Microsoft needs to hire a professional CEO who knows how to control his mouth...
Category Microsoft
From TheAge.com.au: Microsoft boss snipes at Google
Too much quote-worthy material in this story, and proof that Ballmer's reality has no bearing on what is happening in the rest of the company and world...
MICROSOFT Corp chief executive Steve Ballmer says rival Google's pace of employee growth is "insane" and the company has few successful businesses outside of internet search and advertising.
"They're going to double in a year. That's insane, in my opinion," Mr Ballmer said, speaking to students at Stanford University in California.
You can grow like that when you have a smaller employee base. Google has 10000 employees, Microsoft has over 74000. Yes, uncontrolled growth is generally not a good idea and can often lead to entrenchment later on. But this is the same Microsoft that is building new facilities, wants to hire 10 to 15 thousand new employees over the next year, and whose own staff feels that they need to trim the fat when it comes to employee count. Google is still very agile. The same can not be said for Microsoft as a company.
"They're still really one business and it's a search and advertising business," he said. Google's other efforts had been "cute", he said.
That'll win you a lot of friends there, Steve... Calling another company and competitor "cute"....
Asked by a student what kept him up at night, Mr Ballmer said managing people and relationships and shifting business models were the biggest culprits. Still, those weren't major interruptions.
"I actually do sleep very well," he said.
And that may be a prime reason that Microsoft has lost any sense of urgency and creativity in today's market. They are coasting on Windows and Office, and nearly everything else is a "me too" product that is generally competitive through force of sheer dollars spent. Origami? Zune?
There should be a lot of things keeping Ballmer up at night...
Edit: I don't read Scoble on a regular basis, but apparently he feels the same...
From TheAge.com.au: Microsoft boss snipes at Google
Too much quote-worthy material in this story, and proof that Ballmer's reality has no bearing on what is happening in the rest of the company and world...
MICROSOFT Corp chief executive Steve Ballmer says rival Google's pace of employee growth is "insane" and the company has few successful businesses outside of internet search and advertising.
"They're going to double in a year. That's insane, in my opinion," Mr Ballmer said, speaking to students at Stanford University in California.
You can grow like that when you have a smaller employee base. Google has 10000 employees, Microsoft has over 74000. Yes, uncontrolled growth is generally not a good idea and can often lead to entrenchment later on. But this is the same Microsoft that is building new facilities, wants to hire 10 to 15 thousand new employees over the next year, and whose own staff feels that they need to trim the fat when it comes to employee count. Google is still very agile. The same can not be said for Microsoft as a company.
"They're still really one business and it's a search and advertising business," he said. Google's other efforts had been "cute", he said.
That'll win you a lot of friends there, Steve... Calling another company and competitor "cute"....
Asked by a student what kept him up at night, Mr Ballmer said managing people and relationships and shifting business models were the biggest culprits. Still, those weren't major interruptions.
"I actually do sleep very well," he said.
And that may be a prime reason that Microsoft has lost any sense of urgency and creativity in today's market. They are coasting on Windows and Office, and nearly everything else is a "me too" product that is generally competitive through force of sheer dollars spent. Origami? Zune?
There should be a lot of things keeping Ballmer up at night...
Edit: I don't read Scoble on a regular basis, but apparently he feels the same...
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