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

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  • Reply 181 of 330
    rogifan wrote: »
    How is Larry Page not an improvement over Eric Schmidt? :\

    Larry Page has no prior experience running a tech company the size of Google.
  • Reply 182 of 330
    jungmarkjungmark Posts: 6,926member
    dysamoria wrote: »
    Yeah, that's the magic of wealthy people in CEO positions. You get fired by being given a pay off you could live the rest of your life on and some other company hires you as if you didn't do anything wrong at all where you were fired. Eternal employment opportunities in corporate America, until you decide you have enough money to die filthy rich, and you "retire" to a life of continuing to use the world and society as your plaything, trying to buy a ticket into heaven by donating to charity and naming libraries after yourself, expecting that it will compensate for all the damage you did to society when you earned your filthy wealth, except it's not really fixing anything you've done (it's just building an ego gratifying "legacy").

    Compare to regular people, who get fired for ridiculous manufactured reasons, or pushed out of a career by upper management's cost cutting or other sociopathic behaviors. You can't get even an interview at any new place because you were out of work at all, had lost a job at all, and aren't young enough or cheap enough to be newly hired by any company. You are an unknown anonymous. If you're lucky, you find a wage slave job that isn't barely living wage.

    Executives are too expensive, wealthy, and old to worry about not getting the next job (opposite of regular people that can't actually just quit while they're ahead, because they're not).

    Screwed up society we have here.

    If anyone could be CEOs, they would be CEOs. Start a biz, be your own boss.
  • Reply 183 of 330
    I was going to FCPX edit this to change the name and graphics to fit the situation -- The only source media I have is an old ripped VCR tape... It isn't worth it to buy a remastered DVD... Anyway you'll get the drill!

    Bye Bye Ballmer


    [VIDEO]
  • Reply 184 of 330
    gqbgqb Posts: 1,934member
    "This is an emotional and difficult thing for me to do. I take this step in the best interests of the company I love; it is the thing outside of my family and closest friends that matters to me."

    That doesn't sound to me like someone who's retiring to be with his family. He was pushed.
  • Reply 185 of 330
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member

    Originally Posted by GQB View Post


    He was pushed.


     


    More like tossed.

  • Reply 186 of 330
    monstrositymonstrosity Posts: 2,234member


    Good for Microsoft. Perhaps now they can put up a better fight against Google (Who are their true competition. Not Apple).

  • Reply 187 of 330
    natesfnatesf Posts: 13member
    Finally! This buffoon shouldn't have been the CEO of a clown show moreover one of the largest corporations in the world. Some of the board members that allowed this to go on for so long should be gently sneaking out the back door to spend more time with their families -- or with Ballmer -- whichever the case may be. Yikes!
  • Reply 188 of 330
    gazoobeegazoobee Posts: 3,754member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Dick Applebaum View Post





    What features are missing to satisfy most users' needs? I don't mean the pro Desktop Publisher or SpreadSheet Jockey?

    Why? That's the way it's being used in classrooms, family rooms, meeting rooms board rooms...

    It brings the features most users' need to the cloud that is compatible with their desktop, and mobile device apps.



    AFAICT, Only a few features are absent from the iCloud Beta and the iDevice apps... Things like Bezier Curves, Categories/Pivot Tables... I don't believe most people use these...

    I agree that Apple has work to do on iWork -- but I don't agree that it is a "HUGE" amount!





    I suspect that Steve Jobs lost interest in iWork -- or didn't want to go too far lest he jeopardize the availability of Office on Macs.





    But all that changed with the iPad (and a little with the iPhone). Now, users can grab an iPad and go anywhere and be productive -- on the couch, at the beach, at the park, poolside, in the car, in the lunchroom at school or the office, in the OR, on set... And you have office suite apps that are easy to use and good enough for most people.



    I think Apple is rethinking iWork... and will rewrite and add features/feature parity as necessary... The WWDC announcement and release of the iCloud beta is a serious indication of that, IMO.



    They are taking small, incremental steps -- they don't need another brouhaha the way they handled the FCPX and Maps releases.





    I used to think that if MS brought [the 80% most used parts of] Office to the iPad -- they would make a lot of money and give the stamp of approval to the post-pc era. The Surface fiasco proved me wrong.





    I think Apple will go balls-out with a 60%-80% [most-used features] iWork solution across the Mac, iDevice and iCloud platforms. I could even see Apple releasing a Windows version.



    Edit: Here's an interesting review of the iCloud iWork bets:



    http://www.macworld.com/article/2047239/hands-on-iwork-for-icloud-beta-almost-as-good-as-mac-ios-versions.html#tk.rss_all


     


    I'm not going to go point for point it's too much work with the horrible post editing tools here, but you missed my entire point.  


     


    1) Pages for iOS is not "feature complete" because it lacks even basic features that are not only present on every Word processor ever made, but also present on the original OS X version of Pages.  In particular, pagination is a relatively new "fix" and hyphenation and ligatures are still missing.  These are very basic features that are still missing from the product. 


     


    2) If you don't understand why the ability to project iWork apps is not in fact a "new version" of iWork apps then it's not worth talking about.


     


    3) The online iWork beta also lacks a lot of basic features, not just "Bezier Curves" (which you bizarrely mention so much I think you are in love with them).  It doesn't support languages other than American English for example so when you load any English Word processing document into the web app it becomes alive with red squigglies on every single line.  


     


    You're so busy defending Apple you're not even being rational.  

  • Reply 189 of 330

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by anantksundaram View Post



    Oh Bal.... I mean, bummer! One of Apple's safety nets is gone. :-/



    Fortunately, he's there for twelve months more. That's a lifetime, in this business.


     


    *Maximum* of one year, meaning if they can find someone tomorrow, he's history without delay.

  • Reply 190 of 330

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Gazoobee View Post


     


    I dunno, I've been asking Jesus every god-damn night for a nice house in heaven next to the Virgin Mary (she's pretty hot and I hear she hangs her delicates in the backyard to dry each morning), but he keeps putting me off! He says that I just don't have the pull to be in that neighbourhood.  Apparently only Popes and televangelists get to live on that street at all!  He wants me to live all the way out in the f*cking suburbs, on cloud 51 where the streets are only partially paved in gold.  And the utilities are a rip-off too!    


     


    Meanwhile the *other* Christian god, Satan ... is offering me a really good deal on an apartment with free heating and built in entertainment. I know which one I'm going with. 



     


    Wow! Sad. 

  • Reply 191 of 330

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Rogifan View Post





    And what does Microsoft have if Apple adds side by side app multitaksking in iOS and makes iWork suite of apps free?


     


    ... a rapid case of gas and diarrhea for a week? 

  • Reply 192 of 330
    gazoobee wrote: »
    What features are missing to satisfy most users' needs? I don't mean the pro Desktop Publisher or SpreadSheet Jockey?

    Why? That's the way it's being used in classrooms, family rooms, meeting rooms board rooms...

    It brings the features most users' need to the cloud that is compatible with their desktop, and mobile device apps.


    AFAICT, Only a few features are absent from the iCloud Beta and the iDevice apps... Things like Bezier Curves, Categories/Pivot Tables... I don't believe most people use these...

    I agree that Apple has work to do on iWork -- but I don't agree that it is a "HUGE" amount!



    I suspect that Steve Jobs lost interest in iWork -- or didn't want to go too far lest he jeopardize the availability of Office on Macs.



    But all that changed with the iPad (and a little with the iPhone). Now, users can grab an iPad and go anywhere and be productive -- on the couch, at the beach, at the park, poolside, in the car, in the lunchroom at school or the office, in the OR, on set... And you have office suite apps that are easy to use and good enough for most people.


    I think Apple is rethinking iWork... and will rewrite and add features/feature parity as necessary... The WWDC announcement and release of the iCloud beta is a serious indication of that, IMO.


    They are taking small, incremental steps -- they don't need another brouhaha the way they handled the FCPX and Maps releases.



    I used to think that if MS brought [the 80% most used parts of] Office to the iPad -- they would make a lot of money and give the stamp of approval to the post-pc era. The Surface fiasco proved me wrong.



    I think Apple will go balls-out with a 60%-80% [most-used features] iWork solution across the Mac, iDevice and iCloud platforms. I could even see Apple releasing a Windows version.


    Edit: Here's an interesting review of the iCloud iWork bets:

    http://www.macworld.com/article/2047239/hands-on-iwork-for-icloud-beta-almost-as-good-as-mac-ios-versions.html#tk.rss_all

    I'm not going to go point for point it's too much work with the horrible post editing tools here, but you missed my entire point.  

    1) Pages for iOS is not "feature complete" because it lacks even basic features that are not only present on every Word processor ever made, but also present on the original OS X version of Pages.  In particular, pagination is a relatively new "fix" and hyphenation and ligatures are still missing.  These are very basic features that are still missing from the product. 

    2) If you don't understand why the ability to project iWork apps is not in fact a "new version" of iWork apps

    3) The online iWork beta also lacks a lot of basic features, not just "Bezier Curves" (which you bizarrely mention so much I think you are in love with them).  It doesn't support languages other than American English for example so when you load any English Word processing document into the web app it becomes alive with red squigglies on every single line.  

    You're so busy defending Apple you're not even being rational.  

    The highlighted points are valid.

    I did not say "project" I said "AirPlay" -- and I did not call it a "new version"... it was a feature an update that allows iPad and iPhone (and now Macs) to display iWork documents on another Mac or an HDTV.

    I use Bezier Shapes and Curves all the time and in 30 plus years of using word processors have never used ligatures or needed to use hyphenation -- though I've demoed both. Pages is an excellent tool for storyboarding and with it's Bezier feature and masking capability is my go to tool for creating collages... even though I have a specialty app costing several hundred dollars.


    We have different use cases and needs -- I respect that.


    Based on your posts on the iCloud thread, you appear to be having performance problems * that are frustrating you (and apparently are unique to you).


    * Performance problems with beta software -- are some of the issues that that beta testing is supposed to detect.
  • Reply 193 of 330

    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.





    Why will that somehow diminish Apple's products?   As an MSFT shareholder I'm hopeful Balmer's successor will be better.   As an AAPL shareholder I have no concerns either.   I need and use products from both companies and hope they both produce better and better products. 

  • Reply 194 of 330
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by JimmyIKeen View Post




    Why will that somehow diminish Apple's products?   As an MSFT shareholder I'm hopeful Balmer's successor will be better.   As an AAPL shareholder I have no concerns either.   I need and use products from both companies and hope they both produce better and better products. 



     


    I essentially agree with you (except if Microsoft is diminished or eventually disappears, 'them's the breaks'). Strong competitors move things forward. I don't approve of stealing, such as has happened with Google and Samsung, but Microsoft has been a relatively "honorable", if somewhat confused, competitor of late. Competition = good. Stealing = bad.

  • Reply 196 of 330

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by TcaT View Post


     


    Pages does a lot better job when dealing with documents involving pictures and have the features most home users ever need. The issue for enterprises is all the legacy templates and add-ins that even makes a Microsoft Office upgrade troublesome (We spent 1.5 year and a lot of money on our Office 2003 to Office 2010 project because of these). Also if it weren't for these I could replace Word with Wordpad for most of our users and half of them wouldn't even notice. Last, if anyone is delivering a .docx file as final format they are doing it wrong. The .docx and .pages format should only be used for drafts in most cases.


     


    I mostly agree on Numbers. Excel is just better but also have the issue with a lot of self developed add-ins and macros not being compatible with newer versions. But again for the home user Numbers does what most needs.


     


    Keynote beats PowerPoint any day.



     


    MS Word 1.0 shipped on a single floppy disk. It didn't even have spell check at a time some other word processor software did. Over time it was added onto and became a better and better program. Then it became buggy and still they added on features. 


     


    Meanwhile, as MS Word became more like Aldus Pagemaker and Quark Xpress, the latter two developed serious management and update problems, leaving MS Word to a place to root into. There are a few reasonable products that are cross platform that fill the upper-end desk top publishing tier but most of what's left, like iWorks are aimed at the "quick and dirty" document creating/reading segment. For most enterprise customers; they have found that iWorks on the iPad/iPhone is "good enough" for most situations and since they love the iPad, have adapted to the iWorks suite. 


     


    What may come of this is that enterprise may drop MS Word from the mix and use a high end product like Xpress, InDesign, or Scribus for press-ready and pdf doc creation and relatively featureless Word Processing software for general communications. In many ways email programs churn out a lot more communications than word processors these days. And they are really pretty basic at formating etc. 


     


    What I'm suggesting may be a fork in the road leaving sophisticated desk top publishing programs at the high end and more basic and less costly document creation/reading software for the bulk of the employees. Watch for studies that support this as a time-saving, e.g. cost-saving decision moving forward.


     


    The idea of paying Microsoft $99 per year per employee may be an idea who's time has come and gone. iWorks as well as some other software that costs $10 with free upgrades will be too economical to ignore. Especially since enterprise has had several years of success with iPhones and iPads that don't support MS Word. Microsoft's slowness to market with a decent touch-aware OS may have just cost them the MS Office lock-in.


  • Reply 197 of 330

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by JimmyIKeen View Post




    Why will that somehow diminish Apple's products?   As an MSFT shareholder I'm hopeful Balmer's successor will be better.   



     


    I'm sure Ballmer's replacement will be better, after all HP has fired better CEOs that Ballmer.


     


    The problem I see is the drifting period while the Board searches and interviews possible candidates, then the period while the new CEO settles in and learms to find his/her office, then begins the slow process of changing the huge organization's culture and structure to become more responsive and inventive. 


     


    By then, the landscape of Microsoft's market could have changed 100% again


     


    Sadly, market leaders in the technology field have came and gone. In fact, I can only think of two that have plodded on since the 1960s. Every other name is new.

  • Reply 198 of 330


    NNNNOOOOOO......! Ballmer could keep MS a second-rate or third-rate player until its death knell. 


  • Reply 199 of 330

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by JimmyIKeen View Post




    Why will that somehow diminish Apple's products?   As an MSFT shareholder I'm hopeful Balmer's successor will be better.   As an AAPL shareholder I have no concerns either.   I need and use products from both companies and hope they both produce better and better products. 





    I'd guess that Apple's products would get better if there was someone with real vision at Microsoft.

  • Reply 200 of 330
    asciiascii Posts: 5,936member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Dick Applebaum View Post



    I am retired, but used office for years (since Multiplan). I find that every "Office" thing we need to do is doable with iWork.





    I maintain that iWork is easier to learn, to use and more productive for the new and average user -- no digging through layers of bloat.


    Ok then, I guess you have looked at the actual product! We just have differing evaluations. I still work full time and there's no realistic alternative to MS Office in the workplace. Universities are different - I did a masters (part time) a few years ago and everyone just used whatever office suite they wanted and the academics didn't care. Perhaps Apple could make inroads there, if enough people share your evaluation (and not mine) of the product.

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