I don’t want to get on an airliner where the FMS is programmed in C++, much less Windows.
MSFT is having the same problem so many computing companies that were started by techies have had: They handed the control over to a salesman.
This has resulted in the death or near-death of the following companies:
1. Wang.
2. DEC.
3. Apple (in the early/mid 90’s) - Apple looks like they’re riding high now, but they were nearly dead in the mid-90’s.
4. HP - broken up and doing jack-all for innovation now.
Balmer just doesn’t know what to do or how to lead a technical company. He knows how to plump up sales through various machinations, but he can’t do what needs to be done.
What needs to be done to MSFT now is about what Gates did to MSFT in the early 90’s, when Gates first thought that the Internet was just a flash in the pan. When, by ‘94 to ‘95, it was clear that the Internet was going to take off like a homesick angel, Gates made MSFT do a 180 in the parking lot at warp speed. I have to give him credit, he made that company (which was already pretty large) turn on a dime.
Now the same type of challenge is in front of them and they don’t have the leadership to turn it around...
Jobs was always just a salesman.
Don't forget SCO (back when they were a software company), Novell, and Sun Microsystems.
Mark
“MSFT is having the same problem so many computing companies that were started by techies have had: They handed the control over to a salesman.”
Amen to that.