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I was under the impression that these days basically, Microsoft = Office. Must be great having so much money to burn through while you sort your shit out.
In Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella's latest move to dismantle the legacy of his predecessor, Steve Ballmer, the software giant has announced that it's changing its financial reporting structure ... again. The last time Redmond reorganized how it reports its earnings to investors was in the summer of 2013. Ballmer would step aside …
Pretend you worked in a world where you had to make "the Intelligent Cloud segment" a thing to delude people into seeing your "vision" and more importantly stuff money down the front of your blouse/shirt.
Trouble is the punters want to go further and further and expect more and more. One minute it's a fiver down your front and then it's a pony in your pants ... and you still have to grin and deliver.
Frankly, MS: you are old and tired, rather boring and increasingly irrelevant. Try innovating again. Even buying up others who do that and putting a decent spit and polish on it as you did in the past would be nice. Your current ennuie is really boring.
Cheers
Jon
PS: pony == £25, pants == trousers
Microsoft can quickly get out of the rut they are in by going back to what made them successful to begin with. That means killing Windows 10 quickly and make Windows 11 just like Windows 7, except with the under-the-hood enhancements of Windows 8. And when I mean just like Windows 7, I mean (a) respect for your privacy, (b) a working F8 pre-boot menu without any hacks, (c) a full backup program, (d) the option to enable Aero, (e) a customization start menu that isn't pushing "apps", (f) and to stop calling programs "apps". Microsoft can also kill LibreOffice quickly if they make Office (a) with the option to have a menu bar (why does Microsoft hate giving you choices?), (b) make the price reasonable, that is to say a low-cost 3 user home and student version again.
But it won't happen. Analysts have said mobile is the future. The same analysts who couldn't predict 12:30 at 12 noon. The same analysts who think past performance equals future performance. A multi-billion dollar company won't die overnight. But Microsoft is pissing off the wrong people, again and again. They can only do that for so long.
Treat customers as people who have options, which they do would be a good start. Competent marketers and brand managers always remember the customer does have options. In the case of MS for Windows there is Apple, ChromeOS gaining traction with various Linux distros in the background. For many any of these are actually viable options for doing what users what to do. A smart brand manager does not anger customers to the point they actually start looking seriously at their options. Jobs and Cook at Apple seem to grasp this. Gates, Ballmer, Nadella, not so much.
Hm, interesting group there:
Windows desktop, giving it away
Windows mobile, can't give it away
Surface, Doing reeeaall well now... honest!
Xbox consoles, Dang that foot's still sore from that gunshot!
Bing, After years of work and billions spent, We finally beat Yahoo!
Is this where MS products go to die?
Windows desktop, giving it away, but not to enterprise.
Windows mobile, can't give it away, agree with you there.
Surface, is actually doing well with revenues near the one billion mark last quarter.
Xbox consoles, Xbox One while behind the PS4 is breaking every sales milestone set by the Xbox 360, which was a very successful console.
Bing, They didn't beat Yahoo. The came to a deal with Yahoo where instead of using its own search Yahoo uses Bing search and both companies share the ad revenue. Its why you see a small "powered by bing" at the bottom of the page.
First thing Nadella did upon becoming CEO was visit the Indian Prime Minister. Now he's making it impossible for anyone to tell what's happening financially. Soon Microsoft will be another American company run by Indians, for Indians, while creativity, profits and jobs for Americans decline.
So start understanding that affordable education is not socialism. Or perhaps the problem is even deeper. I had a look at a discussion (on YouTube) where an American astroboffin slightly reluctantly admitted that most of his students where Chinese. Perhaps it's all about obesity in kids.