“Mary Jo Foley [is] a ZDNet blogger who has covered Microsoft since Bill Gates first emerged from puberty,” Betsy Schiffman reports for Wired.
MacDailyNews Take: Our condolences.
Schiffman sat down with Foley on the occasion of Foley’s new book, Microsoft 2.0: How Microsoft Plans to Stay Relevant in the Post-Gates Era. Here are a few snippets that we found interesting:
Wired: When do you think Steve Ballmer will give up or get kicked out?
Foley: I think he’s going to stick to what he said. He said last year he would [serve as CEO] for nine years, because that’s when his youngest son will be in college. I don’t think they’ll get rid of him before then.
Wired: So what do you think of Windows Mobile?
Foley: I’ve avoided it like the plague. Every time I get a new cellphone, everyone always warns me not to get Windows Mobile. The thing’s awful. I think Windows Mobile is a huge challenge for them.
Wired: And what do you think happens to Microsoft after Gates retires?
Foley: There’s always been this dichotomy between “Bill’s guys” and “Steve’s guys.” Steve’s guys have MBAs and their roots are in sales. Bill’s guys have been traditional technologists. The people who are more like Steve will probably get more power and will run the show, so I wonder who’s going to be the tech champion for Bill’s guys. I think that’s going to be a big cultural and noticeable change once Gates is out from his day-to-day duties.
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Ian K.” for the heads up.]
MacDailyNews Take: Windows Mobile does indeed suck. If even Foley is saying it, it sucks hard. As for Ballmer and Microsoft, here is a very relevant excerpt from a BusinessWeek interview with Apple CEO Steve Jobs from October 12, 2004:
Steve Jobs: How are monopolies lost? Think about it. Some very good product people invent some very good products, and the company achieves a monopoly. But after that, the product people aren’t the ones that drive the company forward anymore. It’s the marketing guys or the ones who expand the business into Latin America or whatever. Because what’s the point of focusing on making the product even better when the only company you can take business from is yourself? So a different group of people start to move up. And who usually ends up running the show? The sales guy… Then one day, the monopoly expires for whatever reason. But by then the best product people have left, or they’re no longer listened to. And so the company goes through this tumultuous time, and it either survives or it doesn’t.
BusinessWeek: Is this common in the industry?
Steve Jobs: Look at Microsoft — who’s running Microsoft?
BusinessWeek: Steve Ballmer.
Steve Jobs: Right, the sales guy. Case closed.
Source: The Seed of Apple’s Innovation
Interesting. However, there should be a correction: Mary Jo Foley is not really a “blogger” – she’s a Microsoft shill. If she has something bad to say about a Microsoft product then it must be really bad!!!
Dude
“Bill’s guys have been traditional technologists”
OMG, if those are tech guys, that company has nothing. like saying that the accounting group is your R&D;group, and now that the head bean counter is out, what will do for innovation?
thats the first time I have ever heard her say something honest about an MS product. MS must have cut down her shill pay recently.
At Apple, you’re either one of SJ’s guys, or … you just don’t work there anymore.
Remember Fred Anderson, Nancy Heinen, Jon Rubinstein, etc.
“since Bill Gates first emerged from puberty”
He finally emerged? With that voice, I thought he was still in it…..
@TowerTone
Oh there’s no question Gates emerged from puberty. I just didn’t realize scientists had narrowed down a definite date. I’d check it out myself but MS Outlook just crashed.
Gates voice will deepen once he has finished Sith training.
They all do.
“Foley: I’ve avoided it like the plague.”
And I avoid cliches like the plague.
Hey, it looks like she finally got off her knees and crawled out from under Ballmer’s desk.
@Ampar,
And, don’t you think people would have avoided the plague in the first place if they could?!
“Steve’s guys have MBAs and their roots are in sales . . .”
. . . and they all have mandatory ball gags, an enormous tolerance for pain, very strong shoelaces and bobblehead necks.
I’ve had email discussions/arguments with this lady…she really loves Micro$oft, and to say that Window’s Mobile is bad is not an easy thing for her to say.
She, like many, act as if Apple is too small to matter or to be relevant on purpose in order to avoid seeing the light and having to aboutface in front of her peers. Seems the light has found her regardless.
To Cubert: “Hey, it looks like she finally got off her knees and crawled out from under Ballmer’s desk.”
For her birthday, Ballmer sent her a bib with a picture of his groin on it.
For you computer historians out there Steve Job’s comments on how a monopoly is lost couldn’t be more spot on. If anyone remembers Prime Computer, this is exactly what happened. The sales guys took over and were just interested in pushing mini-computers. The development guys left and founded Apollo computer, one of the first true workstations, an idea that the guys at Sun picked up and ran with and the rest is history.
Maybe her secret pension ran dry due to lack of Zune sales…eh Zung Tang?
“Bill’s guys have been traditional technologists”
I believe they wanted to say “Bill’s guys have been traditional COPIERS guys”
“Steve’s guys have MBAs”
So even Ballmer thinks Macbook Airs are good for portability?
“I believe they wanted to say “Bill’s guys have been traditional COPIERS guys”
And he might not like your toner voice.
Whilst understanding some of the depth of feeling, you do realise that MDN calling Foley a “Microsoft sycophant” is rather like Mussolini criticising Hitler for being a little intolerant to other cultures.
I don’t care how much ‘shilling’ Foley may have done in the past, and I don’t really care how much she does in the future: the simple facts are that I know that I use a superior platform and I’m secure in that choice, I don’t need to have that choice validated by MDN, InfoWorld, Mary Jo Foley or anyone else.
In other words, if people want to hold an alternate point of view, such as promoting Microsoft as the fount of all creativity and imagination in the computer industry, that’s their business, no matter how surreal the position.
And I’m not even that bothered if that shilling gets disseminated to the wider public: practically the entire PC business sells at such low margins of profitability that they are actually hastening their own demise and the demise of Microsoft’s discredited model of development the more they sell and the more they chase each other down in terms of cost and quality.
Amp
Thanks for shining a light on that. Many don’t have an inkling of shady deals MS has in coloring the truth, even when it is cut and dried and shown in black and white. Also, I Can on more than one instance recall seeing a white sheet concerning their transparency in spitting out OS X copies that were a mimeograph at best…
After reading the article, I would have to say that she is stuck in a “Microsoft is wonderful” mode. She does not understand why people are starting to say that Microsoft is no longer relevant.
Talk about not wanting to look outside the box….. Sorry to bust her bubble but people are beginning to complain about Microsoft because they do not fear its control anymore. The slide to oblivian will happen quicker than people will think is possible. Just my opinion.
en
TT: They feed us with duplicity as well. But telling them is a collate in the game.
Why would anyone want to buy or even just read such a book?
I too found Mr. Jobs’ comment to be noteworthy. For the longest time, the active FUD media has been on SJ’s case that when all is said and done, he is but a showman with a great sales acumen. Even Woz have made certain cheeky comments in the past that didn’t help any.
I must admit to cringing a bit during some of Jobsian zen deliveries (from way back when he wore a tie and gave a wonderful presentation for his NeXT project or this year’s MBAir presentation) for their unnecessary simplified message to the point of patronisation a la sales pitch. Albeit, not on the same par as Ron Poppeil (sp?), I had to wonder if Steve puts more weight on sales tags over techs. He has mentioned in the past (almost with disdain) that engineers should not dictate design criteria.
This little gem (snippet of an interview of SJ courtesy by MDN) casts a different and refreshing light on the matter, and I’m better educated for it. I thank you MDN.