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Title: Microsoft staff savage Ballmer at company confab
Source:
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URL Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/0 ... icrosoft_staff_savage_ballmer/
Published: Sep 28, 2011
Author: Iain Thomson
Post Date: 2011-09-28 14:03:32 by Skip Intro
Keywords: None
Views: 12636
Comments: 35
Claims of staff walkouts and tanking morale During Microsoft's annual full staff meeting, employees unmistakably expressed their displeasure about how the company is being run. Every year Redmond assembles the rank and file for a huge presentation about plans for the next 12 months, with senior management laying out current progress and future plans. According to comments made on the unofficial but respected Mini Microsoft blog [1], staff were less than impressed. “What a sad spectacle. While SteveB was yacking away, people were leaving in droves. Back in the good old days when BillG spoke, EVERYONE listened,” posted an anonymous commentator. Due to prior leaks from these, events staff are usually told nothing too sensitive, and this year’s gathering appears to be no different. Windows 8 will be out in a year’s time, Microsoft is refocusing around cloud and applications, and there were frequent demos of the Windows 8 fondleslab [2] that Microsoft showed off at BUILD. Overall, the tone of the comments was almost uniformly negative, although one poster claiming to be an employee said that the event was “pretty good.” Others pointed out that most of the presentations were dominated by Windows 8, and particularly the new fondleslab. “Is Win 8 tablet all we have left to be excited about? Has the morale across the company slumped so much that 20,000 of us together can’t even generate a decent applause? Please someone tell me I’m wrong. Tell me I’ve just got a bad attitude and I completely misread the meeting,” pleaded one poster. Commentators reported that Ballmer also didn’t do his traditional shout of “I love this company,” and there was no sweaty dancing around and screaming by the CEO, unlike at previous meetings. “SteveB did one of the smartest things I've ever seen him do as CEO today: He delegated responsibility by paying someone else to jump around like an asshole during his entrance instead of doing it all by himself,” said a poster. “Now if only he'd do the same with his regular day job.” Try as we might, The Register could find no Microsoft staffer who was willing to talk to us on the record.
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#1. To: All (#0)
Steve in happier times.
Microsoft has certainly had a lost decade. The lost decade started when Bill Clinton's Justice Department savagely attacked Microsoft at the behest of Microsoft's competitors (who were also big Clinton donors) in Silicon Valley. This demoralized the Microsoft executive team, especially Bill Gates. The stock price plummeted by half overnight. People started to leave. I left. This is also when Gates started to check out and turned more control over to Ballmer. Microsoft is starting to do some really great things again. A big part of my business business revolves around Dynamics CRM. Dynamics CRM is a Customer Relationship Management platform that you can install on-premise or in the Cloud. In the Cloud, it cost less than half of its main competitor -- Salesforce.com. It's one of the hottest things in the enterprise right now. Another big part of my business is Windows Azure, which is a platform for building scalable applications in the cloud. Azure is up and running, but it's not quite complete. By mid-2012, it will be the best platform-as-a-service on the market. After 10 years of screwing the pooch on mobile, Microsoft finally this week released a compelling mobile platform. Nokia (the 800 lb gorilla in the European mobile market) is completely committing to Windows Phone, which will give Microsoft a big boost against Android and iPhone. Android has already passed iPhone in both installed base and existing sales. My prediction is that Windows Phone will pass iPhone in sales within 2 years. Apple doesn't have the right business model to succeed. Blackberry is dead. Microsoft released a revolutionary consumer device last year -- the Kinect for XBox, which uses your body as a motion controller for controlling the device, playing games, etc. I bought my 10 year old one for her birthday and all three of my daughters and my wife love it. Then there is Windows 8, which will run on both PCs and tablets, and be geared for touch. It will also include an integrated sensor API for accelerometers, gyrometers, compasses, and other types of sensors, as well as facial recognition. Yes, Microsoft is late to the tablet market but Windows 8 will support all types of touch, and sensor-based devices, not just tablets. So far, Android devices have failed to compete with the iPad. Windows 8 will compete handily. I worked at IBM in the early 90s when they were declared dead. Then I went to Microsoft. IBM made a big comeback. Microsoft will come back too. Yes, Ballmer needs to retire and Microsoft needs to bring someone in from the outside to run the company, just like IBM brought in Lou Gersner, who saved the company.
Riiight...as if you'd see Gates instructing a course in Business Ethics...
America...My Kind Of Place... "I truly am not that concerned about [bin Laden]..." "THE MILITIA IS COMING!!! THE MILITIA IS COMING!!!" I lurk to see if someone other than Myst or Pookie posts anything...
Pegler never fails to get it wrong. MS had no lobbyist presence in DC when Justice went after them. Billg soon changed that, and all was well. You can't play in the big leagues in America unless you're willing to pay. It's never been any different, no matter how far back in the country's history you care to go.
Did you ever wonder if you and he were ever in the same room?
America...My Kind Of Place... "I truly am not that concerned about [bin Laden]..." "THE MILITIA IS COMING!!! THE MILITIA IS COMING!!!" I lurk to see if someone other than Myst or Pookie posts anything...
I was at Microsoft between Jan 1993 and Aug 2000. No, they didn't have a lobbying presence because they thought that D.C. was irrelevant. Prior to Clinton attacking them, Gates used to say that the only thing in D.C. that could hurt him was falling down the Capitol steps. Yes, Bill Clinton's Justice Department completely demoralized Microsoft and their executives. Good people started leaving, including a lot of top talent that could have helped them against the next wave of competitors like Google. All has been well ever since? No it hasn't. Microsoft created 10,000 millionaire employees in the 1990s. How many have they created since? Almost none. Microsoft's stock plummeted by half when Clinton attacked them and it has been stagnant ever since. Google and others started opening development centers in Seattle to attract disaffected Microsoft talent, with promises of big stock payoffs. In the 1990s, we thought we were changing the world. Janet Reno killed Microsoft's spirit. You weren't there, so you don't have a fucking clue, as usual.
I thought the purpose of a software company was to create and produce a great product.
In Microsoft's case it was to watch Apple and steal as much as they could.
In the 1990s, we thought we were changing the world. Janet Reno killed Microsoft's spirit. You weren't there, so you don't have a fucking clue, as usual. In a competitive world, that is the name of the game. Ain't no use whining about it.
"You post articles- intellectual excrement, really- that support your inane, insipid mentality, on a regular basis. Capitalist Eric
Pegler's whining that because MS had to stop forcing users to use that crappy Internet Explorer their feelings got hurt and they just crawled up in a corner to cry? What a crock of shit.
I love to watch you ignorant leftists make complete fools of yourselves. In those days, what did Apple invent? Nothing. Apple stole WIMP (Windows, Icons, Menus, and Pointing devices) from Xerox. Microsoft took these ideas too. The difference is that Apple tried to do everything themselves while Microsoft built a huge partner network to help, and in the process Microsoft helped create a ton of partner millionaires. This is why Apple failed and Microsoft succeeded.
Apple failed? You've got to be shitting me.
Apple Overtakes Microsoft in Market Value: End of an Era? http://gigaom.com/apple/apple-overtakes-microsoft-in-market-value-end-of-an-era/ Pegler's nuts.
He's living in the past. Things were touch and go for Apple when John Scully was CEO, but the company rectified that.
"You post articles- intellectual excrement, really- that support your inane, insipid mentality, on a regular basis. Capitalist Eric
An advantage for Apple doing everything themselves is that their products WORKED reliably. That mattered to people who had work to do and no time for troubleshooting their computers.
"You post articles- intellectual excrement, really- that support your inane, insipid mentality, on a regular basis. Capitalist Eric
You'll also notice that Apple doesn't have "Patch Tuesdays" when they download hundreds of megs of fixes monthly to keep their OS afloat.
I'm happy to say I've never participated in a "Patch Tuesdays" event.
"You post articles- intellectual excrement, really- that support your inane, insipid mentality, on a regular basis. Capitalist Eric
The context of the discussion is the early 1980s. Apple beat Microsoft to market with WIMP. They would up with 2% of the PC market. Apple failed miserably in the PC market. Point taken - leftists like you are incapable of learning from history.
On the other hand, Apple does make you use iTunes to connect your iPods and Ipads, and I hate iTunes. I just want to be able to drag things from my computer to the device and back again, not have them stored in a database that can only be on one computer.
Apple makes shit products. Itunes is a virus just like facebook.
You are so out of touch, you must be retarded.
I remember when tunes were stored on disks called records and there was no database.
"You post articles- intellectual excrement, really- that support your inane, insipid mentality, on a regular basis. Capitalist Eric
That's such an odd thing to say.
"You post articles- intellectual excrement, really- that support your inane, insipid mentality, on a regular basis. Capitalist Eric
That's such an odd thing to say. With Stone the stupid isn't just skin deep.
Lou Gersner was a Bilderburg TRAITOR and so is Bill Gates. The real reason things are so demoralized at Microsoft is that they could not beat Apple and LINUX and be a complete Bilderburg monopoly over our computers by either hook (the "shared source" scheme to compete with Linux's true OPEN source model) or crook (Taking advantage of SCO CEO Darl McBride's "pump 'n' dump" lawsuit schemes against Linux). Also be weary of "cloud" computing. This scheme originates with another Bilderburg TRAITOR, Scott Mc Neely who was CEO of Sun Microsystems at the time he conceived the "cloud" idea under the name "network computing". It's purpose is to eliminate the PC desktop and laptop with it's individual control over the user's computing experience and re centralize computing into another one world Bilderburg / Corporatist controlled monopoly that you will be paying monthly bills for it just like cable and small dish satalite TV and which will also be the people control center for the Bilderburg's ONE WORLD FASCIST/CORPORATIST/SOCIALIST GOVERNEMNT!!! All of this TREASON constitutes more reasons who COPYRIGHT SHOULD NOT BE PERMANENT!!! and PATENTS SHOULD NOT APPLY TO SOFTWARE AND BUSINESS MODELS!!!
You have an incorrect view of and about the transitions about the marketplace of a major American technology player. You don't seem to understand (in fact) about anything uniquely American. All companies are struggling for corporate profits within a world marketplace. The rapid increases of profit margins FOR EVERY company are not apparent these days and you think the same is true to the loss of corporate directives. Shame on you, pal!
Everything about your posts bleed Microsoft condemnation. If you think about software which includes your professed BELIEF IN LINUX there are transitions in software which gives each OS an advantage over others irrespective of your opinion; in fact, competition ensures more and better products for productivity and even lamers such as you, Coral Snake. You can't argue your way out of a wet paper bag.
Apple products are shit. It is like buying a computer and you can only buy software from microsoft. Itunes is a virus that always wants to call home and slows down your computer. Facebook is a virus too that puts tracking software on your computer and probably tracks your passwords too. Sandisk makes a better mp3 player then Apple.
Actually I'm using Windows VISTA right now and despite the anti Microsoft condemnation of that OS I think it's pretty good. However I think we would still have Microsoft home OSs based on the crashy Windows 9x "blue screen of death" 32/16 bit DOS platform rather than the more stable NT platform if it weren't for Linux. Furthermore my main condemnation of Microsoft is for their using and supporting crooked methods of knocking out competition from Linux. The most infamous of these was supporting SCO's lawsuit against Linux which turned out to be simply a method of getting failed company SCO's stock overvalued so that SCO executives could "dump" it on the market at the inflated prices amd make a financial killing out of an essentially failed company. This is called "pump 'n' dump" in the crooked stock dealing world. Microsoft supported this "pump 'n' dump" operation believing that it would eliminate their competition from linux if the lawsuit was legitimate.
Strange perspective. Anyone can achieve free market software including OS and major apps in confrontation with Bill Gates. You need to understand the markets and you apparently DON'T.
Apple beat Microsoft to market with WIMP. They would up with 2% of the PC market. Apple failed miserably in the PC market. Apple did fairly well until the late 80's. They were about dead in the mid-90's. Microsoft bailed them out financially and made compatible versions of MS Office available. It was not from the goodness of their heart, but in response to threats of monopoly litigation. Apple brought back Steve Jobs and he led them back to profitability and what they have become today.
Yes, I know
There wasn't any Linux when Microsoft started working on NT. Linux was released in 1992. Microsoft started working on NT, with IBM in 1989. It was originally called OS/2 3.0. Windows 3.0 was so successful, that Microsoft changed the primary API of OS/2 3.0 from a 32-bit version of the OS/2 API to a 32-bit version of Windows API, called Win32. That's when the collaboration between IBM and Microsoft fell apart. NT was released in 1993.
You don't understand the New World Order's ability to manipulate the market through devices like Permanent Copyright, Software Patents, "pump 'n' dump" lawsuits schemes and Vidiot Box brainwashing with FUD (Fear Uncertanty and Doubt) propaganda. Bill Gates comes from a wealthy family that was tied in with the International Bankers and the Illuminati "Progressive" Bilderburg / Georgia Guidestones gang from start. Bill Gates is a TRAITOR and Windows was built to be part of a One World centralized computer system that will replace the PC and the current decentralized Internet structure with a pay per month monopoly system that will eliminate forums like this one and web sites supporting people like Ron Paul eventually winding up being nothing more than cable Vidiot Box with a pay per month word processor, spreadsheet and game library thrown in and replace our current currency systems with a One World digital system like "bitcoin" that is TRUELY based on NOTHING. It is well known that the people who have the monopoly control on guns through "gun control" laws control their nations for the Bilderburg One World gang but people who have monopoly control over the computer through systems like "cloud" computing and "network" computing through monopoly systems like Windows CONTROL THE WORLD! Windows was designed to be the final link in building the centralized One World computer system for ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT!!!
Microsoft was sued by Justice for making OEMs pay a royalty for each processor sold, even if the OEM didn't include a MS OS with the processor. I know Pegler thinks this type of extortion is just fine, but it turns out it's illegal.
#2. To: Skip Intro (#0)
(Edited)
That government is best which governs not at all -- Henry David Thoreau
#3. To: jwpegler (#2)
The lost decade started when Bill Clinton's Justice Department savagely attacked Microsoft at the behest of Microsoft's competitors (who were also big Clinton donors) in Silicon Valley.
--GW Bush
--Sarah Palin's version of "The Midnight Ride of Paul revere"
#4. To: war (#3)
#5. To: Skip Intro (#4)
--GW Bush
--Sarah Palin's version of "The Midnight Ride of Paul revere"
#6. To: Skip Intro (#4)
(Edited)
Pegler never fails to get it wrong. MS had no lobbyist presence in DC when Justice went after them. Billg soon changed that, and all was well.
That government is best which governs not at all -- Henry David Thoreau
#7. To: jwpegler (#6)
All has been well ever since? No it hasn't. Microsoft created 10,000 millionaire employees in the 1990s. How many have they created since? Almost none. Microsoft's stock plummeted by half when Clinton attacked them and it has been stagnant ever since. Google and others started opening development centers in Seattle to attract disaffected Microsoft talent, with promises of big stock payoffs.
#8. To: mininggold (#7)
#9. To: jwpegler (#6)
All has been well ever since? No it hasn't. Microsoft created 10,000 millionaire employees in the 1990s. How many have they created since? Almost none. Microsoft's stock plummeted by half when Clinton attacked them and it has been stagnant ever since. Google and others started opening development centers in Seattle to attract disaffected Microsoft talent, with promises of big stock payoffs.
#10. To: lucysmom (#9)
#11. To: Skip Intro (#8)
That government is best which governs not at all -- Henry David Thoreau
#12. To: jwpegler (#11)
This is why Apple failed and Microsoft succeeded.
#13. To: Fred Mertz (#12)
#14. To: Fred Mertz (#12)
Apple failed? You've got to be shitting me.
#15. To: jwpegler (#11)
The difference is that Apple tried to do everything themselves while Microsoft built a huge partner network to help, and in the process Microsoft helped create a ton of partner millionaires.
#16. To: lucysmom (#15)
An advantage for Apple doing everything themselves is that their products WORKED reliably.
#17. To: Skip Intro (#16)
#18. To: Fred Mertz (#12)
That government is best which governs not at all -- Henry David Thoreau
#19. To: lucysmom (#17)
#20. To: Skip Intro (#19)
#21. To: A K A Stone (#20)
#22. To: Skip Intro (#19)
I just want to be able to drag things from my computer to the device and back again, not have them stored in a database that can only be on one computer.
#23. To: A K A Stone (#20)
Apple makes shit products. Itunes is a virus just like facebook.
#24. To: lucysmom (#23)
#25. To: jwpegler (#2)
The FARO RESERVE BANK!!! 
#26. To: jwpegler (#2)
Microsoft has certainly had a lost decade.
#27. To: Coral Snake (#25)
#28. To: Fred Mertz (#21)
You are so out of touch, you must be retarded.
#29. To: buckeroo (#27)
The FARO RESERVE BANK!!!
#30. To: Coral Snake (#29)
my main condemnation of Microsoft is for their using and supporting crooked methods of knocking out competition from Linux.
#31. To: jwpegler, Fred Mertz (#18)
The context of the discussion is the early 1980s.
#32. To: nolu chan (#31)
That government is best which governs not at all -- Henry David Thoreau
#33. To: Coral Snake (#29)
(Edited)
I think we would still have Microsoft home OSs based on the crashy Windows 9x "blue screen of death" 32/16 bit DOS platform rather than the more stable NT platform if it weren't for Linux.
That government is best which governs not at all -- Henry David Thoreau
#34. To: buckeroo (#30)
The FARO RESERVE BANK!!!
#35. To: buckeroo (#30)
my main condemnation of Microsoft is for their using and supporting crooked methods of knocking out competition from Linux.
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