A shrinking company is more profitable than a growing one - growth requires investment and taking risk. Microsoft's been a follower since day one, see what the other guy does then either copy and bundle or follow into their market years after they are established. Such a cautious, cynical approach. Small wonder Apple went from pounding on Death's Door with both fists to eclipsing Microsoft in terms of revenues, market cap and cash reserves. If six years ago people had told Steve Jobs where he could stuff his $600 iPhone then Microsoft would have been right to stay out of the mobile phone market, but when they finally did try to compete with iPhone it was years after the iPhone launch. The only risk they have taken is in not taking more risks.
They'll still be profitable for years, but their glory days are receding into the past.
Re:Good news for stockholders
on
Ballmer To Retire
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
I think the next CEO has a few big challenges on his hands. I'd highlight three in particular:
First, he needs to get the company out of the mindset that has it still behaving as though it commands monopoly power. It doesn't, or at least, it doesn't in many of the markets where it now needs to compete. It found that out with with the XBox One launch, where it thought that it had the power to force customers to accept things they didn't want to, then was forced into an embarrassing U-turn when Sony offered a viable alternative. It is finding that out in the mobile and tablet marketplaces, which it came to as a late entrant and failed to provide reasons for people to switch. And it's about to find that out on the desktop, where the message coming through on Windows 8 is that even die-hard Windows users will bide their time and see what else comes along rather than making the shift to an operating system that forces unwanted changes onto them.
Microsoft need to spin off XBox. They are an enterprise technology/consumer technology company and this foray into home entertainment is not within their core. Heck, why not buy a movie studio and a chain of fast food restaurants while they are at it. Sell it off, hold a stake in if they wish, but get their attention back to technology.
This is bad news, having Ballmer in charge of MS is a good thing as he was slowly mismanaging the company into the ground. A successor could be more competent.
Note that the same guys who put Ballmer in charge will be picking his successor. We might not have anything to worry about.;-)
Well, the board have not been happy with him for years, but he was Bill's BFF so there was little the board could do. I gather Bill or his foundation still control a sizable investment portfolio in MSFT. Perhaps they'll grow some spines and fight for a better leader, not yet-another-BFF-of-Bill.
fast forward to mid-2014: Melinda chose him, she liked his hair and the color of his eyes.
This is bad news, having Ballmer in charge of MS is a good thing as he was slowly mismanaging the company into the ground. A successor could be more competent.
Bad news for competitors... if Microsoft pick a replacement with the vision and ruthlessness of an older, wiser Steve Jobs. Even half a Jobs would turn Microsoft around from the stagnating business it has become.
Easy shoes to fill, because even Goofy could have done as well.
This is bad news, having Ballmer in charge of MS is a good thing as he was slowly mismanaging the company into the ground. A successor could be more competent.
Listening to financial and investment analysts this morning, not one has a kind word for Steve. He has missed every big thing while pushing Zune, Windows Vista and then Windows 8, the XBox (games are working well for Atari, right?) Metro (which may be very cool to 10% of users) the RT tablet fiasco, honestly, why does this man actually receive bonuses? He's had the company coasting along on markets it was strong in, without creating new markets. Hardly visionary.
Want the potential of college without the risk of massive debt due to picking the wrong major or flunking out?
Try Oregon's new College tuition bill "Pay Forward" (bill passed, but not yet implemented). The government pays for the full cost of tuition over 4 years. You pay them 3% of your salary for 24 years. Is it more expensive for the student? For good jobs, sure. But it gives a peace of mind that you aren't going to be hurt too badly financially, and reduces the penalty if college just didn't work out for you.
I assume there's a provision for if the student moves out of state or out of the country.
" a depressed job market where a college degree is a requirement for even the most basic of entry-level positions"
That's just not true. There are tons of skilled trade jobs available that do not require college.
And when those positions are lost due to shifting job markets, shifting work overseas, etc. Guess where those people end up - trying to learn a new trade. I watched em flock in when the Auto industry began imploding, then throughout as people in jobs that depended upon Autoworkers income and spending were folding, too.
The smart thing to do is to not go to college at all unless it's a legal requirement to get into your profession. Honestly, we need to go back to the days when there weren't tons of worthless losers enrolling in college; what we don't need is this 'everyone has to go to college' nonsense.
Yeah, the good old days when the companies just went to Congress and begged for more H1B Visas, because them furriners is so smart, we needs moar of them.
We need to have fewer people in college. If you can't finish, you shouldn't go at all - you'd be better off getting a job and gaining experience instead of debt.
Who is to say which college graduate will be the one to start a business and employ people? I really do enjoy these discussions. Ignorance isn't bliss, it's poverty.
See, there are some little things called Pell Grants, Scholarships and Student Loans, these make it so college is much less price sensitive. Mix this with 6 years of guidance councilors stressing the importance of college, a depressed job market where a college degree is a requirement for even the most basic of entry-level positions and you have a market that isn't very price sensitive.
Its not like a student applies for college and is hit by a $15K bill for their first year, loans and grants cover it and so they might only pay $1-2 thousand per year up front.
The smart money is to spend your first two years at Junior or Community College, where all the credits will transfer, leaving only years 3 & 4 at the U.
for most job an 2 year Community College and or tech / trade school is all that is needed. To much push for the old 4 year system.
We are on a track where only the children of the very well off will be able to afford higher education.
Sounds like the 19th century and earlier, doesn't it?
an apprentice nano-tech engineer? No, we do not take on apprentices.. though we might, because that Reginald Twit IV is proving to be quite incompetent and wants to take off afternoons to play Polo too often.
Every time I saw tuition go up when I was in school it followed cuts in public education funding.
Did you ever link it to the availability of easy student loans?
No, it was stated right in the announcements, published in the news. We would hear $500 M to $5 B being cut in announcements from the Governor's Office or California Department of Education - usually with a breakdown of what % would affect State of California colleges and universities as well as K-12 education, including Special Education, Early Childhood, Class Size Reduction and so on. There was quite a bit of paring of staff, but it couldn't cover it all, so tuition went up and students grumbled, protested and those unfortunate to be on the bubble had to drop out.
I'm neither a Congressman nor a Republican, but you can put me in the 'wary of deepening the government's role in higher education' column. So far their meddling in the marketplace has led to an inflation rate for higher education not only several times higher than the general inflation rate - but even higher than the 'skyrocketing healthcare cost' inflation rate we are alway hearing about.
Wary?!? Ha!
Cost of tuition has often been linked to a reduction in State Funding, you don't need to be a Republicrat or Democan, but a mathematician to figure it out. Also, helps to read the news.
Ha ha. So rich, I'm going to remember this one.
Every time I saw tuition go up when I was in school it followed cuts in public education funding. Out here in California, the tuition at UC and CSU has gone up quickly because the state is trying to get its own budget under control after running deep into the red while that stupid actor was elected and re-elected by people who thought a tough talking actor with no experience at all in any government office should reside in Sacramento for 8 years.
Ha hum damn. Going to take us a long time to pay off that mountain of debt, sorry UC and CSU.
"the hotel demanded he take it down and when he did they sued him for $95,000."" should be "the hotel demanded he take it down and when he didn't, they sued him for $95,000.""
Honesty has its price. Dishonesty has its avarice.
This can't be right, solar doesn't work, Germany is too far north, the lights must go off every night, PV is a stupid technology, nuclear is the only way!!1 How can this be happening, it must be a liberal media lie put out by the scientifically illiterate eco-nazis... it... it just can't...
Worry not, the average American Household keeps Green and Renewable Energy at bay by leaving lights on all over the house, the refrigerator door open while doing something else, having the TV running while not in the room, having dozens of wall-warts sucking energy to power nothing at all, but burning up watts through cheap inefficient design, pre-heating ovens and stoves, etc.
I'm considered subversive for managing a monthly combined bill of about 30 dollars. I expect their coming to get me, reprogram me so I'll be a more wasteful power consumer, it's only... just a sec, door. brb
Slashdot Mirror
A shrinking company is more profitable than a growing one - growth requires investment and taking risk. Microsoft's been a follower since day one, see what the other guy does then either copy and bundle or follow into their market years after they are established. Such a cautious, cynical approach. Small wonder Apple went from pounding on Death's Door with both fists to eclipsing Microsoft in terms of revenues, market cap and cash reserves. If six years ago people had told Steve Jobs where he could stuff his $600 iPhone then Microsoft would have been right to stay out of the mobile phone market, but when they finally did try to compete with iPhone it was years after the iPhone launch. The only risk they have taken is in not taking more risks.
They'll still be profitable for years, but their glory days are receding into the past.
I think the next CEO has a few big challenges on his hands. I'd highlight three in particular:
First, he needs to get the company out of the mindset that has it still behaving as though it commands monopoly power. It doesn't, or at least, it doesn't in many of the markets where it now needs to compete. It found that out with with the XBox One launch, where it thought that it had the power to force customers to accept things they didn't want to, then was forced into an embarrassing U-turn when Sony offered a viable alternative. It is finding that out in the mobile and tablet marketplaces, which it came to as a late entrant and failed to provide reasons for people to switch. And it's about to find that out on the desktop, where the message coming through on Windows 8 is that even die-hard Windows users will bide their time and see what else comes along rather than making the shift to an operating system that forces unwanted changes onto them.
Microsoft need to spin off XBox. They are an enterprise technology/consumer technology company and this foray into home entertainment is not within their core. Heck, why not buy a movie studio and a chain of fast food restaurants while they are at it. Sell it off, hold a stake in if they wish, but get their attention back to technology.
....I swear I didn't look up the stock quote before posting. Microsoft is really up 8.5% right now.
If it weren't for Ballmer gainin $1 B on the jump, I think this would be the ultimate NO CONFIDENCE vote.
Investors want to see the back of him and as soon as possible.
This is bad news, having Ballmer in charge of MS is a good thing as he was slowly mismanaging the company into the ground. A successor could be more competent.
Note that the same guys who put Ballmer in charge will be picking his successor. We might not have anything to worry about. ;-)
Well, the board have not been happy with him for years, but he was Bill's BFF so there was little the board could do. I gather Bill or his foundation still control a sizable investment portfolio in MSFT. Perhaps they'll grow some spines and fight for a better leader, not yet-another-BFF-of-Bill.
fast forward to mid-2014: Melinda chose him, she liked his hair and the color of his eyes.
This is bad news, having Ballmer in charge of MS is a good thing as he was slowly mismanaging the company into the ground. A successor could be more competent.
Bad news for competitors ... if Microsoft pick a replacement with the vision and ruthlessness of an older, wiser Steve Jobs. Even half a Jobs would turn Microsoft around from the stagnating business it has become.
Easy shoes to fill, because even Goofy could have done as well.
This is bad news, having Ballmer in charge of MS is a good thing as he was slowly mismanaging the company into the ground. A successor could be more competent.
Listening to financial and investment analysts this morning, not one has a kind word for Steve. He has missed every big thing while pushing Zune, Windows Vista and then Windows 8, the XBox (games are working well for Atari, right?) Metro (which may be very cool to 10% of users) the RT tablet fiasco, honestly, why does this man actually receive bonuses? He's had the company coasting along on markets it was strong in, without creating new markets. Hardly visionary.
He can't even retire properly, should have done so years ago.
Chairs just won't fly around the same without him
Want the potential of college without the risk of massive debt due to picking the wrong major or flunking out?
Try Oregon's new College tuition bill "Pay Forward" (bill passed, but not yet implemented). The government pays for the full cost of tuition over 4 years. You pay them 3% of your salary for 24 years. Is it more expensive for the student? For good jobs, sure. But it gives a peace of mind that you aren't going to be hurt too badly financially, and reduces the penalty if college just didn't work out for you.
I assume there's a provision for if the student moves out of state or out of the country.
" a depressed job market where a college degree is a requirement for even the most basic of entry-level positions"
That's just not true. There are tons of skilled trade jobs available that do not require college.
And when those positions are lost due to shifting job markets, shifting work overseas, etc. Guess where those people end up - trying to learn a new trade. I watched em flock in when the Auto industry began imploding, then throughout as people in jobs that depended upon Autoworkers income and spending were folding, too.
The smart thing to do is to not go to college at all unless it's a legal requirement to get into your profession. Honestly, we need to go back to the days when there weren't tons of worthless losers enrolling in college; what we don't need is this 'everyone has to go to college' nonsense.
Yeah, the good old days when the companies just went to Congress and begged for more H1B Visas, because them furriners is so smart, we needs moar of them.
Well played.
We need to have fewer people in college. If you can't finish, you shouldn't go at all - you'd be better off getting a job and gaining experience instead of debt.
Who is to say which college graduate will be the one to start a business and employ people? I really do enjoy these discussions. Ignorance isn't bliss, it's poverty.
Your plane to Moscow is boarding.
In Soviet Russia the Cagey Bee welcomes YOU!
...Except they don't.
See, there are some little things called Pell Grants, Scholarships and Student Loans, these make it so college is much less price sensitive. Mix this with 6 years of guidance councilors stressing the importance of college, a depressed job market where a college degree is a requirement for even the most basic of entry-level positions and you have a market that isn't very price sensitive.
Its not like a student applies for college and is hit by a $15K bill for their first year, loans and grants cover it and so they might only pay $1-2 thousand per year up front.
The smart money is to spend your first two years at Junior or Community College, where all the credits will transfer, leaving only years 3 & 4 at the U.
for most job an 2 year Community College and or tech / trade school is all that is needed. To much push for the old 4 year system.
We are on a track where only the children of the very well off will be able to afford higher education.
Sounds like the 19th century and earlier, doesn't it?
an apprentice nano-tech engineer? No, we do not take on apprentices .. though we might, because that Reginald Twit IV is proving to be quite incompetent and wants to take off afternoons to play Polo too often.
Every time I saw tuition go up when I was in school it followed cuts in public education funding.
Did you ever link it to the availability of easy student loans?
No, it was stated right in the announcements, published in the news. We would hear $500 M to $5 B being cut in announcements from the Governor's Office or California Department of Education - usually with a breakdown of what % would affect State of California colleges and universities as well as K-12 education, including Special Education, Early Childhood, Class Size Reduction and so on. There was quite a bit of paring of staff, but it couldn't cover it all, so tuition went up and students grumbled, protested and those unfortunate to be on the bubble had to drop out.
I'm neither a Congressman nor a Republican, but you can put me in the 'wary of deepening the government's role in higher education' column. So far their meddling in the marketplace has led to an inflation rate for higher education not only several times higher than the general inflation rate - but even higher than the 'skyrocketing healthcare cost' inflation rate we are alway hearing about.
Wary?!? Ha!
Cost of tuition has often been linked to a reduction in State Funding, you don't need to be a Republicrat or Democan, but a mathematician to figure it out. Also, helps to read the news.
Ha ha. So rich, I'm going to remember this one.
Every time I saw tuition go up when I was in school it followed cuts in public education funding. Out here in California, the tuition at UC and CSU has gone up quickly because the state is trying to get its own budget under control after running deep into the red while that stupid actor was elected and re-elected by people who thought a tough talking actor with no experience at all in any government office should reside in Sacramento for 8 years.
Ha hum damn. Going to take us a long time to pay off that mountain of debt, sorry UC and CSU.
Try losing students to skyrocketing tuition and fees. Dur.
"the hotel demanded he take it down and when he did they sued him for $95,000.""
should be
"the hotel demanded he take it down and when he didn't, they sued him for $95,000.""
Honesty has its price. Dishonesty has its avarice.
Free speech is for those people who know how to keep their mouths shut!
C-eh-N-eh-D-eh, not YOOSA
Sounds something like Usenet back in the 80's, before Spam, interwebs, virii and advertising made a train wreck of it all.
let's call it web 3.0
Obviously post-Snowden, they realise how much they need to catch up to the American standard.
If Antonio Prohias were still alive he would have a field day with this.
This can't be right, solar doesn't work, Germany is too far north, the lights must go off every night, PV is a stupid technology, nuclear is the only way!!1 How can this be happening, it must be a liberal media lie put out by the scientifically illiterate eco-nazis... it... it just can't...
Worry not, the average American Household keeps Green and Renewable Energy at bay by leaving lights on all over the house, the refrigerator door open while doing something else, having the TV running while not in the room, having dozens of wall-warts sucking energy to power nothing at all, but burning up watts through cheap inefficient design, pre-heating ovens and stoves, etc.
I'm considered subversive for managing a monthly combined bill of about 30 dollars. I expect their coming to get me, reprogram me so I'll be a more wasteful power consumer, it's only ... just a sec, door. brb
[NO CARRIER]
Like Facebook used to be.
You're just jealous that they let in the hoi polloi, when you thought you had it to yourself and a few thousand people.
Just like the good old days of /.
+1
Legislation barring companies from recruiting minors.
i have foreseen it