Anyone want to comment?

[Pesu]

I think a lot of the haters are burned Windows phone users who just can't let go. The windows phone is dead. Get over it. I think Satya is doing all right with the surface line up. I think he recognises that going head to head with Apple, Google and Amazon on the consumer market isn't smart at the moment. Microsoft is still a dinosaur and it needs to change. Change takes time and I think Satya is making the right changes at the right place. When you'll be playing GTA VIII on a small foldable tablet, you'll understand

 

[Drael646464]

Windows 10 happened under Nadella right? The whole idea of a hybrid OS? HoloLens? Surface studio? Xbox and games being brought into the centre of the business model? The idea of cortana as a pro-active input method, the focus on AI, IoT, the intelligent edge? Mixed reality?

So much had gone forward in terms of "vision" under Nadella, it's just that a lot of it, hasn't reached maturity yet.

So far as I can see, he's brought new vision to the company, and has a willingness to let go of ideas that aren't working in the marketplace. He's also forged much needed corporate alliances like those with steam, Samsung and Amazon.

Being amazon is becoming something of an IoT player, MSFTs gambit in the cloud, and that partnership could very well bear consumer fruit in the future. Of course so will HoloLens, cortana's vision, and many other things (the hybrid OS for example). Xbox currently, and PC gaming is a massive consumer market, and that surge is in part connected to nadellas putting gaming in the spotlight.

Balmer did some good stuff too, he started up the surface, and co-developed the graphene OLED screen with Samsung. That'll pay off later.

Businesses aren't wish machines. They don't exist to serve you personally, they exist to make money, and balance risk and game for their own benefit. But on that charitable end, MSFT does tend to have a sense of ethics now, that harken back a little to the bill gates days. Some of their tech projects for people with disabilities for example.

But you know MSFT isn't really 'at risk', they have multiple revenue streams and are doing well generally. Even if one business revenue stream completely died, they'd still be in business. And you can't say that so much about apple and the iPhone, or google and it's search - sure, they'd have spare cashflow to try and pivot, but it would be a pretty desperate gambit.

Given they are in a perfectly good space, and will have some long term stability, I don't think the leadership will come under any serious question for quite some time.

 

[Jcmg62]

The "Nadella is the worst CEO ever" think he is the worst CEO because they believe he doesn't care about the consumers at all. True, MS shares are doing really really well, and they are doing good with cloud business, however, cloud was doing good under Ballmer too so you don't really have to be a genius to make something that already works work. There's no Windows Phone or any other kind of Windows SKU for phones being developed, Band 3 hasn't seen the light of the day, Kinect is still dead and we could go on and on with consumer-based devices and/or software that are no longer around. MS employees say they feel better now that they're not under Ballmer, although I still find it ridiculous that they are pushing 2 updates per year with nearly no serious new features or half-baked implementations (fluent design was not added to all shell components at once).

Just trying to make you understand how Nadella "haters" may think.

Tough one to call...

If you're a Windows Phone, Band and Consumer Services (Groove) fan, as I was, then 2014 - 2017 were really tough years. On the face of it, the man dismantled amost everything we loved about MS.

But, fast forward to today, and it's become quite evident why he done it.

Windows Phone was dying. It was never going to improve. And it was a different version of Windows, which was going to cause a real problem with the "one windows/core OS" plan.

The Band/Fitness project was plagued with hardware problems and huge replacement/returns. I had to send 4 of them back. Imagine that on a scale of millions.

Groove. I loved Groove, but I guess Nadella took one look at the Spotify business plan and thought "we're going to be throwing $Billions at that before it even turns a cent in profit. And we're going to be competing with companies that we acctually want to partner with (Spotify, Pandora, etc). What's the point?"

He knew those projects were dead ends, so he made the decision to terminate them. Actually, quite a brave move.

He's refocussed his teams on creating new things for us to get excited about. We're starting to see things that Microsoft will lead in, rather than follow.

Seriously, who isn't pumped about Andromeda?

Who isn't excited about an affordable Hololens in 2019?

Who isn't just dying to see what the Surface team will cook up next?

And as for XBox, it's just flying as high as a kite. Sure, buying up development studios, creating a new in-house development studio and pushing hardware to the max is all well and good. But let's be clear, game streaming is goign to be huge. And MS are at the very bleeding edge of that.

If anyone had asked me about Nadella 2 years ago, I would have said the man is a human wrecking ball and MS need to sack him before he plunges them into non-existance.

Now, as far as I'm concerned, I love where he's taking things and hope he'll be at the helm for many more years to come. He's the best thing to happen to the company since windows 95.

 

[rmark66]

They are definitely doing some things right under Nadella. However, why kill Groove on Android and iOS? The work is mainly done. They can put ads in it or charge a couple dollars for it if they need income to justify support costs. But, they should leave the door open to devices like Andromeda. I still play my mp3s on Android with Groove and don't want to pay monthly for music. Groove was a great fit with OneDrive. I would also like to see Microsoft have a mapping app on Android/iOS because I liked the mapping program on W10M. I would like to keep using my saved locations on Android.

 

[reomw]

In my mind currently Satya Nadella is one of worlds best CEOs ever. In Microsoft's own history thought it goes like this
1. Gates, Nadella
2. Ballmer

 

[Drael646464]

They are definitely doing some things right under Nadella. However, why kill Groove on Android and iOS? The work is mainly done. They can put ads in it or charge a couple dollars for it if they need income to justify support costs. But, they should leave the door open to devices like Andromeda. I still play my mp3s on Android with Groove and don't want to pay monthly for music. Groove was a great fit with OneDrive. I would also like to see Microsoft have a mapping app on Android/iOS because I liked the mapping program on W10M. I would like to keep using my saved locations on Android.

The maps and groove applications are good fits with the rest of the MS app ecosystem (cortana, one drive etc), and it would make sense to leave space for MSFT heavy consumers on Android and iOS, to have a "complete ecosystem". They may have had business arguments against it, but it helps having that ecosystem for retaining users, and offering an alternative to google, even if the user count isn't high at the time - the goal is always that the overall ecosystem users will be eventually higher.

 

[DRDiver]

Oh, please. Many of the things that didn't work were because he LACKED the vision and fortitude to develop them more. He gave up. And don't you DARE use Cortana as an example. Cortana is, for all intents and purposes, DEAD. The ONE are Cortana works beautifully is on the Windows phones. It's even hobbled on Windows 10 PCs by comparison---believe me, we have Cortana turned ON, full time, on all devices. We rely on Cortana more than any other single feature. And I can tell you every strength and weakness. Oh, and just try to make Cortana HALF as useful on an Android device. You can't do it. And Satya Nadella is doing NOTHING to improve that. NOTHING.

Now, you are correct that businesses exist to make money. And I've said that clearly Nadella is making money for the shareholders. But a business doesn't make money long if it abandons its customers. If Nadella is just going to suck up to the enterprise, then he just needs to come right out and say, "we really are no longer a consumer company, aside from the Xbox, which is going away because we want to become a game streaming service, so you might as well go to other platforms if you're just a consumer". Because THAT'S what's happening.

 

[JustinSalvato]

Chime in: Does Microsoft CEO Nadella deserve more credit than he gets?

 

[Nelman]

I agree with you that most of their growth is cloud based. Just as most of Apple's growth is iPhone based. The difference is that iPhone is a consumer product and the cloud... not so much.
I, like most here, would love to see them release a new mobile device and continue their consumer friendliness shown with such products as Xbox and Surface. But kudos to Nadella for moving the company forward. Hitting the $100 mark for the first time ever was impressive. Also, they're in line for becoming one of the first, if not THE first, companies to hit 1 trillion dollars.

 

[fatclue_98]

Oh, please. Many of the things that didn't work were because he LACKED the vision and fortitude to develop them more. He gave up. And don't you DARE use Cortana as an example. Cortana is, for all intents and purposes, DEAD. The ONE are Cortana works beautifully is on the Windows phones. It's even hobbled on Windows 10 PCs by comparison---believe me, we have Cortana turned ON, full time, on all devices. We rely on Cortana more than any other single feature. And I can tell you every strength and weakness. Oh, and just try to make Cortana HALF as useful on an Android device. You can't do it. And Satya Nadella is doing NOTHING to improve that. NOTHING.

Now, you are correct that businesses exist to make money. And I've said that clearly Nadella is making money for the shareholders. But a business doesn't make money long if it abandons its customers. If Nadella is just going to suck up to the enterprise, then he just needs to come right out and say, "we really are no longer a consumer company, aside from the Xbox, which is going away because we want to become a game streaming service, so you might as well go to other platforms if you're just a consumer". Because THAT'S what's happening.

I don't subscribe to the notion that consumers have been abandoned. Microsoft is, always was and always will be, a software and services company. That their products and services coincided with general consumers was an added bonus. Just as Ford dabbled in refrigerators during the suburban sprawl of the 50s didn't take away from the fact that they were a carmaker.

Sent from my Alcatel Idol 4S on mTalk

 

[neo158]

How many of you Nadella apologists know how many consumer facing products Microsoft ACTUALLY have?

 

[Pesu]

How many of you Nadella apologists know how many consumer facing products Microsoft ACTUALLY have?

Microsoft makes at least six consumer devices but how many Windows 10 devices do you think are available to consumers today?

 

[Vivio vrvly]

Still waiting for phone, band, groove being reborn. There got to be something to replace them with some of Microsoft input... None of them were wrong, just missed this or that. There is big hole in what MS offers and in my heart. Hopefully something soon, before xmas.

 

[jasongw]

Yes, with real fire.

 

[covfefe]

Nutella is just riding the organic growth of cloud. Once cloud becomes commoditised he will retire with his billions as Microsoft becomes an empty shell of its former self. The future of technology hinges on the association of being "cool". Hence the dire importance of having cool consumer products. Satay just has such a low IQ he doesn't get that, at all. ******** I miss Ballmer and his sweaty armpits.

 

[neelagopi]

The "True, MS shares are doing really really well, and they are doing good with cloud business, however, cloud was doing good under Ballmer too so you don't really have to be a genius to make something that already works work.

Nadella was the head of cloud/azure business under Ballmer, Nadella was credited highly for the success... it was one of the main driving forces for appointment of Nadella as CEO

 

[tofab123]

Well. The pretty much only place where he doesn't get any credit is on this very forum … mostly by people, that (is my guess), is still in school or never tried to work in a big company and thinks a computer is only used for gaming, and snapinstafacebooking and that are so obsessed with the bloody phone that cant see anything else.

 

[Kevin Rush]

Oh, please. Many of the things that didn't work were because he LACKED the vision and fortitude to develop them more. He gave up. And don't you DARE use Cortana as an example. Cortana is, for all intents and purposes, DEAD. The ONE are Cortana works beautifully is on the Windows phones. It's even hobbled on Windows 10 PCs by comparison---believe me, we have Cortana turned ON, full time, on all devices. We rely on Cortana more than any other single feature. And I can tell you every strength and weakness. Oh, and just try to make Cortana HALF as useful on an Android device. You can't do it. And Satya Nadella is doing NOTHING to improve that. NOTHING.

Now, you are correct that businesses exist to make money. And I've said that clearly Nadella is making money for the shareholders. But a business doesn't make money long if it abandons its customers. If Nadella is just going to suck up to the enterprise, then he just needs to come right out and say, "we really are no longer a consumer company, aside from the Xbox, which is going away because we want to become a game streaming service, so you might as well go to other platforms if you're just a consumer". Because THAT'S what's happening.

Very well said. Thank you.

 

[Drael646464]

Oh, please. Many of the things that didn't work were because he LACKED the vision and fortitude to develop them more. He gave up. And don't you DARE use Cortana as an example. Cortana is, for all intents and purposes, DEAD. The ONE are Cortana works beautifully is on the Windows phones. It's even hobbled on Windows 10 PCs by comparison---believe me, we have Cortana turned ON, full time, on all devices. We rely on Cortana more than any other single feature. And I can tell you every strength and weakness. Oh, and just try to make Cortana HALF as useful on an Android device. You can't do it. And Satya Nadella is doing NOTHING to improve that. NOTHING.

Now, you are correct that businesses exist to make money. And I've said that clearly Nadella is making money for the shareholders. But a business doesn't make money long if it abandons its customers. If Nadella is just going to suck up to the enterprise, then he just needs to come right out and say, "we really are no longer a consumer company, aside from the Xbox, which is going away because we want to become a game streaming service, so you might as well go to other platforms if you're just a consumer". Because THAT'S what's happening.

So what, because a few updates went by without major focus on cortana, it's 'dead'? They do actually have windows core to finish up by the fall this year you know, a like 5+ year long project that might be the most ambitious software project in history.

By that logic, siri is dead.

 

[Drael646464]

How many of you Nadella apologists know how many consumer facing products Microsoft ACTUALLY have?

Something between 1-3 to 1-4th of their profit as I recall comes from Microsoft studio's various gaming houses. It would take a long time to tally all their software products.

Add to that paid service subscriptions, and hardware products? I couldn't even guess, but I don't think anyone else could here either.

Certainly there's a serious chuck of their money coming directly from consumer markets.

Reading between the lines, it's almost like you meant to say "how many windows phones does Microsoft have on the market"?