Nomad_ Posted August 25, 2013 Share Posted August 25, 2013 http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9241867/Ballmer_forced_out_after_900M_Surface_RT_debacle Steve Ballmer was forced out of his CEO chair by Microsoft's board of directors, who hit the roof when the company took a $900 million write-off to account for an oversupply of the firm's struggling Surface RT tablet, an analyst argued today. "He was definitely pushed out by the board," said Patrick Moorhead, principal analyst with Moor Insights & Strategy, in an interview Friday. "They either drove him out, or put him in a situation where he felt he had to leave to save face." The biggest clue that Ballmer was pushed and didn't leave of his own free will was the 12-month timetable Microsoft said it would use to find a CEO successor. "Typically, a board will be working behind the scenes for a replacement, but they've given themselves 12 months," said Moorhead. "I think this went down very quickly." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnotherITguy Posted August 25, 2013 Share Posted August 25, 2013 Soo does this mean Bill will be interim ceo if it takes longer than 12 months to find monkey boy's replacement? Atomic Wanderer Chicken 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ph1b3r0pt1c Posted August 25, 2013 Share Posted August 25, 2013 Or maybe he got tired of reading people whining about windows 8 on neowin, and said F it. Gerowen, winrez, fusi0n and 1 other 4 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cork1958 Posted August 25, 2013 Share Posted August 25, 2013 Sounds logical considering the Vista fiasco and Windows 8's stupidity! To many stupid things coming out and we all know you can't fix stupid :) fusi0n 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven P. Administrators Posted August 25, 2013 Administrators Share Posted August 25, 2013 Soo does this mean Bill will be interim ceo if it takes longer than 12 months to find monkey boy's replacement? No. djdanster and Thief000 2 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arceles Posted August 25, 2013 Share Posted August 25, 2013 Vista was great, anybody who denies it had less than 1 GB of ram. Windows 8 on the other hand... +Warwagon, Alera, ILikeTobacco and 1 other 4 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeChipshop Member Posted August 25, 2013 Member Share Posted August 25, 2013 "Analyst" come on people, this guy knows nothing. It's his job to guess. winrez, Dick Montage, Praetor and 1 other 4 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PsYcHoKiLLa Posted August 25, 2013 Share Posted August 25, 2013 Vista was a pile of poo, I had/have 16GB of memory, it still ran like a lame duck. More crashes than the Belgian F1 :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raa Posted August 25, 2013 Share Posted August 25, 2013 (edited) Soo does this mean Bill will be interim ceo No. Edit : Beaten by Neobond! :P Steven P. 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorganX Posted August 25, 2013 Share Posted August 25, 2013 The Surface RT hardware was good/great (except the sound), the failing was the early lack of meaningful apps, a condition that has not really been rectified, and a lack of clarity. Is it for business (Office included plus keyboard) or consumers (not enough app support). Also Windows 8, should have been what Windows 8.1 looks like it will be. Just running Windows 8.1 preview on it feels like a hardware upgrade. That's how bad Windows 8 RT RTM was. And if for consumers, the whole lack of syncing with desktop and the state of Xbox Music/Video were/are just inexcusable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorganX Posted August 25, 2013 Share Posted August 25, 2013 Vista was great, anybody who denies it had less than 1 GB of ram. Windows 8 on the other hand... I understand a lot of people don't like Modern UI. I hated it myself, and am currently lukewarm. 8.1 will play much better with the Desktop Environment. But seriously, are you saying Vista was a better OS than the Windows 8 Desktop Environment? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven P. Administrators Posted August 25, 2013 Administrators Share Posted August 25, 2013 If the Surface was such a failure, why are they working on a Surface 2? :P Mohitster 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hjf288 Posted August 25, 2013 Share Posted August 25, 2013 Vista was a pile of poo, I had/have 16GB of memory, it still ran like a lame duck. More crashes than the Belgian F1 :) And I ran it on 8GB of RAM and had absolutely no problems.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firey Posted August 25, 2013 Share Posted August 25, 2013 If the Surface was such a failure, why are they working on a Surface 2? :p In hopes it will do better than Surface 1. Atomic Wanderer Chicken 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorganX Posted August 25, 2013 Share Posted August 25, 2013 If the Surface was such a failure, why are they working on a Surface 2? :p 900M is a lot to just let go. They still have the name brand established, Windows 8.1 which makes Surface RT much better, and the marketing, people are still paying attention, just not buying it, yet. And 900M is harder to let go of than a CEO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xendrome Posted August 25, 2013 Share Posted August 25, 2013 Vista was a pile of poo, I had/have 16GB of memory, it still ran like a lame duck. More crashes than the Belgian F1 :) If you were having crashes with Vista then it was likely related to bad hardware/drivers, not specifically an issue with Vista. psmoked, blank, Arceles and 2 others 5 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Norris Posted August 25, 2013 Share Posted August 25, 2013 The biggest clue that Ballmer was pushed and didn't leave of his own free will was the 12-month timetable Microsoft said it would use to find a CEO successor. "Typically, a board will be working behind the scenes for a replacement, but they've given themselves 12 months," said Moorhead. "I think this went down very quickly."Weird no mention of the plan to pick a successor starting 3-4 years ago. If you were having crashes with Vista then it was likely related to bad hardware/drivers, not specifically an issue with Vista.Ditto that, once the third party drivers got their act together and SP2 came around, it was actually quite reliable. I'd still take 8's desktop over Vista's though any day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neufuse Veteran Posted August 25, 2013 Veteran Share Posted August 25, 2013 something that doesn't make sense though was his leavening was apparently 2-3yrs in the making, so obviously this was planned before the surface release if that was true going by earlier reports Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorganX Posted August 25, 2013 Share Posted August 25, 2013 something that doesn't make sense though was his leavening was apparently 2-3yrs in the making, so obviously this was planned before the surface release if that was true going by earlier reports I'm guessing it was planned as is SOP. But it was not planned for a sudden announcement this year, to be out by end of year, and up to 12 months to replace. It got accelerated hastily by "something." What that is we'll probably never know for sure unless Steve keeps doing telling interviews. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
123456789A Posted August 25, 2013 Share Posted August 25, 2013 Ballmer should write a book. Sszecret 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustGeorge Posted August 25, 2013 Share Posted August 25, 2013 Vista was great, anybody who denies it had less than 1 GB of ram. Windows 8 on the other hand... I dunno, man. Windows 8 is much better to me and I hate Metro with a passion. Ballmer should write a book. Words! Words Words! Showan, MorganX and Sszecret 3 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osiris Posted August 25, 2013 Share Posted August 25, 2013 I call BS on this article, the dumbest analyst in the world could have told them that they were going to lose money on this first gen. MS has no issues with taking a bath on ventures were it believes the long term profits exist and they are definitely there for Windows based tablets, particularly of the tablet PC variety. winrez, Harrison H. and +ekoht 3 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dutchie64 Posted August 25, 2013 Share Posted August 25, 2013 analysts understanding business writeoffs, did pigs fly today? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorganX Posted August 25, 2013 Share Posted August 25, 2013 I call BS on this article, the dumbest analyst in the world could have told them that they were going to lose money on this first gen. MS has no issues with taking a bath on ventures were it believes the long term profits exist and they are definitely there for Windows based tablets, particularly of the tablet PC variety. If the article is correct, it's 900M in "oversupply". That's a little different than taking the initial development charges. But I agree, if anything, this is the straw that broke the camel's back, not the "sole" reason. The failures of Surface and Windows 8 (the initial release, first year anyway) are apparent and somewhat major given Microsoft's stature and position in the industry. And of course, they are still at the bottom of all the markets they wanted to get a foothold in and have a long way to go. Many shareholders and analysts have been calling for Ballmer to step down for a few years now. They may have simply used this to force what they wanted anyway. All I can say, is it does give all the indications of a somewhat hasty, and involuntary exit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psionicinversion Posted August 25, 2013 Share Posted August 25, 2013 BOLLCOKS if his retirement was in talks for 4 yhears before surface was evebn announced.. no its not cus of that so shut the ###### up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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