Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer calls it quits, to retire within a year

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  • Reply 121 of 330


    Why is anyone happy about this? Ballmer's the best thing to happen to Microsoft. His replacement might actually be COMPETENT; we don't want that.

  • Reply 122 of 330
    asciiascii Posts: 5,936member

    They should sell a full (not upgrade) version of Windows on a USB thumbdrive, that is designed to boot on a Mac (EFI) and has a full set of drivers pre-installed for all the hardware Apple ships. The fact is, Macs are the most beautiful hardware at the moment, don't fight it, go with it.

  • Reply 123 of 330
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


    Why is anyone happy about this? Ballmer's the best thing to happen to Microsoft. His replacement might actually be COMPETENT; we don't want that.



    In our fanboy hearts maybe we want Monkeyboy to stay on.

  • Reply 124 of 330
    blackbookblackbook Posts: 1,361member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post





    How is moving that software online not an update?


     


    It's not.


     


    All they did was moved 5 year old software with no new features onto iCloud.


     


    Apple is not even trying to convince us that iWork for iCloud is somehow iWork 2013 so don't act like it is.

  • Reply 125 of 330
    19831983 Posts: 1,225member
    He's finally leaving - hurrah!!
  • Reply 126 of 330
    gazoobeegazoobee Posts: 3,754member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Robin Huber View Post



    Ballmer: "I'm reeatch, beeatch!"



    Kinda takes the joy out of it.


     


    He's a prime candidate for an early death after retirement if that makes you feel better.  He was a heart attack waiting to happen while he was in charge and once his purpose in life is removed, he's a good candidate for one of those guys that dies suddenly a month or two after leaving work. 

  • Reply 127 of 330


    Although Ballmer leaving MS is Apple's worst nightmare, here's hoping a new leader can keep the MS employees employed and working hard on new and creative projects. I don't ever want to see a world where Apple has no competitors. Right now, MS is so lost, that I wouldn't even consider it a competitor to Apple.

  • Reply 128 of 330
    ratsgratsg Posts: 53member


    Ballmer is spending these upcoming 12 months preparing for this:


     


    http://abc.go.com/shows/dancing-with-the-stars

  • Reply 129 of 330
    blackbookblackbook Posts: 1,361member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Gazoobee View Post


     


    He's a prime candidate for an early death after retirement if that makes you feel better.  He was a heart attack waiting to happen while he was in charge and once his purpose in life is removed, he's a good candidate for one of those guys that dies suddenly a month or two after leaving work. 



     


    Wow, I didn't realize imagining someone having a heart attack and dying was a cool thing to post.

  • Reply 130 of 330
    blackbook wrote: »
    You nailed it!


    Wintel machines will still be around (the trucks) but will become niche players.


    MS Office, too, will be on a steady decline.


    Apple's iWork apps on the desktop, mobile, touch and the web will disrupt MS Office (finally) for the masses.

    Apple hasn't updated iWork in almost 5 years.

    I'm not sure if they're interested in disrupting Microsoft Office.

    Anyway Microsoft has new cash cow Office 365, and that will keep them relevant at least with businesses for another decade or so.

    • 2011 iWork for iPhone/iPad

    • 2012 iWork for HDTV/AppleTV via AirPlay

    • 2013 iWork for iCloud


    Regardless of whether Apple is interested in disrupting MS Office or not -- it's happening.

    The iDevices make iWork available to the masses...

    iWork will increasingly be taught in schools instead of MS Office as one-to-one iPad use in the classroom explodes.

    With iWork on iCloud your documents can be accessed from anywhere on any platform -- even Windows, Linux, Chrome, Android...

    increasingly, BYOD will mean Bring Your Own Documents!


    You figure it out!
  • Reply 131 of 330

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by blackbook View Post


     


    Apple hasn't updated iWork in almost 5 years.


     


    I'm not sure if they're interested in disrupting Microsoft Office.


     


    Anyway Microsoft has new cash cow Office 365, and that will keep them relevant at least with businesses for another decade or so.



     


    I like to watch movies. Besides being entertaining, for the most part, movies also tell me a lot about technology. Watch Wall Street from 1987. That mobile phone that Michael Douglas is using is, imo, Office.


     


    Fro shits and giggles watch a few movies from 2006. Keep track of the phones being used. Then fast forward about 3 years. Hmmm... people are using their fingers on that strange contraption. Again... that flip phone in the 2006 movies... that's Office... imho.

  • Reply 133 of 330
    asciiascii Posts: 5,936member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Dick Applebaum View Post



    Regardless of whether Apple is interested in disrupting MS Office or not -- it's happening.


    This is the same kind of thinking you can see Ballmer engaged in in the iPhone video above.


    "We have great Windows Mobile devices... it'll do music, it'll do Internet, it's do email, it'll do instant messaging... I like our strategy"


    The mistake Ballmer made was thinking only in abstract functionality and not looking at the actual product, and the actual iPhone was 10x better than his.


     


    You also speak in abstract functionality, such as iWork working on the web, being distributed to many people via iDevices, etc - but don't look at the actual product. Pages and Numbers are just awful. Keynote alone is decent.

  • Reply 134 of 330
    The best thing to do with Microsoft is to break it up into several smaller companies. This would raise shareholder value while avoiding the internal conflicts that have held this company back for so many years.
  • Reply 135 of 330
    cpsrocpsro Posts: 3,192member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post



    "Ballmer's tenure was a profitable but tumultuous period in which Microsoft pushed into new markets beyond the PC, but also saw its stronghold in smartphones..."


    Correction: crap-phones. Windows Mobile was utter crap!

  • Reply 136 of 330
    I agree with much of jragosta wrote above.

    Time for Microsoft to do what they should have finished when they started Longhorn. A complete rewrite of Windows as UNIX-based. That whole NT kernel should be allowed to whither and die, taking the registry, scattered .com and .dll files with it! Packages: novel (for MS), yet efficient and easily managed by every single other OS on the planet. Continue to support Win7, 8 and possibly 9 (next year release) for another decade as they've done with WinXP.

    How parallel to Apple if they did that*, considering it would take all of their engineering muscle and talent to have something ready in a couple of years, at which time... get ready for it... Windows X...:smokey:

    * They won't. Nobody with balls... including "___mer" all these years.

    Scott Forstall: save him for a rainy day at Apple once he's grown up and seen "The Light"**; or if TC ever gets tired of all the BS the media and WS constantly throws at him and walks.

    ** Edited to add: "The Light" being iOS 7 and SF being humbled that some one other than his majesty could create a compelling modern OS. SJ experienced the same... whether he would ever admit or not is another story.
  • Reply 137 of 330
    gazoobeegazoobee Posts: 3,754member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Dick Applebaum View Post



    • 2011 iWork for iPhone/iPad ...



     


    And still not even feature complete to this day!


     


    Quote:


    Originally Posted by Dick Applebaum View Post



    ... • 2012 iWork for HDTV/AppleTV via AirPlay ...


     


    Totally not fair to include this as a "version" of iWork. 


     



    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Dick Applebaum View Post



    ...  • 2013 iWork for iCloud ...


     


    A beta that is not feature complete with even the "not feature complete" iOS version so far. 


     


    Apple still has a HUGE amount of work to do to make iWork a respectable product.  


     


    What worries me the most is that they don't seem to see it that way at all.  They actually seem to think they are doing okay with this stuff.   image

  • Reply 138 of 330
    gwmacgwmac Posts: 1,807member


    Ballmer was good for Apple so I am sorry to see him go. Good in the sense that he weakened a competitor.  A good CEO can turn things around. For proof you only need to look at Yahoo and their recent change of fortune. A new CEO for Microsoft could do the same thing. 

  • Reply 139 of 330
    solomansoloman Posts: 228member
    rogifan wrote: »
    Sell off Xbox and focus on enterprise and cloud.

    Why sell Xbox when it's starting to become profitable?
  • Reply 140 of 330
    GrangerFX wrote: »
    The best thing to do with Microsoft is to break it up into several smaller companies. This would raise shareholder value while avoiding the internal conflicts that have held this company back for so many years.

    A good idea until you have to try and integrate the diverse holdings into a cohesive product and ecosystem to take on Apple or Google.
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