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Satya Nadella Appointed Microsoft CEO as Bill Gates Shifts from Chairman to 'Technology Advisor'

TallManNY said:
I hope they get the 8.1 update out. My IT department doesn't want me to upgrade to 8.1 until the update comes out. So I'm still on Windows 8. POC!
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The update will be great for people with desktops and laptops, and somewhat for everyone else because it will apparently lower the footprint.

IJ Reilly said:
I'm not going to defend that concept exactly, but I will go back to my original comment, which is that Microsoft has taken the insider route to remaking itself. This tells me that they really don't see the need for much remaking. What this means for Apple is anybody's guess, but I don't see it as a good thing for Microsoft.
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Well, we knew from the start that they weren't going to be remaking themselves. They're "reforming into a Devices and Services company". We knew from the start that they were going to be bringing in somebody who would continue that agenda. To think they would change from the path that WP and Windows 8 started was something humorous.
 
This feels like a safe move. More of the same for Microsoft. They picked a guy with cloud and enterprise experience while everything is going mobile.

Gates stepping down is not as big a deal as it first seems. He'll now be more available to be involved on actual Microsoft products.
 
Winni said:
Microsoft has a Mac division. And a CEO change at Microsoft is certainly more newsworthy than a new Angry Birds release for iOS...
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Whut?! There's a new Angry Bird games? That's big news!:D

Lets see if MS can refocus making competitive products again, instead of throwing stuff against the wall and seeing what sticks. They seem to have a lot of great technology in the works, but the products they shipped out have been half baked. I see a lot of fanbois complain about how Apple is slow to update or ship new products. That's because they take time to refine it before releasing it into the wild. MS should do the same. Win 7 was what Vista shoulda been, 8.1 was what 8 shoulda been.
 
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Michael Goff said:
Well, we knew from the start that they weren't going to be remaking themselves. They're "reforming into a Devices and Services company". We knew from the start that they were going to be bringing in somebody who would continue that agenda. To think they would change from the path that WP and Windows 8 started was something humorous.
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Humorous, if you insist, but ultimately necessary. The rest of the agenda may be fully buzzword compliant, but it represents nothing concrete, and certainly nothing that presents any danger of appealing to the imaginations of consumers. What they have done, and apparently plan on continuing to do, is milk their OS and enterprise businesses. The problem they have, and apparently plan on continuing to have, is building new products that actually make money. This is Microsoft's historical character flaw, and the key reason why their dominance has slipped over the last ten years. These moves tell me that they are pretty happy where they are, and any changes going forward will be incremental at most.
 
IJ Reilly said:
Humorous, if you insist, but ultimately necessary. The rest of the agenda may be fully buzzword compliant, but it represents nothing concrete, and certainly nothing that presents any danger of appealing to the imaginations of consumers. What they have done, and apparently plan on continuing to do, is milk their OS and enterprise businesses. The problem they have, and apparently plan on continuing to have, is building new products that actually make money. This is Microsoft's historical character flaw, and the key reason why their dominance has slipped over the last ten years. These moves tell me that they are pretty happy where they are, and any changes going forward will be incremental at most.
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Oh, in all honesty they're still an enterprise company and will likely be so for a long time. They want to make devices like Apple, and they want to do services as well. Office 365 is doing well enough, really. They could continue to be an enterprise company for the rest of forever, and they'd still make a lot of money.
 
things get worst before they get better

My many years of experience with companies going through this sort of painful experience, is that this new man may likely be worst then the man he replaces. Boards of Directors seem to fear allowing the really best person for the job, have the job. But, successful companies tend to make the next CEO the right one.

For example Apple.:rolleyes:
 
alexkywalker said:
Office is superior in every way to any other suite out there. Pages and whatever the other crappy apps are called are just a far cry from usable in a work environment and the same goes for GoogleDocs which are buggy as hell (like everything Google makes that is not Google Search it seems).

Windows whether you like it or not, is the primary OS used across the business sector (perhaps with the exception of creative design).

It has its power niches, just like Apple.
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Did I say they weren't good softwares? No. I didn't. I stick with Office for documents and pretty much why I use SkyDrive instead of Google Drive for document creation. Google apps is a joke.
 
Gudi said:
So this is Microsoft following IBM in abandoning the PC and going for enterprise services?
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Cloud, not enterprise. And they're not abandoning it, it's how they're addressing the reality the PC market is shrinking

You look at what MS has done with Azure/cloud in only half a decade, it's pretty impressive
 
I'm excited for what the Nadella + Gates duo can do!

Alumeenium said:
glad it's not Elop, he destroyed Nokia
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Except the board asked him to get the most value for Nokia, and he arguably did. Nokia couldn't compete with the likes of Samsung, but they could let their phone division get purchases, milk Microsoft, and in a few years when the Phone OS wars have died down, start making new phones with the "victor"'s OS.

Gudi said:
Now the new CEO isn't a "product guy" either, so there is no reason to believe, he will be any more successful with selling Nokia and Surface hardware than Balmer was. And Microsofts mobile OS is running mostly on its own hardware. The rest of the world is running some form of Linux. Microsofts consumer services are also tied to its operation system and therefore to its hardware sales.
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He's actually very much a "product guy", just not a product that you see on a daily basis. He's basically the father of the xbox backend, as well as the driving force behind one of the main competitors for amazon cloud services. No, he didn't invent an iPod, but he's responsible for an entire division within Microsoft.

Gudi said:
Driving innovation by copying other companies business models. Here is hoping that Microsoft will never again have power or influence over anything. We don't need another Zune.
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To the contrary! The Zune was one of the best mp3 players to market. It was too late, not supported well, marketed terribly, but ask anyone who used a Zune and an iPod, and they'll tell you that the Zune is better. What Microsoft needs are more Zune's, but with a better marketing team :p
 
Winni said:
The hope is that we will think of him as the guy who is leading Microsoft back to being the most powerful and most influential IT company that drives the innovation in many key areas.
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IT is occupied by many more players and MS products is much more directly competing with open source solutions than in consumer products.
 
Michael Goff said:
Oh, in all honesty they're still an enterprise company and will likely be so for a long time. They want to make devices like Apple, and they want to do services as well. Office 365 is doing well enough, really. They could continue to be an enterprise company for the rest of forever, and they'd still make a lot of money.
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Yes, they could feed off past glories for a long time (they already have), but as history shows, those glories inevitably fade. Companies that survive and thrive are the ones that are constantly in search of new glories and are willing to take some risks to find them. So what I am saying here is, these moves tell us that Microsoft is happy to play a pat hand.
 
Michael Goff said:
I'd hardly say they're not going to do anything in the next couple months. Or do you think they've been sitting on their hands waiting for the announcement?
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It took them 165 days to name a successor for their CEO after officially announcing his retirement. There are Apple products with a shorter lifespan, check the Buyer's Guide.

I never expect Microsoft to do anything interesting, but to do something newsworthy, first another tech-company needs to hit a home run and 18 months later they do an out. And they know, but they keep coming and working.
 
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TheRealTVGuy said:
What's the name of this website again?
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Microsoft has one of the most complicated relationships to Apple, so yea, judging from the thread most are interested in hearing about their big changes.

They are the original competitor from the 80s, they offer Mac software, and needless to say, when they settled in the 90s, they pumped lots of dough in Apple.
 
IJ Reilly said:
Yes, they could feed off past glories for a long time (they already have), but as history shows, those glories inevitably fade. Companies that survive and thrive are the ones that are constantly in search of new glories and are willing to take some risks to find them. So what I am saying here is, these moves tell us that Microsoft is happy to play a pat hand.
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IBM is still doing really well.

I see their devices and services being similar to their dash for a console. It will drain them financially, then maybe start to make some money. They are searching for new glories. They want to seek Surfaces, Office as a Service, Xboxes, and a phone OS. They're trying to stay modern, they're just having a hard time doing so.

Because they're an enterprise company.

Gudi said:
It took them 165 days to name a successor for their CEO after officially announcing his retirement. There are Apple products with a shorter lifespan, check the Buyer's Guide.

I never expect Microsoft to do anything interesting, but to do something newsworthy, first another tech-company needs to hit a huge home run and than 18 months later they hit an out. And they know, but they keep coming and working.
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The CEO is less relevant than you'd think.

And I found Windows 8 to be a fairly interesting change. They could have thrown out two Operating Systems (Mobile and Desktop) and kept the status quo over there. Just improve the desktop, make it run faster, and call it Windows 8. Change up Windows Phone, but it on a tablet, and call it a day. They could have done that and made bucket loads of cash.

It's interesting that they went with something a little more ... of a gamble.
 
Yes, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Spreading toxic Monsanto GMOs around the world and profiting from other people's resulting misery
What a ***** humanitarian
 
ValSalva said:
This feels like a safe move. More of the same for Microsoft. They picked a guy with cloud and enterprise experience while everything is going mobile.

Gates stepping down is not as big a deal as it first seems. He'll now be more available to be involved on actual Microsoft products.
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Gates is not stepping down. He's just stepping sideways.

Both Ballmer and Gates are still in the company, and both still hold positions of considerable importance. This new CEO will be under the pressure of, and under the scrutiny of these two forerunners.

If either Gates or Ballmer want to kibbitz Nadella to death, they will do exactly that. And nothing Nadella can do about it, as he is essentially a token (ceremonial) leader. The majority of the Board and management team have deep loyalties to Gates and Ballmer.

(Urban Dictionary) Kibbitz: Giving unwanted advice or suggestion or even comments. Like people standing over your shoulder while you are playing chess and they are talking about your game commenting and critiquing your every move.
 
IJ Reilly said:
Yes, they could feed off past glories for a long time (they already have), but as history shows, those glories inevitably fade. Companies that survive and thrive are the ones that are constantly in search of new glories and are willing to take some risks to find them. So what I am saying here is, these moves tell us that Microsoft is happy to play a pat hand.
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Not necessarily a pat hand, so much as long, slow game. Microsoft rarely ever does anything that shakes up the entire industry overnight, and almost never enters a market before anyone else. Truth be told, they're a very risk adverse company.

But that's not to say they don't plan ahead, and set up contingency plans. Much like the Xbox before it, the Surface line is slowly making a name for itself, and if we go by recent trends, it'll be profitable within a couple of years. The same could be said for Windows Phone. It didn't set the world on fire like the iPhone did, but it's been growing and gaining mindshare since its release.

That's what MS does. They don't blow everyone's minds, and go screaming right out the gate. Usually their first releases are pretty tepid. But over time, their products grow into something that's not only merely useful, but honestly good, and they'll end up making a ton of cash off of their efforts (though not always directly).
 
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