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Does Ballmer Need To Go?
Pickens notes a TechCrunch analysis wondering — after Windows Vista and the failed Yahoo bid — whether Steve Ballmer's days at Microsoft are numbered. "Ballmer has been the big driver behind [the Yahoo] deal at Microsoft — some would say to the point of obsession. After the disaster that has been Windows Vista, Ballmer may have realized he needed to redeem himself in the eyes of Microsoft's board. And the 'transformative' deal with Yahoo was the way he was going to do it... If Microsoft's board loses patience with him, it might have to ask Bill Gates to temporarily come back as CEO until it finds a replacement. After all, Ballmer has already made a strong and convincing case for why Microsoft needs Yahoo to make its online and advertising strategy work. It's not clear whether Microsoft can achieve its objectives on its own or through other acquisitions. Maybe Ballmer thinks he can still do the deal by making Yahoo's stock price collapse and come back with a hostile offer."
No-one said that retard. There's nothing wrong with being in a monopoly position.. There *is* something wrong with using that monopoly to force your way into other markets, or otherwise violate anti-trust laws. There is simply no debate over whether or not there is "something wrong" with how Microsoft does business, it has been declared in all the courts of the land.
How we know is more important than what we know.
An "Interesting" analysis from someone who can't even spell the word "Microsoft?" (Hint: $ isn't a letter in the English alphabet.) Needless-to-say, it's also entirely wrong about why Gates left Microsoft (damage to his personal reputation? that is some legendary ass-pulling there.)
Frankly, Ballmer isn't doing that bad a job running Microsoft. Seriously. So far all of the "evidence" against him has been people griping about making strategic investments that haven't paid off yet (like Xbox and Zune) and a single product that, which it's not a bad product, has some bad press. At least on Slashdot it does.
I'll be worried about Microsoft when they lay someone off. I'm pretty sure they've never done that in their entire history. Right now, they're doing just fine.
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No, they're "investments that haven't paid off." Period. Full stop. And that's plenty of evidence that Ballmer's doing a bad job. In contrast, you have absolutely zero evidence for that "yet!"
No, I just hate all your pent-up anger over a media player and a video game console. You'd think the Xbox was specifically designed to kill endangered species and the Zune had a special chip to give cancer to orphans. Calm the hell down. Seriously.
Maybe the investments will pay off, and maybe they won't, but it's far to early to call. And considering the marketshare and mindshare the Xbox has pulled off in the few years its been around, I think it would be foolish to think it'll never pay off for Microsoft in any way.
But, I'm not as angry about it as you are. I just play my Zune on my way to work and my Xbox 360 at home, and I'm happy with both products.
What's your interest? Are you a stockholder, and you're upset with Ballmer's performance? I mean seriously, why do you care enough to get in shouting matches with people on Slashdot over the use of the word "yet?"
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