The Lost Decade; Why Steve Ballmer is no Bill Gates

[DainBramaged]

Last month Microsoft rolled out Windows 7 and opened the first of a chain of new retail stores. As usual with such announcements, there's been loads of hoopla and ginned-up excitement. But mostly people are just relieved. Windows 7 replaces Vista, one of the most disastrous tech products ever. It also caps the end of a decade in which Microsoft's founder, Bill Gates, stepped aside, and the company lost its edge.

Ten years ago, when Gates appointed his longtime second in command, Steve Ballmer, as his replacement as CEO, Microsoft was still the meanest, mightiest tech company in the world, a juggernaut that bullied friends and foes alike and which possessed an operating-system franchise that was practically a license to print money. Techies likened Microsoft to the Borg on Star Trek, the evil collective that insatiably assimilates everything around it, with the slogan, "Resistance is futile."

That was then. Now, instead of being scary, Microsoft has become a bit of a joke. Yes, its Windows operating system still runs on more than 90 percent of PCs, and the Office application suite rules the desktop. But those are old markets. In new areas, Microsoft has stumbled. Apple created the iPod, and the iTunes store, and the iPhone. Google dominates Internet search, operates arguably the best e-mail system (Gmail) and represents a growing threat in mobile devices with Android. Amazon has grown to dominate online retail, then launched a thriving cloud-computing business (it rents out computer power and data storage), and capped it off with the Kindle e-reader. Microsoft's answers to these market leaders include the Zune music player, a dud; the Bing search engine, which is cool but won't kill Google; Windows Mobile, a smart-phone software platform that has been surpassed by others; and Azure, Microsoft's cloud-computing service, which arrives next year—four years behind Amazon.

How did this happen? How did Microsoft let tens of billions in revenue (and hundreds of billions in market capitalization) slip through its fingers? Hassles with antitrust regulators distracted Microsoft's management and made the company more timid. But the bigger reason seems to be that in January 2000, Gates stepped down as CEO. It's been downhill ever since.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/220145/

[Systematic Chaos]

1. Windows 7 is actually very nice. I'll give them that, grudgingly.

Otherwise that company does nothing but make me sit there and scratch my head.

[NYC_SKP]

2. Are their new 'stores' going to copycat Apple Stores the way they copied everything else, poorly?

:shrug:

[targetpractice]

3. Microsoft's business model is to copy others...

Microsoft does not innovate... Since the beginning they have copied and crushed other companies' products (e.g., DOS, WordPerfect, Lotus 1-2-3, Netscape, etc., etc.)

The world doesn't move that slowly anymore... The innovators are winning, and leaving Microsoft behind.

I don't know what future is in store for them... Nobody in tech is eager to work there.

[eShirl]

12. +1

[AllentownJake]

4. Companies tend to get lazy and stupid when they reach the top

Ask AT&T, GM, Bethlehem Steel, Citi Group, Bank of America, NBC, Macy's, AIG, GE etc..

The very act of getting big eventually kills the business model that created the success

It is why the entire notion of Too big to fail is ridiculous, once something is Too big to fail, it is to big to function and manage.

[Bravo Zulu]

5. I bought a first generation ipod,

upgraded to a zune and I like the zune better!

[Codeine]

6. I bought a Ford Pinto,

then upgraded to a 1998 Corolla and I like the Corolla better!

[Touchdown]

9. I bought a plastic cockring in college. Now I have a stainless steel one.

I like the stainless steel one better.

[Bravo Zulu]

17. You are a nasty piece of shit!

[Touchdown]

19. And you're a liar!

Pleased to meet you.

[Touchdown]

13. A question. Did you have a Mac back when you bought the 1st gen iPod?

Because the first iPod was Mac only. Gen 2 opened it up to PCs.

You don't sound like someone who would own a Mac.

[givemebackmycountry]

7. I just dumped my Palm Treo 800 with Windows Mobile 6.1

I HATED this phone and the shitty OS was the reason why.
It would lock up several times a day for no apparent reason, and the only way to rectify the issue was to pop the battery out and let the phone "reboot".

Friday, I got a new HTC Hero with the Google Android OS and so far it is TEH AWESOME!
It's fast and fluid and so far I can't put it down.

I need to disclose that I work for Spr*nt and get good deals on phones but I only get to upgrade once a year.
I couldn't wait to junk Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1
It was indeed a POS.

[JCMach1]

14. Windows Mobile is the one Windows OS that actually Works

... absolutely flawlessly on my Samsung

I think the Palm is your problem there...

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

8. how much more is there to innovate OS and office wise?

It was recently pointed out to me that I still use Office 2000 which came free with my Pentium III almost a decade ago. I had never given this a thought, it does everything an Office suite needs to. Windows XP does everything an OS needs to.

The same goes for Apple, what does Mac OS X 10.6 do that Mac OS X 10.4 didn't do that needs doing?

[Fozzledick]

10. The problem is Ballmer is a marketeer, not an engineer

He's been dictating top-level design decisions based solely on marketing considerations, and the result has been very bad designs, as exemplified by Vista.

[The_Casual_Observer]

11. As if gates would have made any difference.

[girl gone mad]

15. +1

Is there a more overrated person on the planet?

[fasttense]

16. No, Bill Gates about tops the list of

opportunistic, rich college drop outs who made billion by selling other people's work, AND gets applauded for it.

[cbdo2007]

18. Why does Microsoft need to branch out into these other areas?

Their stock is doing just fine and they admit that Windows operating system runs on 90% of PCs and the Office application suite rules the desktop.

I wouldn't exactly call Microsoft a "joke" until they aren't they leader in operating systems and Office applications any more, because you should never fault a company for doing well and focusing on what it does best.

Of course Microsoft doesn't dominate email, or music players, or search engines, or online retail. They are a computer software company and they make greatly dominating the operating system and Office applications are nothing to scoff at.

That's like saying Ford is a joke for not dominating the lawn mower market.

[Touchdown]

20. That's a good point. Why must there be a one stop shop for everything?

Google, Amazon, Apple do things great. Microsoft does what they do well. Where did this all or nothing come from?

Of course the XBox could be considered a lawnmower, since it's not a business ap. XBox works very well though, and is successful.