five reasons why steve ballmer needed to go

7/30/2019 Five Reasons Why Steve Ballmer Needed to Go

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Five reasons why Ballmer needed to goSummary: At long, long last Steve Ballmer is leaving Microsoft. Here's why.

By Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols for Between the Lines | August 23, 2013 -- 17:21 GMT (22:51 IST)

Steve Ballmer is going to retire from Microsoft sometime within the next 12 months

(http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-ceo-ballmer-to-retire-in-the-next-12-months-7000019793/) . Well, that's the official story.

I think Microsoft's board finally gave him a choice: Jump or be pushed.

There will be no more "Monkey Boy." Ballmer is leaving Microsoft.

Why? Because Ballmer's been a flop even before the summer of 2008 when Bill Gates left and he officially

became Microsoft's top dog. How has he failed? Let us count the ways:

1) Vista and Windows 8 FumblesVista was a flop. It was so bad that Microsoft had to give Windows XP Home a new lease on life to beat

back Linux netbooks (http://www.zdnet.com/blog/open-source/why-the-linux-netbook-crashed-and-burned/9156) that were

eating up the low-end PC market in 2009. Steven Sinofsky then saved Microsoft's desktop operating

system bacon with Windows 7.

As bad as Vista was, Windows 8's sad sale numbers made it look like a winner (http://www.zdnet.com/windows-8

-continues-to-fail-7000016222/). Long before it became clear that no one really wanted Windows 8 with its

annoying Metro interface (http://www.zdnet.com/five-reasons-why-windows-8-has-failed-7000012104) , Sinofsky had

been shown the door (http://www.zdnet.com/was-sinofsky-fired-for-microsofts-sins-7000007344) . Ballmer should have

been shown the blue screen-door of death instead.

2) Tablet and smartphone non-starters

Page1 of 12Five reasons why Ballmer needed to go | ZDNet

25-08-2013http://www.zdnet.com/five-reasons-why-ballmer-needed-to-go-7000019809/


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Read this

Microsoft's next

CEO: Who's on the

short list?

The many funny

faces of SteveBallmer (photos)

Here's Microsoft

CEO Ballmer's

goodbye note to

the troops

Ballmer out:

Reaction from the

Twitter trenches

Pour one out for

Steve Ballmer

The writing is on the wall: People are buying tablets and smartphones. The PC will never go away, but

there's no growth left in those markets. Under Ballmer, Microsoft tried and failed over and over again to

make an impact in the mobile space.

True, Windows Phone 8 has made some gains, but it's done so because of the collapse and fall of the

BlackBerry empire more than by any virtues of its own. Google's Android is well on its way to dominating

smartphones (http://www.zdnet.com/history-rhymes-android-dominates-smartphones-like-windows-dominated-pcs-7000019130)

the way Windows used to own the desktop.

As for tablets, Ballmer can put out as many ads as he wants about how the Windows 8-powered tablets

such as the Lenovo Yoga are better than iPads (http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-targets-ipad-with-new-back-to-school-

ad-7000019590) ; it doesn't matter. Android-based tablets have overtaken the iPad (http://www.zdnet.com/android

-surpasses-ios-in-yet-another-global-tablet-market-share-report-7000018868) and Windows-based tablets have barely

any presence.

As for Microsoft's own much ballyhooed Surface tablets, they've gone nowhere. In particular, Surface RT

has proven a total and utter failure (http://www.zdnet.com/surface-rt-sets-the-new-gold-standard-in-hubris-7000018293) .

3) Microsoft's online failuresYou don't need to use Bing to see that quarter after quarter Microsoft's Online Services Division loses

money (http://www.zdnet.com/microsofts-q4-unravels-surface-rt-bet-flops-7000018263/) . The "good" news? It's no

longer losing half-a-billion dollars a quarter (http://www.zdnet.com/microsofts-online-services-unit-pares-losses-in-q2-

7000010296) .

Maybe Microsoft should have bought Yahoo after all. In little more than a year, new Yahoo CEO Marissa

Mayer somehow managed to make Yahoo the top US Web property in July 2013

(http://www.zdnet.com/comscore-yahoo-tops-google-as-top-u-s-web-property-7000019702) . Thinking of which, if Microsoft

had bought Yahoo and then brought Mayer in to run it, they'd have a much better "insider" candidate for

Microsoft CEO than the current pick of the executive crop (http://www.zdnet.com/microsofts-next-ceo-whos-on-the-

short-list-7000019798/) .

4) The corporate culture from hell

Ever hear ofstack ranking (http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-has-become-the-thing-they-

despised-7000000332) ? It's Microsoft's personnel and department ranking system.

In it every staffer, and unit is rated on a 1 to 5 scale. So far, so typical. What

makes stack ranking poisonous is that one out of every ten staffers and

departments must be given a bad rating

(http://www.forbes.com/sites/frederickallen/2012/07/03/the-terrible-management-technique-that-

cost-microsoft-its-creativity) .

Say you have 100 people in your division and five of them really aren't much

good. Too bad. As a boss, you still must label five otherwise OK employees as

failures. At the same time, you have to fight to make sure your department

doesn't fall into the 10 percent pit or you're likely to be in the unemployment

line soon too.

Combine this draconian system with Microsoft's annual attempts to reorganize

itself. After years of minor shakeups, Microsoft decided to really and truly

reorganize itself to focus on shifting the company from a software company to a

devices and services one; to make it "One Microsoft, (http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft

-3-0-a-meaner-leaner-devices-and-services-machine-7000017931/) " a more agile and

responsive tech company.




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Why I should be

the next Microsoft

CEO

Microsoft 3.0: A

meaner, leaner

devices and

services machine?

It was a nice idea. Microsoft divisions had fought like cats and dogs in a sack

thrown into the river. There was no "One Microsoft." There were divisions

fighting among themselves for the top and some that were clawing for simple

survival.

Could Ballmer pull off this top-down cultural and management change and make

Microsoft into a gentler, kinder company? Management experts like Paul Carroll

didn't think so. Indeed, Carroll couldn't think of a single CEO who'd pulled off

the kind of sea-change Ballmer had called for

(http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9240882/Ballmer_s_chance_of_changing_Microsoft_Don_t_bet_on_it?pageNumber=1) .

Microsoft's board didn't think Ballmer could do it either. They appear to think that Ballmer couldn't change

a toxic corporate culture into one capable of dealing with a far more competitive business landscape than

the one Gates faced as a start-up in the 1970s.

5) The market didn't believe in Ballmer

Ballmer was never really a good CEO choice. He was always first and foremost a salesman(http://www.zdnet.com/pour-one-out-for-steve-ballmer-7000019801) . But, when year after year all he could had to sell

was sizzle instead of steak, the market turned against him.

In January 2000, Ballmer became CEO. On August 22, 2000, Microsoft's stock closed at $35.62. On

August 22, 2013, it closed at $32.39. If you look at Gates' last days in 2000, when the stock was around

$55 a share, it's decline is even worse.

For over a decade Microsoft has largely declined in real value. Its rivals? Apple's currently at $501.42 and

Google's at a mind-bending $871.29 a share.

Is it any wonder that for years analysts have been screaming for Ballmer to be shown the door.

Unsurprisingly, now that the market knows Ballmer is leaving, Microsoft's stock has bounced up about 6-

percent.

Where does Microsoft go from here? That's a good question and I don't have a good answer.

What I do know is that it needs radical change. Yes, it still make billions, but in 2013 it's still a PC

operating system and business PC software company in a world that's turned from PCs to smartphones,

tablets, and the cloud. To remake Microsoft, even with all its riches, into a true 21st century technology

company is going to take radical change.

It can be done. IBM did it. General Motors and Ford did it. Until we know who will take over Microsoft's

reins we can't even really guess if Microsoft will be able to do it.

Related Stories:

Microsoft CEO Ballmer to retire in the next 12 months (http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-ceo-ballmer-to-retire-in-

the-next-12-months-7000019793/)

Microsoft's next CEO: Who's on the short list? (http://www.zdnet.com/microsofts-next-ceo-whos-on-the-short-list-

7000019798/)

Pour one out for Steve Ballmer (http://www.zdnet.com/pour-one-out-for-steve-ballmer-7000019801/)

Was Sinofsky fired for Microsoft's sins? (http:/ /www.zdnet.com/was-sinofsky-fired-for-microsofts-sins-7000007344/)

The three phases of Steve Ballmer's tenure at Microsoft (http:/ /www.zdnet.com/the-three-phases-of-steve-

ballmers-tenure-at-microsoft-7000000220/)

Topics:Microsoft, Windows




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[i]

About Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

Steven J . Vaughan-Nichols, aka sjvn, has been writing about technology and the

business of technology since CP/M-80 was the cutting edge PC operating system.

SJ VN covers networking, Linux, open source, and operating systems.




5/12

Talkback

Finally

I never understood how they let him stay for this long. The spiral downward may be irreversible.

D.J. 43

23 August, 2013 17:40

Reply 11 Votes

I don't see a real future for Microsoft unless...

I t is hard to sell an operating system now that need to be replaced every so many years. There

just isn't that much inovation to support that.

With Google apps and open office the office suite is a no starter as well. So what is the new

leader of Microsoft to do with this highly commercialized product line?

Unless they can remake themselves around a new killer technology, face it even killer app won't

do it, they do not have great prospects on the horizon. In all fairness though toxic environments

are rampant throughout the whole IT community. MS sounds good compared to the fortune 100

company I used to work for and still do but not on their payroll a vendors instead. I was too

useful to dump so they passed me off like an asset.

adams48423 August, 2013 19:14

Reply 7 Votes

contrary to sjvn's wishful speculation

MS has made a very successful transformation to a broad based company. Azure has always

been the best cloud platform available. Now MS has the best mobile os as well. And their

online versions of office and exchange and ERP and CRM etc etc are performing fantastically.

Bing continues to take search share away from Google, Xbox dominates, and Windows Phone

is set to soon pass iPhone,and already has in many parts of the world. WP9 devices and

Surface2s have great opportunities. The xbone needs a bit more whole home entertainment

focus though. They need to bake the mce experience into it. With its W8 core now it should

support great new virtual disks and networked tv tuners.

Johnny Vegas

23 August, 2013 19:51

Reply 3 Votes




6/12

Re: Azure has always been the best cloud platform available

Now, this is what I call wishful thinking.

"has always been" requires some history. How old is Azure?

danbi

23 August, 2013 22:33

Reply 8 Votes

You haven't seen Azure, obviously

Azure is slick, you obviously say things without looking at them first.

Amazon uses Firefox to manage it and is basically Xen.

Hands down, Microsoft puts a slick interface on everything they do.Look at Google Maps, after several years, they are finally getting that it's crapware

trying to save and edit locations.

noozhour

23 August, 2013 22:57

Reply 2 Votes

Please explain your comment or some linksAmazon uses Firefox to manage it and is basically Xen.

RickLively

23 August, 2013 23:14

Reply 3 Votes

There are many areas in which MS has been impressive

and you mention some of those.

The particular area where MS has been least impressive is mobile computing even though

they had, in some cases, a 10 year head start on other competitors. There have been too

many failures (and too few success) - Windows CE, Windows Phone, Windows RT, Surface

RT, Kin, Zune . . .

I wonder how those Windows Phone 7 programmers feel after parading the coffin down the

street? It seems to have signified the end of MS and mobile products!

Overall, MS has a very poor track record for a company that has to compete in a mobile

world, albeit that it may be competing very well in other business areas.




7/12

XBox 360 dominate? Exaggeration aside, that a is a big call. Sure, MS have done well with

XB360, but the overall results for it compared to PS3 are roughly similar and the PS3 came

onto the market 12 months later. More so, neither holds a candle to Wii sales. Even worse,

the XBOne has had a truly inauspicious start. When announced, MS made a vast series of

statements about what would and wouldn't be allowed etc. To date, it has had to back-track

on a very large number of those eg no indie developers, "always-on". I'm very curious about

what the sales will be of XBOne. So far, it seems that MS has done all in its power to bite

that hand that feeds it!

Wake me when the trolls have gone.

24 August, 2013 02:35

Reply 4 Votes

"Azure has always been the best cloud platform available."

"Always" starts from a very long time and yet Azure was released on 1 Feb 2010. Three and

a half years is hardly "always".

Wake me when the trolls have gone.

24 August, 2013 04:39

Reply 2 Votes

WP soon pass iPhone?If you extrapolate using WP's 75% July 2013 sales growth indefinitely, I suppose you could

predict they'll pass iPhone within a year. Shame Android phones had 70% sales growth.

Extrapolating both by those July 2013 figures and given their current market positions, it'd

take over 130 years for WP to pass Android.

hrlngrv

24 August, 2013 22:49

Reply Vote



been the best cloud platform available. Now MS has the best mobile os as well. And their online

versions of office and exchange and ERP and CRM etc etc are performing fantastically. Bing

continues to take search share away from Google, Xbox dominates, and Windows Phone is set to

soon pass iPhone,and already has in many parts of the world. WP9 devices and Surface2s have

great opportunities. The xbone needs a bit more whole home entertainment focus though. They

need to bake the mce experience into it. With its W8 core now it should support great newvirtual disks and networked tv tuners.




8/12

23 August, 2013 19:51

Reply Vote

contrary to sjvn's wishful speculationMS has made a very successful transformation to a broad based company. Azure has always






need to bake the mce experience into it. With its W8 core now it should support great new

virtual disks and networked tv tuners. Ballmers successor will inherit a great foundation. Notice

how sjvn forgot to mention that everything he said about the board was pure speculation.

Johnny Vegas

23 August, 2013 19:53

Reply 1 Vote











Johnny Vegas

23 August, 2013 19:53

Reply 2 Votes






soon pass iPhone,and already has in many parts of the world. WP9 devices and Surface2s havegreat opportunities. The xbone needs a bit more whole home entertainment focus though. They





9/12



Johnny Vegas

23 August, 2013 19:54

Reply 2 Votes

You can say it 100 times if you want to, Johnny

It doesn't make it any less of a fanboy spin

CaviarRed

24 August, 2013 12:15

Reply 4 Votes







great opportunities. The xbone needs a bit more whole home entertainment focus though. Theyneed to bake the mce experience into it. With its W8 core now it should support great new



Johnny Vegas

23 August, 2013 19:54

Reply 1 Vote

Good ONE

SPAM!!!!! Hahahahahahahahaha

me_myself&someone_else

24 August, 2013 02:53

Reply 4 Votes

Exactly! No change for change's sake!




10/12

The conflict with developing a robust yet versatile OS has always been between selling to naive,

casual users and tech-savvy, power users.

Efforts for the former -- Bob, Millennium, Vista, and Metro -- have all led to pushback and

failure, when those interfaces break robust application usability.

People who want easy email, photos, music, and video sharing always break the interface for

those who employ computers vocationally in a work environment or avocationally in a serious

hobby.

Forex: Grandparents help their grandkids glue together popsicle napkin holders. Woodworking

hobbyists such as my friend Ike build multi-story multi-species birdhouses.

For years power users and tech writers have urged MS to eliminate bugs and lockdown a strong

feature set, yet MS has taken the complete opposite tack and foundered for their efforts.

Telemetry data largely derives from naifs -- people who have no clue to data structures or

organization. Thus, Ribbon or the Modern GUI ladens every single command buffet-style to the

point of selection overkill.

MS had a fast, functional, granular search program in XP [after one deactivated the cartoon

character]. Instead, in Win7 this was replaced with a "search everything" and "dump everything

into a Library" model that needs to be constantly indexed. Also, Windows could no longer

remember the placement, sizing, and layout of previously open windows with Detailed

Directories on restart. These were all OS functions in XP.

I had to buy the add-on utilities Agent Ransack 64, Classic Start Menu, and ShellFolderFix simply

so I could make the OS -- which should include these capabilities -- function.

Speaking of Detailed Directory windows, Win7 idiotically expands subfolders in the Navigation

tree pane so that the daughter subfolders shift downward out of sight at the bottom of the pane

instead of shifting the mother folder branch upward to the top of the pane so the subfolder

branches can be viewed hierarchically. Utterly ass-backwards to commonsense functionality.

Look at the 8.1 RTF Preview. It dumps "All Apps" on the Desktop. Currently, there's nothing on

my Desktop aside from the Recycle Bin. Over a decade ago I organized all my App tokens in

logical, descending folders on the Start Menu that opened for me in hover mode. With the sweep

of a Wacom pen tool, I could point to and open any app faster than I could type the name in

Win7's search box paradigm.

Prediction: 8.1 will continue Microsoft's losing ways.

Clue, MS -- nail down the functions you already have for serious Desktop users before trying to

bribe children with crayons and party-favors.

Bring back all the core functions for which the **hardcore** clamor with an easy, global

"Rainbow Pony" disconnect option that still retains the sparkly-effects for the casual users. Do

the same for Office. Bifurcate tablets from desktops and stop this insane pursuit of change for

change's sake.

Make Microsoft Windows synonymous with Reliability and Robustness. You won't win the

Prettiest in Show ribbon but you will stop hemorrhaging sales.

JJB




11/12

JJ Brannon

23 August, 2013 22:13

Reply 6 Votes

Start Button/Menu = Search

It's similar to iOS and Android where you have too many apps you end up just doing a

search. iOS hasn't solved that and -- guess what (if you didn't notice) is similar to the way

Windows 8 does things.

It's just novel and also a better interface. iOS is tired, v7 is copying Windows 8 ideas, so that

shows Microsoft is innovative.

Ever try to rename a file in iOS?? The same 'channels' that Palm OS had in 1999 - nothing

has changed.

Android looks like a toy and it's a hack like Unix/Linux.

noozhour

23 August, 2013 22:53

Reply Vote

My God, someone I can actually agree with.

I agree with most of what you said, JJ. I work professionally with Windows 7 and Ubuntu and

have a Windows 8 at home and both versions of Windows make it more difficult to do thesame things I used to do in XP. First thing I had to do was install Classic Shell in both. Have

you just tried rearranging the icons in the Program menus? Click, move in XP now, it's click,

move, warning window, administrator privileges, move, menus disappear so, repeat from the

beginning. Or, bring up the task menu,... I could go on and on.

Can Windows get better, yes, of course if the OS architects work with users and not dictate

to users.

swampy27

24 August, 2013 04:13

Reply 1 Vote

I find I am more productive on Win 2000 than any later Windows OS

Why? Because unlike Vista and Windows 8 (which my Wife has come to loathe), Win2000

just gets out of my way and allows me to be more productive.

One of the most frustrating things with Windows 8/Metro experiment is opening and viewing

photos. What used to be brain-dead simple is now a confusing frustrating mess. Double-

clicking a photo in Desktop now kicks you into Metro where there's no option to do anythingwith it (no rotating nothin). What's worse, you can not preview other photos in your folder

you can only view one at a time in Metro. To open another photo, you have to manuver back




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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Next

to the Desktop (a two-three step process) just to vie the next photo in your photo folder.

This is ultimate failure in design. What used to be simple and made sensce is now so

confusing and frustrating. Ballmer needed to go decades ago.

dave95.

24 August, 2013 13:37

Reply 1 Vote


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