

Bach, Allard leaving Microsoft - bjonathan
http://www.techflash.com/seattle/2010/05/bach_allard_leaving_microsoft_in_upheaval_of_consumer_business.html

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hello_moto
There probably is a big turmoil inside Microsoft. Maybe this shake-up is
needed, especially in the entertainment division.

On one hand, expect to hear many people outside Microsoft to boo this move
since J. Allard seemed to be one of those "young executives who Got It". On
the other hand, Steve Ballmer is left with less choices seeing those red
numbers in Excel Spreadsheet almost overflowing whatever the data type in cell
G-14, H-15 and K-25.

I'll give Microsoft two thumbs up for its effort trying to stay relevant
(cause y'know... it's hard). But it's the price they have to pay when they
decided to relax when they managed to monopoly the consumer market back in
95-2002 time period and to pursue/grow their business offerings.

It's tough to be both Apple and IBM at the same time.

~~~
WalterGR
> On one hand, expect to hear many people outside Microsoft to boo this move
> since J. Allard seemed to be one of those "young executives who Got It". On
> the other hand, Steve Ballmer is left with less choices seeing those red
> numbers in Excel Spreadsheet almost overflowing whatever the data type in
> cell G-14, H-15 and K-25.

I'm confused. Did you read the article?

"The Entertainment & Devices Division has posted operating profits in the
company's most recent two fiscal years, and it's on track for another
profitable year, rebounding from the billions of dollars in losses it posted
as the Xbox business was getting up to speed."

Why on earth would "this shake-up" be needed?

~~~
muhfuhkuh
>Why on earth would "this shake-up" be needed?

Because you can't be top dog in the pack when you're looking at Nintendo's
cute wagging backside inching further away. Wii is the PS2 of this millennium.
There's no way the PS3 or XBox 360 will touch it.

Microsoft isn't used to being second fiddle. Hell, look at how they're
stagnating in the web browser arena. Firefox and Chrome et al. are eating away
at IE and MS doesn't seem to care because they can't control the browser with
all these open standards anyway. Bing is an also ran that can't even come
close to Google's dominance, no matter how much money they throw at consumers
with that cashback scheme.

The reason they became successful (then, with the introduction of Windows 95,
dominant) is that they were cheap and kinda worked. That's great in the era of
big iron and 20lb. "portables" and all that. But now, people are willing to
pay for "just works" and "magic". Plug, main screen turn on, device do thing,
you use and it no hard.

When the vast majority of users are obsessed with social networking, writing
small little text/tweets, bite-size 2D addictive casual games with one-button
control, and playing music and youtube videos, how are you going to cash in on
that if you're a Microsoft? Try to replicate Zynga and Twitter? Then what?
Watch as you're yet again late to the party and throwing massive gobs of money
down the pit to fill it up and catch the competition?

Maybe -- and this could be the key -- MS needs to start _aquiring_
technologies instead of trying to reinvent them like they're some garage
startup. Go buy some big sexy new technology, actually ship it (or hell, ship
surface/origami/courier/etc.). Because you're not going to outsexy Apple or
outcasual Nintendo playing by their rules. You just won't.

~~~
WalterGR
I can't tell if you're talking about Microsoft as a whole or E&D specifically.
Because you bring up laptops and Bing, I'll assume the former.

> Microsoft isn't used to being second fiddle. Hell, look at how they're
> stagnating in the web browser arena.

Microsoft plays second fiddle _all the time_. Aside from Windows, Office, and
(_maybe_) VS, nearly all their products are ranked second (or lower) in
popularity. MSN Messenger. Bing. Windows Mobile / CE. Xbox. Windows Server.
IIS. SQL Server.

> Bing is an also ran that can't even come close to Google's dominance, no
> matter how much money they throw at consumers with that cashback scheme.

I've heard good things about Bing. Claiming they bought all their users is
disingenuous.

> When the vast majority of users are obsessed with social networking, writing
> small little text/tweets, bite-size 2D addictive casual games with one-
> button control, and playing music and youtube videos, how are you going to
> cash in on that if you're a Microsoft? Try to replicate Zynga and Twitter?
> Then what?

You don't, and you then compare the current financials of Microsoft, Zynga,
and Twitter.

> Maybe -- and this could be the key -- MS needs to start _aquiring_
> technologies instead of trying to reinvent them like they're some garage
> startup.

Microsoft acquires companies _all the time_. It's a common criticism:
"Microsoft has never created anything. They've just bought out companies that
create things." "Like some garage startup"? Hardly.

> Go buy some big sexy new technology, actually ship it (or hell, ship
> surface/origami/courier/etc.).

Whatever criticism Microsoft deserves, failing to ship is hardly among it.

~~~
hello_moto
Yes, Microsoft is used to play second fiddle. But then again, didn't they
clean up (or there were some stuff going on) their Online divisions couple
months ago (or even last 1 or 2 years ago)?

Once in a while, there will be divisions that would require some changes.
Couple years ago, Vista (or the OS div) was the main target. They moved Steven
Sinofsky from Office to OS.

Once the situation over the OS div is better a bit, then the Online division.
They brought up various outsiders if I remember correctly. Some from Yahoo!,
not sure if they get anyone from Google (most likely not). Then Bing showed
up.

Now it's the E&D that got their piece of Ballmer Pie.

PS: I'm probably speculating.

~~~
WalterGR
> But then again, didn't they clean up (or there were some stuff going on)
> their Online divisions couple months ago (or even last 1 or 2 years ago)?

I believe so, but I don't recall specifics.

> Once in a while, there will be divisions that would require some changes.
> Couple years ago, Vista (or the OS div) was the main target. They moved
> Steven Sinofsky from Office to OS.

Sure. My original point (in response to you) was that E&D is in the black -
_not the red_ \- so your vision of Balmer "seeing those red numbers in Excel
Spreadsheet almost overflowing whatever the data type in cell G-14, H-15 and
K-25" simply doesn't exist.

> PS: I'm probably speculating.

And I'm trying to bring everyone back to earth. :)

~~~
hello_moto
With this new tablet product, Courier, it might gone red again for a while.

------
bitwize
Now it can be said!

J Allard's name is really :) Allard; outside Microsoft, the bug of mangling
the smiley into a J for people without the Wingdings font installed will no
longer happen.

~~~
snprbob86
That's really funny and I'd almost buy it, except that J Allard is really well
known for limited use of capitalization and punctuation. He signs his mails
with a lower-case "j" which would be a weird e/r or maybe it is e/t ligature.

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misterbwong
The turnover at MS seems to be intensifying. Whats worse is that it seems like
the people that made The Cool Stuff (tm) are leaving. That's unfortunate
because for a second there, I thought MS was finally getting it and starting
understand what consumers want.

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WalterGR
> The turnover at MS seems to be intensifying.

I haven't heard of any other high-profile departures recently. Have you?

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MHordecki
Don Dodge, maybe? (although it depends on the definition of "recently")

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misterbwong
Was thinking both Don Dodge and Rob Conery. Not recent by web standards but
(imo) still pretty fresh in real world terms.

