MacBU moving into Microsoft Business Division

Posted:
in Mac Software edited January 2014
As part of its corporate infrastructure shakeup revealed this week, Microsoft will consolidate its Mac Business Unit -- the team that produces software for Mac OS X -- into the company's Business Division.



Mary-Jo Foley of CNet revealed this week that MacBU is moving from Microsoft's Specialized Devices and Applications team -- where it currently exists with the Embedded, Auto, Surface and Hardware operations. Those teams will remain under the watch of Robbie Bach, president of Entertainment & Devices Division at Microsoft, until his departure this fall.



MacBU is behind the development of Office 2011, the update to its industry standard suite of software. The new version will feature the return of Outlook, built from the ground up in Cocoa for Mac OS X. Office 2011 for Mac is currently in beta, and is due out later this year.



Microsoft this week revealed that both Bach and J Allard, the company's chief experience officer, are leaving the company. In addition to the MacBU team, the major organizational changes will also affect the Windows Phone and Zune products, which compete with Apple's iPhone and iPod.



Microsoft's changes were attributed this week to "bruising competition" from both Apple and Google by The Wall Street Journal. It was also alleged that Allard's departure is related to Microsoft opting to abandon its dual screen Courier concept, a touchscreen tablet project that he spearheaded.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 21
    smiles77smiles77 Posts: 668member
    I don't think this will help the MacBU team, or the development of Mac Office at all...
  • Reply 2 of 21
    joe hsjoe hs Posts: 488member
    I didn't know office 2011 was in cocoa
  • Reply 3 of 21
    ozexigeozexige Posts: 215member
    I'm (almost) sorry MS, your a spent 'giant'.

    You are no longer the business juggernaut, nor the most valuable tech company in the world.



    A quote from Bloomberg (last 20 mins)

    1). "APPL officially passed MSFT's value, by any measure, market cap and enterprise value"

    2). " Unearned revenue, a measure of multiyear contracts, also fell short of some estimates, a sign business demand may not be picking up as quickly as some analysts had predicted."



    "Business just isn't what it used to be"
  • Reply 4 of 21
    robin huberrobin huber Posts: 3,949member
    The Ballmer era has officially begun. The Gates era has passed.
  • Reply 5 of 21
    hillstoneshillstones Posts: 1,490member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by OzExige View Post


    I'm (almost) sorry MS, your a spent 'giant'.

    You are no longer the business juggernaut, nor the most valuable tech company in the world.



    A quote from Bloomberg (last 20 mins)

    1). "APPL officially passed MSFT's value, by any measure, market cap and enterprise value"

    2). " Unearned revenue, a measure of multiyear contracts, also fell short of some estimates, a sign business demand may not be picking up as quickly as some analysts had predicted."



    "Business just isn't what it used to be"



    Since Windows PCs still dominate the business world by an enormous majority, yes, they are still the business juggernaut. Just because they may not be as valuable on paper, they still dominate the business world.
  • Reply 6 of 21
    hillstoneshillstones Posts: 1,490member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Smiles77 View Post


    I don't think this will help the MacBU team, or the developement of Mac Office at all...



    Moving the department doesn't mean they are cutting the department. Mac Office still makes lots of money for Microsoft. If you think the development of Mac Office will suffer, you might want to use it now to learn how to spell development.
  • Reply 7 of 21
    ozexigeozexige Posts: 215member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hillstones View Post


    Since Windows PCs still dominate the business world by an enormous majority, yes, they are still the business juggernaut. Just because they may not be as valuable on paper, they still dominate the business world.



    No, you're wrong. Business IS NOT what it used to be,

    "Unearned revenue, a measure of multiyear contracts, also fell short of some estimates, a sign business demand may not be picking up as quickly as some analysts had predicted."
  • Reply 8 of 21
    icyfogicyfog Posts: 338member
    This move still doesn't make me want to try Microsoft software, much less buy it.
  • Reply 9 of 21
    blastdoorblastdoor Posts: 3,258member
    hard to know what to make of this. i think someone would have to really know the personalities involved to understand the implications.
  • Reply 10 of 21
    ?Bout time.



    So, Mac software development will now occur in Microsoft?s core software development department, not out in the ?wood shed? with the software engineers that make Microsoft system software for automobiles.



    That?s the way it should have been decades ago.



    Microsoft does not manufacture or sell PCs.



    Microsoft is a software company. That means they make and sell software for personal computers.



    The Mac is a personal computer.



    Microsoft makes operating system software and application software.



    Other than personal animosity, there was no reason for Microsoft not to make and sell software for the Mac, a personal computer.



    It was good that they made and sold their flagship software suite for the Mac, Microsoft Office, but the Mac version was always deliberately underpowered and under-featured. It had a degree of cross-compatibility with the PC version for Windows, but far from seamless compatibility.



    The loooooooooongtime policy of Microsoft of not providing Exchange server support in Microsoft Office Mac was a naked effort to prevent Mac personal computers from encroaching upon the big business territory Microsoft wanted to monopolize.



    It is justifiable if Microsoft did not make a certain PC software product for the Mac due to the Mac?s installed base -- that would be an unbiased business and marketing decision.



    But other decisions were made to create Microsoft Mac software that was inferior to its PC counterpart, I?m guessing, so if making a rational business decision, buyers would buy PCs and run the superior Microsoft PC versions of said software because of their superiority in power, features and productivity.



    When you watch a Microsoft TV ad, you?re often left scratching your head asking, ?Does Microsoft make PCs??



    Their ads with the line, ?I?m a PC? seem like they should be coming from HP or Dell, not software maker Microsoft.



    For the emotional and temperamental Steve Ballmer to make the decision to move Mac software development from a separate ?Business Unit? in the ?back yard? into Microsoft?s core software department is significant in that Steve Ballmer must have had to overcome his personal animosities and anti-Apple, anti-Mac biases and make a rational, unemotional business decision to stop the hemorrhaging at Microsoft.



    Hopefully, now Microsoft will act as a software company: a company that develops and sells software for computing devices that run software. That?s how they should have viewed themselves all along, not as some blur between a PC manufacturer and an operating system maker, doing PC makers? marketing jobs for them for free.



    Ballmer must have had to calm himself down and tamp down his emotions, but it appears Microsoft recognizes (rationally, not emotionally) that they?d better start selling software for Macs, mobile devices, tablets and any other computing devices that run software, or else sit and watch their revenues and profits plummet before their eyes (and The Street's eyes).



    In survival mode, I think Ballmer overpowers his antipathies and emotionally-rooted biases and makes rational, logical, unbiased business decisions.



    This is one of those rare times, I?m surmising.



    Microsoft should make Mac Office with feature parity with Office for PCs. In a mixed Mac and PC environment, workers should be able to work on the same document (or presentation or spreadsheet) on a Mac or a PC and send the same file back and forth between computers as different people collaborate on the same document -- irrespective of which machine they?re using. Seamlessly.



    Autodesk should do the same with AutoCAD for Mac.



    Microsoft should develop and market apps for iPhone OS and maybe even Blackberry and Android! If they want to increase revenues and profits.



    But making Office and IE8 for Linux might REALLY harm Windows? market share, so I doubt that will happen.



    Microsoft Office is available on only two computing platforms: PC and Mac. And which two personal computing platforms can you really say are successful? It's no mere coincidence.



    That?s the critical importance of Microsoft Office. It?s the sine qua non of a computing platform and largely the reason Linux has not taken over like everyone was predicting five years ago or so. MS Office confers legitimacy.





    Viva Mac!



  • Reply 11 of 21
    inklinginkling Posts: 768member
    This should be a plus for Macs, since it'll put the Mac BU under the same corporate executives as their Windows Office counterparts. That could mean better support for businesses running Macs.



    It'd also be great if this meant that OneNote gets ported to Macs and (even better) the iPad.
  • Reply 12 of 21
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Robin Huber View Post


    The Ballmer era has officially begun. The Gates era has passed.



    The Ballmer era will be short and painful for Microsoft.
  • Reply 13 of 21
    naboozlenaboozle Posts: 213member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by defenderjarvis View Post


    ... That?s the critical importance of Microsoft Office. It?s the sine qua non of a computing platform and largely the reason Linux has not taken over like everyone was predicting five years ago or so. MS Office confers legitimacy.



    Agree. MS's dominance was always built upon the foundation of Office. Windows was secondary, imho.
  • Reply 14 of 21
    sacto joesacto joe Posts: 895member
    Inkling, I'll go one better:



    I think MicroSoft would be very smart to jump on the iPad bandwagon ASAP with a version of MS Office.
  • Reply 15 of 21
    satcomersatcomer Posts: 130member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post


    The Ballmer era will be short and painful for Microsoft.



    +1



    You took the words out of my mouth.
  • Reply 16 of 21
    sockrolidsockrolid Posts: 2,789member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hillstones View Post


    Since Windows PCs still dominate the business world by an enormous majority, yes, they are still the business juggernaut. Just because they may not be as valuable on paper, they still dominate the business world.



    You said it: the W word. It has been said before that Microsoft is no longer really in the software business. They're in the Windows business.



    Microsoft sells Windows licenses to hardware OEMs. Then they sell Office to corporate IT departments who are too deeply locked in to even think about exploring cheaper and/or better alternatives. Windows and Office are business tools, like telephones and desks. Employees are issued these tools, and they use them because they have no choice.



    Apple sells products that people actually *want* to use. Because of Apple's smaller desktop computer market share, they were forced to be better. They had to attract users instead of simply shutting out young, vulnerable competitors the way Microsoft did, becoming a near-monopoly, then forcing customers to upgrade. Apple pulls in new customers, Microsoft pushes updates on existing customers.



    Apple has learned from that experience. They now build world-class consumer products that sell extremely well. But more importantly, Apple has worked long and hard on their infrastructure. The foundation for future growth. And the market has rewarded them for that.
  • Reply 17 of 21
    souliisoulsouliisoul Posts: 827member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hillstones View Post


    Moving the department doesn't mean they are cutting the department. Mac Office still makes lots of money for Microsoft. If you think the development of Mac Office will suffer, you might want to use it now to learn how to spell development.



    He can use open office to do his spell check (cut and paste, what a waste of time) and it is free or even better when using OSX , the spell check is automatic even when writing in this discussion thread.
  • Reply 18 of 21
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post


    The Ballmer era will be short and painful for Microsoft.



    No. It will be painfully long for us consumers.
  • Reply 19 of 21
    addisonaddison Posts: 1,185member
    I see this as a positive move. It is a recognition that Windows is loosing market share, and if you look at demographics what is currently a trickle of conversions (Windows-OSX) could become a waterfall.



    MS has to protect it self and whilst it is nice to sell windows licences, it is better for them to make Office the dominant office product on both platforms. Look how the market share of the all dominant IE has plummeted to around 50% whereas three years ago it was over 85%.



    MS cannot sit on their hands and wish OSX away, and they are not. I would not be surprised to see more Microsoft products becoming available on both platforms. I can see MS making the awful "Publisher" available - why, because schools love it. Access on the other hand would be a huge step and would send out a huge signal to the market. If MS were to release Access for Mac then they really believe that Windows will lose significant market share to OSX.
  • Reply 20 of 21
    Supposedly the reason M$ hasn't ported access or visio to Mac is because they think it will get blown out of the water by Filemaker and OmniGraphe respectively.
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