Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to retire

[Barty]

Originally Posted by BWinmill

You can't use reason with people who refuse to listen.

Tell it to wall st.

Making a boat load of money isn't good enough.

[afv011]

No more monkey dancing?

[Kumabjorn]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Hmm... what MS are you talking about? The one from the 90s, or todays?

Not everything you put out there is going to succeed. Apple has failures as well. No one is perfect.

Azure, Bing, Windows Phone 8 (which iOS 7 is copying some concepts of) is gaining market share, XBox 360 which took over the game console market, Office 365, Outlook.com etc are all doing well.

But, isn't it the bottom line that is important... MS's revenue and profits are staggering. Heck, I'd be happy with 1 of their revenue streams.

BOb

I'm not a shareholder, I'm a customer.I suppose my perspective is different.

[kacir]

Originally Posted by BWinmill

You can't use reason with people who refuse to listen.

If I was a shareholder, I would LOVE the guy. I would be rich enough to be able to afford an Apple computer ;-)

I am, however, a mercenary - technician that has to fight with many of their systems.
I am also a corporate user that has to fight the bloody Ribbon interface.

I am also a customer that purchased a notebook and got Windows 8 rammed down my throat.

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by kacir

If I was a shareholder, I would LOVE the guy. I would be rich enough to be able to afford an Apple computer ;-)

I am, however, a mercenary - technician that has to fight with many of their systems.
I am also a corporate user that has to fight the bloody Ribbon interface.

I am also a customer that purchased a notebook and got Windows 8 rammed down my throat.

Good points --

1. To afford a very mediocre Apple computer, you need to get a second mortgage

2. To get a technician capable of dealing with Apple products should you happen not to live in a great metropolis but instead in rural America, you have to travel great distances, go to places like Best Buy who give anyone who can walk the name technician, or hope that an Apple store will be able to deal remotely with the problem

3. Microsoft shoves the ribbon on you and Apple shoves its own designs on you. Try asking Apple for a customized operating system feature just for your company.

4. You got Win 8 rammed down your throat but had you bought Apple, what choices would you have had? I have no doubt Apple would let you pick and choose among operating systems to your heart's content. Unhappy with Win 8? Buy an Apple.

Personally, the best feature about Microsoft and the worst feature about Apple is that with Microsoft there is component competition so I was able to custom build my computers to meet my needs. In addition, other than the OS, I had a very wide variety of software choices. Apple, on the other hand, tells me what hardware I can buy -- overpriced and of mediocre quality but guaranteed to add to Apple's cash reserves -- and software choices are limited.

The second best feature of Microsoft is that its products are widely used so that even in rural America I can get professional help with any hardware or software problem. Too bad Apple doesn't offer the same network outside of Apple itself.

I find it interesting that people are willing to be dictated to by Apple but complain about Microsoft for doing the same. I buy a computer for its functionality, not because it comes in tangerine color.

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by BWinmill

You can't use reason with people who refuse to listen.

What reasoning are you referring to? All I see are unsupported conclusions that reflect the usual love Apple, hate Microsoft attitudes that have been prevalent for decades. That someone prefers Apple dictation to Microsoft dictation is not "facts" that support reasoning.

[Jessica Lares]

Lol, I bought Microsoft stock in 1999. I remember asking my dad if I could put some in Apple, and he said no.

[chexmix]

Originally Posted by rhadin

What reasoning are you referring to? All I see are unsupported conclusions that reflect the usual love Apple, hate Microsoft attitudes that have been prevalent for decades. That someone prefers Apple dictation to Microsoft dictation is not "facts" that support reasoning.

I am dictated to by neither. And prefer it that way.

And, for the record, I program for a living ... and feel way more gratitude to people like Dennis M. Ritchie and Larry Wall than I ever will to anything coming from either of these corporate behemoths.

[afv011]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

But, isn't it the bottom line that is important... MS's revenue and profits are staggering. Heck, I'd be happy with 1 of their revenue streams.

BOb

Are they?

While it's unclear if Ballmer left on his own or was forced out, it's apparent to everyone that Microsoft just isn't the behemoth it used to be.

Here are four charts that tell us why Ballmer is probably leaving Microsoft.

(I didn't paste the 4th chart as it's based on estimates, and those have already been proven wrong)

Source

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

I'm not a shareholder, I'm a customer.I suppose my perspective is different.

[frahse]

I think that few people would deny that Microsoft has had great success.
Likewise few would deny Apple has had great success.

But, ..., it is also true that few would deny that Microsoft is in decline.

The real question is whether Apple is also in decline. There are a lot of arguments on both sides of that question.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by frahse

I think that few people would deny that Microsoft has had great success.
Likewise few would deny Apple has had great success.

But, ..., it is also true that few would deny that Microsoft is in decline.
.

Here.
Microsoft may not be firing on all cylinders but decline is far from accurate.

Other than ARM-based computing (where they are a distant third, but growing fast) they are dominant in corporate computing, major players in console gaming and cloud computing, and are second only to Roku, if that, in living room media streaming. Where Apple and Google have failed, so far, MS is already rolling merrily along.

Ballmer's biggest mistake was not daring to bypass the OEMs sooner.
As far back as 2007 it was clear that to properly penetrate the gadgets business, MS was going to have to bypass its traditional partners and either get new ones (like Nokia) or go it alone.
Bad choice of allies, however, is not a sign of decline.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by frahse

The real question is whether Apple is also in decline. There are a lot of arguments on both sides of that question.

Like this one:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-57...han-microsoft/

...famed columnist and economist Paul Krugman dwells not on this human aspect, but another: the idea that Microsoft might depend on more conservative humans than does Apple.
In a New York Times piece posted Saturday, Krugman ponders the symmetries between Apple and Microsoft.
He concludes that Cupertino might just have a more troubled future than Redmond.
His logic comes down to the idea that Microsoft's core purchaser is a conservative IT manager, while Apple's is the mere fickle human consumer.

The original NYT piece:

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/201...d-apple/?_r=1&

[wizwor]

Originally Posted by frahse

I think that few people would deny that Microsoft has had great success.
Likewise few would deny Apple has had great success.

But, ..., it is also true that few would deny that Microsoft is in decline.

The real question is whether Apple is also in decline. There are a lot of arguments on both sides of that question.

You could not be more wrong. Half the world believes (hopes) Microsoft is a failure and the other half swears (hopes) Apple is. Half the world thinks (hopes) Microsoft is in decline and the other half thinks (hopes) Apple is. 100% of the world is rooting for an alternative (no matter what it is).

This despite the fact that most of the paychecks issued each week are directly or indirectly related to the work these two innovators have done.

Shame on all of you. Absent Gates and Jobs there are no computers -- never mind bottom feeders like Linux and Android.

[Xanthe]

There's innovation and then there's merely change that pretends to innovate. There's been too much of the latter and not enough of the former under these later "Ballmer years".