Does Microsoft's CEO hate the things you love, or just inefficiency in his business?
Every leader brings their unique personality to the position. And that personality has a profound impact on the direction of a company.

Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella's character, as shaped by his son with Cerebral Palsy, was instrumental in transforming the company's culture through empathy. Personality types are equally as compelling as they affect the critical course-setting decisions a leader makes.
An individual's personality type shapes how he sees the world, his and others place in it and the processes that govern activities, events and even big business. Based on his personality-filtered perception, a leader makes decisions that are ultimately good for a company or detrimental to its future success.
The Meyers-Briggs personality type index describes 16 distinct personality types. I cannot be certain but based on observations of Nadella's public actions, what he's communicated and the decisions he's made as Microsoft's CEO, I believe he's an "Introverted Intuitive Thinking Judging" (INTJ) personality type; also referred to as the Mastermind. (Of course, this is obviously complete conjecture — I do not claim to know what Nadella thinks or why). Though that term may conjure negative images, it is not meant to. Nadella seems to be a man of empathy and one who's genuinely determined to empower others.
Still, if Nadella is indeed an INTJ any of the company's struggling consumer-focused efforts, which you might love, may end up on the chopping block sooner or later.
The making of a Mastermind
Nothing is off the table in how we think about shifting our culture to deliver on this core strategy. Our priorities will be adjusted. New skills will be built. New ideas will be heard. New hires will be made. Processes will be simplified. And if you want to thrive at Microsoft and make a world impact, you and your team must add numerous more changes to this list that you will be enthusiastic about driving.
These were Nadella's words to Microsoft employees, via his "Bold Ambition and Our Core"," email after becoming CEO in 2014.
In the three years since, Nadella has terminated tens of thousands of employees, shuttered Microsoft's phone hardware business, shuffled leadership numerous times and closed shop on consumer-facing projects like Microsoft Band and Groove Music. Nothing has been off the table.
Among other qualities, the decisive elimination of perceived inefficiencies is a hallmark of the INTJ personality type.
Masterminds are described as contemplative, life-long learners, avid readers, imaginative, possesors of a natural talent for creating logical systems and shapers of the external world to create order. They intuitively perceive how something can be improved.
Masterminds are naturally able to grasp how one step leads to another in complex systems. In his big picture perspective, the projects and positions Nadella has eliminated, were obviously not steps toward his vision of Microsoft's ultimate goal.
Consistent with the INTJ personality type Nadella, in his first interview after becoming CEO, shared that he's started more books than he has finished. And he's still pursuing knowledge via online learning. Before becoming CEO, he also led Microsoft's cloud team. This position required a passion and aptitude for creating logical systems and order; all qualities of an INTJ.
Nadella, the quiet cloud guy
Nadella worked for Microsoft for over 20 years before becoming CEO. As a contemplative personality type, Masterminds observe for long periods of time, mentally conceive detailed plans and doggedly pursue the fulfillment of those goals if provided the opportunity.
As a "quiet cloud guy" (typical of the introvert nature of Masterminds) Nadella wasn't a favorite to replace Steve Ballmer at Microsoft's helm. Some deemed a more bullish personality was required to recover Microsoft's then downward spiral toward irrelevance.
In line with the INTJ's contemplative, calculating nature and propensity for improving processes, Nadella hit the ground running after taking the post. One of his first orders of business was asking the company's Senior Leadership Team (SLT) to read Marshall Rosenberg's, Non-violent communication. This reading assignment reveals just how much thought, this "quiet cloud guy" had been giving to how Microsoft could be transformed.
Consistent with the Mastermind personality type, he began executing calculated steps toward a conceived goal beginning with changing how senior leadership thinks and communicates. His decisions ultimately added $250 billion dollars in value to the company (as did an improving economy and rising stock market).
The beginning of the end of "inefficiency"
Because INTJ's are critical and clear thinkers who will have contemplated a plan long before communicating it, they can be blunt in its expression and expect others to simply "get it." They also tend to talk in large strategy terms, often omitting the finer details.
Nadella has expressed a grand vision of Microsoft as the "platform for all platforms" based on the intelligent cloud and intelligent edge, AI, Conversations as a Canvas, IoT, Windows Mixed Realty and quantum computing. After excising phones from Microsoft's product portfolio, he has been silent, barring cryptic statements, concerning mobile, however. The elimination of Microsoft Band and Groove Music were also details that weren't shared as part of his grand vision.
Microsoft has gradiose visions but poor follow-through.
Furthermore, Microsoft made big claims that 3D was for everyone when it introduced 3D Paint this year. The important detail of marketing that mission seems to have been omitted, however. The company even demonstrated a cross-platform mobile app that could scan real objects to create 3D models. That app has been MIA since the demo. Like most of Microsoft's ambitious endeavors, the vision is great but, the devil, as they say, is in the details. In the case of many of Microsoft's consumer-facing initiatives, it's the lack of detail, notorious of an INTJ personality, that is the problem.
Even after a big splash with HoloLens and augmented reality in 2015, Apple and Google are poised to mainstream their take on AR among consumers before Microsoft transitions there from the enterprise. If that happens will Nadella surrender as he did with phone, wearables, and music concluding that pouring resources into the AR consumer space would be inefficient? The Keirsey Temperment sorter states:
Masterminds are certain that efficiency is indispensable in a well-run organization, and if they encounter inefficiency -- any waste of human and material resources -- they are quick to realign operations and reassign personnel… Problem-solving is highly stimulating to Masterminds, who love responding to tangled systems that require careful sorting out. Ordinarily, they verbalize the positive and avoid comments of a negative nature; they are more interested in moving an organization forward than dwelling on mistakes of the past.
Should you stick with Microsoft going forward?
Nadella and his wife, Anu, discuss family and leadership.
Consistent with the Mastermind personality type Nadella remains focused on positive affirmation even as he eliminates percieved inefficiencies. He acknowledges and nurtures the positive rather than the negative via an empathetic leadership style. I genuinely believe he's probably a really nice guy. But that does little to assuage the feelings of Windows phone, Microsoft Band, Groove Music and Docs.com fans who loved these now axed products.
How fathering a son with disabilites helped Microsoft's CEO transform the company
Considering Nadella's track record consumers may not want to get too invested in any struggling Microsoft services. If Nadella is a Mastermind, his personality type will drive him to eventually cut that inefficiency. If he's not a Mastermind history certainly dictates he may.
Though you may not like being at this crossroads, the candid truth is that its easier to control your own behavior than it is to hope someone else will change thiers.
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Jason L Ward is a columnist at Windows Central. He provides unique big picture analysis of the complex world of Microsoft. Jason takes the small clues and gives you an insightful big picture perspective through storytelling that you won't find *anywhere* else. Seriously, this dude thinks outside the box. Follow him on Twitter at @JLTechWord. He's doing the "write" thing!
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Just finally say it already, he is a greedy CEO that is looking for a quick buck and doesn't care about this company's future. He isn't a good CEO. There are a plethora of CEOs that do this cramp he is doing. The real CEOs figure out how to make money while also locking down their company's future. Not this clown though.
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I don't think he's greedy--he's the lowest paid CEO in the tech industry. I think he's not aggressive and very conservative. His vision is steeped in fear of failure. So, he makes the easy decisions that shareholders like not the challenging decision that may or may not bring forth new frontiers of innovation which actually hit the market. Elon Musk please purchase this desperately run-afoul company.
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He's actually one of the highest-paid CEOs in the world (80+ million/year, if I remember correctly).
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Wait a minute... 80 million a year, and he can't get one of the most prestigious tech companies to sell a decent smartphone with Snapchat? SMDH... Something's not right.
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Afaik it's more about the a hole CEO of Snapchat.. Maybe they could've "bought" their way there, but I think it would send out a questionable message
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Didn't Spiegel have a hatred towards the platform? I remember something about him not liking Windows phones therefore not wanting his app there.
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Wouldn't be the only one..
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Snapchat's CEO and culture are of the Apple & Google generation. Avoiding MS was their way of wielding power of an industry giant. They go where the iCattle roam and Android cesspool festers
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"lowest paid CEO in the tech industry"? compared to CEOs of Apple, Google, Amazon? Just curious, how much money (including all bonus + stock options) did these guys earn over the last year?
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no need to be so cynical :)...but from his interviews it appears they're saying trunaround of Microsoft is complete and successful... I'm not so sure...they are there yet..if they're successfull in Mixed Reality may be then we can accept that the trunaround is complete and successful :)
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Again. No one of great numbers is investing in ANYTHING new under this idiot. To be honest, you'd have to be an idiot to invest in anything of substantial cost under this clown. If you aren't on the board or a stock member, he couldn't care if the company is costing you money. Sorry, that $800 device you bought six weeks ago isn't profitable so we are killin support. No thank you.
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Omg get over your crazy hatred for him you pathetic child
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Get over your pathetic denial, head in the sand attitude. He flat out sucks as a CEO. Deal with it, little boy.
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Lol, read your own comments all over this site.
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Yep. And your point? It's all fact. Everything I was told I was wrong about with this idiot has been dead accurate.
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How on Earth can you claim he sucks as a CEO? He has added $250B in value to the company since he took the helm. There's not a board of directors or body of shareholders on the planet that would not want their CEO to be be delivering those types of results. I have no idea of your background or experience but, your comments on this thread make you sound very uneducated about business. As a fan of Microsoft's consumer focused offerings, it is disappointing for me and others to see them move away from those investments. However, that doesn't mean it is the wrong thing for the company to do. From my perspective, Nadella is making decisions that he feels are in the best interest of Microsoft's long term business strategy....a strategy that most likely does not include a lot of direct interaction in the consumer channel. The most successful companies always focus on their core business and then look for tangential opportunities to that core. If the core is building and delivering an enterprise platform for business, being the #1 provider of enterprise-grade software solutions across multiple industries, etc. then he is executing exceptionally well. A tangential opportunity to that business would be taking some of that software and making it available to other channels; education and retail consumer.....see Office 365!! When you begin to invest in something like Groove, you have now moved at LEAST two degrees away from your core business. What incremental value to a core business of delivering enterprise software solutions to businesses does having a consumer based service like Groove provide?? You really need to squint hard to draw those types of connections. You might challenge and say they need to diversify...but, do they? They're cloud business (their core) is stronger than ever and projected to grow for many years. Clearly, focusing on this area can easily continue to deliver the type of financial returns and growth that Microsoft shareholders expect. And, as long as Nadella and company are doing that...delivering growth and financial returns for shareholders...then he is doing an EXCEPTIONAL job as a CEO. Even if I, personally, am really disappointed to see great tech like Windows Phone and Groove and the whole connected consumer ecosystem disappear, I'd be ignorant to draw a correlation from that to saying Nadella 'sucks as a CEO.'
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So far every product he has killed off, I stopped using long before. I would just say that he is killing off failed products which makes perfect business sense.
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I think you are right, both Windows Phone and Groove have failed - the mistake was allowing them to fail in the first place, not cutting them once it was clear there was no recovery.
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Yes...but not just that...how the cancellation were managed/communicated also lacked finesse... to say the least.... For example, moving to spotfiy could have been communicated as a great thing for the groove users by highlighting the advantages and managed their users' disappointment! they lack "empathy" (which their CEO talks about a lot) in their communications with their users :)
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Did you actually ever read the entire original announcement or only the news reporting on it? https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2017/10/02/microsoft-to-brin...
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thanks, I didn't read this one! Obviously blog post wasn't enough to deal with the situation... You must be a microsoft-techie and your post clearly illustrates my point...you threw some facts on my face that could make me feel stupid.. if you had some "empathy" for me...you would have worded your comment like this..."Take a look at this official annoucement ..it does say all these (....) things. What more do you think could've ben done ?" :) Btw, that's the way normal people talk :)
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I'm a techie. I do admit I have a preference for Microsoft in some regards. But I'm a techie, first and foremost, no matter if Microsoft, Google or Apple. I didn't mean to sound attacking or rude with my post but simply neutral but I do understand where you're coming from and I apologize as it wasn't my intention. You are right that I could have worded it less bluntly. This said, what more do you think could've been done?
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You didn't offend me and you weren't rude. I was just making a point about the difference between how techies think/talk and how rest of the people talk? As far as what more could've been done..I don't know, but I'm sure the creative people at marketing/PR should be able to figure that one out:)
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This link isn't included in the Groove app "update".
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It's not just what's been killed, it's also what's been mismanaged. Xbox has been weakened under nadella Microsoft because they didn't want to spend as much making games. Hololens has gone nowhere, while MS just waits for it's competitors to catch up.
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And who made windows phone fail, and by extension Groove music and other things connected to WP thriving that has failed and he has killed off? MSFT, yes MSFT under this guy foot drags on her product offerings and then turn around to blame anyone but herself for the failures.
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His decsions would not be so hated is he would just TALK TO US as consumers and human beings. All we see from the consumer end is him lopping off every consumer related product or service without insite or explanation leaving us with a VERY incomplete MS eco system. He forces us to use other products services when we were perfectly happy with MS's offerings. It is like he is offended we bought into MS's ecosystem and is sytemtcially dismantling it hding behind a curtain laughing at us.
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exactly...they're communication challenged...God knows what their marketing department does...you only see their brilliant techie leaders talk.... These guys...even when they're defensive say things that imply - " you guys are so stupid that you dont't know what you're taking about"...if only they even *attempted* to understand what the consumers are saying...they woul realize their potential :) Remember, Steve Sinofsky saying " you shouldn't listen to customers"...it works only when you're a monopoly, no :)
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Thanks for everything Nadella, hope u not reelected.
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He needs to be fired ASAP.
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He failed big time in mobile. It would have been good if they kept Stephen Elop.
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Yep
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They failed in mobile before he became CEO. He just pulled the plug.
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It was on life support and had more chances of survival than dying. But Satya pulled the plug anyways. That's not even euthanasia, it's murder.
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It was on life support and had more chances of survival than dying. But Satya pulled the plug anyways. That's not even euthanasia, it's murder.
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Apple didn't get profit from their Mac, that's how Steve Jobs got fired from his own company. I didn't see them stop trying despite their issues.
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You're conveniently leaving out the detail how Steve Jobs immediately cancelled a big number of products at his return to the company in order to focus on their strengths.
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Exactly, Microsoft is doing a great job at keeping their house clean by killing or shelving unprofitable endeavors without loosing too much in R&D. Sure it's a shame to see some of the endeavors go, but it's better than seeing the company tank.
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To be fair, though, whether the company would have tanked by letting Groove continue living at this point in time is quite debatable, and Microsoft is at a much better financial position than Apple was then.
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I was talking about Mac specifically because Mac is Apple's Windows Phone. I still see iMacs around though.
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Macs are quite profitable. They are the exact opposite of Windows phone. They are the fifth largest PC manufacturer while only selling premium hardware. There is no comparison between Mac and Windows phone.
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There was if you looked at the marketshare or if you go back to the 80's.
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Premium hardware? You mean overpriced hardware, don't you?
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If it was overpriced, they wouldn't be in the top 5 in sales and would be forced to drop prices. They seem to be doing just fine at current prices.
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Everyone in the known acknowledges apple's Mac products are over-priced. A Windows comparable item is vastly cheaper. The only thing that keeps these things selling is the whole apple-lunacy of their customers.
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Not with the same build and hardware quality, look at Surface and even other high-end laptops in the past years.
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Bleached its only over priced for the jealous folk who cannot afford it!
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Wow if that's a serious comment, way to look like another rich *******.
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It is a serious comment......It's NOT OVERPRICED because YOU cannot afford it.....simple. you sound like a crybaby jealous little ****.
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Being overpriced and selling well are not mutually exclusive
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I'm not saying that it is "wrong" but at this point I don't see a lot of future for Windows in the consumer market without support from Windows in an ultra mobile form factor (smartphone type). There are a lot of apps from devices that do not run in Windows, like kitchen appliance remote apps, all those new apps are bypassing Windows. If at some point iOS and Android manage to get a desktop like experience with the mobile OSs then I'll be sure that Windows was undone by this.
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Well, those apps are also bypassing the other desktop OSes so I'd say it's not Windows specifically in danger of being replaced in the future for consumers but all desktop OSes. I agree that if Android and iOS manage to get a desktop experience like Continuum that may become the greatest threat to PCs yet so we'll see what happens. However, so far consumer interest and awareness of Samsung DeX seems to be small and nothing indicates iOS is moving in that direction (and Google also prefers to keep Chrome OS and Android separate), so while Android and iOS moving in that direction does seem logical from a technical perspective, it's not the way it must turn out.
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Well, they're obvioisly acting the Nokia way. So let's wait out sometime. Perhaps Satya's INTJ personality will also be u leashed on MSFT company itself. Somehow I'd say what he has is not INTJ, but ADHD.
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Nadella is not a visionary, Jobs axed several products and replaced many of them with something better.
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Like Win10 ARM?
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The problem is that he's retreating the company solely into the enterprise. That's where you will disappear. The consumer market and presence is extremely important to program built-in bias when their sales reps come to your business to sell the latest (same-ole) enterprise wares. If someone knows you from the neighborhood, your chances for achieving your goals go up exponentially.
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That's not how enterprise works, mate.
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At this point in time, it's simply not true that Microsoft is retreating solely into the enterprise. It IS where their focus is, though, but if they can sell an enterprise product to consumers as well (like Windows, Office, Surface etc.) they won't hesitate to do so. Groove simply did not fit into that bill. Honestly I think people here are giving Groove way more credit than it ever deserved. On the grand scale of things, nobody cared about it, and nobody is going to stop using Windows or Office because of Groove's discontinuation.
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Nobody knew about it.....
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For the most part, consumers don't give a ratsass about enterprise products. I can happily move away from microsoft products like office since there are so many comparable products. Surface, there are other devices that have the premium build quality, Windows? at this point the Nadella one has flatlined that, linux, chrome, and MacOS are all viable alternatives now. SO,...there are MANY MANY consumers walking....no running away from MS. Me being one of them.
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For the most part, consumers didn't give a "rat's ass" about WP and Groove and don't see the matter with the strong emotions that you do. There are no numbers showing a significant move away from Windows to other desktop OSes. The Chrome OS people here like to claim will gain users in masses as they move away from Microsoft is still basically irrelevant in most places of the world. Linux and macOS are making no gains in market share either. So maybe there aren't so many consumers running away from MS as you would like to see. At least as far as Windows is concerned.
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Dip S**t Steve Adams trolls again
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Ah, Windows Central. The place I can come to read bar-none quality journalism. Honestly, you just can't find excellent writing anywhere else without an honest bias. Great read, Jason.
I believe Satya is an amazing CEO. The salty Windows Phone users continue to breath in and exhale salt. -
If he was as good a CEO as you claim no one would have any salt to throw.
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Thanks so much Chris.😎
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Then why are you here, Chris the bored troll?
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I think Nutty is suffering from Cerebral Falsie.
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This man does not belive in the company products, as simple as that.
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Oh, I bet he does, just (apparently) not in the products many people on this site believe or believed in. Most notably Windows Phone and to a lesser extent Groove. The thing is that most other people did not believe in those two products either - though that may have been the case had Microsoft not made so many mistakes (starting before Nadella, to be clear, but he also didn't handle Windows Phone correctly), to be fair. You can definitely blame Microsoft for all the mistakes they've made but cutting Groove at this point in time is probably a sensible decision if it fails to generate money and only generates losses instead.
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Most other people didn't have a chance to believe or not believe in those products because they didn't know they existed because MS didn't care to promote them... Oh damn, no buys our live-eternally-pill that we've been quite about and hidding out back. Most be because it's a bad product...
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I'd say plenty of people have had the chance to believe in Windows Phone over the years. Many, many people knew about it, and most of those knew about the lack of apps, and many even thought it was ugly and disliked the tiles. Generally however, I agree with you, which is why the mistake is not cutting the product once it fails but allowing it to fail in the first place. At this point in time, what would you have suggested for Groove, though?
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No, people knew Nokia phones. Many didn't know they ran Windows or that that even was a possibility. And people deffinatly dont know Groove...
MS is a big company. If they really were serious about establishing a customer platform with standard services such as music, they would have sucked up the loss in one area with the winnings in another. -
I've heard many people talk and know about Windows Phone over the years, which of course is just anecdotal evidence on my end but so is what you say. Unless you have any statistics to point me to. A point can certainly be made for that but Microsoft's missteps with mobile begin far earlier than Nadella's tenure. This said, clearly Microsoft isn't interested in establishing an all-in-one consumer platform anymore and keeps most of their consumer offerings related to productivity, which is legit in my opinion (and does not mean that they're pulling out of the consumer market entirely), but of course unfortunate to people who bought into Ballmer's vision. In the end, I guess that group of people was never big enough.
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I just wish they had done a somewhat decent job at promoting their products, both software and hardware ones...
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This has been one of their greatest weaknesses, agreed.
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I don't know that marketing is the root cause. It is really easy to market a great product. A great product sells itself. It is really hard to market a poor product. It really doesn't matter how good your marketing is if the product sucks.
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Well, it's not the root cause but it is a not insignificant cause. It's not like there wasn't any marketing for Windows Phone at all either. But the problems with marketing were sometimes in the little things. E.g. how the all the homescreens Microsoft would show in advertising would be a huge mess - people saw that and said how ugly and unorganized it looked, I heard different people comment on that on different occasions. And as far as Groove goes, it was barely advertised at all. However, WP's root causes for failure in particular go way further back. In my opinion, the primary mistakes in the beginning were: 1. Licensing costs, 2. Windows Phone 7 came too late, 3. They wasted too much time before finally going with the NT kernel, 4. WP was always too far behind in features. But I guess all this is a topic for another day.
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I agree that lack of marketing or full commitment to certain products could create a self-filling prophecy where the product ultimately fails.
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Except they don't need to focus on a standard music service when they have an established third party partner, Spotify. Why dump millions into establishing a proprietary service when you can partner with a company that has a universal music platform already established?
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Because people like to buy "bundles". Look at Apple
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I look at Apple and see that while iPhone is one of the most successful products of all time, Apple has failed to leverage that to macOS sales (which are still excellent, mind you) and most laptops are still sold with Windows. Many people like to buy "bundles", true, but I'd argue that most consumers don't care about those or about all-in-one ecosystems.
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But was that ever the focus for Apple? Unlike MS, I've never seen Apple try and push a one OS to rule them all plan. This was what I was dreaming of MS would follow through. But no...
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Apple doesn't try to push one OS to rule them all but they do try to create synergies and integrations between all their products, e.g. Handoff. I also really hoped that Microsoft would succeed in their "One OS" vision but in the end, I guess it simply came too late.
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Fair enough.
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I cancelled my groove pass as there was no family plan and no groove created playlists. They added playlists way too late and no family plan ever. Bad marketing as with every other Microsoft product.
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They just never cared enough to make their products through. There are so many inconsistencies and missing features in their UIs. How difficult would it have been to look at Spotify and others for ideas? They already have Office 365 for consumers, so why not add a music sub, Xbox Live, Windows and what not else to that plan... I just don't get how they seem so strikken of ideas...
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Personally I doubt the number of people interested in the subscription package you suggest would have surpassed a niche. How many people have or want all those products and want to pay a subscription for all of them? Maybe that would have worked in the very early days before the music streaming competition got too strong but I doubt it would have worked now or even two years ago. An Xbox Live + Groove plan may have worked, though, who knows.
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Well, you're not really making a case for bad marketing but for faults with the product, aren't you?
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I saying that as well as virtually no marketing, other than perhaps in the US? They also never seem to finish a product. Look at how many times the app menu in their online apps have changed and if you go to the menu in fx OneDrive, its different from the one in OneNote...
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UI overhauls are nothing exclusive to Microsoft. I agree they should fix some of their inconsistencies but I don't think most "normal" people really care about them that much.
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Yeah, groove was a bad idea to begin with, but only because of past mistakes. MS Zune should have never died or been replaced with Xbox music. Zune was 10x better than Xbox music and 100x better than Groove. Even so, when MS realized Xbox music was not the best, they should have killed it or made it better instead of rebranding it to Groove. Now it's obvious that Microsoft is changing focus to enterprise since consumers are going to their smartphones over PCs. Enterprise needs Microsoft and consumers need PCs that focus on enterprise. I rely on my PC for things my phone cant do, not the things it can like AR and streaming music. Microsoft is doing a great job at focusing on the strengths of the PC.
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Microsoft's mistakes go way back, I agree (though this is not to say there hasn't been a good share of them under Nadella). I disagree Microsoft is fully giving up on consumers, though, clearly their focus IS enterprise, so much is true, and clearly their ecosystem is not attempting to offer everything (anymore), unlike Apple's or Google's. However, Microsoft still has consumer offerings like Windows, Office, Surface, OneDrive and Outlook.com that are still here to stay for the foreseeable future - notably, all productivity offerings and offerings that are also for enterprise and not only for consumers.
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I really like their attempts to offer their apps on iOS and Android. I think that is increasingly their consumer facing strategy. And gaming with Xbox and PC MR and play anywhere.
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Of course it's a consumer facing strategy and judging by the download numbers of Office, OneNote and Outlook, that part is working quite well. The "problem" (which isn't necessarily one depending on your perspective) is that Microsoft's consumer facing efforts have a big focus on productivity, which ultimately is only a small part of the big picture. I do think focusing on this segments for consumers is a legit strategy, though. I don't see that much value in getting absolutely everything from a single company (mind you, I do have a preference for Microsoft but I've never cared about getting my music or entertainment from them).
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Hi Jorge, the company has a broad range of products that he'll likely never axe. Since the core audience here is phone focused, we feel the brunt of the of the decisions that affect primarily consumer facing products.
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Nadella doesn't believe in walking dead. That's the main difference to all those windows phone fanboys like I was myself.
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Dude reps the Seahawks. He can't be all bad ;) Go hawks!
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Because the Board of Directors told him to.
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Yes, that's true. This guys definitely not a football fan, and he just looks corny wearing this Jersey.. Like his publicist put it on him 2 minutes before the picture was taken... Now, that's marketing!
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This is all very nice but you're forgetting that Nadella doesn't act alone nor exclusively according to his desires. He has a board behind him and whilst in the Ballmer-Era the board was pretty much his pet, Nadella isn't Ballmer and doesn't command the same kind of loyalty. Which is why he brought Bill Gates back on board. Much of Nadella's weight inside Microsoft comes from the fact that Gates is behind Nadella. If you ever find yourself working for a relatively young corporation like Microsoft (from an European perspective that is) where the founders are still very much alive, you will soon find out that the "founding fathers" will maintain their power on the company even if they're not officially there anymore. This is particularly evident in American Corporations. Just look at the Cult they have around their "founding fathers" (who were actually just a bunch of rebel brits). Nadella's leadership isn't an authoritarian one like Ballmer's was. I haven't heard yet reports of tantrums and shoutings out of board meetings like in Ballmer's Era. That's because Nadella doesn't need to.
His decisions on what Microsoft should do ate internally perceived as having the "royal support" of Gates. And they'd need to be stupidly bad for anyone to contest them. Shutting down inefficient units like mobile or Groove is not a bad business decision. It's a smart one. The Board knows that, Microsoft employees know that and, specially, shareholders know that. As long as Nadella keeps Gates and shareholder support, it's really irrelevant what type of leader he is. His personality has more influence on the work mood than on the success of businesses Microsoft takes on. -
That is a good point, the problem is the world has changed since Gates lead Microsoft and so has Gates for that matter. Why is every other press release about partner this and partner that? What happened to the getting arrested, I want to put a computer in every car Gates? I want that guy.
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The truth is that instead of graduating to become the head of all Microsoft Nutella remains loyal only to his original cloud division. He was never committed to or interested in hardware or mobile, wearables, IoT, AR and especially not the Windows ecosystem. He is very focused on the short term bottom line forgetting or not caring that it's fans and loyalists who carry a company through rough patches. I'm watching this guy burn bridges everyday with MS fans, major OEMs like HP, and the developer community who no longer sees Windows as a priority. The only sense I get from this so-called CEO is that as long as Azure is doing well the rest of the company and all its remaining goodwill can be burned down to the ground for good. I've never seen one guy destroy so many products I loved. I now understand how Apple fans felt when John Sculley was in charge. Probably nothing short of Bill Gates returning as CEO could turn this company around and make it relevant again. Without clear vision and ruthless ambition Microsoft is just going to devolve into another IBM. Watching the slow fall of Windows is a miserable affair. The Azure-only company isn't worth caring about or paying attention to. For some perspective I just bought a watch that runs Fitbit OS and Fitbit OS apps. It has no apps yet, but it's still going to beat Windows wearables because Nadella has already waved the white flag and retrenched from wearables. It's one thing for Windows to get beat by Apple or Google, but how in the hell are the Windows division now getting beat by fledgling companies like Fitbit and Roku? There was a time when I thought it was sad that Microsoft couldn't overtake Sony in an industry, but for Windows to get it's butt kicked by everyone including Fitbit and Roku and Tizen and every other upstart OS ecosystem is absolutely pathetic. Microsoft shouldn't even be losing to Amazon and Sony let alone these miniscule companies. This company cannot be #1 in any industry or category anymore and Nadella is so far accelerating the decline.
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If he weren't interested in hardware at all, there wouldn't have been literally all Surface products after the second generation released under him. He's interested in hardware that not only highlights software capabilites etc. but that he knows he can sell without long-term loss, which Windows Phones were not. All this said, it's clear where his priorities lie and where he sees the most potential for the company (whether he is right in his views is disputable, of course), but this doesn't mean he couldn't care less about all the rest.
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Surface, Xbox and even Azure are all Ballmer-era creations. Nadella is responsible for nothing except the shelf sitting of HoloLens and the death of all Windows ARM devices. When the Surface and Xbox came to market they were huge billion dollar money losers. It took a decade and multiple iterations, hardware disasters to turn those products around. That requires long term commitment and a stomach for enormous financial failure and setbacks. Every Xbox 360 broke for the first 3-4 years, would Nadella have stomached that boondoggle and doubled down on committment to Xbox the way Ballmer did without hesitation? Or would he have succumbed to investor and outsider pressure to cut off a seemingly non essential hardware product? The way Nadella retreated from smart watches, phones and consumer AR is absolutely pathetic. It was one thing to say WP was too late to market, but watches and AR Microsoft had new opportunities under Nadella to recover in mobile computing. Nadella has already botched more opportunities to save Windows than anyone is acknowledging.
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He may not have been responsible for bringing Surface to life but he certainly is responsible for keeping it alive and having enough faith in it to release at least six new products under the brand (seven if you count Surface Hub). Same applies to the Xbox One S and Xbox One X. And you are forgetting that in the early days of his tenure, there actually was investor pressure to sell the Xbox division, which he did not. Instead, Phil Spencer now reports directly to him.
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Responsible for keeping Surface alive? Nadella killed Surface on ARM, missed a product cycle with Surface Pro and Surface Book and the rumors today are that MS under pressure from OEMs/investors is considering dumping Surface hardware entirely. Meanwhile the community is pleading for a Surface Phone and believing in a most likely false Nutella promise of an "ultimate mobile device." That's how divergent we've become from the corporation. This CEO is not committed to the Windows ecosystem, his only loyalties are to Azure only. Not even Nadella sycophants believe he is committed to Xbox, in fact many of them are the strongest voices calling for him to get rid of Xbox. What I've seen him cleverly do is slide all Xbox exclusives onto Windows PCs and refocus VR and HoloLens away from Xbox and towards PC. Investment in big budget exclusives has also vanished from MGS. Reliance on Xbox hardware is gradually being diminished. A transition away from game consoles is being made easier every year.
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Of course he's responsible for keeping Surface alive, he's the CEO. That's not even debatable, he could have just let it die off slowly (or not so slowly) like Lumia had he wanted. He did cancel the Surface Mini, that is right but at that point it was pretty clear that Windows RT was going nowhere. Don't mistake the community pleading for a Surface Phone with the overwhelming majority of Microsoft's customers (not even Surface customers) who don't care about a future Windows phone and never have. As far as your other points go, it's a matter of which light you want to paint which facts in. Most of your points aren't invalid per se (though how much of that is Nadella and how much is Spencer?) but you've said nothing to address my points (Spencer's promotion and two new pieces of Xbox hardware, one of them the most powerful console ever). And you don't notice that on the one hand, you say that Nadella doesn't care about Windows and its ecosystem - yet on the other hand, you claim Xbox is gradually being phased out in favor of Windows. Which is it? You can't really have it both ways.At least you should keep consistency between your arguments.
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After $1billion write off of Surface, he kept it alive. He believes in good products that they can compete in.
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That's because Ballmer was a businessman and not a techie, he wanted Microsoft as a whole to succeed. The issue with Nadella is he is a techie first and won't tolerate any failure unless it comes from his precious cloud division. He also seems to hate consumers with a passion as his focus is solely enterprise!!!!!!!
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The puppet - master behind Nadella is none other than Bill Gates himself. I would never bet against Steve Jobs 1.0 or 2.0. I also would never bet against the man that kicked his *** the first time or wishes Jobs were still alive for a second go-around.
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Lol, I can see why you've posted such an article Jason. I am not entirely sure if drawing emphasis on a persons personality type will help people distinguish between their own personality, their actions of Influence and others. Combined with their own cognitive and affirmation bias, it's a tough ask. As the root cause of distrust and anger stems from so many miss steps and burnt bridges. A CEO who is the face of a company, will either be vilified or applauded depending on the context of situation. The same applies to any leadership position. The crux of the matter is the follow through. Personally, I have learned through time and many job roles. Being frank and communicative is the best method when speaking to people online. There is no room for ambiguity, as some will not get humour, sarcasm or context. Primarily because their first language may not be English and may not be well versed in the mannerisms of regional dialect and symbols etc. Therefore (generally speaking, not directed at yourself or the writers) one must always be concise, clear and give examples of a pathway. In regards to Microsoft, we had neither. Messaging was alway mixed for example, "all phones will get windows 10 for free" but all phones didn't get windows 10. Plus phones are running a derivative of Windows 10 not the actual entire o/s. So not very clear, let alone - concise. Right, now the snow ball has cascaded and will only stop it's momentum when Microsoft gives a clear, tangible indication of what their future plan is going forward. But even then, they dug this hole through the consumer retrenchment and only they can get out of it - by re-engaging consumers on a very broad spectrum. Simply stating several lines about consumers in a presentation, will not suffice. Not every average Joe, will have seen the WMR presentation. Given Microsoft's penchant to isolate to everything US only, for a lower sample size and fine tuning. I doubt that will happen any time soon, plus this is not the only time we have been through this cycle, as we go through increasing number of similar cycles, people become ever more cynical and highly distrustful of Microsoft and especially the CEO. The loss of consumer confidence is the worst possible outcome for any company.
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Thank you. Very well said. We don't have a CEO who is capable of engaging consumers or speaking clearly, concisely or honestly to them. You don't get people to love Windows by behaving in the incoherent dishonest backstabbing way Nadella's MS does.
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Good points TechFreak😉
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🎈🎈🎈🎈🎈🎈🎈🎈
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I just wish they were a bit more open about services/products that were going to be killed off.... The current method is like quickly pulling duct tape off of your arm.... fast and painful. Some lead time would be great.... Like 2-3 months at least.
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What are you talking about when Groove isn't shutting down until the end of the year?
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Exactly!
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He brought nothing to the table , good at canceling stuff
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Why don't you ask HP?
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He should've been listening to consumers and providing DIRECT feedback not waking up another day to hear another Lumia was cancelled.
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It was obvious Lumia was going nowhere in 2012 and almost guaranteed in 2015. If you thought they had any chance the past few years, that is all on you. You weren't paying attention.
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Lumia did pretty good in 2012-2013, in terms of market share. It was all downhill from there though.
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2-3% isn't good.
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He really doesn't care about consumer market because you need to be in it for a long haul to be successful. The guy doesn't want to waste time. He is cutting it all out because he wants to look good for the board. If he stays as CEO, Microsoft will be out of consumer market completely within next 5 years.
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Yep, the new IBM.
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My first thought exactly when I read about Groove. MS is going the same way as IBM...
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Interesting. But they are going to live on just Azure? By losing the consumer market - they will lose Windows. Because more people will become familiar with Android. I think Android is going to move from a mobile OS to desktop - because everybody will know it. And Google will get into the cloud world even bigger and better. The consumer market keeps people aware and I think keeps companies innovating... I hope they still have some consumer magic in them....
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Depends on from where you look at. For someone looking at company's performance and future proofing of MS: he is a hero. He is definitely a hero for investors. From consumer's perspective: he is a villain. Say whatever, he is topic of discussion for past couple of days in all Microsoft and windows centric forums :P Don't criticize him too much though Mr Exec Editor might get angry lol...
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"Does Microsoft's CEO hate the things you love, or just inefficiency in his business?"
Business needs customers. And if you share customers with others you won't get the whole piece of your pie. Nadella may did a good job on cloud but he kill Windows (and not only phone/mobile) with his moves. Back in March we saw Google pass Microsoft on internet usage or something (I don't remember 100%) and today, 7 months later we see Microsoft try to change name to Microdroid more than ever before. So what else to say? I think that you Jason, must be ready for your next series of articles. Start it like this: Windows 10 is dead part 1: The cloud inside other platforms -
What happened in March was that global web browser usage on Android surpassed that on Windows. That has nothing to do with Nadella's choices, though, and it would have happened either way, that you can be sure of. Microsoft releasing Edge on Android/iOS and the "Continue on PC" integrations are much better ways to keep Windows (or rather PCs in general) relevant than keeping Windows Phone alive at all cost. I'm not saying WP wouldn't have been able to survive on as a niche but it would have most likely been just that, a niche.
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PCs won't stay alive. Windows 10 numbers unfortunately are not good, many people use 7 and XP and nowadays the PC market is not going good. And yeap you got right about usage thanks for remind me :)
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Windows 7 is still going strong but XP is as good as dead with consumers at this point. It's clear that PCs are losing significance but whether they die out anytime soon remains to be seen. I think there is still a place for them and will be for a long time, just much less important than ten years ago.
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Same thoughts. But with the choices of Nadella this will happen faster i think.
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Which choices specifically do you think will make PCs lose relevance faster?
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Android has replace Linux. iOS has replace Mac. Windows is out of the party. And the numbers unfortunately says this
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There is definitely not a 1:1 relation between those OSes as you pretend. Each mobile OS is used by users of all desktop OSes. Not to mention that if PCs lose relevance, so do macOS and Linux and not just Windows (though I do think that if one OS is the most likely to survive in the long run, it's Linux, ironically). So not sure what point exactly you're trying to make. Which numbers say what you're saying?
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Numbers of usage. For example they mention that there is 1 billion Windows 10 devices (PCs, Phones, Xbox, tablet, HoloLens) while android and iOS phones has best numbers only with phone devices
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You're mixing numbers. Some years ago, 1.5 billion was the official figure for the overall number of Windows devices. Nadella's off-hand "1 billion" remark is overrated. It does indicate that the number of Windows devices has probably fallen from 1.5 billion since then, but not by 500 million. How do we know this? Apart from plausability, there is the "500 million" figure of Windows 10 devices (of which the overwhelming majority are PCs, laptops and 2-in-1 tablets) but as we all know, Windows 10's market share is still quite lower than 50%. Yes, at least Android and at this point, probably iOS as well, boast more users than Windows, which does align with the narrative that smartphones are the #1 computing device today and PCs and laptops are far less relevant today than ten years ago. We already did agree on that. I still don't know which point you are trying to make. How does anything of what you say suggest that a particular choice from Nadella has accelerated the loss of signficance of the PC? We are talking about PCs overall, after all - not about Windows on desktops plus Windows on phones on the theoretical possibility that Windows on phones would have succeeded.
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Agreed, PC's will not die anytime soon. I know for sure I cannot live without mine. Ipad, and iphone, or even surface for that matter are a replacement for my Notebook.
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This is not about Windows Phone. It is about everything that Microsoft claims to be and the actions perceived by many as going in an opposite direction. Under Nadella, more and more board members have been added from businesses that practice the dogma of shareholder appeasement. That, in turn, has caused many followers and general consumers to lose trust in this software/technology company. The connotation aligned with technology usually defines progressiveness and potentially risky endeavours. But is that how companies typically become successful in captialisic societies. If he is an INTJ, the Microsoft is now entering into the Dark Ages. Yes, their new/old approach to generating revenue using enterprise and backbone technology is solid and profitable. However, we must remember that Microsoft became successful when PCs entered the home. Consumer recognition drives enterprise recognition. Therefore, if they disappear from the consumer home then slowly, but surely, they will become unrecognized. As decision-makers become younger and more receptive to Microsoft's competition, then Microsoft will just be another competitor with nowhere to retreat. This is what extreme conservatism looks like. We've seen this before companies from other industries; unfortunately, many from those failing industries are on the board of directors. There are only two potential directions Microsoft will be able to take at the critical point: Either there is a hostile take-over where some outside capital swoops in when the stock price is low and stabilizes or Nadella is removed for a more popular or charismatic CEO. The former is more likely. Now, I am not saying that Microsoft will likely be purchased and sold into pieces; but, we are witnessing its consumer presence and force dwindle into ash. Nadella has expressed interest in selling off Xbox. So, what is his real purpose as CEO. He's definitely not an entrepreneur nor does he have that spirit; he's definitely not an innovator because they want to give the world everything they can think up as soon as possible, not just pop up with whimsical thoughts of "what if"; he's not a salesman because he has yet to sell anything to us as it comes wares. So what is he then? My bet is that he is the best "do-boy" and "yes man" you can find in an organization. Now it is quite obvious why the Ford CEO stepped away from taking the position. Ford wants to innovate and release the latest and greatest thing. That's not what the Board wanted. They wanted profits to skyrocket as the behest of Wall Street. Wall Street said, "GO ENTERPRISE" and they found the guy to do just that. Remember, Nadella is likely the lowest paid tech CEO. He's cheap and obedient. Where's Elon Musk when you need him? Please Elon buy Microsoft and change the culture for the better.
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You know, If Microsoft had still had the factories that they gained through the D & S acquisition. I could see a Elon Musk takeover, because that would also give him access to infrastructure and factories where he could make the batteries and parts for Tesla automobiles for example. Whilst getting an multiple revenue streams along with additional expertise via Microsoft research. Sure, the logistics of consolidation would be a nightmare but given his track record with Tesla and SpaceX, it could have been achievable. Plus the talent that Microsoft inherited was insane with the d & s acquisition, but... they let them go to their competitors... I have been saying the samething about consumer adoption and relevancy for awhile now...
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Yeah, very unfortunate. Microsoft has become so traditional that I certainly fear for its future. When you tell people to use android or ios, then you are essentially telling them to explore another product. Once people get used to a thing like software its very hard to ween them off when you show them your new shiny toy. They will simple respond: Is that like android or ios and why should I use your new shiny toy. Too late.
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Yup, it just reinforces them into the ios and android ecosystem. After all why should they switch if they get the benefit of those ecosystems and Microsoft's services with zero effort? It makes zero sense if Microsoft wants people / developers to embrace the Universal App Platform. Sure, they'll get some takers along the way, but mass adoption? No chance, which is why there has not been much up take in developers making UWP apps. Plus, there is the major sticking point of API's, many Win32 equivalent are missing and need to re-ported or re-coded. That takes time and alot of coding hours and dedicated testing. Which Microsoft axed during a cycle of layoffs. There is a fine line between speed / efficiency and speed / profits. A year is a lifetime in the tech space.
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It's so absurd and unprecedented, that there is a certain kind of morbid fascination to it, isn't it? Can you imagine Apple or Google telling their customers that they cannot deliver with a certain product, so they should go to Microsoft?! How can this be the acceptable management of one of the richest and largest companies in the world?!
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@Aleksander Bogdanovski. Numbers, it's a number game now. However people are not numbers...
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Coming back to the INTJ aspect - again - IF he tends towards that type, they can be blindsided by experiences counter to their NJ experience base - forming opinions, making decisions (J) based on their iNtuition. Not that they always will be, but can be left to their own devices or without expanding their comfort zones.
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I pick option #1.
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He does not hate it, he just doesn't give a ****. He's a bean counter who wants instant gratification and not have to work long term to achieve results.
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Go easy on Nutella, he is doing exactly what has to be done to keep Microsoft relevant in consumer products. Groove is not Microsoft, no one thinks of Microsoft when they hear Groove. I'm sure no one even knows what Groove is. Axing these projects is the best way for Microsoft to focus on providing premium services to consumers and enterprise. Windows Phone is dead, let's see Microsoft put its products front and center into the web(cloud), into mobile (Android, iOS), and the smart home (Cortana and Xbox).
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Cortana and Windows IoT are currently getting their butt kicked by Amazon and Google. Another lost industry to chalk up to Nadella's tenure. The only culture Nadella is instilling at MS is one of failure and surrender.
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There are many things that were canceled on the enterprise side too but we don't know about them because we didn't see the full picture and we are on the consumer side. he(by him I mean his whole SLT ) is trying to cancel out the services and products that are obsolete and have no future. Is it not what every company. companies like apple dont even release an ipod anymore, why, because of the popularity of phones (many fans would have been angry with apple too). They just don't release products and services for loyalists but the whole bunch of different people.
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Apple is phasing out iPod because they have a better replacement product called iPhone. Apple doesn't tell you to go subscribe to Spotify or go buy a Zune instead. Hell Spotify put out a terrible app for Windows that has a fraction of the functionality of Groove, no functionality on phone and yet Groove customers are being told to move along because we don't need you anymore. I've never seen a company more enthusiastic about not taking my money or refunding me than Microsoft (Zune pass, Groove, Xbox Fitness, etc.). I was giving MS $150-$180/yr for music under Zune then reduced to $99 with Groove and now told to give that money to Spotify instead. Nope, there are other ways and better software.
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"was instrumental in transforming the company's culture through empathy." "In the three years since, Nadella has terminated tens of thousands of employees, shuttered Microsoft's phone hardware business, shuffled leadership numerous times and closed shop on consumer-facing projects like Microsoft Band and Groove Music." Yes, he sounds very empathetic. #FireNadella
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There are two variants of "empathy", perceived empathy (acquired through experience and analysis) and emotional intelligence where connecting just feels natural. I feel Satya belongs to the first camp, for example when he was asked what he would do if he saw a child hurt, his response was - to call 911. His interviewers remarks were - you comfort the child. That was one of his lesson on empathy and the other his family life.
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Step #1. Strip all Windows Phones of useful apps.
Step #2. Make those apps for iOS and Android but better than they ever were on Windows Mobile.
Step #3. Get Apple and Android users dependent on those apps and services.
Step #4. Re-release a Windows Mobile device with cutting edge technology that people don't think they can live without. What would make you move to a different platform besides being a futuristic device? The apps you are currently using every day, your employer requires you to use it (enterprise apps/services), Microsoft to "only" produce amazing products that everyone wants (think Studio). -
Why would you have a new platform only with cutting edge hardware if software is still crap (it's not going to be easy to get apps to Microsoft Store)? It makes no sense to me, since many MS fans lost their trust in MS products and other people will simply still have apps on Android and iOS while there likely won't be as many of them in the MS Store.
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What apps does iOS or Android need from MS?
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Ask yourself, what patent license does Apple or Google news from MS???? 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔
Yeah... -
He is all in for enterprise. Let swallow it ☹
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Meyers-Briggs has proven to be as scientifically accurate as astrology. I'm not sure I would base an article around it. Shouldn't tech site authors know this stuff?
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Hi Random, still around 90-percent of businesses including fortune 500 and fortune 100 companies use Meyers Briggs. As a business directed article about the leader of a large company, there is merit to the piece.
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But zero percent of psychologists consider it valid marker of anything.
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Stay strong Satya. Until "Surface phone" is released ofc , then you can go.
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In that case I think he'll be staying for a while.
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Lol
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By the way we hear the rumor about killing Surface and Google will release the Pixelbook. Nadella surely needs a pixelbook for his cloud business
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Nothing much more to say then I hate this guy and he is killing Microsoft. Worst CEO ever.
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"May"? He's clearly shown he doesn't really care about the consumer side of things. I'm just waiting to see how his leadership and disdain for the consumer space affects Xbox over the next few years. I wouldn't be surprised if there are no more generational console hardware jumps after the One X, and the whole division starts to shift more towards software/services.
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Nadella is fine. The users on this site are just an extreme minority who think MS should continue losing money on failed product offerings.
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Users on this site just expected that they will be informed about MS's actions regarding the cancelled products properly, with an explanation. They prefered products that allegedly failed over competition's products and had faith in them. What is bothering them is that they had more faith in allegedly failed products than Nadella himself. People keep forgetting that Windows Phone had quite large market share in Europe and developing countries. It's probably irrelevant for everyone from the US anyway.
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They didn't have large sales numbers anywhere. A small percentage of low end sales only in price conscious markets is irrelevent everywhere, not just the US. Especially when those sales seemed to only be driven by the Nokia name and the price. Enough with that poor argument.
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The brief, minor blip in EU marketshare was because of Nokia popularity, not Windows. Nokia was still looking to switch back to Android the nanosecond their exclusivity agreement with MS ended, so that European WP marketshare was going away no matter what happened, acquisition or no.
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I don't think MS fans want them to lose money. They want them to make products the WANT and make money. Mobile is a HUGE market for the WORLD and there are only two choices? Soon to be only one? MS couldn't get into that market with all their credibility in other spaces, marketing and technology??? Cortana - it works! Voice assistants are getting out there ....why can't they get into that space MS Band - other fitness watches - still out there... They need to MARKET their products....
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Android is dying? or apple? last time I saw there were 2 choices...and both are still there .....
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Terminating inefficient projects it’s not a bad decision. However, not having a clear vision and allowing those same promising projects to be so mismanaged, so ultimately, there is no other alternative but to terminate them, is simply bad management. Losing this much confidence in your consumer base is a massive fail. Whether they realize that yet or not.
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You can't have products and tell nobody about them. That's why they fail. Nadella just sucks and never had intentions of improving anything his predecessors left behind.
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He just hates everything Ballmer did. He wants to write him out of Microsoft's history. And he slowly but surely attempting to do so.
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Whether he does or does not is irrelevant. The continued assault on all consumer facing products is even destroying my confidence in the last bastions of consumer, Xbox and Surface. I will not buy either now as I just dont think Nadella will go all in, and that lack of comittment will kill those properties. I've moved to android and I'm slowly finding out that it's just easier to stock to Androids first party services. People say that it won't matter as enterprise/azure is MS's cash cow now. What people fail to appreciate is those people brought up on Google/IOS will be making purchasing decisions and people gravitate towards what they know. I work for a major bank and I'm already seeing it with execs switching to iOS and internal apps only running on Android/iOS. MS are swimming against the tide now and everything they've done recently is only making it harder.
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Exactly!
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If he is a mastermind that problem solves, why haven't their inefficient marketing and communication been solved yet?
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Stopped reading at Myers-Briggs. The test is a complete fabrication developed by two housewives with no scientific background who just rehashed another completely unscientific paper about personalities. Source: https://books.google.ca/books?id=Njh9KgwSjs0C&dq=The+Cult+of+Personality... Sorry Jason, He just hates the things I love.
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Still its a test that many fortune 500 and other businesses still use. I encourage you to revisit the peice, because even if you don't value the Myers Briggs association, you may find that my analysis of his actions have value.
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Mindshare leads to market share. Microsoft is losing mindshare thus market share. If I use an IOS phone, why should I use a Windows computer? THINK.
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That holds a lot of truth to it, and is slowly growing Apples PC market share...... Just a tiny bit, doe.
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Satya Nadella is a failure as a CEO. He has done nothing but cancle MS future. Zero investment in the future of this company. Cancled any type of phone, The surface is a great tablet but that may be gone too if Satya Nadella track record proves true. He has no vision at all of what a futuire MS will look like. This guy should be removed as CEO as soon as possible or we are looking at another RIMM. It may take longer but with no future insight the company will die the same as RIMM did.
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I wouldn't say he's a failure as a CEO. As a matter of fact, his vision for positioning Microsoft as platform company based on cloud computing, an always connect world and AI I think is forward looking. I don't like some decisions around phone, Groove, docs.com and other consumer-facing products, but I think he's making some good decisions elsewhere. It's not so black and white from my perspective.
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At the end of the day, if consumers are gone, and not any sort of priority for microsoft, Microsoft will be a dead duck. Worse than IBM.
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The end result for the consumer is the same - the products are gone. At least Surfaces remain, probably because they make quite a lot of cash. Board will not allow CEO to kill profitable business. If that business falters, well... Thats a different story, because now it doesnt look like MS will fight for it, but just drop it instead as the easiest option. I wonder, how much they have lost in stock each time something is killed off? They had to have losses, as pulling out shows to industry that the company is incapable of competing in that specific direction nor will it ever again in case of phones. Not anymore for sure.
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Is Surface profitable? Earnings haven't come out yet. Last quarter wasn't good for Surface and it included the launch of the laptop.
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Both
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Canceling the phone damaged the UWP future. Even companies and developers working on UWP projects like Viber, Deezer etc. don't actively working on them anymore and anyone else thinking of starting a UWP project, now is postponing. So Nadella by cut-costing a few million dollars endangers the whole ecosystem of windows 10. Great job. They need to rethink that decision asap and release a phone (any phone) to show commitment in the platform.
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Releasing W10M, especially in the state it was in, damaged UWP's future. For UWP to be successful they needed a great mobile platform, not the train wreck that was W10M.
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The philosophy of "release a phone (any phone)" is what Windows Mobile 7, 8 and 10 were about, and that philosophy was partially responsible for the poor reception they had. They were all about trying to catch an existing trend rather than looking for the next one. As good as they were as individual products, they neither fully fit the long-term goal of running one OS on all devices, nor had the consumer appeal factor to make them successful in a fickle market.
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The CEO is a genius.The near demise of Windows Mobile is a strategic more.
Since fans from other platforms are here,I'll just give a hint..In three words -populate,conquer and pull out back home..Details for fans only. -
Yeah!
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I was a backer of Nadella, all I can say now is "Et tu Brute"
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Communication is non-existant with Microsoft...
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What do you want then to say? "Our products suck and we will probably kill then soon."...
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Nadella seems to be a coward that only care about what shareholders want, and that is always short term fast profits, and not a long term stable company. Nadella also seems to not care about consumers at all. I would claim the reason Microsoft even exists today and is the king of enterprise is because of consumers. They got Windows and Office "on all computers" 20 years ago , and when you are an enterprise it is the natural choice to choose products that your employees already are familiar with and already know how to use, instead of going with some obscure archaic solution you have to waste time and a lot of money educating every single employee to use, and it also makes it much harder to find good new employees. Things have changed, but the importance of what home users, regular consumers, is using is still important to big in enterprise... and Microsoft is moving further and further away from the consumer market, and seems to be more and more clueless in what consumers want and care about. Worst of all, they seems to have lost every screed of fighting spirit ever since Nadella took over. ..they don't even try anymore They want to focus on Enterprise and cloud only? Well if you loose your consumer market along the way, you will in the end loose the enterprise as well . So far Apple and Google have not had a chance in the enterprise, no matter what they have come up with... but seems Nadella is determined to change that and burn Microsoft to the grownd in his blind focus on enterpsie only
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So many comments here about Microsoft should be just for them, or at least just for consumers. Now we have one claiming that consumers use of Windows and Office 20 years ago lead to their adoption by business. Sorry, I was at the Singapore release of Word for Windows, closer to 30 years ago. I saw a future where documents would be entered into computers by their actual authors, not hand written ant typed in by a specialist who had memorised all of the complex key combinations needed to format a document in Word Perfect. I recommended its purchase by the company. Consumers were not buying it since few has PCs. In Singapore at least, Word for Windows was released before Windows and came with its own subset of Windows. Windows and Office started as enterprise products, not consumer products, On Nadella, his job IS to please the shareholders, not a minority of consumers who think he should be concentrating on the things they think are important to them. A CEO pleases shareholders by consistently making more and more money and Nadella seems to be rather good at that.
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In this case,communication is totally unwarranted.But I can assure that the Apex man will keep all his words.New mobile devices,with cutting edge technology,surfaces,HoloLens,AR etc.
But no one is required to stay
Move if you want to..Is but for a short time. -
Its not really complicated to know the way nadella thinks. He is the guy to make microsoft the next ibm. he wants Microsoft to retreat from consumer and be the services infrastructure. but this is fundamentally the problem. unless you are consumer focus no one cares about you. this is the problem all microsoft employee have. they live in the microsoft bubble. if microsoft retreats form the consumer space no one will care about using their services. even today with exchange being light years ahead of google mail, people want to use gmail for work. why is this. because it is what they use at home the familiarity is what people want to use. i hate to qoute paul, but he is right no one loves microsoft you just have to work with it. but once given a choice most people will choose something else not microsoft. this is the dangerous game microsoft is playing.
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This guy MUST go.
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What options would a new CEO have? Start developing a new mobile platform in 2017???!!!
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Unlike Nadella sitting on his ass and talk all nonsense/preaching, new CEO can refresh their surface line quicker, Bring windows/bing AI on more device like Cortana speaker, TV stick, smart watch etc. Who captures the smart home is going to win next generation and ONCE AGAIN Satya made sure MS repeats the Same mistake ballmer did missing Mobile.
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Your conclusion is right on the money.
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Jason, I used to like your writings and now I don't...MSFT is going against the tide...Google is pumping out hardware and services geared to the consumer...
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First Funguy I'd like to thank you for previously likely my writing and for still commenting though you no longer do.🙂 Now I have a question. What didn't you like about this piece after you read it in full? Given your comment about Microsoft not catering to consumers while Google is, and the content of this piece which addresses Nadella's killing what he likely deems inefficient, underperforming consumer products, I'm a little confused what you may not have not liked.
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MS problem is they are afraid of failure, so they make tepid minimal investments in things not enterprise. This eventually leads to self fulfilling proficies and they fail. MS needs to go all in to regain trust or else GTFO. I can not invest in them nor can I recomend any one invest in them because they can not be trusted.
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🙂
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So, Jason Ward... Has your opinion shifted? Do you still believe MS may be working on a pocketable mobile device under the Surface brand, or not?
.......
Yesterday Daniel Rubino made a comment that a highly mobile Surface is expected in 2018. These are Daniels exact words...
"A Surface Book "2" and an ARM-based Surface device, not to mention the rumored "Andromeda" hardware for mobile, are all on expected to be released by Microsoft in the coming year.""
Yes, that's what he said.. What do you think, and how should we perceive the comment about "Andromeda hardware for mobile"???
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Asking Jason Ward, so if anyone has anything negative to say it will be ignored. -
Hey Rodney, I think their still working on it. Nadella knows the company NEEDS a mobile platform of its own but was also clear that it will only do so when it can differentiate. It will bring a regular old smartphone to market. So yes I still believe the company is committed to developing that "device that id beyond the curve" running Core OS ( formerly known as Andromeda OS). 😎
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Ok. That is great. Now, my only other question is,, do the two of you believe a mobile device is coming by information provided from valid sources, or just from speculation about what we think, and want, MS to do?
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Good question. Both?
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I think the strategy is simple. Enterprise makes Microsoft the money. It's the part of the business he is from. Windows is the productivity OS and that is the focus. Ordinary consumers can buy a PC with Windows installed on it but once you buy Office 365 then that's it. If you want a personal device then you need to look at an Android or IOS mobile device. If you want home automation then Google and Amazon will do that. Microsoft is the enterprise and business computing company. I can't see TV and Movies lasting too long.
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His smile makes him look like he is in his teen years :D
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MSFT's stock has doubled since Nadella has been CEO. Say what you want, but he's obviously giving somone reason to stay invested. He is focused on the long game, so it's easy to loose patience in a consumer space that evolves so quickly. I do agree that MSFT has taken on the personality of its' CEO. Ballmer was loud, and vibrant. Nadella is calm and maybe even a little boring. I think you want to be somewhere in the middle to maximize capturing the most interest. MSFT's problem has always been spreading the word and now they have a person at the helm who may be the least capable of doing that...yet the company continues to build revenue so that implication is that he's doing something right. The irony is the name Microsoft speaks to how they represent themelves on the tech company spectrum Micro as in small, and soft as in how they handle the competition. Still they control their fate and by that, control the fate of others. I am always a glass half full kind of person so I will look at the current situation as trending up. I'm looking forward to the revamp of their mobile product and what new Surface hardware they will produce. I already have pre orderd my XBox One X, and am looking at Windows Mixed Reality. Microsoft has their hands in more things than any other tech company out there, and that by itself saying something that Nadella has not only righted the ship, but has it sailing faster. In retrospect, he's done things to frustrate me, but he's done just enough to keep me loyal to MSFT.
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Blah blah blah but I really miss band and will miss groove. What's next?
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Band was best! Loved typing replies in my wrist. When Bluetooth worked on the phone.
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As a CEO, has to consider so much things that make the company growth, sure consider the W10M only has
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let's be honest here and something the author didn't mention. the board is directing this company and the CEO is merely carrying out its orders. its fairly obvious when they are cutting anything that is bleeding money and that's usually a move the board of directors make to of course get the stock up.
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Nadella is a moron. And quit the social justice bullshit with the disabled son angle, it's got nothing to do with Microsoft however desperately you want it to. Get this into your head Jason, NADELLA DESTROYED WINDOWS PHONE.
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Hi eryker, this article is much bigger than Windows phone. And Nadella's own words associate who he was before his son, and the man of empathy he became after his son; the same empathy that he vociferously speaks about and passionately fosters within Microsoft's culture.
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The biased tech press and consumer indifference killed Windows Phone. Don't blame Nadella just because he was the doctor who signed the death certificate.
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I've never criticised Nadella, at least not directly. Reflecting on his body of work and where MS is now, It's adopting an invisible identity. That may well be a wise move if one values high margin profits in the short term, but it seems a questionable strategy for the long term because it gives competitors various ways to go after MS's traditional bread and butter products. It is a hell of a lot harder to start from scratch than it is to build from a base, even if that base is minute. MS might well put itself in a position where it comes under attack at its core, and I wonder if in ten years it will be a brand that goes unmentioned in personal computing circles.
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Nadalla has killed the idea of Windows on all screens. Very shortsighted, even from a business standpoint.
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I see it completely differently. Band and Phone were not actually running the same Windows as a PC, just as RT was not the same Windows. He is being laser focused that anything that runs "Windows" must be running real Windows, hence the support for Andromeda, OneCore, WOA, and so on. He is dropping devices that only half-ass the idea of "Windows on all screens" and waiting until the tech is there to really make it work 100%. Good or bad, it's obvious to me that that is his plan.
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I have used MS products for nearly 25 years, and sadly I am to the point of dropping them entirely except for at work where I don't have a choice. Nadella's quest for 'efficiency' is going to run MS into the ground before anyone with real innovative vision can come forward to save it.
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Yeah, well, he is the proof he needs to go, fast. Microsoft presents no trust anymore cause of this guy and their Windows 10. If they want mass appeal, they should stop changing Windows 10 every 2 weeks. Normal people DO NOT like that. Look at apple, why do you think they never changed? Their is a reason. I am not saying not to change, i am just saying stop. Instead of investing money into never ending unstable version, invest the time into making Windows 10 that great platform you promised for more then 2 years now, and it's still not delivered. I do not care what fanboys say, windows 10 is not stable, not stabe from within it's core, not stable cause of it's interface (always changing), not stable cause of devices they promised and are not delivered. This guys are making kindergarten business, it is like they forgot average people do not like constant unstable changes and to invest money in abandoned products. People are not lab rats f****s, get this deep in you head!! And start being serious, and throw that bald b*(( the f*** out. Microsoft has become an earthquake land type of a conpany, they will loose a even more customers with this approach. Everyday i see people turning to mac crapp cause they are Just Tired. They want a stable platform that works and do their job right. That is all what people want. Not everybody is a geek loving to spend 24 hours in front of their pc.
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I am no fanboy. I am a 76 year old semi-retired civil engineer. The office of the company I worked for in its various permutations over about 30 years bought Word for Windows on my recommendation and I have been using Office and Windows ever since for the simple reason that they work well and have been continuously improved. I don't use social media apps or use streaming music or videos, so my age shows, but I still use Office (365 Home) and Windows (10) on my home computers, because they work. Windows and Office are used by companies of all sizes, because they work. That will continue and will continue to be developed, with cloud use etc. and Microsoft's profits will continue to grow, no matter how much 'consumers' insult their CEO. Why would anybody think that Microsoft should give priority to a music streaming app, or even mobile phones, (I love my much maligned Lumia 950 but it was just not fashionable)? Windows 10 is a very capable and stable operating system. It must not be judged by insider preview builds which were sometimes not stable, but that is what so many are doing.
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The issue with the picture you've painted is that those companies (Apple and Google) already have a presence in the enterprise segment as well (especially Apple). We see more and more businesses using Apple's systems and cloud solutions. They are making strong efforts to improve themselves and become a relevant factor in the business segment as well, and at the same time dominating the consumer markets, whilst Microsoft, instead of fighting back, is retrenching in a safe (at the moment) spot. As it is right now, Microsoft resembles a big fat blind whale and the sharks (Apple, Google etc.) already ate its food. Now, they are going for its body. And it is not so much a matter of consumers insulting their CEO, but them realizing that the company they've grown with, supported for many years and are heavily invested in, has been lead to a position of little to no presence in the segment that it's relevant to them, no future and no clear vision for further improvement. And they have every right to be concerned and critical of this.
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Sorry Ken, Windows 10 in the past couple of crap tuesdays, has become wonky again. My right click does not work in mail, I have to restart every couple of days because of freezing problems.. MacOS is a pain to use, but it's stable, and moving forward with apple's vision. Instead of stagnantion by Microsoft on EVERYTHING besides the bean counting stuff.
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MacOS is inconsistent and less user friendly than Windows by a long way. Try using it without a mouse. iOS on the other hand is miles better for mobile. Very intuitive and stable. But on the desktop Windows still wins.
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I think Nadella sees something that unseen by us or other company. maybe for now on, MS wants to focus on what matters for their cash in. The windows, office product, mail, onedrive. The productivity stuff. Apple has nowhere on Desktop game. But they’re damm good at selling phones and pads. Google is a master for services. Their youtube, gmail, Android services (yepp, service). While they’re so poor at maintaining desktop OS and hardware. This part, where Apple and Google cant handle the PC and office stuff, is where MS focus on. They better keep doin this. But, wouldn’t it be better if Groove service get more attention? Like, including groove subscription to Office 365? I think that would be great. But nah, monthly groove payment is damm priceir than the package of Office 365. everyone is happy with Spotify and Apple Music. Even it’s only damn $3 on my country, thanks to student offer.
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@irsyadhhs, You are DEAD WRONG regarding Apple and Google and desktop. Chrome and MacOS are gaining market share every quarter, and MS is losing Market Share (in consumer space), every quarter. More and more people are moving away from Windows as their desktop because of NOTHING is keeping them excited and the current state of windows 10 is terrible. The last few updates broke more stuff than before. Its been 2 years, windows 10 should be ROCK STABLE with only new features coming into the fold now. But Nadulla has shitcanned most of the employees who used to work on these issues in previous versions of windows and leaves it to "suckers" ooppps I mean "insiders" to do the bug finding etc. Free labour. The board and shareholders like free labour. ME, NOT SO MUCH.
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I think Nadella's a fine CEO, but let's not pretend that his vision of Microsoft aligns with the one preferred by most users visiting Windows Central. All existing hardware, including consumer facing hardware like the Xbox and Surface devices are highly expandable and are likely to either be reduced in significance (Surface) or spun off/sold off to an OEM (Xbox).
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I think Nadella's a fine CEO, but let's not pretend that his vision of Microsoft doesn't align with the one preferred by most users visiting Windows Central. All existing hardware, including consumer facing hardware like the Xbox and Surface devices are highly expendable and are likely to either be reduced in significance (Surface) or spun off/sold off to an OEM (Xbox).
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NaDella is simply repeating what his predecessor did. Ballmer made sure MS lost mobile battle by being late and NaDella making sure MS will lose smart home battle letting Amazon, Google and Apple lead even though MS has all necessary (universal OS, Bing AI, Cortana) yet no one smart home product. All talk talk, demo videos and slower than turtle refresh/in bringing to market Forget to add an army of OEMs who obviously are getting screwed(HP Elite X3) by NaDella. Hate to abandon MS as how much obsessed I was but Google has shaped to be one great platform
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This is a great article, with some fantastic background research. Really paints quite the picture and then throws in some fear at the end of it. But I think with everything in this article, and just looking at the decisions Microsoft has made over the last 3 years, that there is a plan in place. All the decisions made are amounting to a final goal that Satya Nadella believes will bring the company success, I don't think this is just in the enterprise. Its already confirmed that Windows Core OS is being developed, UWP apps are improving, though slowly, and Microsoft is shoving their products in everyones line of site on every platform. Why? Think about it, how did Android become so popular? Remember how Youtube, GMail, Google maps, Google search, Chrome, all of it was in our faces before android became something of significance. Because people were baked in it, then when android was a good OS, everyone hopped on and it was easy. This is what I see Microsoft doing now. Getting mind share with everyone - through partnerships with Spotify, LinkedIn, and all the office products, and cortana - so that once windows core OS is ready, everyone can switch with no issue.
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The flaw in your theory though is Satya making sure all their products LinkedIn, Skype, Cortana, Bing and everything suck in their own platform (windows 10 UWP) while you will like them better if you leave Windows.
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Thanks Daniel and thanks for your input!
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Interesting article, but Meyers-Briggs is really just pop psychology, only a bit more useful than the "which Disney Princess are you?" quizzes all your facebook friends are posting about. It's not a tool actually used by psychologists. Trying to divine Nadella's mind based on it is more frivolous than not.
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It is a tool still used by many businesses, including fortune 500 and 100 companies including a company I've worked for in the past. As a business (like other businesses that use it) I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft used it at various points in its history. Also, I try to divine others minds based on my observations and analysis😉. This tool even IF accepted by psychologists wouldn't be a plenary measure of ones psyche. It does provide a framework, backdrop and springboard to align my observations in a structured format making communication of my observations easier to convey and to digest by readers. It is useful but not the total source of my perceptions of Nadella. Of course I've never met nor interacted with the man so I could be completely wrong in my analysis of him. 😃 I just realize things don't "just happen." I try to look at the "why" behind the "what" as I'm sure is clear in most of my work. What can't be argued is personality, whether categorized by Meyers Briggs or some other tool, affects how one leads and ones decisions. (along with a host of other factors including stakeholders, market forces and more). As I concluded in the piece: "Considering Nadella's track record consumers may not want to get too invested in any struggling Microsoft services. If Nadella is a Mastermind, his personality type will drive him to eventually cut that inefficiency. If he's not a Mastermind **history** certainly dictates he may." His past actions speak for what his future actions MAY be regarding how he perceives inefficient or underperforming products and what he will do in response.
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Jason, the problem is the guy is a weak, weak man. He has VISIONS. Great. He is, absolutely and uncategorically, an idea man. Idea men should not run companies. It's obviously counterproductive. if he can't take being behind the scenes, because of his brilliance obviously, he needs to be fired. Add to the fact there is a smidge of smug in his comments and general mannerisms, and you have a TRAIN WRECK. In fact, I am wondering who will kill whose respective company first: (Apple) Tim Cook or (Microsoft) Satya Nadella
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Just because companies use it doesn't mean it's good. It's been proven that the Meyers Briggs and other similar tools are in general, pretty rubbish. There's little proof a 'test' can tell you much about anything. They're more or less 'guides'. It's poor psycology and it's has been called out several times but businesses like it because it's 'easy'. It's a simple way of using a tool to weed people out in their view. Which is why they like it, not because it's 'right'. But that's business for you. It's always about doing what's easy. That's why we have what we have these days. Companies work for shareholders, not consumers. They biggest assest is their accounting department. I hold no devotion to any company. They're all the same regardless what their exterior looks like.
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Not a valid counterargument. If "many companies" used astrology as part of their hiring process, would you, as a responsible journalist, write an article about how his decisions made him appear to be a Sagigeminicorn (without actually looking up what he was) and then write about how his sign was the cause of all his business decisions? You have not only pursued poor logic (his decisions imply this specific personality type without evidence, so this personality type must be driving his decisions!) but have promoted a bogus philosophy of personality. The article would be much better stated as: Hypothesis: Nadella hates inefficient and poorly performing sub-businesses. That is the driving force behind all his decisions. List of all his decisions within the context of him hating inefficiency Propose that future decisions will continue to be based on his hatred of inefficiency (perhaps with a few examples) No need to bring in astrology, Meyers-Briggs or Disney Princesses at all. It would be a better article, too.
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... And for the record, Nadella is totally an Elsa. His desire to "Let It Go" clearly is the driving force behind all of his executive decisions. :P
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Nadella is roaming on the clouds. We need sombody here on earth to listen us, give us what we want from the Tech that Mcrosoft already have.
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I miss Steve Balmer. At least he could make bold decisions. The face Nadella made for Microsoft is anything other than a trust worthy company even me as a fan no longer have trust in them, just the Xbox devision.
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They needed and extrovert to lead. Nadella could have remained behind the curtain and still been a success... Microsoft has gradiose visions but poor follow-through.
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As a fellow INTJ, I find one thing that was left out was that he's passionate about his work. He will put everything he can into the company in a strategic way. I can't see him possibly wanting to destroy the company he's passionate for. Does some of Microsoft's decisions seem to make sense? No, but they're for good reason. He sees what's necessary, and he knows the company's future better than we do.
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Well said!
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He is a weak man, period. Absolutely not CEO material. This guy should be in an accounting office somewhere envisioning how to save money by cutting petty cash. Then he can feel IN CHARGE of something that actually won't hurt anyone else, but still helps the company. As it is, he is a mess of visions and nothing else.
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In general, efficiency and innovation don't reside together in the same neighborhood. It takes a nuanced touch to find a common ground for them both to thrive. Microsoft's apparent, from the outside, flailing about on vision, messaging, and delivery create their own type of inefficiency imposed externally - inefficiency based in reaction rather than proaction.
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I'll say good bye to this guy. Too many wrong steps.
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This weak willed man is good for business somehow... cause of empathy??? And yet empathy in business is a terrible trait. Kill or be killed is the business world. It isn't his sick kid we are talking about, it's business, which is NOT his sick kid. His utter lack of keeping his word and giving up on things way too easily is the trait of a loser. If he truly cared about the consumer, he would do everything in his power NOT to kill things they like. What a terrible CEO.
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INTJs may run into trouble when they decide to ignore the "pointless" social niceties that could in fact secure cooperation from those who could help them; when they treat less intelligent or skilled subordinates with open disdain; when they fail to give praise and appreciation for a job well done; when they do not give detailed instructions to the types that prefer clear specifics to high level directives ("Keirsey.com," 2009); or when they give orders "out of the blue" without bothering to secure the support of those who are expected to carry them out. All these things will create unnecessary obstacles in their path and may indeed result in the failure of their enterprise. Fortunately, most INTJs realize that concessions to others' needs pay off with tangible benefits. Being pragmatic realistists, they will indulge those under them with a measure of social consideration. http://oddlydevelopedtypes.com/content/intj-leadership
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It seems that Satya hates the consumer base and has no vision why Microsoft will ever need them.
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Hope is not to late when microsoft wakes up and see the destruction this beta male brought upon the company...keep it simple...Nadella is to complicated and thinks he can shape a future for microsoft that only exist in his head
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He is the absolute lowest beta male there is... it's pathetic honestly they let this guy run anything other than the ticket counter at a carnival.
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The Myers Brigg personality assessment is not 100% accurate. In any case, I see in Nadella someone with very little patience, without any hint of perseverance and will to improve and build on the hard work of his colleagues and the company as a whole. And unless he knows something we all ignore, his decisions do not make much sense, because he is closing the doors for Microsoft to be in the minds of people around the world, by not supporting Microsoft on a first-party mobile platform, including accounts defaults, and even worse, doing little or nothing to promote past, present and future products. Hell, there is marketing and advertising, but these seem non-existent in Microsoft.
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The Myers Brigg personality assessment is not 100% accurate. In any case, I see in Nadella someone with very little patience, without any hint of perseverance and will to improve and build on the hard work of his colleagues and the company as a whole. And unless he knows something we all ignore, his decisions do not make much sense, because he is closing the doors for Microsoft to be in the minds of people around the world, by not supporting Microsoft on a first-party mobile platform, including accounts defaults, and even worse, doing little or nothing to promote past, present and future products. Hell, there is marketing and advertising, but these seem non-existent in Microsoft.
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if someone make a petition to change MS CEO, I'll sign it for sure
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I've been burned by embracing Microsoft consumer offerings so many times. Here's a short list: Plays for Sure, Zune, Windows Media Center, Windows Mobile, Windows Phone, Windows 8, Groove, Silverlight. But I think it's better for them to kill products and services which they aren't willing or able to put their full focus on. Otherwise they end up with also-ran mediocre offerings that are not competitive. Groove was a pale shadow of what Zune could have been. It lacked many features that customers wanted, and just wasn't able to compete with Apple Music and Spotify. So yeah, Nadella did the right thing for shareholders and decided to kill it. Same for Windows Phone. Realistically, they were doomed a long time ago, and it doesn't make sense to keep a sick product on life-support bleeding focus and resources from where they really want to use them. I hope Xbox stays healthy and thriving because it's my main gaming platform. I also hope they can keep at least Office 365 and OneDrive which I use for my cloud and productivity needs.
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MS's smartphone strategy starting with Windows Phone failed because they didn't play to their strengths and they really don't get the consumer market: That's wasn't Satya's fault. Make no mistake, MS is still making big money and still rules the enterprise. I hope their Andromeda project puts them back on track and makes them a relevant contender in both mobile/desktop/IoT. They lost the smartphone market. They need to define the next generation mobile market.
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Absolutely not true. Two years ago, Steve Balmer went public with his concerns after Satya killed the project that was supposed to port Android app to Windows Phone. Back, Satya truly believed that he could lure more developers to UWP apps. Well, he failed! And closed the door to android app on windows before failing. So it is Satya's fault!!!
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I think its time to begin the conversation of who Microsoft's next CEO will be.
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I use phone, surface & groove, hope this wishy washy guy gets fired.
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He will be remembered as the CEO who was too stupid to see the significance of mobile communication causing the downfall of the entire company.
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Maybe just my anger, but I see a major PR disaster brewing.
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I read it as Microsoft is scared to take any risks. They are putting all their eggs in one basket. They are turning into another HP.
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Somewhat related: I want to call out Gatanui for bringing the best face of discussing, I have seen here in a long time. I wish we could all communicate so clearly.
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Story for the gods. He is an evil mastermind of disappointment, that's what he is. I'm out.
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Can we get Gates back in to MS?