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Why It's Not Business As Usual For Microsoft

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the circling-wolves dept.

CWmike sends along a Computerworld article that begins "Bill Gates will be leaving Microsoft for good at the end of the month and Microsoft would have you believe that it will be business as usual for Microsoft. I understand they also have a great bridge between Manhattan and Brooklyn that they'd like to sell you. Cheap! Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols lays out the reasons it ain't biz as usual. 1) [and there are four more] You can't replace genius. Steve Ballmer is moving into the top slot, but I've met Bill Gates, and Steve Ballmer is no Bill Gates. He's a big, bouncy sales guy. Can't you just see Ballmer selling used cars on a local TV ad spot? Instead of running around a stage shouting: "Developers! Developers!" just visualize him running around a car lot shouting, "Cars! Cars!" I find it far too easy to do just that. This is the man who's going to replace Bill Gates? I don't think so. Besides, he already has a track record as acting head of the company, and it's lousy. Fire Ballmer now, why wait for him to fall on his face?"

16 comments

  1. No comments? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Why are there no comments on this story?

    1. Re:No comments? by copdk4 · · Score: 2, Funny

      every1's out applying to M$ for the vacant position..

    2. Re:No comments? by mrmeval · · Score: 0, Troll

      STFU let Balledmer keel it!

      --
      I'd go on a Vegan diet but the delivery time from Vega is too long. --brownkitty
    3. Re:No comments? by rootooftheworld · · Score: 1

      marketing boy? fuck, lets steal the source before he figures out what its for

      --
      I know full well that tobacco is bad for you, so I smoke weed with crack
  2. Good points by mojosmackwit · · Score: 2, Informative

    He makes some good points, but he also says that he thinks Firefox 3 will overtake IE8 by the end of the year, which is interesting being that they only project it to hit 20% next month.

    1. Re:Good points by JohnBailey · · Score: 1

      He makes some good points, but he also says that he thinks Firefox 3 will overtake IE8 by the end of the year, which is interesting being that they only project it to hit 20% next month. It might not overtake it in all regions, but the percentage is already significantly higher than 20% in parts of Europe as far as I remember. So it isn't so far fetched. FF with more users than IE, perhaps not, but "others" making up more than 50% of the world wide browser market... Very possible. According to some statistics, they are within a few percentage points of reaching 50% combined right now.

      Perhaps Bill is getting out while the getting is good..

      --
      It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his job depends on not understanding it.
    2. Re:Good points by David+Gerard · · Score: 1

      That's 20% of all. Beating IE6+IE7+IE8 may not be easy - beating just IE8 is a different matter.

      --
      http://rocknerd.co.uk
  3. The Changing Guard by The_Myth · · Score: 1

    Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Linus were the last of IT's golden age of "Big Men". Whether you agreed with their interpretations of the future of technology or not, they have each had a framing effect on our tastes and choices. Love or hate Bill, he was larger than life and IT as a field will be poorer for his departure. My favourite story learning programming in the early 90's was that Bill Gates turned up to a conference both in classic Star Trek uniform and with Vulcan ears. That kind of stuff doesnt happen much anymore.

    --
    The MyTh - I am a figment of the Imagination - [Im Probably even not here]
  4. He makes it easy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Ballmer makes it easy to hate Microsoft.

  5. "You can't replace genius." by Ant+P. · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    ...but you can sure as hell fake it, if you can sell someone else's OS to a big company before they realise you didn't actually own it.

    1. Re:"You can't replace genius." by msromike · · Score: 1

      Ridiculous unsubstantiated bullshit.

      Now is your chance. Name the OS. Name the big company. Prove that Microsoft didn't own it (or at least show how someone asserting it doesn't just come off as a uninformed Linux fanboy.)

      Or did you just read fragments of the truth on a lot of diffferent websites and assemble this notion in your mind?

    2. Re:"You can't replace genius." by Ant+P. · · Score: 1

      QDOS, and IBM.
      You can use google, can you not?

    3. Re:"You can't replace genius." by msromike · · Score: 1

      Yep. Unfortunately the facts don't seem to support your notion:

      http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa033099.htm

  6. Crap by zakkie · · Score: 1, Interesting

    You give Gates far too much credit. He is a ruthless opportunist with an extremely privileged background. He is no computer industry prognosticator - even leaving aside the "640k" mis-attribution. It's his obsessive-copmpulsive drive to control that got Microsoft anywhere, not his industry insight.

  7. Steve Ballmer's tenure at the helm of MSoft by pm2012 · · Score: 1

    I think it would be a very good idea for 'Star-of-the-Office-Steve' to hold his new post for as long as possible. As a result Apple, Linux and other open source platforms will have the best possible environment for growth. It's all good!