Thoughts About Steve Ballmer's Plans to Retire and His Successor?

[Corrine]

Officially announced today, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to retire within 12 months.

Microsoft Corp. today announced that Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer has decided to retire as CEO within the next 12 months, upon the completion of a process to choose his successor. In the meantime, Ballmer will continue as CEO and will lead Microsoft through the next steps of its transformation to a devices and services company that empowers people for the activities they value most.

“There is never a perfect time for this type of transition, but now is the right time,” Ballmer said. “We have embarked on a new strategy with a new organization and we have an amazing Senior Leadership Team. My original thoughts on timing would have had my retirement happen in the middle of our company’s transformation to a devices and services company. We need a CEO who will be here longer term for this new direction.”

Mary Jo Foley's Interviews with Steve:

Part 1: Microsoft's Ballmer on his biggest regret, the next CEO and more
Part 2: Microsoft's Ballmer: Why Microsoft doesn't want to be IBM (or Apple) and more

At least at this point, the announcement is having a positive impact on the stock price: MSFT - Stock Quote for Microsoft Corporation - MSN Money.

Comments I'm seeing are all over the map -- speculation that he was asked to retire, that his replacement should be hired from outside, that his replacement should be someone who has written code well and professionally.coded. Overall, however, the comments are that there is no question about his love, devotion and enthusiasm for the company.

What do you think? What kind of a person can fill his shoes?

 

[Patrick]

Wow, this is huge news. I never really paid attention to the politics of Microsoft enough to comment on his impact as a CEO, but

there is no question about his love, devotion and enthusiasm for the company.

is very true.

 

[Will]

Interesting comment:

Oh, you know, I've actually had a chance to make a lot of mistakes, and probably because, you know, people all want to focus in on period A, period B, but I would say probably the thing I regret most is the, what shall I call it, the loopedy-loo that we did that was sort of Longhorn to Vista.

 

[cluberti]

While I am always pleased to see people moving along, change at the very top means a lot of things. As an employee I don't have an opinion one way or the other - time will tell if the board chooses someone who ends up being good for the company or not. As to being forced, only the board can hire or fire a CEO, as they're the only ones higher than him in the org chart; if that actually happened, we wouldn't likely hear about it anyway, although given he's sticking around for the replacement period I'd have to say the odds are not good that he was "forced out", and he's more likely simply leaving of his own free will and listening to advice from others. I actually truly think he did what he's wanted to do with modernizing the company, bringing it very heavily into cloud services, and overseeing the release or update to a lot of very good products that have, for the most part, been well-received by customers. Microsoft was definitely well-lead by Mr. Ballmer, but with the re-org and a new direction, I think he may have realized that someone else needed to see it to fruition. It's like anything else when you consider moving on with staying, especially if you love what you are currently doing - does the excitement and love of the job outweigh the amount of effort and time that will go into seeing the transformation he began to the end? I think, perhaps, that he simply decided that at this point in his life, the job no longer outweighed the alternatives, and it was time to move on. Everyone should be doing that, on a regular basis, with any job they are employed in. We all change over the years, unless we're robots .

 

[Wrench97]

Is there a application to fill out somewhere online? I'll only need that job for about a year .........:lol:

 

[Triple Helix]

I wonder if it has something to do with this: Ballmer: Surface RT, Windows 8 disappointing | BGR :noidea:

TH

 

[Corrine]

Interesting commentary in the first Mini-Microsoft blog post since Steven Sinofsky left: Mini-Microsoft: Steve Ballmer is Going to Frickin' Retire From Microsoft!. In the event you aren't familiar with the "Mini-Microsoft" blog, it is reported to be authored by an anonymous Microsoft employee. It certainly is an outlet for current and former employees to add their thoughts. Of course, with anything of this nature, it is necessary to view many of the comments with a grain of salt, realizing that many are merely letting off steam or showing off (their ignorance ). Nonetheless, it is interesting.

Considering that Microsoft was officially founded over 38 years ago and has only had two CEO's is quite amazing. During my 42+ years at Kodak, there were 8 different CEOs and they all made serious mistakes -- too slow to change/adapt, too top-heavy, too interested in being a copy-cat*, and just plain awful (Antonio Perez). (*Copy-cat: All the other large companies were expanding in to different fields and acquiring other businesses so why not do the same -- only to end up spinning off or selling within a few years)

 

[Will]

I read an article about Kodak the other day - they're just about to come out of bankruptcy aren't they? I can't find a link, but their proposal was to massively scale down and focus on a much smaller range of products.

 

[Corrine]

Yes, the projected date is September 3. Perez was the last straw for Kodak. He'll be leaving with millions in his pocket while middle managers who put portions of their salary into a special retirement account lost almost all of their money. All existing stock will be cancelled and new stock will be owned by a few large financial firms & unsecured creditors. Of course, the stock is only worth about a nickle now. I remember when it was at $95. Thousands lost jobs, large portions of the business sold.

Kodak Park was a city within a city with 30 miles of roads and the facilities to maintain them, a bus system, power generation facilities for steam and electricity, sewer system, railroad, fire and medical departments, including ambulances, water treatment facilities. The food sold in the cafeterias was all made on sight. There was even a separate bakery that made all the baked goods for the cafeterias.

Then it imploded as shown from my office window.

In a similar parallel to Kodak and the digital camera (invented by Steve Sasson in 1975 but not introduced to market until 1991) Zune and Windows Phone have been mentioned as too late to the market. The major difference I see between Kodak and Microsoft is that Microsoft is staying true to its core (yes, that includes Zune, XBox and Windows Phone) rather than unrelated products such as polyester, carpet fibers, vitamins and even ruminant feed.

 

[cluberti]

I wonder if it has something to do with this: Ballmer: Surface RT, Windows 8 disappointing | BGR :noidea:

TH

That's not enough to make someone want to retire - and to be fair, the charge down on the Surface devices are not just stock, but the price drop to move them (thus taking a likely loss on each sale). In the long term, Microsoft's consolidation of the OS platform across all their devices is (in my opinion) going to pay off, but it's a long play, perhaps taking years to see to the end. Ultimately though, Microsoft is an enterprise company as well as a consumer company, and Microsoft makes money hand over fist in the enterprise space with on prem and cloud products, and that's not going to change anytime soon.

 

[Will]

I don't think the lack of success of Zune and Windows Phone is really down to MS being "late to the market". Windows Mobile has been around for years, and although Windows Phone is newer... it's not like they had nothing to work from.

iPhone: 2007
Android: 2007
Windows Mobile 6: 2007/Windows Phone 7: 2010

Zune: 2006.
Spotify: 2008

The failure of Zune/WP isn't with the timescales, but the quality of product themselves. WP 7 is a step in the right direction, but... what differentiates it from an iPhone or an Android device? iPhone and Android both have separate identities, with strong product lines. WP has been adopted by.... Nokia? Itself a failing company, rapidly trying to save itself.

With Zune... what even is Zune? What's it trying to be? It has no decent product line to carry it; everyone has iTunes because of the ipod. It also has no compelling unique features, everyone has Spotify because it's a unique service that's actually beneficial to have - it's also compatible with iOS etc.

Being late to the market isn't a problem, failing to adapt is the problem. A couple of years ago, who'd have guessed that Nokia and Blackberry would be failing? The best selling phone of all time was a Nokia and only released in 2003, reached it's 1 billionth sale in 2005 whilst the iPhone was in development.
Nokia 1100 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I guess it's the problem with having these large companies run by slow moving corporate accountants, n a market which can change overnight. "It worked yesterday, why isn't it working today?".

In the long term, Microsoft's consolidation of the OS platform across all their devices is (in my opinion) going to pay off, but it's a long play, perhaps taking years to see to the end.

I agree - Windows 8 + family is definitely going to pay off, just not in the same direct way Windows 7 has.

 

[cluberti]

The only questions I'd have are, did you ever use Zune? Have you ever used Windows Mobile 6? Zune, as a hardware product, was far and away better than an iPod as a music player, the accompanying software was more visually appealing, stable, and easier to use and discover, and with a Zune Pass and SmartDJ you had something that rivaled Spotify, without having to have YAA (yet another app) to use it. The problem with Zune (both software and hardware) was marketing, or more accurately, a lack thereof. Coupled with the fact that Windows Phone 7 (which worked well with it) didn't get a lot of marketing love in the US didn't help either product, and I have no clue who was responsible for this. Instead of pushing Zune and WP, they were both condemned to death, and that was nothing to do with the product quality of either.

Onward to your other point, Windows Mobile 6.x compared very little to what the iPhone was at the time, or even is today, and that's why it was eventually phased out and replaced (by WP7, also based on WinCE, or WP8.x, based on an actual NT kernel). WP6.x as a platform, compared to a modern smartphone (even in 2007), was ancient in capability and reach, and again, while WP7 was a very useful (and easy to use) device, it lacked marketing and developer push, at least in the US. Even a relatively silly product release, like the KIN, failed not because it wasn't a good device at what it was designed to do, but poor planning and marketing doomed it - forcing a data plan for something that wasn't a true smartphone killed it. The disaster wasn't the product, it was that it should never have actually been released, as it competed directly with WP7 in functionality (as a subset of it). The fallout with Verizon and with customers was truly self-inflicted.

The problem with Microsoft's products of late have been down to either a complete lack of marketing presence before, during, and after launch, or poor marketing campaigns. The products themselves, and the services they use, are usually better than the competition (and as someone complaining about Zune, I can tell you never actually used it). With SteveB leaving, I do hope THAT changes, because on face value Microsoft's products are much better than their release/marketing campaigns do them justice for. I actually think the re-org will solve some of these problems of different divisions creating competing products, a lack of focus on the overall platform at times, etc. Here's hoping.

 

[Corrine]

In the long term, Microsoft's consolidation of the OS platform across all their devices is (in my opinion) going to pay off, but it's a long play, perhaps taking years to see to the end.

I agree that this is an excellent move. It will allow better communication across platforms as well as eliminating duplication of efforts.

With Zune... what even is Zune? What's it trying to be? It has no decent product line to carry it; everyone has iTunes because of the ipod. It also has no compelling unique features, everyone has Spotify because it's a unique service that's actually beneficial to have - it's also compatible with iOS etc.

I never got an iPod and have no use for iTunes and its required QuickTime but I still have my Zune and love it. Not only does it have the music on it that I like, it also has radio access which worked outside of the box. With different vendors for phones, mileage varies. For example Spotify isn't compatible with my Windows 8 Phone.

I guess it's the problem with having these large companies run by slow moving corporate accountants, n a market which can change overnight. "It worked yesterday, why isn't it working today?".

I agree.

 

[Will]

The only questions I'd have are, did you ever use Zune? Have you ever used Windows Mobile 6?

I've never used Zune, but I've used Windows Mobile 6 + WP 7/8. I didn't like WP to be honest, nothing there that would make me go to it over an Android or iOS device. I don't like the interface, but that aside, there aren't any decent high range Windows Phone devices that rival an iPhone or Galaxy S3/4. I've only used lower end WP devices, so I'm aware there are nicer ones, but there is no reason for me to go for it.

Have you ever used Windows Mobile 6? Zune, as a hardware product, was far and away better than an iPod as a music player, the accompanying software was more visually appealing, stable, and easier to use and discover, and with a Zune Pass and SmartDJ you had something that rivaled Spotify, without having to have YAA (yet another app) to use it.

I don't think the issue is just marketing. I have never used Zune, and to be honest it was only a couple of months ago when I first heard about it. Whilst some of the Zune hardware looks like it was reasonable in itself - is it just a matter of making good hardware? I mean that just in the sense of what people want, and what draws people to a product - the iPod was never the best music player, but I don't think people really wanted the best music player, they wanted the iPod though.

The Gigabeat S was released in 2006, a year later the iPod Touch and iPhone arrived. Maybe that gen of Zune could have been successful with decent marketing and a launch three/four years earlier, but it looks like MS was playing catchup straight from launch. If we'd had Zune + WP7 launched together in 2007 with decent marketing + Zune replacing Windows Media Player, then maybe it would have become a more major player. But... the products came too late, and had awful marketing? Perhaps I'm wrong, but Apple seems to have always tried to design the most appealing product (in the last 10 years anyway), rather than the best functional utility.

Neither were a result of a poor product.

Not calling the products poor, but those sections of MS didn't adapt in time or release anything unique enough to take the market by storm. Lots of iPod clones failed - companies failing to realise that the success of the iPod wasn't 100% due to it's ability to play music. It's hard to release a product to challenge such an established brand - especially if they've already moved onto the next big thing.

Perhaps there is a similar situation with the Windows Surface tablets. They're a better product than the iPad - no doubt about that. Why do we all still have iPads? (figuratively). What's the deal with the surface? It's definitely had more marketing than Zune ever had, I see them in shops every time I walk by, the product itself is better, it's compatible with Windows. Why do the iPad sales figures blow it away?

 

[Will]

Another interesting article:

Microsoft needs a new CEO who probably doesn?t exist | Ars Technica

 

[Temmu]

microsoft will collapse under the weight of (the lack of) its own leadership by 1q 2014. best get familiar with linux.
but don't despair, most programming languages work in linux, better & safer than ms windows...


just kidding!
ms cannot go bankrupt for at least 4 or 5 years...

 

[Will]

No company is too big to fall, but it's highly unlikely Microsoft are going to go bankrupt any-time soon. As cluberti said, MS sells mainly to business - the new CEO would have to make some pretty major mistakes to collapse that market.

 

[Temmu]

lol, my post was (kinda) joking (so it said...)
and i agree, ms is trying soooo hard to get into the consumer-hardware market it's not funny. and it's really not funny - kinda sad, actually.
so, yea, they'll be around for a while - hopefully long enough for me to ... retire or something. would hate to introduce management to linux - although the users would love it, i'm sure.

 

[cluberti]

Users have proven over the years they don't really care what's in front of them, they just need to do their jobs. Whomever makes the platform that devs want to target, is easy enough for an end-user to not screw up in daily use, and is manageable and securable at scale with centralized tools, that will be the platform businesses will choose and stick with (until someone comes along and does it better). Outside of small businesses, cost isn't really a factor (at least not of the system itself), it's the ongoing management and maintenance costs that become an issue. This is one of the main reasons Microsoft does well in the sector - long term support for reasonable costs, with lots of tangible benefits and a large developer base. We shall see if it follows them on their path to platform convergence or not, but that's the state of the market today.

 

[Will]

ms is trying soooo hard to get into the consumer-hardware market it's not funny. and it's really not funny - kinda sad, actually.

Why? The consumer and business markets are becoming less distinct, and the consumer market can be particularly lucrative. I don't see anything funny/sad about it - they just don't have their strategy perfect yet. :noidea: