
Does Microsoft need a turnaround expert? - sc90
http://tracks.ranea.org/post/66199126166/does-microsoft-need-a-turnaround-expert
======
greyman
No. They are doing fine. My employer pays me a MSDN subscription, and I see a
lot of great software there - it's just that tech media aren't writing much
about it.

They made some mistakes, yes, for example removing the start button from
Windows 8 (best Windows so far), or they came somewhat late with Windows Phone
platform. Overall, they don't need to turn somewhere else, nor around.

------
300bps
I find there's quite the echo chamber of doom in certain circles about
Microsoft. But this one takes the cake to ask the question "Does Microsoft
need a turnaround expert?" while at the same time:

[http://origin-
www.livemint.com/Companies/tfliUBJb2Tjf3SapxQT...](http://origin-
www.livemint.com/Companies/tfliUBJb2Tjf3SapxQTvkK/Microsoft-quarterly-profit-
and-revenue-beat-forecasts.html)

 _Microsoft posts a 17% increase in quarterly profit to $5.2 billion; revenue
rises 16% to $18.5 billion_

The company made $5.2 billion profit in 3 months. Over 90% of computers are
running their operating system.
([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_operating_system...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_operating_systems)).
Their office productivity suite has over 95% of the market. Visual Studio,
Azure, Xbox, all immensely popular. What exactly are people thinking they need
to "turn around"?

~~~
threeseed
The fact that computing is trending towards mobile and Microsoft's actions in
this space have been a disaster. So big deal if Microsoft is still making
money. So was Blackberry the day the iPhone was announced. That doesn't mean
that people shouldn't be asking serious questions about its long term
viability.

As for the specific products you mentioned Visual Studio and Azure piggyback
on the strength of the overall Windows ecosystem. If that suffers then
everything suffers. And Xbox is facing a resurgent Sony in the next round of
console wars.

~~~
300bps
_The fact that computing is trending towards mobile and Microsoft 's actions
in this space have been a disaster_

Computing consumption is trending toward mobile. Computing production will
always likely be on notebook/desktop computers.

Regarding Microsoft's mobile offering - they've almost doubled their market
share in the last 3 months in most countries including in the U.S. In Italy,
they are ahead of iPhone.

[http://i0.wp.com/allthingsd.com/files/2013/11/Kantar_smartph...](http://i0.wp.com/allthingsd.com/files/2013/11/Kantar_smartphone_sept2013.jpg)

Many people (such as myself) owned a string of iPhones, then got fed up with
the stagnation and either moved to Android or Windows Phone.

~~~
thedrbrian
What's interesting is the sales only count till the end of September and thus
miss most of the 5s sales and that kantar handle Microsoft's online ad sales.

[http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2013/11/05/apple-kantar-
windows-...](http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2013/11/05/apple-kantar-windows-
italy/)

------
iamshs
I should post a very informative article from 1996 here.

"Goliath at Bay: Microsoft suddenly sees itself beset by broadband rebels and
its own middle age"
[http://www.discovery.org/a/24](http://www.discovery.org/a/24)

MS was facing broadened challenges to its baseline and the author's writing
bring it all together nicely. I see similarities to that today, let's see how
MS respond to present challenges.

------
kabdib
I hear fairly solid rumors that MS is going to scrap the forced curve in their
review system. Apparently new hires are starting to ask questions about it
(and so they should).

Beyond that, they have serious problems with Windows and its never-shrinking
accumulation of legacy. Apple did a great job on iOS (certainly compared to
any embedded Windows offering). If Microsoft really is serious about their
concentration on devices, they're going to have to lose a ton of fat and get a
good understanding of what it means to ship consumer level embedded products.
(The Xbox group has a good handle on this, though they had to do a bunch of
work to make Win8 be reliable and predictably performant enough for a console
-- I understand that the Windows group is unhappy with this. Not surprising,
it's a threat!)

Maybe an outside expert will break up the internal politics enough that they
can make good inroads. A strong CEO who had a clue here would do the job, too.

~~~
chiph
> Apparently new hires are starting to ask questions about it

Stack/Rank is the #1 reason why I don't return calls from Microsoft
recruiters.

~~~
chiph
Update: Microsoft is now removing stack/rank from employee evaluations (as of
12 November), and looks to be valuing collaborative effort and teamwork more.

If any MSFT recruiters are reading this, I'm now available for your
consideration. ;)

------
mathattack
There are two types of turnarounds:

1) The place is burning to the ground, and if we don't fix it we'll run out of
money.

2) We are wasting money and losing our value* at an unacceptable rate.

Each of these requires someone different. The first requires someone decisive
more than anything else. The second requires a combination of strategic
thinking and discipline. The irony is Ballmer probably could have done the
first type of turnaround well. Of the names frequently mentioned, some seem to
be good at technology strategy, some seem to be good at discipline. I don't
know of any who are good at both.

IBM was in situation #1 when Gerstner took over, so his primary value was
decisiveness. Over time he was able to switch to strategic vision and
discipline.

* - I am purposefully vague on value. It could mean shareholder value, it could mean intangible brand value, it could mean market strength, it could mean value to employees...

~~~
chiph
Someone like Winston Wolfe [1] would be a good choice for #1. "I solve
problems"

Alan Mulally of Ford would be a good choice for type 2. He's a strategic
thinker, works within the system, and has done a great job at Ford getting
them to build good cars again. He had the luxury of time to make his changes
work, something that Microsoft, with it's cash hoard, does as well.

[1]
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANPsHKpti48](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANPsHKpti48)

~~~
mathattack
Would Mulally be able to make the technical decisions required? Could he point
the company in the right way?

Gerstner was able to get away with being a non-technical CEO because job one
was being decisive. When he moved strategically, it was to become a services
company. He didn't need vision on the industry.

Mulally is also 68. How long would he stick around?

By all means I think Alan Mulally is one of the world's top CEOs. But is the
right CEO for Microsoft?

------
hizanberg
They make 2 Billion a year on Android royalties doing nothing, they don't need
experts whilst they keep hoarding more patents.

------
paywall
Let's face it, unresponsive customer support and releasing unusable garbage
like Windows 8 hurts Microsoft the most.

Also, the fact that they _enthusiastically_ helped the NSA subvert their own
users scared me right off their entire ecosystem.

~~~
300bps
_unusable garbage like Windows 8_

That's funny. I managed to use my Windows 8 computer to not only read your
comment, but respond to it. I was planning on using it to get some work done
later today but I guess that's out of the question now that I know how
unusable it is.

My complete computer illiterate and borderline luddite wife has no trouble
using Windows 8. I wonder why you're having trouble?

~~~
sc90
If its usable why did they bring back the start button again after initially
removing it?

~~~
Mikeb85
Because people whined about it. It was usable, you just had to get used to it.

People hate change. My mom is a prime example - she found Chrome to be
unusable because it wasn't 100% exactly the same as IE...

~~~
josefresco
Couldn't agree more. Perfect modern example is when Facebook changes ... well
just about anything. Users revolt, protest polls are held, and plugins are
written to bring back the "old Facebook".

However like always, users get over the change and their uproar and continue
to use the product, eventually unaware that it was ever any different.

