Wither Microsoft

[AdamSmith]

Comprehensive vivisection of how Microsoft got the way it is today. I had seen bits and pieces of this in other places, but nowhere as complete or synthesized:

http://m.vanityfair.com/business/2012/08/microsoft-lost-mojo-steve-ballmer

[Guest EXPAT]

I think Microsoft has so much legacy crap to deal with that it inhibits them. They need to dump Windows and start over but they won't do it because of the installed base.

[Guest FourAces]

I think Microsoft has so much legacy crap to deal with that it inhibits them. They need to dump Windows and start over but they won't do it because of the installed base.

Actually a little to their credit they did zap the windows kernel and built windows 8 from the ground up. Whether its too little too late we won't know till this fall but the early reviews have been pretty positive.

On the mobile front they also built from the ground up Metro UI that has received some very good reviews but the devices have not really caught on yet.

[Guest EXPAT]

And I'm no longer willing to give them a chance now that I'm fully and totally an Apple fanatic. . .

[Guest FourAces]

And I'm no longer willing to give them a chance now that I'm fully and totally an Apple fanatic. . .

I don't really blame you. I have slowly been moving to Apple products. I have the iPhone, iPad ... this fall I probably will get Apple TV (the puck not the rumored television set). The main reason I have not purchased a iMac yet is because I cannot afford it. But one day

[Guest NCBored]

'Whither Microsoft' would have been a kinder headlng.

[AdamSmith]

'Whither Microsoft' would have been a kinder headlng.

True.

You advocating that, or jes sayin?

I know from my consulting biz so many MS execs over the past like dozen years who as the article says "succeeded" thx to their skill at bureaucratic infighting, not much else. Same rot that killed DEC, Apollo, almost IBM til Gerstner who knew the score came in and did major surgery to save it, etc.

[MsGuy]

Jesus fucking god, it reads like some drawn out, decade long nightmare they couldn't wake up from. How could so many smart people fuck up a sure thing so badly?

[Guest CharliePS]

I must be the only person in the world who started with Apple products in the '80s, but was forced to move to Microsoft at the end of the century, and discovered that I actually preferred it. Now I find it frustrating when I have to use my partner's iMac to do anything.

Disclaimer: I don't use a computer for anything that requires much speed or complexity.

[Guest NCBored]

True.

You advocating that, or jes sayin?

I know from my consulting biz so many MS execs over the past like dozen years who as the article says "succeeded" thx to their skill at bureaucratic infighting, not much else. Same rot that killed DEC, Apollo, almost IBM til Gerstner who knew the score came in and did major surgery to save it, etc.

jes sayin

[Guest EXPAT]

I support a number of people and their computers mainly because they aren't computer savvy or they are of an older generation and they need things easy and cheap. And they all have Windows based computers. What is so annoying now with a Windows based computer are the enormous number of updates coming daily it seems. There is always an interruption to the session with an upgrade or some security update. It has become so common now with Windows that the people I support are afraid of their computer because all they seem to see are security updates.

[Guest NCBored]

I support a number of people and their computers mainly because they aren't computer savvy or they are of an older generation and they need things easy and cheap. And they all have Windows based computers. What is so annoying now with a Windows based computer are the enormous number of updates coming daily it seems. There is always an interruption to the session with an upgrade or some security update. It has become so common now with Windows that the people I support are afraid of their computer because all they seem to see are security updates.

That's odd - i get updates maybe once a week or less. I'm using Windows 7, and usually a number of updates are installed at the same time. And it onlly happens when I shut the machine down. Perhaps they need to check their settings for managing updates. I don;t recall ever having a session interrupted.

Adobe is the software whose updates seem abnormally frequent.

[Guest zipperzone]

I don't really blame you. I have slowly been moving to Apple products. I have the iPhone, iPad ... this fall I probably will get Apple TV (the puck not the rumored television set). The main reason I have not purchased a iMac yet is because I cannot afford it. But one day

I have the 21" version of the iMac. Totally satisfied and it looks so sleek too. Doesn't fuck up the decor.

[TampaYankee]

That's odd - i get updates maybe once a week or less. I'm using Windows 7, and usually a number of updates are installed at the same time. And it onlly happens when I shut the machine down. Perhaps they need to check their settings for managing updates. I don;t recall ever having a session interrupted.

Weekly OS updates are appalling!! Hardly a sign of a stable or thoughtful OS or a thoughtful engineering team. Windows version whatever is just a mess, always has been. Probably always will be in view of the above article.

Actual Apple OS updates are rare. Most (only occasional) Apple updates are for apps like I-Tunes or the like. Rare OS updates add new capability like synching with other devices etc, i.e. new capablities.

As for having sessions interrupted, I always interrupt a session when downloading updates. OS updates being life and death critical to functioning computers, I NEVER take chances in ANY OS update process. So I cede complete control to the update procedure while it is active.

What surprises me about the above article is not that that stuff happens in a 'mature' enterprise but that Gates oversaw it either without noticing the implementation or results of that bureaucratic machinery. I thought he was more of a visionary and cutting edge innovator. That requires an innovative cutting edge environment. More than just the bureaucratic establishment became barnicle-encursted it seems.

[TampaYankee]

I must be the only person in the world who started with Apple products in the '80s, but was forced to move to Microsoft at the end of the century, and discovered that I actually preferred it. Now I find it frustrating when I have to use my partner's iMac to do anything.

Disclaimer: I don't use a computer for anything that requires much speed or complexity.

Nope, you're not. I started in the 80's too and only accepted the PC when I started with this site. I couldn't as comfortably afford a Mac and thought a PC would be a boon as most users have PC's. I acclimated more easily than I anticipated.

However, Windows is just a behemoth and a mess. I never used it for high security functions like banking or online purchases. Just too insecure. Sometimes I like to walk on the darker side of the cyber street. If you do you will encounter security threats in short order. These are invisible until too late unless... you have a Mac. You can see many try to infect by seeing the appearance of unanticipated .exe files. Even the ones you don't see won't execute. I was astonished by this when I came back to a Mac.

And to add the final and most major kicker, a Mac is sooooooo much easier to use whether uninstalling an app or writing to CD/DVD, or so many other things. Not to mention almost nonexistant OS updates.

[Guest EXPAT]

TY you are absolutely correct. It was such an eye opening experience when I migrated to Apple 5 years ago and I have never looked back. (MacBook Pro, iMac, iPhone, AppleTV, iPad etc. . . )

[AdamSmith]

What surprises me about the above article is not that that stuff happens in a 'mature' enterprise but that Gates oversaw it either without noticing the implementation or results of that bureaucratic machinery. I thought he was more of a visionary and cutting edge innovator. That requires an innovative cutting edge environment. More than just the bureaucratic establishment became barnicle-encursted it seems.

My reaction too. Thought Gates was shrewder and saw more clearly.

But that he couldn't or wouldn't see Ballmer as Not The Right Guy sure comes out blindingly.

Coincidentally tonight just started reading Larry Bossidy's book Execution. Sort of reinforces (not by direct reference, but principle) and elucidates something Jobs was quoted in the article as saying about Gates -- that he portrayed himself as a product guy, but really cared far more about the business strategy and results than the product. Just look at most any one of them, really -- until the game box, so many were crappy and/or late but Gates had figured out and implemented one or another unbeatable business model powerful enough to overcome the crappiness (DOS precursor QDOS -- "Quick and Dirty Operating System." Etc.) and/or lateness.

Anyway, to some of Bossidy's points, the boss must not disdain direct engagement with what he identifies as the 3 keys to execution: people, strategy and operations. Gates made a huge (so to speak ) people error in letting Ballmer succeed him, long loyalty or no.

Gates WAS engaged in strategy very deeply. (Arguably some big errors here too eventually. But as Stanislaw Lem's GOLEM XIV put it, to elaborate those here would tear my local argument apart, from sheer length & depth of divigation required. )

But then again disengaged in the area of operations. As, for example, TY points out, in for example putting up with shipment of products that were so brittle on launch, or superficially implemented compared with what had been touted, or etc. etc. etc. And moreover, of course, as this article documents, in being blind (or uncaring) about such a counterproductive corporate culture developing as the organization grew and "matured."

...OK, clearly the world's richest guy did not get completely everything wrong. But Jobs was also right in saying Gates should have (and, in this remark, generously implying that Gates could have succeeded in having) tried for bolder products. Except he had not sufficient liberal-arts component in his soul.