Thoughts on Balmer
Jumping off my experiment for a moment, I'm going to take some time to share my thoughts on Steve Balmer leaving Microsoft.
This could be the best news that Microsoft has had in years. Why they allowed him to stay as long as he has is still a mystery to me. The man has taken good ideas and managed to murder them. The Courier, which was far more interesting and impressive than the iPad ever was, was killed with the reason being, if I recall correctly, they couldn't figure out the battery life on the device. Then there was a huge jump in battery life technology which made that reason completely stupid.
The rest of the time Balmer was trying to play Catch Up with Apple and then Google. They have been watching as their business becomes more of a joke than anything else. Now is the time for them to take charge, hire a CEO with some new vision and a willingness to take risks in innovation and bring some new product ideas to the table.
One thing Microsoft can't do is continue down the track it's been following for the last ten years or so. The most innovation they've shown has been the introduction of Windows 8, which hasn't been accepted well by the general public.
I actually seem to like it more than most people, though I feel there are some implementation issues - but that's not what this blog is about. Windows 8 showed that Microsoft is still willing to innovate and change things up with a whole new method of computing. However, it does suffer some from "Deisgn by Committee" issues. Their implementation of Windows RT was also a massive failure.
Before I really delved into this whole "12 months of Windows" idea I had, I used to joke that they should have just made one tablet interface and one Desktop Interface. Having used it for a few days now, I think that my belief in that idea was wrong - but that will be my next entry.
Nearly everything Balmer has touched, with the exception of Window 7, has been a sad, pathetic game of "I don't know what I'm doing, let's try to copy other people badly."
I think now Microsoft stands on the edge of becoming the next Apple. What I mean is that they could quickly become an innovation engine instead of stagnating and attempting to play catch up all the time.
Then, the users also have to provide some kind of stable base. What I mean is that, in the early 2000s, Microsoft was ahead of its time. It released convertible tablet laptops with a unique touch interface and very advanced stylus technology that allowed for pressure sensitivity and more. It flopped hard and never really caught on and faded into obscurity.
If I recall (I could be wrong), Bill Gates had wanted to try and create a new interface to go with the convertible tablets but got pushback. If they'd managed to create something new and unique at that point, they could have stolen the show, but instead they ended up embroiled in "Design by Committee" again, leaving the consumers confused as to why they would need to pay another $500 to $1,000 for a laptop with a touch interface.
Even with those clunky (by today's standards) machines from the past they could have stolen the market entirely and pushed themselves into a dominance that couldn't have been rivaled.
So here's what I feel Microsoft needs to do, as a lowly consumer - stop acting like a giant company and start acting like a startup that needs to take the risks to break into the market. Not risks that look like you're trying to play catch up, but risks that create new things we didn't know we wanted.
They need somebody young, somebody with vision and somebody who's willing to shake things up big time at Microsoft without fear. Somebody who will take the company and mold it into something new and exciting.
And to the consumers: Stop being so annoyed with Windows 8. It's pretty damn cool - even if you don't have a touch screen.
Is it perfect? No, but I have yet to see an OS that is. It's different. That doesn't mean that it's bad.
This could be the best news that Microsoft has had in years. Why they allowed him to stay as long as he has is still a mystery to me. The man has taken good ideas and managed to murder them. The Courier, which was far more interesting and impressive than the iPad ever was, was killed with the reason being, if I recall correctly, they couldn't figure out the battery life on the device. Then there was a huge jump in battery life technology which made that reason completely stupid.
The rest of the time Balmer was trying to play Catch Up with Apple and then Google. They have been watching as their business becomes more of a joke than anything else. Now is the time for them to take charge, hire a CEO with some new vision and a willingness to take risks in innovation and bring some new product ideas to the table.
One thing Microsoft can't do is continue down the track it's been following for the last ten years or so. The most innovation they've shown has been the introduction of Windows 8, which hasn't been accepted well by the general public.
I actually seem to like it more than most people, though I feel there are some implementation issues - but that's not what this blog is about. Windows 8 showed that Microsoft is still willing to innovate and change things up with a whole new method of computing. However, it does suffer some from "Deisgn by Committee" issues. Their implementation of Windows RT was also a massive failure.
Before I really delved into this whole "12 months of Windows" idea I had, I used to joke that they should have just made one tablet interface and one Desktop Interface. Having used it for a few days now, I think that my belief in that idea was wrong - but that will be my next entry.
Nearly everything Balmer has touched, with the exception of Window 7, has been a sad, pathetic game of "I don't know what I'm doing, let's try to copy other people badly."
I think now Microsoft stands on the edge of becoming the next Apple. What I mean is that they could quickly become an innovation engine instead of stagnating and attempting to play catch up all the time.
Then, the users also have to provide some kind of stable base. What I mean is that, in the early 2000s, Microsoft was ahead of its time. It released convertible tablet laptops with a unique touch interface and very advanced stylus technology that allowed for pressure sensitivity and more. It flopped hard and never really caught on and faded into obscurity.
If I recall (I could be wrong), Bill Gates had wanted to try and create a new interface to go with the convertible tablets but got pushback. If they'd managed to create something new and unique at that point, they could have stolen the show, but instead they ended up embroiled in "Design by Committee" again, leaving the consumers confused as to why they would need to pay another $500 to $1,000 for a laptop with a touch interface.
Even with those clunky (by today's standards) machines from the past they could have stolen the market entirely and pushed themselves into a dominance that couldn't have been rivaled.
So here's what I feel Microsoft needs to do, as a lowly consumer - stop acting like a giant company and start acting like a startup that needs to take the risks to break into the market. Not risks that look like you're trying to play catch up, but risks that create new things we didn't know we wanted.
They need somebody young, somebody with vision and somebody who's willing to shake things up big time at Microsoft without fear. Somebody who will take the company and mold it into something new and exciting.
And to the consumers: Stop being so annoyed with Windows 8. It's pretty damn cool - even if you don't have a touch screen.
Is it perfect? No, but I have yet to see an OS that is. It's different. That doesn't mean that it's bad.
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