Is Microsoft a sinking ship because of Windows 8 failure ?

[KentuckyWoman]

http://stream.wsj.com/story/latest-headlines/SS-2-63399/SS-2-404142/

Microsoft is courting Alan Mulally - the king of saving sinking ships. If this is true, Microsoft is in deep trouble......





Snip

Ford’s Executive Chairman, Bill Ford Jr., says the courtship of Mr. Mulally isn’t a distraction and that the next generation of executives is already in place if he does decide to leave.

“No, Alan’s done a great job and it’s not surprising that another company or many companies would be interested in Alan,” Mr. Ford said in an interview in Spain last week. “He’s done a really good job, but part of what he’s done well is also get the next generation ready, and so we’re operating as we’ve always operated, and it really hasn’t [been a distraction].”

Ford has planned for Mr. Mulally’s exit since last November, when the company named Mark Fields, 52, to become its operating chief, setting up a clear successor. Mr. Fields took over many of Mr. Mulally’s responsibilities. At that time, Ford said Mr. Mulally would stay through at least 2014. The speculation surrounding the move to Microsoft, however, may have sped up the timetable for his departure, said two people familiar with the matter.

Mr. Ford feels a strong gratitude toward Mr. Mulally and isn’t keen on pushing him out, even if the courtship by other companies is awkward, said one person familiar with Mr. Ford’s thinking.


Snip

[el_bryanto]

1. Who is stepping in to fill the gap?

that's the key question you have to ask about this kind of story.

Bryant

[Agschmid]

2. Ever since the 777 he has been an amazing leader.

It would be great to get a chance to work with him, I'd learn alit I'm sure.

[tridim]

3. LOL. nt

[liberal N proud]

4. Remember Vista?

[leftyohiolib]

5. remember windows me

[warrant46]

12. Remember NT-4 and XP

Much better than their last 3 "creations"

[leftyohiolib]

15. well i liked xp still have it on one of my machines

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

16. Still have XP...

...have used Windows 7 Excel. Ridiculous.

[Sgent]

18. Windows 7

was near perfect, and makes XP look like the 10 year old 10+ year old OS that it is.

Win 8 is terrible for desktop users IMHO.

[Go Vols]

22. +1

[sendero]

6. Microsoft is not a sinking ship..

..... but anyone who thinks they will ever regain their past position as the ruler of the tech world is nuts. Their glory days are behind them, their inability to actually innovate anything has finally caught up with them. They were never the smartest guys in the room and the monopoly advantage they once used to bugger all competitors is over.

[KurtNYC]

14. Yes. They rode OS's for all they were worth but now an OS is worth nothing.

Chrome, Android, Apple.

The dynamics of the business have changed radically since the early 1980s, most especially with the transition to tablets and smart phones. They have been playing catch-up since the AOL days and they never quite got back to any kind of leadership role vision wise. Market share yes. Vision no.

Trying to recruit from outside the company and outside their own industry shows just how far in the weeds they are. Mullaly is a genius but what MSFT needs now is vision. They need a CEO with deep understanding of cross platform synchronization.

[Marrah_G]

7. No- they will just make a new one and people will forget all about 8

[bhikkhu]

11. Like we forgot about the POS Vista? Or the POS Millenium Edition? or the POS XP

- before the service pack fix?

Even if their products weren't crap, their business practices have alienated plenty of people who don't forget. In my case, in 2001 or so when one their OS's died a virus-addled death on my main computer I wiped the drive and reinstalled the system, only to find that I lacked an activation code. Calling the mother ship, I was informed that my only option was to buy it for $129. Which was ridiculous, as I had already bought it with the computer, and the only reason I needed it was the POS crashed and burned.

I didn't have the money so I did some research and switched to Ubuntu, which has steadily improved over the years. Currently I run it on three computers, and its soooo much better than Windows 8, which I have one one computer (because I need autocad). Ubuntu is faster, more stable, easier to use, and impermeable to viruses.

[Marrah_G]

17. Yes- the general public still continues to buy windows.

None of the past sucky OS stopped them, I doubt this one will.

[dawg]

8. Microsoft needs to stick to their knitting and make the best ...

damn PC operating system and the best damn productivity software they are capable of making.

Their enterprise business is huge. Windows is a near-monopoly. PC's aren't going away just because people are buying tablets; just like trucks didn't go away because people started buying cars.

Microsoft needs to stop trying to be Apple or Google. They need to focus on just being a better Microsoft. New opportunities will eventually present themselves, but the truly good new ideas won't be ones that are already being exploited by 800lb gorillas like Amazon, Apple & Google.

[magical thyme]

10. microsoft has no experience in making the best PC nor any other operating system

Theirs was never the best, nor even close to it.

Gates was just the sharpest marketing shark in the sea, to mix my metaphors a bit.

[LiberalArkie]

9. Microsoft wanted to rule the tablet and phone markets

So they created a phone and tablet operating system and desktop that could be used on the desktop also... Wrong

Apple took a workstation OS (Unix) and ported it to the PC and then basically a slimed down version and new Gui for the phone and tablet.

Microsoft just went after it backwards and that is not the best way. Microsoft does not understand that desktop, tablet and phone are entirely different environments.

[SpcMnky]

19. Actually Apple went with a new OS for mobile/touch devices

Which seems to be the right decision.

I can understand the allure of a single code base, cost savings, however, whatever you do, at the eod it MUST delight users, otherwise you will lose.

Apple always knew that, MS, and others, struggle with that concept.

As a software developer, I am very interested in these issues, and I think the biggest problem that large MNC's can't solve, because of their size, is design by committee, and not just the look-n-feel, but the engineering, too.

And finally get both to play well together. I am convinced you need the right dictator (Jobs) to pull this supreme challenge off in a giant organization.

I wish them all the best, and they do have huge potential and talent.

This will be a key decision.

[LiberalArkie]

21. It is still the unix core, that is what I really meant

[Xithras]

13. Microsoft's profit was up 17% last quarter, with $19B in sales and $80B in the bank.

They won't be going anywhere for a long while.

Windows may be the most commonly known consumer product from Microsoft, but their actual profits are driven by their enterprise commercial products (server platforms, MSSQL, etc) and things like Office. If Microsoft continues to lose desktop market share, it won't greatly impact their profits, but you'll probably see them start moving toward making their products more interoperable with other platforms so they can maintain dominance in THOSE sectors.

[SpcMnky]

20. With Apple releasing their "office" tools for FREE

With their new OS, not to mention other open source products in the enterprise space eg MySQL, Apache, etc. MS definitely has a huge challenge/threat before them.

Though they certainly have the talent to overcome them, with the right person at the helm (I am thinking a young person, with fresh and relevant ideas).

[cherokeeprogressive]

23. I use Windows 8 and don't get the fuss.

I go back and forth between the desktop and Windows 8 interface. I don't have the slightest problem.

Oh, I use IE too.

[energumen]

24. not wild about Vista, or Windows 8

However, I like Windows 7. XP has run its' life course and, while is was a decent stable system, it was never a good 64 bit operating system and I need the capabilities of a 64 bit operating system.

I don't think Microsoft will go anywhere anytime soon. Linux is just not usable in a business environment for most people at this time. Apple is fine if you are into just publishing or arts, but to actually make anything you still have to be running Windows.