

Ballmer, is he a problem for Microsoft? - raisenBran
http://mashable.com/2011/05/27/steve-ballmer/

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ansy
Ballmer's greatest failure was not giving Windows Mobile the attention it
needed. I might even call it a critical failure. That was Microsoft's core
competency and somehow the opportunity was completely blown. If Microsoft put
the same commitment in Windows Mobile that it put into Xbox we wouldn't be
talking about Android right now.

Everything else under Ballmer's watch is arguably fine. Windows 7 is a great
OS. Microsoft has great developer tools for desktop and web. The Xbox has
conquered the living room. You could say Microsoft is still missing the whole
software as a service thing, but it is positioned to capitalize on it better
than Apple and Apple is doing great. It just needed to be a part of the mobile
revolution and all would have been forgiven.

EDIT: I also submit a comparison between NASDAQ and MSFT. MSFT more or less
tracks the NASDAQ during both the Gates years and the Ballmer years.

[http://www.google.com//finance?chdnp=1&chdd=1&chds=1...](http://www.google.com//finance?chdnp=1&chdd=1&chds=1&chdv=1&chvs=Logarithmic&chdeh=0&chfdeh=0&chdet=1306267200000&chddm=2671823&chls=IntervalBasedLine&cmpto=NASDAQ:MSFT&cmptdms=0&q=INDEXNASDAQ:.IXIC&ntsp=0)

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rbanffy
The really funny part is that if Bill Gates returns to Microsoft to save it,
they would be, once more, copying Apple ;-)

After so many years of Ballmer, I would expect the top two or three tiers of
managers to be irreversibly damaged. A newcomer would have to fight a lot to
get things done and, probably, replace a whole lot of people. That wouldn't
happen.

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jfruh
I love the fact that many of the people who think that Ballmer needs to go
because he's "out of touch with the times" are praying for Bill Gates to come
back. Is there any evidence that Gates who hasn't worked in the industry day
to day for years, would do any better?

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brudgers
According to the Article, Greenlight Capital owns 9 million Microsoft Shares.

Steve Balmer owns 333 million shares - which is more than any institutional
investor and thirty seven times the ownership of Greenlight. The only person
or fund with more is Gates, himself.

[[http://www.dailyfinance.com/company/microsoft-
corporation/ms...](http://www.dailyfinance.com/company/microsoft-
corporation/msft/nas/institutional-ownership)]

