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Five Years of Ballmer -- the Effect on Microsoft

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the oh-captain-my-captain dept.

An anonymous reader writes "In the five years since Bill Gates surprised the technology world by announcing he would give up his title as chief executive at Microsoft to Steve Ballmer, the company has changed significantly. Ballmer is largely credited for tripling the company's cash balance, with sales growing from less than $23 billion in 2000 to $36.8 billion last year. Critics claim that today, we see a much 'gentler' side of Microsoft and Ballmer seems to have received an "A" in Wall Street's eyes."

4 of 324 comments (clear)

  1. A confession by skinfitz · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This really isn't a troll, it's an honest statement when I sat that it was the "Monkey Boy" video that really put me off Microsoft. I remember thinking "this idiot is in charge of what happens to our Windows PC's?".

    It was shortly after that I decided to switch to Macintosh for my primary platform. Obviously I still have a PC but I only use that for games now.

    1. Re:A confession by Anonymous+Writer · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I can't honestly imagine that he really has that much of an influence over what happens to Windows on a software level.

      FTA; Gates created a new position for himself entitled "Chief Software Architect", so you've most likely hit the nail on the head. It seems like Gates now focuses on what happens on the software level, leaving all the other things like antitrust lawsuits to Ballmer. That's also probably why Microsoft has been patenting so many frivolous things lately. He seems to have a knack for the legalese side of things, and rather than coming up with exclusionary contracts for business dealings, he is now working on controlling intellectual property.

  2. Ballmer, FUD, and patents... by sebFlyte · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Five years of FUD, but financial success... He is feeling rattled by Linux though, as the recent FUD he's been spreading about patents shows. One imagines this will continue for some time to come, since his style may not be popular, but it's certainly effective.

    --
    "Nothing can shake my belief that this world is the fruit of a dark god whose shadow I extend." - Emil Michel Cioran
  3. Re:A from wall street, F from developers. by popeyethesailor · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Well, my experience has been completely different. The last 5 years have been the "Open"-nest period for MS. XP and 2003 are solid systems, working with Office files are actually possible(with XML exports), IIS 6 is reasonably secure, and .NET is a productive development platform for millions of developers. If you dont understand it, its not their fault!

    More importantly, is the feedback you can directly provide to MS devs- most of the key people blog a lot. Lots of commentators have influenced decisions made by MS in the past 5 years.

    The parent comment is just irrational blather.