Uh, you realise Ballmer has been gone for 6 months?
Uh, you realize that it will take much more than 6 months for the effects of any changes made by his successor to be noticeable, right? These layoffs have been coming for a long time, Ballmer simply left before they were implemented.
"The job cuts are part of CEO Satya Nadella’s sweeping changes to the company, as he transitions away from former CEO Steve Ballmer’s vision of a “devices and services” company toward a “mobile-first and cloud-first” productivity firm."
So he is planning to take on Apple and Google (through their evil servants Scamsung) even more directly starting with <1% of the mobile market? That on the heels of the Apple-IBM alliance too. I had read many articles suggesting he might move towards a more IBM / Oracle type company and get out of the consumer end. So, I am left not seeing how he pulls off focusing on mobile and without a customer base for it, the cloud sure won't be in high demand.
Where are these jobs? The mention of Nokia suggest that many of the white-collar jobs will be in Finland, where Nokia is a huge slice of the nation's high-tech industry. And those that are factory jobs in places such as South Korea suggests that Nokia/Microsoft is joining the march to contracting out to huge almost-sweatshop factories built wherever the pay is the lowest.
That's not healthy for a global economy. Kill jobs and over the long run you eliminate the ability of people to buy your products.
If it were explainable as easily as saying these are not really 'Microsoft' jobs he'd have done that I would think, that or he sucks at PR.
Not to make light of the layoffs, but it looks even more dramatic on the heels of the Apple/IBM announcement. It looks like, "Apple and IBM teamed up? Okay, we give up! Bring me a tall stack of pink slips." The good talent will get picked up, but it still sucks to have to get canned.
Uh, you realize that it will take much more than 6 months for the effects of any changes made by his successor to be noticeable, right? These layoffs have been coming for a long time, Ballmer simply left before they were implemented.
The job cuts are part of CEO Satya Nadella’s sweeping changes to the company, as he transitions away from former CEO Steve Ballmer’s vision of a “devices and services” company toward a “mobile-first and cloud-first” productivity firm.
Is there anything MS could do that you wouldn't call rudderless?
The rudder?
MS took the easy out -- layoffs ease the pain, but don't cure the disease.
MS needs to decide, strategically, which businesses in can succeed in.
As JLG said it:
Tortured statements from CEOs, politicians, coworkers, spouses, or suppliers, in no hierarchical order, mean one thing: I have something to hide, but I want to be able to say I told you the facts.
With all this in mind, let’s see if we can restate Nadella’s message to the troops:
This is the beginning of our new FY 2015 – and of a new era at Microsoft.
I have good news and bad news.
The bad news is the old Devices and Services mantra won’t work.
For example: I’ve determined we’ll never make money in tablets or smartphones.
So, do we continue to pretend we’re “all in” or do we face reality and make the painful decision to pull out so we can use our resources – including our integrity – to fight winnable battles? With the support of the Microsoft Board, I’ve chosen the latter. We’ll do our utmost to minimize the pain that will naturally arise from this change. Specifically, we’ll offer generous transitions arrangements in and out of the company to concerned Microsoftians and former Nokians.
The good news is we have immense resources to be a major player in the new world of Cloud services and Native Apps for mobile devices. We let the first innings of that game go by, but the sting energizes us. An example of such commitment is the rapid spread of Office applications – and related Cloud services – on any and all mobile devices. All Microsoft Enterprise and Consumer products/services will follow, including Xbox properties.
I realize this will disrupt the status quo and apologize for the pain to come. We have a choice: change or be changed.
Steve Jobs has been gone for two years and he still gets blamed for stuff. What’s your point?
If you read the post I quoted, you'd see it was a reply to AjbDtc826 claiming Ballmer was to blame for these cuts, when he wasn't the one directly instigating them.
MS took the easy out -- layoffs ease the pain, but don't cure the disease.
MS needs to decide, strategically, which businesses in can succeed in.
And therein lies their problem in a nutshell. Without Gates ripping off Steve they have nothing left that can succeed. As others have mentioned they might have been better off staying with their true and tested MO and jumping in and reverse engineering iOS from the get go and facing the courts later like Google. For once in their existence they tried to do something themselves ... the rest will be written by historians.
When founders leave (Gates, Ballmer, Jobs, Dell, etc.) the bean counters usually take over. It then becomes all about maximizing profits, cutting costs, maintaining the status quo, not rocking the boat. Tim Cook has shown signs of that behavior too, just not as much. Time will tell with him.
"The job cuts are part of CEO Satya Nadella’s sweeping changes to the company, as he transitions away from former CEO Steve Ballmer’s vision of a “devices and services” company toward a “mobile-first and cloud-first” productivity firm."
So he is planning to take on Apple and Google (through their evil servants Scamsung) even more directly starting with <1% of the mobile market? That on the heels of the Apple-IBM alliance too. I had read many articles suggesting he might move towards a more IBM / Oracle type company and get out of the consumer end. So, I am left not seeing how he pulls off focusing on mobile and without a customer base for it, the cloud sure won't be in high demand.
One way -- MS gets out of the hardware business entirely (never should have entered it). Then provide a software and services model for the major mobile players.
Being serious for a moment, I have a feeling this guy is too honest about Microsoft's terrible position and at some point he will get yanked out of the big chair by the powers behind the scenes.
Uh, you realise Ballmer has been gone for 6 months?
Uh, you realize that he was the one who led his company into the situation in the first place. He's only been gone since Feb, I'm sure this was planned in the transition way before it was announced.
Comments
Uh, you realise Ballmer has been gone for 6 months?
Uh, you realize that it will take much more than 6 months for the effects of any changes made by his successor to be noticeable, right? These layoffs have been coming for a long time, Ballmer simply left before they were implemented.
Keeping jobs that you can't afford to keep is worse for the economy. If Microsoft goes under, you will lose 100% of the jobs rather than 14%
So he is planning to take on Apple and Google (through their evil servants Scamsung) even more directly starting with <1% of the mobile market? That on the heels of the Apple-IBM alliance too. I had read many articles suggesting he might move towards a more IBM / Oracle type company and get out of the consumer end. So, I am left not seeing how he pulls off focusing on mobile and without a customer base for it, the cloud sure won't be in high demand.
If it were explainable as easily as saying these are not really 'Microsoft' jobs he'd have done that I would think, that or he sucks at PR.
How many people do you really need to maintain Windows and Office? Neither will be needed in the near future so he may as well cut back.
He has been on the hot line to Blackberry for tips on this obviously ...
The rudder?
And if the CEO was from the Netherlands...Not to make light of the layoffs, but it looks even more dramatic on the heels of the Apple/IBM announcement. It looks like, "Apple and IBM teamed up? Okay, we give up! Bring me a tall stack of pink slips." The good talent will get picked up, but it still sucks to have to get canned.
I once read somewhere that those ribbons would be the death of Microsoft ...
SW ribbons are digital toe tags.
Uh, really.
MS took the easy out -- layoffs ease the pain, but don't cure the disease.
MS needs to decide, strategically, which businesses in can succeed in.
As JLG said it:
http://www.mondaynote.com/2014/07/13/microsofts-new-ceo-needs-an-editor/
Where does the Xbox fit?
Uh, you realise Ballmer has been gone for 6 months?
Steve Jobs has been gone for two years and he still gets blamed for stuff. What’s your point?
If you read the post I quoted, you'd see it was a reply to AjbDtc826 claiming Ballmer was to blame for these cuts, when he wasn't the one directly instigating them.
And therein lies their problem in a nutshell. Without Gates ripping off Steve they have nothing left that can succeed. As others have mentioned they might have been better off staying with their true and tested MO and jumping in and reverse engineering iOS from the get go and facing the courts later like Google. For once in their existence they tried to do something themselves ... the rest will be written by historians.
When founders leave (Gates, Ballmer, Jobs, Dell, etc.) the bean counters usually take over. It then becomes all about maximizing profits, cutting costs, maintaining the status quo, not rocking the boat. Tim Cook has shown signs of that behavior too, just not as much. Time will tell with him.
One way -- MS gets out of the hardware business entirely (never should have entered it). Then provide a software and services model for the major mobile players.
And spin/sell off the Xbox!
Being serious for a moment, I have a feeling this guy is too honest about Microsoft's terrible position and at some point he will get yanked out of the big chair by the powers behind the scenes.
MS can afford to keep them monetarily. It's not good for business to have too many redundant employees. Hence why WS loves layoffs.