Ballmer Hits 10th Anniversary As Microsoft CEO

bednarz writes "Ten years ago on Jan. 13, 2000, Microsoft's Bill Gates turned over the CEO reins to Steve Ballmer. Back in 2000, Microsoft was still under threat of being broken up by the Department of Justice. Today, Ballmer is trying to meld enterprise and cloud computing. He has spent the past decade working through lawsuits, mergers, acquisitions, competitive battles and, of course, new software including Windows 7, which could become the legacy of his leadership at Microsoft. Not that we'll ever forget Ballmer's 'developers, developers, developers' rant."

Comments

but.....

[Anonymous Coward]

Did they mention his important work in the field of chairodynamics?

or

How about his charitable donations of 288,000 pints of human sweat?

Re:but.....

[houstonbofh]

That was my first thought. I don't think it will be Win7 as his legacy.

Re:but.....

[Opportunist]

You misspelled chairitable.

Re:but.....

[Opportunist]

Funny how Vista is oddly missing in that list of achivements. But then again, there are times when a hole in your CV is preferable to being truthful.

Re:but.....

[Anonymous Coward]

Do you mean chairytable?

Re:but.....

[westlake]

Did they mention his important work in the field of chairodynamics?

Some things speak for themselves.

Microsoft's revenues, $56 billion.
Its profit margin 24%. Debt $6 billion, cash-on-hand $33 billion. MSFT Key Statistics

Re:but.....

[Opportunist]

Did inflation get so out of control that he has to throw cherrytables now to make the news?

Re:but.....

[Yvan256]

How about his charitable donations of 288,000 pints of human sweat?

Still annoyed that the 2.88MB floppy didn't catch on, eh?

Re:but.....

[Enderandrew]

Does anyone have numbers to compare from 10 years ago?

Revenue should scale up with inflation and standard growth. I'm particularly curious about profit margin, and market share.

In this past decade Microsoft lost market share, presided over the Xbox's massive hardware failures, and the massive failure of Windows mobile. IE went from utterly dominating (95% plus) market share to having less than 50% market share in some areas. Most people expect Firefox to overtake the majority of market share in all markets. Microsoft has also lost market share in search, got blasted by the EU, and had to back-pedal on several key strategies.

All those things go on his resume.

Microsoft also has to look where the future takes them.

A linux netbook with a random distro without many packages, and no big brand name behind it may not set the world on fire. But when Best Buy starts selling Chrome OS netbooks with a big Google brand on it, Microsoft will start shitting themselves.

Google has a lot of pieces they've yet to put together, but when they do, Microsoft's business model in several markets may suddenly shrivel and dissapear. Microsoft won't disappear overnight because they're diversified, but a company can rule a specific market one day, and then disappear the next if they're not careful.

Re:but.....

[tlhIngan]

A linux netbook with a random distro without many packages, and no big brand name behind it may not set the world on fire. But when Best Buy starts selling Chrome OS netbooks with a big Google brand on it, Microsoft will start shitting themselves.

Unless things change severely, I doubt much will really happen.

When netbooks first came out, salespeople were warning that they didn't run Windows and you can't expect your applications to run on it. (I got the whole diatribe trying to buy my Acer netbook with Linux). Heck, the market didn't really take off until Windows XP ("ultra-low-cost-PC") was introduced and everyone lock-stepped the Microsoft requirements.

Unless the ChromeOS netbook is insanely cheap (like, under $150), it'll be a case of "this one works for the Internet" vs. "This one for internet and your applications like Office and Outlook".

Re:but.....

[VGPowerlord]

Funny how Vista is oddly missing in that list of achivements. But then again, there are times when a hole in your CV is preferable to being truthful.

"Achievements" has a positive connotation, so it's no surprise that bad things aren't on there.

Re:but.....

[SnarfQuest]

They have been developing machinery to calculate the ballistic trajectory of airborne lounge furnishings. It's called Eniac (Explosive Nature of Inanimate Airborne Chairs), or something like that.

Re:but.....

[nschubach]

Heck, the market didn't really take off until Windows XP ("ultra-low-cost-PC") was introduced and everyone lock-stepped the Microsoft requirements.

Got a cite for that?

Re:but.....

[westlake]

In this past decade Microsoft lost market share

OS Platform Stats W3 Schools

Mar 2003 Linux 2% OSX 2%
Dec 2009 Linux 4% OSX 6%

Jan 2009 Win 7 0% OSX 6%
Dec 2009 Win 7 9% OSX 6%

Vista and Win 7 combined hold a 25% share in the December W3Schools stats. That ought to silence the geek who insists on calling Win 7 a "Service Pack."

But when Best Buy starts selling Chrome OS netbooks with a big Google brand on it, Microsoft will start shitting themselves.

Microsoft and the big box retailers have had a mutually profitable relationship for thirty years.

Strong after-market sales are A Good Thing.

Dual inventory and support structures are A Bad Thing.

Strong representation at every price point is A Good Thing. Being firmly anchored as a bottom feeder is a Very Bad Thing.

These are the basics. But almost no one enters the mass consumer market without learning the hard way.

Re:but.....

[Enderandrew]

Your numbers show that Microsoft went from 96% market share to 90% market share. All that does is prove my point.

They're losing market share.

When Firefox was at 10% market share and slowly chipping away, people scoffed at it and said, "well, IE still has 90% market share, so who cares about the trend?"

How did that turn out?

Again, Google has deals with tons of major vendors and retailers. Currently the cheap PC market is all Windows. When Google suddenly dominates the cheap netbook market with a Linux variant, I can't imagine Microsoft will be super-pleased. And if Microsoft has to start giving away licenses for $10, or for free to compete with the free Chrome license, that certainly won't help the profit margins for Microsoft.

PC costs keep dropping. Dell can't hide a $50 Microsoft tax in a $250 netbook as easily. Either Microsoft kills their profit margin and charges next to nothing for Windows, or they lose market share.

You insist complementary sales are important. With Google bringing some main-stream credibility to Linux's already strong hardware support, pretty soon you'll find more and more hardware working on Linux.

You can still sell a digital camera or webcam with a Linux notebook. In fact, they might be easier to use on Linux than on Windows. Plug them in, and they work.

It certainly doesn't help that Microsoft basically paid Best Buy employees to lie, but more and more people are turning to geeks they know for advice, and buying products online. Every year, retail stores sell less, and online retailers sell more.

Re:but.....

[westlake]

Every year, retail stores sell less, and online retailers sell more.

Best Buy online lists 35 Windows netbooks.

TigerDirect 112 new Win 7 laptops.

Walmart.com 24 Windows netbooks, 66 Windows laptops [some overlap here] and 30 Windows desktops.

Dell can't hide a $50 Microsoft tax in a $250 netbook as easily.

"The Microsoft Tax" is the goofiest idea to emerge from the geek mind:

By the time product reaches the shelves you save next to nothing on Linux.

That's the sad truth behind the geek's pursuit of the elusive "Windows refund."

Walmart, with its unmatched purchasing power, championed OEM Linux for years, but in the end threw in the towel.

The netbook is a second or third purchase.

This works out just fine if Windows is your primary OS and you own Office Home & Student with a three seat license.

If you download your casual games from D2D or Steam.

Re:but.....

[thetoadwarrior]

All your link proves is he's heading MS while it lost market share and Linux gained. Sure it hasn't gone from 0% to 50% in 5 years but it's seeing a steady gain. This is despite the fact companies are doing their best to kill off the idea of a Linux netbook.

Re:but.....

[ignavus]

Funny how Vista is oddly missing in that list of achivements. But then again, there are times when a hole in your CV is preferable to being truthful.

Well, to be truthful, Vista is a hole.

Re:but.....

[Anonymous Coward]

Get real! No one is taking Chrome OS seriously. At best, it's a novelty that provides a few minutes of mild curiousity. It will NEVER make in-roads against serious OSes.

Re:but.....

[aaaantoine]

Debt $6 billion, cash-on-hand $33 billion. MSFT Key Statistics

Accounting question: why not just pay off the debt if they have the cash? Or is their cash somehow not liquid?

Re:but.....

[planarian]

Don't you mean chairitable?

Moron

[Anonymous Coward]

He really is.

Re:Moron

[fridaynightsmoke]

"LOL Moron"- says Anonymous random, about man who successfully gained a CEO position at one of the world's biggest companies, and many billions of dollars.
Yeah, what a complete moron.

Re:Moron

[Anonymous Coward]

OK, rich moron

Re:Moron

[Robert Zenz]

Just because he got that job (from hist long-year friend und co-partner), doesn't qualify him to be _not_ a moron.

Re:Moron

[Hadlock]

Not only gained, but kept, for a full decade, without any media speculation of "who will succeed him?" his CEO job. There's a large number of major corporations that rotate through CEOs every 3-7 years, and even right now, even though he's secured another 3 year contract, the media is already asking who NBC's current CEO will be. Not to mention the big three automakers in the last year, along with many major banks. Balmer's done some pretty dumb, boneheaded stuff in his decade at Microsoft, but nobody in the media has ever honestly questioned his ability to run Microsoft in ten years; a rare feat for such a high profile company.

Re:Moron

[fridaynightsmoke]

Just because he got that job (from hist long-year friend und co-partner), doesn't qualify him to be _not_ a moron.

Bastard? Sociopath? Arsehole? Prick?- maybe.
Moron? I'd say no. A *moron* would have fouled it all up somehow, either not getting the job in the first place or not retaining it for the last 8 years. He didn't.

Re:Moron

[Opportunist]

You can be a moron and still be successful. For reference, see politics.

Granted, it's rarer in areas where you are chosen not for your looks or your ability to kiss baby asses but for your (alleged) knowledge and where you're (allegedly) accountable for your blunders, but it works here too!

For reference, see banks.

Re:Moron

[shadowknot]

A *moron* would have fouled it all up somehow

Have you ever _used_ Vista?

Re:Moron

[Bastard of Subhumani]

it's rarer in areas where you are chosen not for your looks

Ballmer may have many faults, but that's one thing I'd never accuse him of!

Re:Moron

[fridaynightsmoke]

Have you ever _used_ Vista?

Has anyone?

Re:Moron

[Austerity Empowers]

To be a successful CEO, you simply have to be less of a moron than your shareholders (or rather, your board of directors). Given the current crew running most large corporations, that's really not that great of an accomplishment.

Re:Moron

[shadowknot]

A keen riposte sir, I applaud you. *tips hat*

Re:Moron

[Enderandrew]

It was a pane in the glass.

Re:Moron

[tautog]

You can be a moron and still be successful. For reference, see politics.

Uh, huh.

Re:Moron

[Foobar of Borg]

A *moron* would have fouled it all up somehow, either not getting the job in the first place or not retaining it for the last 8 years.

O RLY? And how do you explain this guy's job performance? I agree that Balmer is certainly not a moron, but keeping that kind of job for 8 years doesn't prove it.

Re:Moron

[xtracto]

That reminds me of the following joke:

A boy goes to his dad and tells him "Dad, when I grow up I want to be a fucking loser".

The father surprised and a bit angry asks his son "Why would you want to be that?"

To what the kid answers: "Well, every time we are on the street, if you see a guy with a great car you say 'what a fucking loser'. When we see a guy with to girls you say 'look at that fucking loser' and last time we went to the supermarket and you fought with the manager you said 'I hope that fucking loser rots in hell' after they kicked you out of the place".

Or something like that...

Re:Moron

[V!NCENT]

From a tech CEO perspective: yes. For everything else; no.

Don't confuse business with technology. The only reason that Microsoft is even in business today is because most people are morons when it comes to anything remotely logical and technical... But that also doesn't mean that most people are morons.

Re:Moron

[V!NCENT]

Have you ever _used_ Vista?

Is that even possible? I thought that that OS was ran by a computer instead of the other way around. I somehow needed to buy a new computer to run the OS.

Hello... earth to you people; an OS is there to run a computer. If it can't run a 3 year old Dell business desktop (Pentium D with an Intel onboard GPU) you know there's something wrong with it....

Re:Moron

[vekrander]

While Bush made it through all 8, it's easier to please Joe American Public and keep your job, especially when the other contenders for it are equally moronic. Steve Ballmer who has stockholders to answer to. It's always tougher when there's money involved.

Re:Moron

[david.given]

Have you ever _used_ Vista?

Has anyone?

What else should I run my Windows ME emulator on?

Re:Moron

[intheshelter]

What it amounts to is the most fortuitous dorm assignment in the history of the world, that's all. The guy is an idiot. That being said, may he stay CEO as long as possible, I'm enjoying watching Microsoft take on water. . . .

Re:Moron

[dkleinsc]

To quote Monty Python: "Well nowadays a really blithering idiot can make anything up to ten thousand pounds a year - if he's the head of some big industrial combine."

A slightly more modernized version: "Well nowadays a really blithering idiot can make anything up to $100 million a year - if he's the head of some big investment bank."

Re:Moron

[LoverOfJoy]

Have you ever _used_ Vista?

Has anyone?

Not me. I waited for Mojave to come out.

Re:Moron

[Nikker]

So you're saying that GW wasn't involved with any money? I wonder who has more money, the US government or Microsoft.

Re:Moron

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, I have and Office 2007 with the ribbon.

Remember, I'm fighting them over here so you don't have to fight them over there.

Re:Moron

[randyleepublic]

Remember, you read it here first.

The whole Ballmer thing is a set up by Gates. When Microsoft has got its back to the wall, ol' Billy Bob Gates will get on his white charger and come riding to the rescue. Why?

So he can out-Jobs Jobs. I betcha!!

Also titled

[jgreco]

"Microsoft: A Decade of Failure"

Re:Also titled

[PopeRatzo]

"Microsoft: A Decade of Failure"

George Bush already owns the rights to that phrase.

Re:Also titled

[jgreco]

Sorry. My bad.

Re:Also titled

[dkleinsc]

The best part: it wasn't even a decade, just 8 years, so the phrase "decade of failure" is yet more fail.

Of course, it did feel at least a couple of years longer than it actually was.

Re:Also titled

[lorenlal]

It's a base-2 decade.

move along.

Re:Also titled

[Opportunist]

I hate it when you liberals are always so negative. Why can't you rephrase it to make it sound positive. Like, "say what you want about GWB, but you have to give him that: He accomplished a decade of failure in just 8 years."

Re:Also titled

[Yvan256]

So it's a debicade, then?

Re:Also titled

[sconeu]

No, it's an octal decade.

Re:Also titled

[HellYeahAutomaton]

Don't worry, Obama will take it from him soon enough.

Re:Also titled

[lorenlal]

I was going for a bit-to-byte joke there... I obviously missed.

Re:Also titled

[lorenlal]

Precisely

Re:Also titled

[Spatial]

It's relativistic failure dilation.

Re:Also titled

[PopeRatzo]

Don't worry, Obama will take it from him soon enough.

That's the best you've got? "I know you are, but what am I"?

Re:Also titled

[Anonymous Coward]

So on that note..."BHO accomplished a decade of failure in ONE year" = "complete success"

Re:Also titled

[Anonymous Coward]

For every jab at Bush, there are 10 more for Obama.
He is the new Jimmy Carter.

Re:Also titled

[Anonymous Coward]

For every jab at Bush, there are 10 more for Obama.

I hope you're wrong. I'll be pretty upset if we're occupying 22 countries with no exit strategy at the end of Obama's second term.

He hit it...

[Anonymous Coward]

With a chair!

Goodnight everybody, I'll be here all week. Remember to tip your waitress.

Was it only me

[fridaynightsmoke]

Was it just me who read the headline "Ballmer Hits..." and my mind automatically filled in with " ...XXX With A Chair" ?

Re:Was it only me

[oh-dark-thirty]

Kids, this is why cocaine is bad, mmmkay?

Re:Was it only me

[Abcd1234]

Was it just me who read the headline "Ballmer Hits..." and my mind automatically filled in with " ...XXX With A Chair" ?

Hey, WTF? I've never heard of this. What the hell does Balmer have against porn? Jerk.

Re:Was it only me

[Anonymous Coward]

What's the story on this chair thing I keep seeing referenced?

Re:Was it only me

[cyphercell]

He threw a chair at an employee that decided to go to google. Allegedly.

Re:Was it only me

[gyrogeerloose]

What's the story on this chair thing I keep seeing referenced?

Check it out yourself.

Re:Was it only me

[Anonymous Coward]

the new 3D porn is pretty intense he is quoted as saying looking at the wreckage of his tv set

Re:Was it only me

[mjwx]

Was it just me who read the headline "Ballmer Hits..." and my mind automatically filled in with " ...XXX With A Chair" ?

XXX?

Vin Diesel's going to be pissed.

Living proof

[Anonymous Coward]

Ballmer is living proof that excessive executive compensation doesn't correlate with talent.

Re:Living proof

[FuckingNickName]

The alternative being excessive compensation for those who /are/ talented? Not that the alternative, "to each according to his need," has ever been practised on a huge scale: even the so-called communist countries paid more to those whose skillset would also likely gain them more in capitalist countries.

Re:Living proof

[Anonymous Coward]

And your post is living proof that you don't understand that "talent" is contextful. Or do you claim Microsoft hasn't made money hand over fist successfully over the last decade? Just because a few neckbeard Linux dweebs don't like him doesn't mean he hasn't been successful at running the company and doing his job.

Re:Living proof

[Anonymous Coward]

How many people work at Microsoft? And you think Microsoft's success or failure hinges on one man?! The very definition of boot licking toady.

Re:Living proof

[Zaiff Urgulbunger]

Although when you compare Ballmer with most bank execs, the guy looks like a superstar!

The other day

[Monkeedude1212]

I saw one of those annoying pop up ads saying that Bill Gates would pay you x amount of dollars to do Data Entry for Microsoft from home.

I just kind of sighed and went "Really? REALLY?"

He hasn't been the CEO of Microsoft for a decade now. Ask all of the people you know "Who runs Microsoft" and I am willing to bet a fair share of those not in the computer industry will still say Bill Gates.

Re:The other day

[Anonymous Coward]

Like it or lump it, Gates is still what people know to be the "face of Microsoft", especially since he was doing ads for them earlier this year. Non-techies know Bill, but havent the slightest clue who Ballmer is.

Re:The other day

[Gaffod]

It's still Bill's face that's on the slashdot icon too, no?

Re:The other day

[Anonymous Coward]

I saw one of those annoying pop up ads saying that Bill Gates would pay you x amount of dollars to do Data Entry for Microsoft from home.

I just kind of sighed and went "Really? REALLY?"

Yes, really. And here's why...

He hasn't been the CEO of Microsoft for a decade now. Ask all of the people you know "Who runs Microsoft" and I am willing to bet a fair share of those not in the computer industry will still say Bill Gates.

Developers Developers Developers the famous single

[Anonymous Coward]

Developers Developer Developers reference

Chairs???

[The Grim Reefer2]

Not that we'll ever forget Ballmer's 'developers, developers, developers' rant."

Or flying chairs.

Re:Chairs???

[bill_mcgonigle]

Or flying chairs.

After Bill Gates resigned, many of the Microsoft middle managers came up to Steve Ballmer's office to talk about all the problems they had under Gates. Sensing the opportunity for change, nearly all of them said, at some point, "I simply won't stand for this anymore". Ballmer just got tired of this after a while and decided to manage more efficiently.

Re:Chairs???

[Opportunist]

Even when he will eventually resign, he will still be remembered as the chairman of Microsoft. Now THAT's a legacy!

Re:Chairs???

[The Grim Reefer2]

Even when he will eventually resign, he will still be remembered as the chairman of Microsoft. Now THAT's a legacy!

Don't you mean Chair-Man?

Re:Chairs???

[Xest]

That's cos Bill didn't have the physical strength to lift and throw a chair being the penultimate geek.

One must wonder though if even before Ballmer took over he had a penchant for throwing chairs, even at chief Bill. Certainly Bill had mad chair evasion skills:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxaCOHT0pmI

I wonder if this is why Microsoft has a history of buggy software? Because rather than managing properly Bill and Ballmer spent half their time in the office playing dodgeball with chairs or something?

Re:Chairs???

[Opportunist]

Puns don't improve when you highlight them. Not doing it is the whole point of them. People feel witty when they can spot them and it fills them with a sense of intellectualism.

Thanks for spoiling it for our readers. Bet you're one of those guys in the theater who tells everyone when he figured out who's the murderer.

Re:Chairs???

[Yvan256]

(Score: -1, Redundant/Woosh/We-understood-the-joke-thank-you-very-much)

Re:Chairs???

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

That's true. Slashdot has modded up jokes about flying chairs every day for the last five years.

"He threw a chair at it!"

HAHAHAHA HO HO HO HO HEEE HEE HEE HEE HEE.

Re:Chairs???

[Anonymous Coward]

but in 20 years....people will be saying "Microsoft, what's that?"

Re:Chairs???

[Anonymous Coward]

Slashdot has modded up jokes about flying chairs every day for the last five years

Indeed. And > five years ago I visited here several times a day, now I drop by once every week or two, scan the comments of a couple of articles, determine that such neither-interesting-nor-remotely-insightful-and-not-even-slightly-funny-(anymore) crap still dominates the comments, sigh, ask myself why I bother with even that low rate of dropping by slashdot, and go back to reddit.

That said, reddit has got just as full of childish shit lately. The only saving grace is that recycled 4chan memes and pun threads are marginally more humourous than "M$" bashing and Free Market Fairy worship.

HN it is, then.

Re:Chairs???

[Orestesx]

That's cos Bill didn't have the physical strength to lift and throw a chair being the penultimate geek.

Bill Gates was the penultimate geek? Who was the the last in the line?

I think the word you are searching for is prototypical.

/pet peeve

Re:Chairs???

[Anonymous Coward]

If Bill Gates was the penultimate geek, who was the ultimate geek?

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=define+penultimate

Come on, he's a Friend of Linux...

[smitty777]

...NOT. According to him, it's

" a cancer that attaches itself in an intellectual property sense to everything it touches.

It must fly in the face of every business practice he's come up with.

Re:Come on, he's a Friend of Linux...

[Anonymous Coward]

with respect, it's a one liner quote from an interview he did in 2001. Not trying to be the devil's advocate here, but in the greater context, he was lamenting the fact that government money was being used to fund GPL projects, which prevented any derivative work to be licenced under different term. As such, his argument was that not everyone (ie people not using GPL) would be benefiting from the government's investment. No question that the analogy with cancer was pretty tasteless, though.

Icon Change?

[decipher_saint]

Does that mean the Microsoft icon changes to a Borg Ballmer?

Re:Icon Change?

[PhilHibbs]

The "ballster" picture is my favourite.

Re:Icon Change?

[Opportunist]

We tried, but he kept shorting the equipment we install in his armpits.

Re:Icon Change?

[westlake]

Does that mean the Microsoft icon changes to a Borg Ballmer?

It means that the geek's recycled jokes from a decade back are still worth a cheap mod-up.

The sun rises. The sun sets.

Re:Icon Change?

[Anonymous Coward]

The sun rises. The sun sets.

Re:Icon Change?

[fbjon]

Does that mean the Microsoft icon changes to a Borg Ballmer?

Dear god no. Borg Bill looks funny, Borg Ballmer would scare away children and adults alike.

Re:Icon Change?

[Clemsonuee]

Does that mean the Microsoft icon changes to a Borg Ballmer?

It means that the geek's recycled jokes from a decade back are still worth a cheap mod-up.

The sun rises. The sun sets.

Do Sweet dreams onset?

Re:Icon Change?

[Blakey Rat]

Slashdot? Change an icon?

What strange parallel reality are you posting from where that happens?

10 years of change

[Keruo]

During these 10 years, there's been change in the target audience of Windows. Older versions of windows were designed specifically for office use. Windows 2000 and XP did not change this line and were still clearly aimed for business users.

Vista and 7 changed the playfield. Apple came along with OS X, and Windows started to compete for home users market share, and somewhere on the line pretty much forgot the business users. The OS is no longer clearly aimed for business users.

Vista was a disaster pretty much every way you look at it, but 7 has fixed some of its flaws. Part of the problem is the overly simplifying things and forcing old reliable tree-browsing into libraries.

Library-like browsing is fine, if you want to watch photographs or browse mp3 collections at home, but it doesn't really work for corporate cases. Fileservers are easier to use if you can logically follow the treeview. (yes 7 has treeview too, but it sucks compared to old xp model)

Re:10 years of change

[jimbobborg]

During these 10 years, there's been change in the target audience of Windows.
Older versions of windows were designed specifically for office use.
Windows 2000 and XP did not change this line and were still clearly aimed for business users.

So please explain Windows 95, 98, 98SE, and ME? Those are all HOME OSs. No really separate user directories, no granular file permissions, and really weak security. NOT something for office use, although I have seen them used in offices.

Re:10 years of change

[Keruo]

Those coexisted with NT4 and W2k which represented the business-line.

9x/ME were half-assed attempt to create multitasking window manager designed pre-internet era( Gates actually was dreaming of something internet-like, but microsoft controlled network, MSN). But their legacy still lives as parts of the original gui concept are still part of almost every OS today.

Today there's only different versions of the home-oriented OS. Calling OS enterprise and actually not having it behave like a different product doesn't really make it more corporate-oriented. It still seems like it was designed for entertainment rather than productivity.

Re:10 years of change

[Blakey Rat]

Vista and 7 changed the playfield. Apple came along with OS X, and Windows started to compete for home users market share, and somewhere on the line pretty much forgot the business users. The OS is no longer clearly aimed for business users.

Oh yeah, I remember clearly when they threw away Active Directory, File Sharing, Smart-card Authentication, Shadow Copy and all of those other business-class features that were just slowing home users down. Or... maybe you're smoking crack.

You can't just say things, you have to actually justify them. What makes you say that Windows no longer has a business focus? Please cite specific examples.

Vista was a disaster pretty much every way you look at it,

Not my way of looking at it. I call it, "rational human being who doesn't make decisions based on Slashdot or hype." I'm not going to say that Vista is the best product ever, but it's not even close to Microsoft's worst OS.

Part of the problem is the overly simplifying things and forcing old reliable tree-browsing into libraries.

I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. I suspect you also do not.

Library-like browsing is fine, if you want to watch photographs or browse mp3 collections at home, but it doesn't really work for corporate cases.

What is "library-like browsing?" Why doesn't it work for corporate cases? (You also can't just pull terms out of your ass and use them as if everybody else knows exactly what you mean.)

Fileservers are easier to use if you can logically follow the treeview.

What exactly is Vista or Windows 7 doing to prevent you from logically following the treeview?

Is your entire complaint centered around the fact that you've never bothered to check "Navigation Pane" from the Organize menu in an Explorer window? I hope that's not the case, because you'd end up looking like a real idiot.

(yes 7 has treeview too, but it sucks compared to old xp model)

Sucks how? Again, you have to actually justify statements like this... you can't just spout crap out of your noisehole and expect me to take it seriously.

Re:10 years of change

[nschubach]

I'm glad I'm not the only one that dislikes the Libraries and lack of proper tree-view on my work PC.

Re:10 years of change

[ianare]

The reason you saw many many offices use the 9x line is simply because they were much cheaper compared to the NT line. A lot of places had tens or hundreds of 95/98 workstations and a few NT/2000 servers.

Re:10 years of change

[bashmohandes]

I am replying to your stupid ass signature, haven't you heard of Programs & Features aka Add Remove Programs

Re:10 years of change

[nschubach]

You obviously haven't used Windows in some time or are ignorant to the operation of MSI installers. MSI installed applications will copy themselves into the WINNT\Installer folder so they can be removed later by running this install file. If you remove these files, setup fails or they are corrupted, you have to run a special tool to remove the registry entries for that application in order to upgrade or remove said application. In essence, you could have to re-install said application in order to uninstall it. It's also a waste of space to retain the install files for your applications within the Windows directory (especially if you partition your drive and maintain a small footprint "OS" partition for easy backup.)

My "stupid ass signature" will remain.

Re:10 years of change

[bashmohandes]

I am a Windows Developer, and I see you now more stupid than your signature.

CES 2010

[Anonymous Coward]

Steve's thoughts while at CES this year demoing the new Office....

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/01/msft-key-0260.jpg

It seems to me ....

[Benzido]

It seems to me he's just slowly, gently, running Microsoft into the ground. He's not a horrible failure, but there seems to be a complete lack of inspiration and mojo.

Has Microsoft had any major hits since 2000? Like, real killer apps or disruptive new technologies?

Re:It seems to me ....

[dskzero]

The XboX? When was it released?

Re:It seems to me ....

[Opportunist]

Microsoft, like many huge businesses, is much like an oil tanker. They keep running for a long, long time even with the engine off. You don't even notice a change when the engines are turned off, they lose speed so gradually that you only notice it when you concentrate on it. Unless you're standing right next to the engines and see that they're not moving, and in that case, especially if it's your fault that they're off, you better keep your mouth shut about it, do your best to fix it and give the captain a thumbs-up every time he bothers to show up and see if everything is allright.

Ballmer is currently frantically trying to fix those engines and give a thumbs-up to the shareholders, even though he doesn't know jack about the engines and also has no idea what tools to use.

Re:It seems to me ....

[Benzido]

2001. It's more competitive than the Zune, sure, but it hasn't won in any market, with either the original or the 360. I guess they've won the online competitive gaming space.

In any case, I see the xbox as being a Gates strategy rather than a Ballmer one.

Re:It seems to me ....

[LMacG]

Photosynth is pretty cool, but of course it didn't come from "in-house," nor is it a commercial product.

Re:It seems to me ....

[intheshelter]

I know Xbox will be mentioned, but maybe we should redefine your question as killer apps/technologies that are making a profit. Last I heard Xbox was still losing money.

Re:It seems to me ....

[Anonymous Coward]

Bullshit. The XBox 360 had the highest software revenue of any gaming system last year.

Re:It seems to me ....

[nschubach]

Some people will argue that taking share away from Sony was a "win".

Re:It seems to me ....

[StikyPad]

he doesn't know jack about the engines and also has no idea what tools to use.

When all you have is a chair, all your problems look like developers.

Re:It seems to me ....

[BrokenHalo]

It's more competitive than the Zune, sure

Everything is more competitive than the Zune, since Microsoft doesn't believe in marketing it outside the US and Canada. Since Microsoft obviously isn't serious about it, it might just as well concede that market to Apple.

The other creepy Steve

[PopeRatzo]

I've seen "people I'd like to have a beer with" lists that some people make.

I wouldn't even want to ride an elevator with Steve Ballmer. He seems like a real prick.

My campus office used to be adjacent to the Business School at my institution, before they built a shiny new building for the b-school, and I used to have lunch in the cafeteria that was in their basement. I used to observe a lot of the over-amped business students that had similar grating mannerisms as Ballmer. Smelling of cheap cologne and flop-sweat, they were part obnoxious frat-boy, part desperate grasper, and part arrogant sociopath.

That's what I think of Steve Ballmer.

Re:The other creepy Steve

[TaoPhoenix]

You said: He seems like a real prick.

Steve Said, "... The bone doesn't fall out of our mouth... we keep working and working and working and working and coming and coming and coming and coming".

He wants to embrace, extend, and squirt into every market.

Study item:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7Klczu14tE

Re:The other creepy Steve

[Target Practice]

Seems creepy to me that anyone could imagine any sort of innuendo while discussing Steve Ballmer. That's just wrong.

Man, I really love --

[dwiget001]

-- Steve in his retro "Toxic Pit Stains" look.

Hawt.

Two brothers where born...

[MindPrison]

...I think the other one was Kevin Spacey

10 Years of Wasted Stockholder Value

[geoffrobinson]

http://www.google.com/finance?client=ob&q=NASDAQ:MSFT

Even if you take into account that 10 years ago was the height of the tech bubble, it is amazing how much money Microsoft has wasted trying to get into new markets without any appreciation to its stock price.

All that Zune R&D money should have been given out directly to stockholders so they could have done something useful with it.

Re:10 Years of Wasted Stockholder Value

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.google.com/finance?client=ob&q=NASDAQ:MSFT

Even if you take into account that 10 years ago was the height of the tech bubble, it is amazing how much money Microsoft has wasted trying to get into new markets without any appreciation to its stock price.

All that Zune R&D money should have been given out directly to stockholders so they could have done something useful with it.

It's a damned if you do; damned if you don't type of situation. If they distributed their cash, they would have been criticized for that. Although, they do have a rather decent dividend yield.

They're a mature company in a mature industry. All the sharpest minds are going into biotech and green energy now - software and computers has become like the auto industry. If MS takes a page from Nokia (they were originally a paper company!) and completely reinvent themselves I see them becoming a growth type of company again. They'll have to let go of Windows and Office - yeah, I know that won't happen soon since that cow is still producing quite a bit of cash.

I purposefully didn't compare them to Apple. Apple's time as "the innovator" is coming to an end. (Pls! A tablet PC - snore - even with the iTouch interface.)

Re:10 Years of Wasted Stockholder Value

[mini me]

Apple's time as "the innovator" is coming to an end.

Apple has never been innovative in the first to market sense. They look at what others are doing, and do the same thing in a package people actually want to buy. The iPod was not the first MP3 player. The iPhone was most certainly not the first cellphone/smartphone. And yet, both of those products are considered the standard in those markets. The same could have been said about the Macintosh in its heyday.

If the Apple tablet exists, it may or may not be a flop. Who knows? Slashdot predicted that the iPod would be flop. Apple has had flops before (see: Newton). But there is a very good chance that some other product will enter the marketplace in the future, and Apple will capture the imagination of the market once again.

Re:10 Years of Wasted Stockholder Value

[Anonymous Coward]

Just for fun, you should plot MSFT against RHT and NOVL over the past 10 years:

MSFT: -45%
RHT: -78%
NOVL: -86%

Re:10 Years of Wasted Stockholder Value

[geoffrobinson]

Not to say those companies have done well, but you want to look at the overall trend over the last 10 years. You don't want to compare the height of the tech bubble to today. Not really a fair comparison.

If you look at the MSFT from the end of the bubble to today, it is about the same.

What rant?

[Anonymous Coward]

There's a difference between a rant and a chant, guys...

His gift to the business world.

[Anonymous Coward]

His greatest "gift" so far to the business world, in the form of .NET, has been the ability for them to ship a lot of their development overseas, mainly to India.

In the past, Windows development took some skill. You had to use C and the Win32 API, C++ and MFC, Visual Basic, or Delphi. There were other alternatives, but those were the main ones. To a skilled practitioner, they're not overly difficult tools to use. But to somebody without much training or experience, they aren't all that straightforward.

The vast, vast, vast majority of outsourcing developers aren't very skilled at all. They have questionable credentials from very questionable "institutions". They don't have much practical experience, and thus even Visual Basic and Delphi were well out of their grasp.

Thankfully for them, .NET and languages like C# and VB.NET basically "dumbed down" Windows development. This has allowed these outsourcing developers to create huge, gawdawful software messes. Often times they just don't work, when they're not outright crashing.

But hey, some manager or executive in America gets to say that he cut development costs. Of course, he will have jumped ship slightly before it's discovered that the Indian-developed software is pure shit, and has been nothing but a waste of money. He goes out looking like a champ, while a few months later the shit really hits the fan and the company is in deep trouble.

Thanks, Balmer.

Re:His gift to the business world.

[Anonymous Coward]

Nice troll.

Re:His gift to the business world.

[Anonymous Coward]

Sadly it is not a troll. It should be modded Insightful.

Nope, I haven't wrote that, just trying to defend it.

this might be why...

[Anonymous Coward]

Windows and MS have gone down the toilet in the last ten years. I liked Windows 2000 and Windows 98 for gaming. These days though, they are putting secret kill switches in the OS for the entertainment industry.

http://www.afterdawn.com/news/archive/13980.cfm

They also tried to hijack the PMP market.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/10/27/accidental_music_monopoly_bid/

A Change is Needed - Mr. Ballmer Should Go.

[mrpacmanjel]

It would be interesting to see how the "personality" of Microsoft will change when Steve "Dancing Monkey-Boy" Ballmer finally leaves Microsoft.

Maybe it will become a "friendlier" company as a result.

In recent years Steve "my other monopoly is sweat glands" Ballmer seems to be hindering the company and maybe a fresh perspective by someone is needed for Microsoft.

It seems that since Bill Gates has left the company the attitude of Microsoft has "softened" (I use that word in the loosest possible terms!) towards Open Source stuff and begrudgingly partly accepting (again in the loosest possible terms) it.

The wrong ceo

[mxh83]

I always felt Ballmer was the wrong choice for the CEO. In these 10 years the competition has not only come to their doorstep but into it. Under his reins Microsoft scrambled for MBAs and the others got the real geeks. And to top it, the world has started to realize that a computer is not Windows and the internet is not IE.

Re:The wrong ceo

[sunwukong]

Under his reins Microsoft scrambled for MBAs

Link? I found the MS page for MBA recruitment but is there a story directly linking Ballmer with the drive for MBAs?

Re:The wrong ceo

[Antiocheian]

And they wouldn't realize that if it wasn't for Ballmer ?

I say Ballmer did what he could to avoid it. He killed Netscape. He fucked up Windows by integrating a web browser in it. People we so pissed about it they would buy utilities to remove it (98lite). He did succeed for many years. What happened then was inevitable. But give the guy proper credit.

Re:The wrong ceo

[jonbryce]

Netscape was already dead 10 years ago. If you remember back that far, their amazing new feature in Sept 1999 was the shop button. The ability to load pages containing javascript without crashing was yet to come.

Let me be the first to wish him

[Bastard of Subhumani]

many fucking happy returns!

One question

[pedestrian crossing]

That's cos Bill didn't have the physical strength to lift and throw a chair being the penultimate geek.

If Gates was the penultimate geek, I want to know who was the ultimate geek, and what does that make me?

Re:One question

[Anonymous Coward]

Fat and bald?

Re:One question

[QuoteMstr]

People often say "penultimate" when they mean "consummate".

Re:One question

[Xest]

It should be obvious to any other geek who the ultimate geek is. Woz of course.

Re:One question

[gyrogeerloose]

It should be obvious to any other geek who the ultimate geek is. Woz of course.

Not only that, the Woz can dance!

Oh, wait...

And what a stunning job he's done!

[MoeDrippins]

Compare their stock price to the common indices. He's done significantly worse than the S&P and Dow, and barely eked out a little better than the NASDAQ.

Now THAT'S innovation.

Re:And what a stunning job he's done!

[fred fleenblat]

you're being too kind.
msft has dropped 45% in the last 10 years.
goog and aapl (microsofts own self-stated competitors) are up 500% or more over the same time period.
ballmer's performance as a ceo is a miserable failure, so to speak.

Re:And what a stunning job he's done!

[MoeDrippins]

Awesome, thanks. I dug a little harder and was able to get nasdaq give me what I wanted:

http://www.nasdaq.com/aspx/chartingbasics.aspx?intraday=off&timeframe=10y&charttype=ohlc&splits=off&earnings=off&movingaverage=None&lowerstudy=volume&comparison=on&index=&drilldown=off&symbol=GOOG&symbol=AAPL&symbol=MSFT&selected=MSFT

Heck of a job Stevie.

[xactuary]

MSFT stock is down about $20/share during Ballmer's ten-year run as CEO. Meanwhile, AAPL is up $184/share over the same period.

I know, I know. Apples and Oranges.

But was he wrong?

[Anonymous Coward]

Sure he gave an over-the-top presentation about how important developers are, but was his message wrong? Developers ARE important and he was rallying the troops.
 
// I'm no fanboy -- Vista sucks and I run a few Apache/Linux web servers

Ballmer must *love* developers

[gestalt_n_pepper]

After all, look at the completely unnecessary work his ideas have provided for us.

After all, VB6 couldn't be automatically upgraded to VB.net. Neither C# nor VB.net forms projects can be automatically upgraded to ASP.net, C++.net. (Of course most C++ code somehow magically runs in the .net environment).

Yes, we're all enjoying the benefits of that wonderful CIL. It's just provided the folks on the ground *so* many benefits like, um, er... Well uh, .........

Re:Ballmer must *love* developers

[Anonymous Coward]

Jesus, what the fuck are you blathering about? Nothing you said, _at all_, made any sense with the possible exception of VB6 not being "automatically upgraded" (?) to VB.NET. Jesus Christ, do you know _anything_?

Re:Ballmer must *love* developers

[Doctor Faustus]

After all, VB6 couldn't be automatically upgraded to VB.net.
That's because just about every detail of how VB6 worked was a consequence of either how older MS Basics going back to 1975 had worked (the bizarre boolean rules) or how COM works. The different memory model alone would make it nearly impossible to automatically upgrade projects directly, and is why Office (still COM) Automation still doesn't work well under .Net. VB.Net is essentially just an alternate syntax of C#, plus optional parameter support.

Neither C# nor VB.net forms projects can be automatically upgraded to ASP.net
You mean automatically converting WinForms projects? How could that possibly work? WebForms already denies the basic properties of the web way too much.

Yes, we're all enjoying the benefits of that wonderful CIL. It's just provided the folks on the ground *so* many benefits like, um, er...
Real inheritance.
Collections other than arrays and "Collection".
Fewer arbitrary "you can't combine these features because we didn't think of that" restrictions.
Better performance without the COM reference-counting overhead.
Much better string performance if you learn how to use it.
Worthwhile built-in libraries.
Dynamic form controls without invisible "control array" seeds.
Initial values in variable declarations.
Not so much of this kinda thing: "Left(Upper(LTrim(RTrim(txtStuff))), Len(LTrim(RTrim(txtStuff)))-1)".
XCopy installation.
Console app support.
IDE tooltips showing any expression's current value.

Re:Ballmer must *love* developers

[shutdown -p now]

Yes, we're all enjoying the benefits of that wonderful CIL. It's just provided the folks on the ground *so* many benefits like, um, er... Well uh, .........

Um, the ability to write different parts of code in languages most suitable for this, and have them integrate seamlessly, for example.

I'm writing a VS2010 editor plugin right now. As it goes, it does have to do quite a bit of formal language parsing, and some post-processing (highlighting, intellisense etc); those parts are written in F#, because it lets me write concise and expressive code in FP style. Meanwhile, the UI layer is C#, because for event-driven code, it's more compact and readable. And there is no messy FFI wrappers involved, like you'd have to do with e.g. OCaml and C++ - it's just classes and methods exported from F# assemblies, and called directly from C# ones.

So is it true?

[Anonymous Coward]

The infamous chair story is it actually true?

And to be honest

[Anonymous Coward]

I think Microsoft has done well by him. There's no way to know how much can be attributed directly to him, but I think Microsoft has improved considerably in the last 10 years. Windows isn't complete junk any more. The XBox came out of nowhere to kick major butt. .NET's been improving at a steady pace. Zune...good hardware, software, and service. It's really a shame that it isn't catching on. But the biggest improvement, there are many areas where Microsoft legitimately has beat out competitors instead of doing it by shady deals.

Developers Developers Developers

[Antiocheian]

Just remember that there was a crowd cheering Ballmer.

I have no problem with Ballmer's enthusiasm; I can act like Ballmer anyday when I am happy. But people cheer me for acting like a clown ?

Those childlike morons clapping their hands represent what I resent in Microsoft fans: unquestioning devotion.

Re:Developers Developers Developers

[schon]

Just remember that there was a crowd cheering Ballmer.

Well, you know the reason they were so enthusiastic, don't you? Because if they weren't, they'd be fired.

Seriously though, stories about Ballmer show that he's nothing but a giant bully. Managers like that ensure that their most talented people move to better companies, leaving the company with nothing but the borderline-incompetent who have nowhere else to go. It's not hard to imagine that the people who would be in that audience would play along to prevent being targetted by the bully with the security squad around him.

Those childlike morons clapping their hands represent what I resent in Microsoft fans: unquestioning devotion.

I think you just described Apple fans too.. and they're far more numerous. :)

Re:Developers Developers Developers

[Antiocheian]

!!! Unbelievable!

Re:Developers Developers Developers

[sznupi]

I think you just described Apple fans too.. and they're far more numerous. :)

Simply looking at their marketshare (global one, please...) makes the last part highly unlikely.

Re:Developers Developers Developers

[Anonymous Coward]

Simply looking at their marketshare (global one, please...) makes the last part highly unlikely.

Why? Marketshare != fans. Most people use Windows because they have to, not because they want to.

YUO FAIL iT

[Anonymous Coward]

lube or we sell fucking confirmed: BE NNIGER! BE GAY! perspective, the If you don't something cool Questions, then

sooooooooo

[unity100]

because he has gained a ceo position, he cant be a moron ?

oh now fuck off.

[unity100]

with that logic you could even justify nazis in 1933. actions speak louder than words.

Microsoft cellphone

[t3chn0n3rd]

L ike ballmer. By the way does Microsoft have plans for a cellphone to take on googles android?

Re:Microsoft cellphone

[t3chn0n3rd]

I like Ballmer. By the way does Microsoft have plans for a cellphone to take on googles android?

PS Ballmer's face...

[SpeedyGonz]

... into a Ferengi outfit.

it *is* the developers, stupid.

[stimpleton]

"Not that we'll ever forget Ballmer's 'developers, developers, developers' rant."

I am principally a developer in *nix. But...as a concept, his developers rant was actually and a correct view.

Know thine enemy.

Good Grief!

[Helldesk Hound]

Has Microsoft been rudderless and uninspired/uninspiring for 10 years already?

Being pals w/ Bill Gates is how Ballmer got CEO

[Anonymous Coward]

He only got there because he was Bill Gates' best buddy, and that's about it (and everybody knows it). It certainly wasn't based on technical skills with actual computer sciences (which Mr. Gates actually has, Ballmer does not), and based on his mess with VISTA, apparently not on the business end either.

Re:Developers Developers Developers the famous sin

[tpwch]

Don't click link in parent post. The page has javascript or something that connects to the freenode irc network and does something malicious. Seems to be exploiting a security flaw in freenodes servers that allows you to connect to it using HTTP post.

Credit for what exactly?

[SmallFurryCreature]

You claim he did fine because he delayed in the inevitable. A good CEO would have avoided the inevitable. It is like saying the captain of the Titanic was good because he got so far before sinking. Sorry, a good captain would have avoided the icebergs altogether.

MS has in many ways been playing catchup and using delay tactics. Fine, but that is something a crap ceo does because he can't do any better. A good CEO would have made everyone WANT to use IE and make it the best browser around. It isn't hard. ALL other browser makers have done that successfully. It takes a REALLY crap CEO to put billions into research and come out with Vista and IE8.

Had that money been given to Steve Jobs, we would have a REALLY slick computer (but with half the keys missing) and had we given it to the banks, they would have given themselves really big bonusses... Sony would have spent it on yet another piece of tech that they can't sell. Nintendo would have released a color Virtual Boy.

I think as a CEO Ballmer has actually been cursed, when you are on the bottom, the only way is up, but when you are at the top, it takes real skill to go even higher. And he doesn't have it, he was probably good in the earlier days of MS, but not the man to take the company further.

Ballmer's tenth anniversary

[Anonymous Coward]

but still not /. avatar

Ballmer imitates Bill Gates' severe abusiveness.

[Anonymous Coward]

Steve Ballmer has little technical knowledge. Can an ignorant CEO run a technology company?

Microsoft makes most of its money because it has a virtual monopoly. People buy any trash (Vista) that Microsoft produces. They are locked in.

In my opinion, Ballmer has no "legacy". He just imitates Bill Gates' severe abusiveness.

Happy Anniversary, MonkeyBoy

[haruchai]

  So, when will M$ produce their version of Dance, Dance, Revolution? Bet you'll be the chief avatar.

Icon on /.

[eealex]

As Bill has left for long time and Ballmer is becoming so "important" in the /., why don't we change the icon about MS stories with Ballmer?

Penultimate geek?

[Anonymous Coward]

So, if Bill Gates is the penultimate geek, who is the last geek? XD

Penultimate = next to the last.

Do we settle the argument by staging athletic throwing event with a 16 pound chair replacing the regulation hammer?

Re:Morons BOTH!

[aqk]

Stop that!
They are BOTH morons!

Remember! This is /. !! Please respect the terms of engagement.

Oh wait... can they be morons AND Antichrists at the same time?
Please explain.

Probably Vista is not an achievement

[pisem]

>Funny how Vista is oddly missing in that list of achivements.
Probably Vista is not an achievement, but a failure....

I liked Bill Gates so much more!!!

[master_p]

With all due respect to mr Ballmer, but not only he is looking like a used cars salesman, but he also seems not to have any imagination whatsoever regarding new products and technologies. He is the least inspiring person for the position he has. At least, with mr Gates, we always expected something new out of him, even if in the end he did not deliver that.