The Windows 8 user interface is a dramatic change from Windows 7, featuring Microsoft’s Metro-style tiles and optimization for both traditional PCs and touchscreen tablets.
Windows Server 8, now available in a developer preview, is also being upgraded to support the shift from local resources to cloud computing, featuring greater integration with Windows Azure. In all, Ballmer counted seven Microsoft businesses—Windows, Phone, Xbox, Azure, Office, Bing, and Dynamics—and said all of them “are moving to the cloud as their fundamental business model.”
“If Windows 8 is Windows reimagined, we’re also in the process, and Windows 8 is an important step of that, of reimagining Microsoft,” Ballmer said during the second day of keynote addresses from the BUILD developer conference.
"I won't suggest that Microsoft didn't copy or buy out successful products in the past. They did, and it worked. Why? They saw a good idea in the making at a local startup, bought it out, and then gave it the resources and support to turn it into a successful product.
That's a lot different from what Microsoft is doing now. Instead of recognizing good ideas and products before they become successful, it is continually trying to play catch up with innovative products, services, and companies which are already hugely successful. Just look at how Microsoft created Bing to compete with Google after fact, as well as the Zune.
More problematic is that the tech world is moving at a much faster rate now. In many cases it's not enough to simply provide a better product than your competitor. You have to be first to market (and many times redefine/create that market) to be successful. Think about how what the iPod did to the portable audio market.
User Rnmuos wrote:
Now the battlefield is shifting, the PC era is ending (to some extent), and they are playing catch-up. Telling them to come up with magical genius ideas is all well and good, but it's not something they've ever been particularly good at.
Having said that, Ballmer's speech sounds reasonable. There is something to be said for slowly but steadily building on what you know, rather than trying to "revolutionize" everything all the time.
Having said that, Ballmer's speech sounds reasonable. There is something to be said for slowly but steadily building on what you know, rather than trying to "revolutionize" everything all the time.
I wouldn't say the battlefield is shifting. There is still a huge market for desktop PCs and laptops, especially in the business world. Rather, it is growing wider to encompass portable computing devices which are just now becoming practical due to advances in technology.
As to coming up with "magical genius ideas," Microsoft already has plenty of smart, innovative people working on great ideas (check out Microsoft Labs), but the upper management rarely takes these ideas and supports them. Just look at Microsoft Surface. How many years has that been in development? I know it started development WAY before the iPad.
Yet, why isn't it widely available? Why can't I walk into a store and buy it? The reason is simple: the upper management don't want to support it.
You will find the same lackluster attitude towards many of their lesser known products: give it a menial budget, rather than putting the full force of the company behind it and integrating its ideas with its other products.
These are clear symptoms of a visionless CEO and a bureaucratic power structure. " (sigh?)
- C | 11 days ago | permalink
APPARENTLY I AM NOT ALONE ON THIS ONE!
"...We can't confirm reports that employees left "in droves" during CEO Steve Ballmer's speech, as WinRumors has it, but the comments speak for themselves. Seattle PI has published a representative selection here. The one that caught my eye focused on the difficulty Ballmer's Microsoft has competing with the likes of Apple (AAPL) and Google (GOOG):..."
