer massively marketed a home personal/mobile OS to not only the home market but the business market as well. With all the offices in the MS campus Ballmer didn't realize Metro wasn't practical for day to day business use. No one is going to site at their desk at work and use a touch screen. Even if they were the cost of a shift like that would be staggering for a business. It surely doesn't work in the server OS world but he put Metro there as well. All this is to say Ballmer when put in full control severely hurt Microsoft. Ballmer all but screwed all the hardware partnerships Bill setup over years Microsoft has been in existance. Dell and HP had to back off of Windows 8 to stay profitable. Ballmer could have cared less in his mindless pursuit of the mobile market.

 

The smart thing Bill did was put the guy in charge of enterprise solutions at the head as the business/server market is where Microsoft get's a big chunk of it's revenue from. There should be no identity crisis there that's black and white with no grey area (let Apple/Android have their world with the end users). Next Bill is back in control of the technology department so he can clean house and get all departments operating in unison versus the confusion that's there now. From there Bill and the new CEO have to know PC's aren't dead, with an appointment like this it only shows a renewed concern for the bread and butter of the company which is the business enterprise market. Both Bill and Satya have to shore up partnerships that were neglected under Ballmer's reign. It's been well documented companies have complained over the years that Ballmer was not only hurting Microsoft but the businesses tied to Microsoft. To further embrace business and what they use for day to day work Bill and Satya will have to embrace the PC and from there it could be perfectly possible titles like Flight Simulator could return to further boost PC sales for neglected companies like HP and Dell. With Bill's CEO pick I believe he knows mobile has it's place and PC's have theirs. Bill created the world business market that use Windows, his understanding of this reality means Apple was in one sector, Android was in another, and Microsoft had their world. Apple and Android can't begin to compete with Microsoft in areas like local government, banks, Air Traffic Control, and Law enforcement solutions to name a few. I work in government and every squad car uses Windows 7. When I went to the real world Northwest Level-D sims (before Delta took over) every computer in the office used Windows.

 

Ballmer was a terrible pick for CEO and Bill Gates knew it early on (great financial guy as Bill had him around for years). Anyone can read the exchange on Wikipedia Bill had with Ballmer when he took the helm as CEO (read the section titled 'When Bill Steps Down'). The Ballmer profile in Wikipedia is a good read. It says it all at the beginning as Ballmer was supposed to stay on for 12 months after his announcement to retire but effectively was let go February 4, 2014 only 6 months into his 12 month final stay (what goes around comes around):

 

"It was announced on August 23, 2013, that he would step down as Microsoft's CEO within 12 months. On February 4, 2014, Ballmer retired as Chief Executive Officer, when it was announced that Satya Nadella is the new CEO, effective immediately."

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Ballmer

Absolutely great post, Dillon.  I hope you're right in all particulars.

 

So... who was responsible for Vista?

 

One account I read was that many wanted Ballmer gone because he wasn't moving toward mobile computing fast enough.  I wanted Ballmer gone because from the very beginning, whenever I heard something good about Microsoft, Gates was behind it, and whenever I heard something bad, it was Ballmer's doing.  Was he any good?  I have no idea. 

 

I've often said that Windows 9 probably wouldn't run on desktops, and Windows X (last of the series if history repeats itself) would have to be developed on Macs.  I can't imagine using a Surface to try to do keyboard intensive work.  Or a laptop, for that matter.  You also mentioned servers.

 

I've got at least two doctors who carry around mobile devices in the examining rooms.  The last doctor had a Surface.  He seemed to like it.  On the other hand, I once saw a genuine IBM AT still in use at a retina specialist's office, at least 10 years after you could no longer buy one.  Remember the "get rid of those brain-dead 286s" push?  A year or two later Infoworld reported that the 286 was still the most commonly used computer among businesses.

 

It'll be interesting to see where all this goes.

 

Hook

Ballmer made a rush at the consumer market. It failed. MS will turn to cloud now, which is good, but they have a lot of other companies competing with them, large and small, in that space. They will never be Akamai, Google, Amazon and may have trouble competing even with a Cloudera or Hortonworks. They will need to embrace Hadoop. Proprietary alternatives will not be competitive.

 

MS is now betwixt and between. Their best shot is tying together their client services effectively and securely and cheaply and transparently, so that, like Apple with iCloud, it all just works together. iCloud and iTunes are clunky enough that MS could compete well if they are more effective in integration of Office and related Windows environments in business in a similar way, without distracting themselves by continuing to chase the consumer market. It's a niche play but the best one MS has at this point. They're not going to rule either at Enterprise or Media, so Backoffice it is, again.

 

And cars. They need to continue to innovate with and improve Ford's offerings, and others', to hold on there. That may be worth giving up to Apple, though. The auto industry will be a very unpredictable place for decades to come.

 

I don't see FSX resurrecting in this mix, but who knows? It represents the ambitiousness of what a cutting-edge PC software investment can be, and there's an excellent opportunity there to showcase technical, interface and advanced computing innovation. FSX could be a relatively safe tank for such innovation and experimentation, and it would be building on a far sounder, deeper base than anything the Xbox division, say, has managed to do in the 2004-2014 period. And, unlike Xbox, it never lost MS $4 billion, literally.

 

OTOH they just paid $1 billion for Gears of War....... Ballmer's going-away gift? :forehead:

 

So, who knows? I don't anticipate anything, but the future is never, ever, what anyone thought it might be.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Honestly, does anyone really think that MS would consider bringing back flt simming when their last attempt failed. I would suggest, find another fishing hole, this one has dried up. This economic power has more to worry about then flight simming.....sorry

 

 

Gates used to have a soft spot for flight simulation ... but that was a LONG time ago, in a galaxy far far away.

 

Maybe for Microsoft Flight Simulators.  Now he probably has a level D simulator somewhere on his property in one of the gazillion rooms.   :lol:

Maybe for Microsoft Flight Simulators.  Now he probably has a level D simulator somewhere on his property in one of the gazillion rooms.   :lol:

Why use a simulator when he can hop into one of the real ones he keeps in spare bedrooms......?  :smile:

Why use a simulator when he can hop into one of the real ones he keeps in spare bedrooms......?  :smile:

 

Yea exactly. If I had that kind of money I would just buy airplanes instead.  :lol:

I don't understand, from what I've heard, Bill Gates is a huge flight sim enthusiast...

 

With his money he alone could remake FSX into FSXI as a private side hobby!

 

A friend of mine who works for Boeing out in Seattle once told me he got a tour of Bill gates house out there and said he had computers and peripherals that were many, many, years ahead of production all over his home!

 

 

Yea exactly. If I had that kind of money I would just buy airplanes instead.

 

That's what the co founder of Microsoft Paul Allen ended up doing, he was the Aviation nut, not Bill Gates

 

http://www.flyingheritage.com/

 

You might recognise some of the Exhibits there that ended up in MS Flight

That's what the co founder of Microsoft Paul Allen ended up doing, he was the Aviation nut, not Bill Gates

 

http://www.flyingheritage.com/

 

You might recognise some of the Exhibits there that ended up in MS Flight

 

Maybe Paul Allen can fund a new Flight Simulator under his Vulcan group  B)

 

He's got the money and he even now has the Vince Lombardi Trophy

Honestly, does anyone really think that MS would consider bringing back flt simming when their last attempt failed. I would suggest, find another fishing hole, this one has dried up. This economic power has more to worry about then flight simming.....sorry

I agree. They're not interested in PC gaming anymore.

 

They killed Games for Windows Marketplace, killed Age of Empires (Except for AoE 2: HD), killed Flight Simulator, etc.

 

All they care about (gaming wise) is the Xbox. It's where all the money is coming in.

Why use a simulator when he can hop into one of the real ones he keeps in spare bedrooms......?  :smile:

I meant like this... http://www.cae.com/civil-aviation/simulation-products/cae-7000-series-full-flight-simulator/

 

You may not want an airplane if you havnt the time for official training, or worry about crashing. Just reset. 

Gates is back to oversee the transition and from what I can gather to try and help Nadella survive the board and other execs.  But here lies one of the problems with Microsoft:

 

 

So why exactly is that ... find the cause, and you'll know the problems with Microsoft.  A lot of the board members and execs need to be removed, and that's just NOT going to happen.

 

 

The opposition has already started ... this isn't good news, just more of the same internal fighting that got them in this mess.

That would be really smart getting rid of the Xbox yea that's really smart (Huge Money maker). Microsoft is just bout dumb these days considering these things. Windows 8, End of MS flightsims and spending over $100,000,000 to develop the Xbox one's controller yea $100 million for the controller alone! When the old one worked just fine hell the Nintendo 64's controller worked just fine for console gaming so there is no real need to reinvent the wheel so to speak let alone spend $100 mil doing it. If they have that much cash to throw around why not give the Aces team their jobs back an $50 million to make a new Flight sim, could you imagine how amazing a flight sim would be if someone spent 10 million to develop it let alone $50 million.

I agree. They're not interested in PC gaming anymore.

 

They killed Games for Windows Marketplace, killed Age of Empires (Except for AoE 2: HD), killed Flight Simulator, etc.

 

All they care about (gaming wise) is the Xbox. It's where all the money is coming in.

 

I guess you didn't get the memo Ballmer is gone. The idiotic choices he made no longer apply. Anything is on the table at this point with new leadership... MS has serious influence in where things are headed not the other way around.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/borowitzreport/2014/02/gates-spends-entire-first-day-back-in-office-trying-to-install-windows-81.html