Why Steve Ballmer Is Ruining Microsoft

[gameboy1977]

http://screen.yahoo.com/why-steve-ballmer-ruining-microsoft-141807722.html

what do you think?

Gameboy

[Guest seanseany]

Steve Ballmer joined Microsoft on June 11, 1980, and became Microsoft's 30th employee, the first business manager hired by Gates.

~

Think he is entitled to be where he is.

I'm not a *** fanboy , so I really couldn't care less who ran the company OR how much they make. But since you seem so intrigued by it ,care to share your views or would you rather post flame bait , minus an opinion ?

[Dot Matrix]

He's hardly ruining Microsoft.

[The Evil Overlord]

statement withdrawn

[Salutary7]

Totally agree that Ballmer doesn't seem to be the technological visionary that Microsoft has needed. A good example would be how Windows Mobile was managed--though Ballmer has publicly acknowledged that they completely screwed that up. The former executive is 100% correct in saying applications are what matter. That was true when PCs became mainstream, and it's still true with smartphones having become mainstream, but that's a pretty obvious statement. Nonetheless WP7 was another misstep--while making it easy for the average Joe to make an app, the platform made it difficult for real software vendors to create the kind of apps they wanted. And now with the company elbowing its way into PC/tablet hardware, they may be damaging very important partnerships. Overall though, it's tough to give Ballmer a failing grade as CEO, since MS are still doing great things in other areas.

[xpablo]

Who cares?, Bill Gates put Ballmer in charge of MS, If MS fails it will be both of their fault, I will shed no tears if Microsoft fails, which I don't think will ever happen at least for the foreseeable future.

[TurboShrimp]

I like windows and Microsoft but I truly believe Linux like Ubuntu will be the future not now but in time. Look how far Linux has come over the last 10 years. And Microsoft has really done nothing at all same outdated kernel and registry lol registry . Times are changing fast. My Linux pc looks and performs 900000 times better then windiws 8 could ever dream of.

I'm running core I 7 with 8gigs ram and intelHD4000 graphics . I play games on all 3 consoles .

[Lastwebpage]

*former* Microsoft ... say Microsoft fail ,

no need for me to click on the video play button.

[MDboyz]

I stop when I see Yahoo! Finance ....

[notchinese]

I like windows and Microsoft but I truly believe Linux like Ubuntu will be the future not now but in time. Look how far Linux has come over the last 10 years. And Microsoft has really done nothing at all same outdated kernel and registry lol registry . Times are changing fast. My Linux pc looks and performs 900000 times better then windiws 8 could ever dream of.

I'm running core I 7 with 8gigs ram and intelHD4000 graphics . I play games on all 3 consoles .

3/10 troll effort.

[TurboShrimp]

In not trolling in anyway I am serious you may not see it but Linux is all over the place . iPads iPod iPhone every android phone & tablet , kindle fire in dash touch screens in cars and soon ubuntus own phone also Mac osx . All running Linux / unix kernel. The FACTS don't lie. Microsoft has never been in the spot they are in now with so much to lose and if they do not step it up you will see like it or not.

3/10 troll effort.

I'm also pretty sure calling people trolls are not in the fourm rules please be nice.

[+Mirumir Subscriber¹]

Only the owners of a corporation can appoint its directors.

Jaochim Kempin is a nobody.

[ShadowMajestic]

In not trolling in anyway I am serious you may not see it but Linux is all over the place . iPads iPod iPhone every android phone & tablet , kindle fire in dash touch screens in cars and soon ubuntus own phone also Mac osx . All running Linux / unix kernel. The FACTS don't lie. Microsoft has never been in the spot they are in now with so much to lose and if they do not step it up you will see like it or not.

I'm also pretty sure calling people trolls are not in the fourm rules please be nice.

So your not trolling and claim Linux has moved forward while Windows hasnt?

iOS is somewhat based of the OSX kernel, not Linux. As OSX is UNIX based. Again not Linux. So in the end iOS is unix based, yet again, not Linux.

The fact that it runs POSIX is the advantage it has, it could run on any OS. Making almost any Linux application that does not use OS specific hooks or whatever to run on any OS available.

Also Android is not considered a Linux Distro, just because it uses the Kernel does not make it Linux on its own. It uses a java virtual machine ontop of it. Making Android in theory... kernel independent.

Linux it in this day and age still being crippled by some of the ancient techniques used in the kernel, much of its legacy code is a big issue and creates an unawnted overhead especially if you increase the amount of cores. (doesnt make Linux slow per s?, but it is unwanted).

So whats new in the Linux world? KDE4? Gnome3? aptitude? the progress Linux made under the hood is surprisingly little over the past decade. Its noticeable.

Whereas Windows has rewritten its entire Windows during the development of Vista. While allot (to much imho) of the old code has been reused. They did redesign the kernel from the ground up. Implemented a new driver layer. While Linux lacks the capabilities of the Windows XP driver layer. Microsoft already went ahead and improved it even further.

Microsoft added native GPU acceleration to the OS. Making it the one and only OS/Kernel that can natively shove calculations down the GPU. Reducing CPU load where possible. While Linux can not do this. (Fun fact, Nvidia wrote their driver entirely on their own, creating their own API and own layer directly into the kernel because the 'native' Linux driver functionalities lacked features).

And you have been ranting about the registry, you think Linux has no organised central location? It does, nothing wrong with having a centralized database, as this is generally what a Registry is. No OS cannot go without its build in database to store data and information natively into the OS.

Be it that the registry was easily filled up and crippled in older Windows', which in Microsoft's defense often is due to programmers ignoring standards and recommendations. Nowadays in modern day Windows, its selfhealing and self cleaning. There is no need for 3rd party 'cleaning' software if you're on Windows 7 or 8. (On Vista it still seems to help, although the effect is barely noticeable if your talking about speed increases).

And there is a ton more, but i cant be assed to list it. Go do some research or fact finding and enjoy.

Or keep trolling.

[torrentthief]

Balmer is indeed ruining microsoft, windows RT is a disaster, it is missing so much functionality over win8. Win8 is a disaster, it forces you to use metro which is very unproductive compared to win7 for me due to the need for so many mouse clicks for simple tasks. Surface has sold around 400,000 units i read which is a flop. office 2013 has a default solid white colour everywhere which is a nightmare and most users don't know that they can change the colour to shades of black.

Office 2013 should have never shipped as white, office rt and windows rt should have been delayed until they had the full functionality of win8. Win8 should never have made metro mandatory and should have been delayed as it is very buggy and many of the applications on the start screen don't work as people want, you can't change the default photo viewer on the metro app for example, there's tons of other similar problems too.

Steve ballmer clearly doesn't realise that these things are hated, he isn't the right man to be CEO for those reasons.

Linux won't take off until there is a commercial competitor to adobe creative suite released for linux either by adobe themselves or by another company.

[Dot Matrix]

Balmer is indeed ruining microsoft, windows RT is a disaster, it is missing so much functionality over win8. Win8 is a disaster, it forces you to use metro which is very unproductive compared to win7 for me due to the need for so many mouse clicks for simple tasks. Surface has sold around 400,000 units i read which is a flop. office 2013 has a default solid white colour everywhere which is a nightmare and most users don't know that they can change the colour to shades of black.

Office 2013 should have never shipped as white, office rt and windows rt should have been delayed until they had the full functionality of win8. Win8 should never have made metro mandatory and should have been delayed as it is very buggy and many of the applications on the start screen don't work as people want, you can't change the default photo viewer on the metro app for example, there's tons of other similar problems too.

Where to start on this. First of all, the white on Office, is personal preference. I don't mind it.

Second, WinRT not having the functionality of Windows 8 is a questionable comment too, since out of the box it does have the same functionality. It allows me full web access, Office, and a file system. Metro apps fill in the rest. But, on WinRT, you won't see the desktop GUI for long, since WinRT will be completely Metro in the future.

Also, I can change the default photo viewer, WinRT still offers Default Programs for such a purpose.

If you're going to pick apart a mobile OS, mobile technology clearly isn't for you.

[spaceelf]

As I said on another forum, what MS is failing at right now is giving people clear direction on what they're doing.

http://ventspace.wor...-on-directxxna/

As developers, we need Microsoft to communicate clearly with us, in public. As MVPs we were asked to act as community representatives, to guide everyone interested in the tech and have an open line on future development. Apparently that means we get half-hearted vague emails from time to time that dodges our serious questions and casts further doubts about the status of the technology and teams, all covered by an NDA agreement. And then, shockingly enough, people get the wrong idea. We?re sitting on the outside, trying to play this stupid guessing game of ?which Microsoft technology is alive?? XNA doesn?t support DirectX 10+ or Windows 8, but it?s still a ?supported product?, as if that means anything in the real world. Windows XP is still a ?supported product? too.

It shouldn?t take a leaked email to force a straight answer.

I bloody hope Ballmer gets the hint and helps fix this, because MS is making a lot of people restless right now with their apparent evasiveness.

Otherwise, maybe it is finally time to go. Do I know that anyone else would do better? No. But right now I'm certainly not convinced he should stay.

[(Account no longer active)]

Perhaps he should get back into advertising - Windows XP was a big success:

:laugh:

[REM2000]

I like Microsoft, it's given me a job and the business tools work well. There are big players out there, but windows server has and does allow organisations to quickly and eaily setup a network of computers and get them sharing resources, the only thing that came close was Novell netware but there was some elements of wizardry for that system.

Microsoft Windows is popular and despite millions of combinations of hardware devices (keyboards, processors) it remains incredibly stable. That alone i think is one of the crowning achievements of any company. They have created an eco system that hardware from any manufacturer can be plugged in togeather and have it work. I can buy a cheap usb webcam and it will mostly even set itself up, thats incredible when you really think about. Yes linux has caught up and does support a wide range of hardware also, however this doesn't detract from Windows being quite remarkable, i don't think ive seen a Windows 7/8 system crash yet through fault of it's own (i.e. not caused by faulty hardware), (sorry can't say the same for XP, ive seen it crash for a variety of reasons, not a lot but enough).

I say the above as i don't want to appear as a Microsoft knocker, i use a Mac at home as well as windows laptops,however steve has to go, he has been in charge of the company which has made some pretty bad misteps, the organisation has suffered through the absolutely the worse system ive ever heard of "Ranking"

The general idea is that that there will be a percentage of staff marked as great, ok and poor, no matter how good they are, so if im am in a team of 5 people, we are all excellent engineers, but we all know that one of us has to be marked poor, perhaps miss a promotion or a bonus because of this, whats it going to do? it's going to promote infighting, im not going to look at my colleague as a friend but as an enemy, eat or be eaten. This is terrible!! Microsoft have attracted some of the best talent in the industry, thr ranking alone should have been enough to get Steve out.

He's also the king of putting his foot in his mouth, the folk at Microsoft must cringe every-time he goes to an event, Bill Gates had personaility, Steve is just completely off putting, however putting this aside, i would say the biggest mistep he has allowed to happen is integration! Why is there not harmony of the services that Microsoft do, why was skydrive the best kept secret, why doesn't every know of skydrive, why didn't my xbox use skydrive to backup save games so i could play them on my PC. Why don't all the services work together they have hotmail/now outlook why isn't xbox music better integrated. I would say it's an absolute crime that most of these services haven't had better exposure and better integration.

I want to know why the general perception of Microsoft is that it's just a collection of departments which compete against each other, this all comes from the top and the fact that Ballmer hasn't made Microsoft into an effective, one organisation with harmony across teams to great complete solutions that work well togeather is a good enough reason to get him out and get someone who knows what they are doing in. Microsoft could easily catch a second wind if only they were brough harmoniously back together

I would also like to provide a link to a comment on another site which i think neatly sums up the frustrations that some people have with the Windows Phone platform in particular the development side, this is not a rant, but it is an honest comment from a person who likes Microsoft tech, who promotes and uses it frequently.

http://www.osnews.com/permalink?551150

I really don't like when people say, ill be glad when company xyz fails, this applies to Microsoft. Yes they've done some bad stuff in the past, but so has many organisations (this is not an excuse), they have learnt they are trying and i know that if Microsoft suddenly disappeared tomorrow the world would be worse off for it.

The quote i come back to time and again is "for apple to succeed, Microsoft doesn't have to fail", this proves there is a market for multiple vendors, i just hope that Microsoft does something radical and dump Ballmer and get a CEO who will bring the company together and really show the IT world exactly how good Microsoft can be when pushed.

[Nick H. Supervisor]

That interview was...messy, for me. For some reason there didn't seem to be a clear focus or enough analysis for me to be convinced that it is Ballmer that is ruining Microsoft. Then again, it's probably all written in the guy's book, and at the end of the day that segment seemed to be more about, "read my book to learn the details" rather than a clear interview.

I wouldn't say that Ballmer is ruining Microsoft. However, I'm not on board with their latest venture in much the same way that I wouldn't be on board with iOS being the new operating system for my Macbook. Does that mean that they are on the way out unless they change their direction? I don't think so.

[encarta]

The old guy doesn't have a clue what he's talking about.

[Dot Matrix]

If Ballmer is ruining Microsoft, how are they still turning a profit? Why is Windows still selling? Why is Xbox still selling? Office? Why did he just invest in re-inventing the company?

If he wanted to ruin Microsoft he would have just let the desktop slide into oblivion. He would have still tried to shove an ugly desktop UI onto touch hardware.

Microsoft's decision to go with Metro is one of the best choices they could have made. They're taking an old, stale paradigm, and renovating it for a new generation of hardware, and services. They're standing out in a crowd of dull, "has beens", and doing something different.

[spaceelf]

Microsoft's decision to go with Metro is one of the best choices they could have made. They're taking an old, stale paradigm, and renovating it for a new generation of hardware, and services. They're standing out in a crowd of dull, "has beens", and doing something different.

Profit aside, there are still so many unanswered questions. It seems like we're not going to get any answers until the next console is announced...and for Windows developers, that's not a good deal.

[fusi0n]

3/10 troll effort.

Not necessarily.. He was sharing his option. And no, I'm not defending him because he likes Linux. If anyone goes "against the grain", their trolling?

[Dot Matrix]

and for Windows developers, that's not a good deal.

Things are never going to stay the same. Ever. Developers should be used to new things coming, and old things going by now. That's the way things work. You don't just make something and then leave it, expecting it to work as intended 10 years from now.

[Nick H. Supervisor]

Things are never going to stay the same...

I think what he was getting at was that Windows developers feel somewhat lost at the moment and Microsoft aren't answering their questions, which is bad for the developers. That said, I can't agree or disagree with that statement as I'm not a developer and so don't know how much support Microsoft are providing at this time.