Steve Ballmer to leave Microsoft CEO post in a year
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dark_surge
The meeting room chairs at MS headquarters let out a sigh of relief.
I know a lot of people are going to praise his departure but Steve was probably one of the last originals left in MS so it's sad to see him go. Plus, I liked his over-stimulated demeanor. 🙂 Still, it'll be interesting to see what the future brings with him gone.
C'ya, Steve. Have fun wading around in your swimming pool full of hundred dollar bills.
lucidus
Ballmer is leaving?! 😀 Best news for Microsoft in a long time 😀
RavenMaster
Wooooooohooooooooooo partyyyyyyyyyy!!!!
S_IV
Just take a look at Xbox One, Surface, Windows 8 and leave Microsoft already Ballmer. And never forget what you have done to live messenger, msn space, technet subscriptions and so on.
WindtalkerCS
Choosing to retire is probably the best decisions Ballmer will have made during his tenure as CEO
Pill Monster
I wonder how much the Windows 8 debacle had to do with his departure.
Loobyluggs
Not really a debacle, just a few disgruntled Windows users because of a button.
Windows is not the only product Microsoft release - they got billions coming in from all angles and a ton of products and services, not to mention the global supply chain.
Exits at this level are planned years in advance; it's not like working at a coffee shop where you can be replaced in 24 hours and the manager can carry out your duties until the end of the shift.
Steve has had a very good run, best of luck to him, not that he'll need it.
Pill Monster
13% user migration is very much a debacle. Sales are worse than Vista, and Vista was bad.
You don't say.....?
Sure, that's basically what Dan Rather said after he was pushed from CBS for slandering George Bush - "oh I was going to retire anyway"..
H83
Finally!!!
PhazeDelta1
Are you sure about that? :P
http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-more-than-100-million-windows-8-licenses-sold-7000014957/
IcE
MS stock jumped 9% after this announcement. With that said Windows 8 was not a "debacle". Casual users generally love it. Only people who are stubborn and used to doing things one way forever don't think it's an improvement.
CPC_RedDawn
No no and little more no.
Since Windows 8 has been widely available and pre installed on 90% of desktops and laptops sold, I have literally lost count of how many I have been given to reformat with and I quote "The old style this thing is useless" a few I have installed the third party apps like Start8, etc and some have been happy with that.
I know I am just one person and there are thousands out there still using and happy with W8, and it is a very efficient, snappy, and well optimized OS, but you have to admit Microsoft made a massive mistake with W8 and "New UI".
Its just clunky, and needless and god damn horrid to look at. If they really wanted to have people use it they should of installed a better tutorial on the OS to show people how and why its better.
Its like if car manufacturers suddenly thought you know the standard, from left to right Gear, Brake, Accelerator, configuration everyone is used to lets change that and put it the other way round. You know what happens, people crash or simply don't buy it.
sykozis
Shareholders wanted Ballmer gone and I'm sure he was well aware of it. The fact Shareholders are now sueing MS over [unlawful] misrepresentation of financial data (namely, hiding WinRT sales figures to give the impression that WinRT is selling better than it actually is).
Ballmer even went so far as to say that his leaving is in the best interest of MS.... Under Ballmer, MS had a lot of failures. The Xbox "RRoD" issue. The KinOne and KinTwo debacle.... He let the mobile computing market (which MS dominated at one time) slip away. Zune was handled horribly wrong. Windows Phone has been handled very poorly. Vista had a late launch.... The company has stumbled along in the consumer market for the last 13 years. They need someone in charge that's willing to respond to (or even create) emerging market trends not simply ignore them until it's too late.
Sales figures and usage figures are very different.... The usage figures presented by web based tracking show a much lower usage count than MS wants people to believe (which is why they won't divulge usage data).
Pill Monster
Yep. 😉
http://cdn-static.zdnet.com/i/r/story/70/00/012104/win8vsvista-600x365.png?hash=AwZkLmuyZw&upscale=1
http://www.zdnet.com/five-reasons-why-windows-8-has-failed-7000012104/
---TK---
Did he have a hand in windows me? If so let him burn in hell
Loobyluggs
Okay, I'll put the Win8 down for now - I was just clarifying there is a great deal more to Microsoft than a desktop operating system update and you can't judge a CEO for something which falls under the responsibility of the person who actually deployed it.
And, hate to disagree with you on this, but a CEO of Microsoft is a lot more entrenched and harder to replace than a newscaster. I mean, I could read a teleprompter, it's not hard y'know.
I had to look up who Dan Rather is, as I don't watch american teevee or any other teevee.
Pretty much gave it up after I got broadband 8 years ago.
Pill Monster
Wow Zednet's credibility just took a severe beating. They really need to hire some proper journo's instead of bloggers.
First we have THE TRUTH from a real editor;
http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/b608/pillmonsta1/Capture_zpsd611966f.png
Followed by some major damage control by "freelance blogger" Mary Joe Foley.
According to her profile:
According to Mary Jo, W8 sales are booming... Wow 100 MILLION? (sure sounds like a lot....a lot like a spin) 🤓
http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/b608/pillmonsta1/Capture_zps2eabc7d1.png
And then some slight backtracking....
http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/b608/pillmonsta1/Capture_zps99c5e286.png
Followed by a 15min interview where the most glaringly obvious question was never asked: WHY are you retiring?
http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/b608/pillmonsta1/Capture_zps2d664bb6.png
And......
Doug
My thoughts too lol
I used to work at a posh boat marina as an IT tech and shortly before I worked there Steve Ballmer had visited. His boat was so big he just leaves it out in the ocean and takes a smaller (still big..) yacht out like Thunderbird 2 and sailed that in to the marina.. :infinity:
IcE
Clunky no, "needless and horrid to look at" quite subjective. Once you understand that metro is simply a different start menu, you start to understand that Windows 8 is a logical next step. People literally just can't comprehend when something they use often is changed. Change = automatically worse in the world of computing, probably because people have a hard enough time as it is using them (somehow). With that said, I don't know who your customers are, but I'm around college students all the time, and I've rarely found people that didn't think Windows 8 was better.
Also, I know how Pill is on a roll with showing how Windows 8 is more of a failure, but going by adoption rate isn't really a fair comparison given PC sales are down overall. Tablets and smartphones are king now.
CPC_RedDawn
Like I said, I am only one person and no matter how many laptops, and desktops I have reformatted to W7 (someone actually wanted XP back lol they liked the color hehe) that does not 100% say that W8 is a failure but I have been in computing now now for almost fifteen years and I have never seen so many people not wanting W8 on their new devices, with how bad Vista was as well I never had that many people ask me to reformat back to XP and after SP2 it was an decent OS.
Also, I never said change was a bad thing, it just has to be done right for it to be accepted.
Change in the PC world is great, that's what makes a PC a PC, its personal to you, its customized to you. Changing out parts from newer ones is one of the best things there is about the PC, you should know that.
EDIT:
I will 100% agree that tablets and smartphones have damaged Windows a lot!
here is bill gates avoiding talking about Ipad LOL http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLUSnPB08kc
