With the end of the year in sight, the great list-making time has come upon us. Newsweek makes ten predictions for 2010, and at number 9, they predict the end of the road for Steve Ballmer at Microsoft. I never really thought about it that much, but if you line up Microsoft’s failures over the past years, it’s actually a miracle his head hasn’t rolled yet.
The list of things that have gone wrong for Microsoft the past years is pretty long. The biggest failure is of course Windows Vista. Not so much in the amount of money it has raked in, or the technological groundwork it laid for Windows 7 and future releases, but more because of the rather massive public relations damage it has caused. Windows Vista was a failure at the very heart of the company: the operating system business.
The other failures are well-known and documented: Google took Microsoft by surprise, leaving Microsoft in a ditch by the side of the virtual road. We’re years and years on, and Microsoft is still trying to recover from Google’s success – to relatively little avail. Related to this is the demise of Internet Explorer – once a genuinely better product than the competition, but now the laughing stock of the online world (and the thorn in the eye of web developers).
Then there’s the mobile market. For all intents and purposes, Windows Mobile is dead. Sure, it may be kept standing by sticks and not-so-invisible strings, and if you squint really hard, you may not notice it, but it’s absolutely no match whatsoever for Android and the webOS – let alone the iPhone. Windows Mobile as it stands today is a relic, and even though there is still quite a large number of phones running Windows Mobile, it can’t hide the fact the old girl is not doing so well.
The MP3 is also one of those things where you’re really wondering what Microsoft is doing there. The new Zune HD is indeed a very nice device, but is it really worth it to fund a product which is not even a blip on the worldwide radar of the MP3 player market? Why is Microsoft even investing money in this project?
Of course, it’s not all bad. The XBox 360 is doing pretty well, and the company’s server business is producing some very decent software. Windows Server 2003, 2008, and 2008 R2 have all been met with very positive reviews, and even here on OSAlert, I’ve seen many a UNIX/Linux geek readily admit they’re good server products, which is about as high a compliment you can get in the server world, I’d say. As a last plus point I’d definitely mention the massive interface revamp of Office 2007, instantly making all other offerings look archaic and cumbersome (try using the clumsy and cluttered OOo/Office 2003 UI after 2007 – it makes me shiver).
Overall though, Microsoft has not been doing well. Shares have nearly halved in value, and the company’s public image is probably worse than it has ever been. The successful release of Windows 7 is starting to turn the tides for the company, but it remains to be seen how much of that can be attributed to Ballmer – or to the actual brains there, Steven Sinofsky.
As Newsweek notes, the big problem with trying to get rid of Ballmer is that he’s been put in his position by Bill Gates. “The two have been pals since their undergraduate days at Harvard. If Gates wants to get rid of Ballmer, he’ll have to craft some kind of graceful exit that lets his buddy save face,” Newsweek writes, “Another problem: there’s no heir apparent on the management team. Nevertheless, investors must be getting restless. Soon they’ll start calling for a shake-up.”
I have never liked Ballmer. I find him a very obnoxious person (professionally speaking – I have no idea what he’s like in person); he’s too loud and “present” for my tastes. I’d say that Microsoft needs a more charismatic personality at the top, someone who understands the concepts of subtlety and understatement – you know, like a certain other Steve.
Then again, I’m a complete moron with no knowledge or experience in business – I can only fall back upon common sense.
Hah!! Internet Explorer was NEVER better than Netscape!!
The only time that came about was AFTER the demise of Netscape due to Microsoft integration of Internet Explorer.
I was on Windows 3.1/OS/2 using Netscape 3 or earlier and tried Internet Explorer without any kind of prejudice. I absolutely hated it then, and I’ve hated every version released since then.
I don’t like the interface, the error messages, the rendering behavior, UI responsiveness, performance, nothing.
And it only got worse. IE7 takes an abnormally long time to load a new, empty, tab, and renders in much the same old ugly way as in the old days.
That and “smooth scrolling,” AGH!! Just scroll like every other program, thank you! If you want to permit additional behavior, it should be an OPTION that is DISABLED BY DEFAULT.
Ahem…
I hate Internet Explorer. I don’t dislike it, I hate it.
I have used almost nothing as my primary browser but Netscape, then NetPositive(BeOS), then Mozilla(BeOS), then Firefox(BeOS), then Firefox(Ubuntu), then Firefox(Windows).
Opera’s interface is better than it was in the old days, but then they adopted the same hard-to-describe rendering behavior I dislike so much, so now I can’t use that…
Oh well, me move on now, it is breakfast time here, and I have a steak waiting for me… the lady’s at the restaurants in these parts know when I’ll be in…
–The loon
–The loon — again, for good measure, in case you missed me the first time.
EDIT: silly dyslexia…
Edited 2009-12-22 16:52 UTC
I disagree. I used IE 3 and 4 and 5 by choice and my other option was Netscape 4.
IE really was better. In my opinion.
Netscape was clunky and slow and tried to do everything, somewhat badly.
IE3 was nice, and did feel faster than Netscape 4, which was getting chunky and bloated. However, neither compared to Opera 2?/3?, which fit on a floppy and ran circles around them both.
Back in the late Win3 / early Win9x days, IE was better than Netscape, but didn’t compare to Opera. I used to carry around a floppy with Opera 3 on it, just so I could use it on the lab machines at the local college and library.
IE4 was way better than netscape 4, which was noted for being as stable as a 3 legged dog. Google it if you don’t believe me. IE 5 was so far ahead of netscape that if you didn’t notice the differences, you weren’t using IE at all during those years, or you just refuse to accept reality.
Well, Steve Ballmer is at least funny! There are countless videos on the net. Nevertheless I agree that he is not suitable for this position.
Funny… he is the most annoying guy in the universe!
He needs to take over.
That looked at Microsoft with Gates in charge and now with Ballmer leading(?) the way. The one sentence that is all I really remember is the conclusion that Microsoft was really moving forward when there was, essentially, a geek running the show; someone who dreamed in technology and fiddled around.
Ballmer is not that guy, not even close. He’s all business and no nerd (though not letting his family use google or apple products makes him something!).
I wouldn’t mind seeing him go, he’s never been someone on the team throughout Microsoft history who was really involved in the tech side of things!
X360 doing well? Not from what I read .. it may work well in Thoms living room, but insane failure rate + extended waranty and piracy are hurting the bottom line.
But MS is still a real superpower (like no other), Windows (despite Vista) is still on nearly all Computers sold (minorities like OSX and Linux have just a handful of % worldwide and don’t really count).
And business product like SQL Server and Sharepoint go from strength to strength, so is Office (although most business users don’t like the new interface. They just hate change.) But hey, something got to do really well to make billions each quarter while dumping truck loads of cash into Bing, Zune etc.
X360 is doing profit pretty nicely nowdays. Also it still leads PS3 on sale figures (atleast whole saled units), game sales are generally better or same as PS3 and they make profit from Live service unlike Sony which is trying in future. I think last quarter report whole Media & Entertaiment was said to be bright spot of quarter. Sure it’s nowhere near Nintendos Wii fairy story but compared to PS3 they are doing fine.
What I find interesting is that MS has 80 – 90% of the market, yet Apple (who back in 1997 was on the verge of death) is now worth $180 billion, MS is $250 billion…
So maybe market share isn’t all it is cracked up to be, just a though…
Or maybe stock valuations aren’t all they’re cracked up to be – just a thought
.
Or maybe numbers can be more deceptive than words, and can say whatever the person presenting them would like them to say?
There are lies, and then there are statistics.
What? Get rid of boastful, bombastic, buffoon Balmer? Actually open the space up for a leader with a vision that actually knows something?
You forget probaply one of the biggest growing business that Ballmer era has really rised and will keep rising, Sharepoint. Sharepoint was pretty lousy and unfocused product before 2007 version that hit the bank. This story will likely keep growing since 2010 doesn’t have true competition (sure there is parts which are competing but no true platform gets near) and been highly anticipated in business. Microsoft has done very good job in terms of platforms. Silverlight been success as whole .NET, Visual Studio and TFS are de facto tools in any bigger development company. Servers have bloomed several well received stuff like PowerShell, SCMM, Hyper-V and Sharepoint.
Also you and article seem to be way too focused on publicity stuff. Keep mind that Microsoft is still VERY VERY profitable company rare in times of regression. Microsoft biggest problem is that it’s focused on so many areas and it’s mostly playing safe because it can. Compare to Apple, company that was basicly broke, before taking leap of faith and going music business by introducing iTunes and iPod. Microsoft won’t have that kind a need for long time and it really shows how some products are introduced. Steve Ballmer isn’t gambler and why should he be, Microsoft is doing just fine and isn’t going nowhere in years. It’s not hip or hop but it keeps conservative investors happy.
Sharepoint was, is, and will always be a complete disaster. Same with LiveLink and the numerous other attempts at the same kind of thing. Web-interface file and document systems are just complete trash.
WebDAV mounted drives are better, but still not the best solution. They do make RCS systems a little easier to use for non-tech people (e.g. most managers) while still allowing a better interface.
Sharepoint can be marketed as a solution to problems that don’t need to exist, and then it creates new work, and new [surface] problems, for which newer versions of MS software, both Sharepoint client and server software, integration software, and software that natively integrates with Sharepoint, can be marketed as reducing or solving.
Okey troll. Firstly get facts straight there is no CLIENT for Sharepoint, it works on BROWSER. Secondly Sharepoint is aimed for problems that exists in modern firms such a document workflows, reporting and BI stuff needed today. Also since you can create own solutions inside Sharepoint it makes pretty great platform to integrate data, plus in 2010 you can access external datasources thru object model.
And again, if division is growing, customer base is growing and it’s is making profit, how does that translate as failure!!!
Wait, what? A browser is now NOT considered a client? Gimme some of that egg nog you’re chugging …
Don’t Balmer and Gates together own the majority of the shares for MS? So Balmer only goes if Gates and Balmer have a fall-out and Gates gets the rest of the shareholders to agree Balmer goes…
Yeah, very unlikely he would be ousted.
I remember looking this up once and from what i remember i was quite surprised about how little shares they have. The entire board (including Bill and Steve) have about 15% in total. With Bill having the largest piece of the pie, about 8%. That means that Steve’s future is by nomeans certain.
If steve jobs is the CEO of the decade then Balmer is the worst of the decade. I have never heard him say anything remotely sensible or positive for Microsoft.
From his Linux is a cancer, to the iPhone is never going to have a share of the market above 4% and is never going to beat Windows Mob. He moves from one blunder to another.
People link Steve Sinofsky, Mark Russovich, Ray Ozzy do much more for Microsoft than Balmer can ever dream off, let one of these charismatic people take over and put Microsoft in a positive light. It’s always been my annoyance that there are many very clever people at microsoft, they work hard and build up good creditability and respect and then this baffoon comes in a blunders it up.
I am surprised after so many problems that his head hasn’t rolled sooner. Yes Microsoft are still making a profit but it could make a lot more. The company is very unfocused and needs someone to tie it all togeather. Why does the zune have a better UI than Windows Mobile. Why isn’t MCE, Xbox, Zune and WinMobile not tied in better, like iTunes, Apple TV, iPod and iPhone? Microsoft’s server products are going from strength to strength but again i feel that many departments are only just starting to talk to each other (i.e. Windows Server + SQL Server teams for workload governing etc..) But i think this can be attributed to Ray, Steve Sinsofsky and Mark than Balmer.
Let the idiot loose and get a CEO which can do Microsoft some good.
The Entertainment stack is getting there and has a lot more potential than what Apple is currently offering. All MS needs to do is center all those platforms around the Zune UI and Software and they will have a juggernaut product system.
And we all know what happens when Microsoft has a dominant position in a given market, don’t we? We’re slowly trying to recover from the last time.
you act like MS is even close to the same company it was back in the 90’s
Its not. the SVP team has changed the culture of MS a great deal in the last decade.
Whatever Ballmer’s shortcomings, there’s no point pushing him out until there’s somebody with a serious chance of doing better. Microsoft doesn’t have that person in house today, and pushing out a CEO to be replaced externally would be a very risky thing to do.
(btw – Microsoft shares may have ‘halved in value’ since the .com boom, but have still been steadily gaining in recent years, as have earnings, dividends, etc. And don’t get me started about who the brains are at MS.)
Are you kidding? TO say that tells me you know very little about the SVP staff at MS.
I actually started liking Steve Ballmer after recently watching Pirates of Silicon Valley again. I had watched it many years prior, but this time what got me thinking was the notion that we shouldn’t be thinking all that black-and-white about Gates, Ballmer, Jobs and Woz.
Steve Ballmer is depicted as a rather outgoing guy with a strong opinion. When I read more recent interviews with him, I think that personality holds true even today. Sure, he’s a tad older and walks in a suit all day long, but the sneers and blunt exclamations? Yep, that’s him alright.
The moral of the story: they’re all human, they all have their pros and cons, and the main pitfall for any of these guys is the downsides to their character. That’s also what I see listed in the main article and some comments. Apparently, Ballmer’s weaknesses are now exposed. But please heed for character assassination, there’s no need for that.
I say keep Ballmer and anything else that will cause Microsoft to go belly up. Good ridens for all the Billions of ill gotten gain taken from customers by unfair and sometimes illegal methods.
I’m actually far more interested in MSFT products these days than I was in 1999 (when I’d switched to Linux out of frustration with Windows 9x). .NET, Powershell and LINQ were what really turned my head, and I’ve enjoyed using some of their other software like Office 2007/2010 as well.
I realy like MSFT these days. Back in the day win9x was horible and was the main reason for trying out LINUX distro’s. But try as I may, I could never fully let go of my windows partition.
The main reason was that I felt that I was loosing out on something. That something was gaming.
Fast forward to today and we have the briliant win7 and xbox360!
I’m now a happy ubuntu/ps3 user. I don’t feel like I’m loosing out on anything in the Windows platform.
win7 is great because you know that the LINUX boys and girls LOVE competition… and I’m pondering wether to get a second-hand xbox360
We should not loose dude Balmer !
How about that ?
Just read all 31 comments and there was only one refrence to this word, nowhere else is it mentioned!!
And that word Virtulisation, Server OS is all moving towards this and MS are years behind VMware and about on par with Redhat at the moment, yes consumer products are important, but the other half and also the big spenders is buisness and this is one area MS is very far behind. To be fair I do like Server 2008 its a good step in the right direction.