"Although Bill Gates stepped away from his day-to-day role at Microsoft nearly five years ago, he still keeps a close eye on the company he co-founded - and he isn't always happy with what he sees. During a recent interview broadcast this morning on CBS This Morning, the Microsoft chairman was asked by Charlie Rose whether he was happy with Steve Ballmer's performance as chief executive. Noting that there have been 'many amazing things' accomplished under Ballmer's leadership in the past couple of years, Gates said he was not satisfied with the company's innovations." It's impossible to deny by this point that Microsoft hasn't done well in mobile. It would be more surprising if Gates had denied it.
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Member since:2008-09-21
On consoles is just not a total disaster thanks to Sony's customer punishment. XBox still has a long way to go to break even and bring back all the money home it took to get it into market.
Same cash-throw strategy failed to work for Bing and WP cause competition isn't as stupid as Sony there.
And competition comes. Chromebook and Android, Valve game consoles just started.
Member since:2005-11-29
The Xbox isn't about making money. Its about having influence in the living room.
That you can't see that is very telling. Microsoft is now in the best position it can possibly be in for conquering the living room, the TV is the next stage for the war of ecosystems and no one is better off than MS.
Even Apple is itching to get into this space. Microsoft was way way ahead of the curve with IPTV and what they've done with mindshare, turn people's perceptions of an Xbox from a Console to an Entertainment Hub is important in their next step to this end.
If Microsoft can keep their execution up, keep landing content deals, then the living room is theirs (that was after all, the entire reason for Microsoft even launching a console)
Keep in mind that consoles are a cutthroat market with razor thin margins. Its never been about gaming influence as much as its been about maintaining Windows and pushing Windows into the living room.
Its also had a halo effect in keeping DirectX relevant via the Xbox 360. Ensuring that the majority of games that used OpenGL were slow ports was a huge victory for them when it comes to changing developer hearts and minds.
Bing is actually doing well, and moving to do better, and I think this is one area of Microsoft where the pace of innovation is high. Bing has come a long way and it is extremely well managed. They just need to make a bet on a larger scale.
Bing is the other half of a one two punch for entertainment. I'm actually very bullish on Bing, this is one sector where they have nowhere to go but up, and have been doing so at a good pace.
Member since:2011-05-19
Microsoft net income for fiscal year:
2006: $12.6 billion
2007: $14.06 billion
2008: $17.68 billion
2009: $14.57 billion
2010: $18.76 billion
2011: $23.15 billion
2012: $23.18 billion (excluding aQuantive writedown)
Tech is a peculiar industry, in which a 65% increase in earnings over 6 six years is considered "not much better." If we're not seeing a hockey stick, then we think a company is about to go bankrupt.
Edited 2013-02-19 18:00 UTC
Member since:2008-09-11
So, the Xbox One disaster continues. Microsoft's policy for dealing with the used games market has reportedly leaked - and it's a clear and direct attack to destroy the used games market. Prices for used games will be set at the retail value of a new game, and retailers have to hook into Microsoft's computer systems and comply with Microsoft's terms and conditions.At an event earlier today, Microsoft unveiled the next Xbox - the third model, but confusingly named Xbox One. The big focus was TV, integrated Kinect, and all the other stuff we all expected to be forced down our throats. I think it took them 25 minutes to actually come to what should be the core of the story: gaming. Nothing groundbreaking in the gaming department, except for how Microsoft intends to handle the used games market and borrowing games from friends: pay up, buddy!
The day has finally come! Jolla has finally announced the launch device for its Sailfish operating system - and by god this is a looker. It's decidedly different from other phones out there, but it has good specifications and carries a relatively reasonably price tag - EUR 399, and it's up for pre-order today, shipping in the fourth quarter of this year.
Why does Google get so much credit in the technology industry? Why, despite the company's many obvious failings, do many geeks and enthusiasts still hold a somewhat positive view on the all-knowing technology giant? A specific talk at Google I/O this week provides the answer.
OSNews is a sponsor of this year's O'Reilly OSCON in Portland, Oregon, USA. A lucky OSNews reader will win a free three-day pass, including two tutorials days. To win the pass, post a comment on this story saying something about Open Source Software or OSCON. We'll pick a winner at random next week. If you don't have an OSNews account, you may email us your entry. Part of the conference is the 9th annual Open Source Awards, and today the 16th is the deadline for nominations. If you'd like to nominate an outstanding open source contributor, do it here. Read on for more information about OSCON. Update: The 20% discount code for OSNews readers is "OSN."
"Windows is indeed slower than other operating systems in many scenarios, and the gap is worsening." That's one way to start an insider explanation of why Windows' performance isn't up to snuff. Written by someone who actually contributes code to the Windows NT kernel, the comment on Hacker News, later deleted but reposted with permission on Marc Bevand's blog, paints a very dreary picture of the state of Windows development. The root issue? Think of how Linux is developed, and you'll know the answer.
This is one of those news items that's fun to write, fun to read, fun to comment on, and where no one will be able to say anything unkind. It's all just one big ball of awesome fluffiness. TuneTracker, the BeOS radio automation software, has just released something very special: TuneTracker System 5, the first version designed entirely and specifically for Haiku. In fact, it actually includes Haiku in the software package. Better yet, TuneTracker also unveiled several system-in-a-box products - which have Haiku and TuneTracker pre-installed.
Exactly twenty years ago, a document was published that played a huge role in establishing the web as we know it today. Twenty years later, and this simple and straightforward document is proof of an irrefutable fact: while closed technologies can change markets, open technologies can change the world.Oh multitasking. That staple of computing that got thrown out the window with many modern smartphones. We got some rudimentary thing in its place - but even as multitasking on phone and tablets improves, its user-visible side remains cumbersome. Windows 8 has a neat implementation, and now it's time Android follows in it footsteps.They're here! Whether that excites you or not remains to be seen, but the Galaxy S4, which will most likely become the best selling Android smartphone of the year by a huge margin, has been reviewed by all the major sites, and there's lots of interesting conclusions in there - although I think most of you will get the gist.
Member since:
2008-09-11
Microsoft are not fading away. They are just as successful as before when it comes to desktop, mobile and server market share.
On desktop they do great, on mobile devices very poor, on consoles they do great, on servers and data center they do an average job and when it comes to cloud, they do average.
They aren't doing much better than 3 or 3 or 5 years ago, but they aren't doing worse either. That's not fading away, that's just stagnation.
And if Bill isn't happy, why the heck doesn't he push for a new management? And try to hire guys with visions and ideas not just technically skilled guys.
Look at Google, damn it! I did a set of Google interviews and I know what kind of people do they seek and how they manage the employees, how they assign and evaluate work, how is to work at Google. Microsoft is just too rigid, inflexible, frozen in a stiff corporate mentality. If Eric Schmidt will ever be in search for a job, they should hire him.