“Microsoft Corp. needs to seek out more artistic thinking to compete with Apple Inc., rather than relying on the analytical style of Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer, said Rick Sherlund, a technology analyst at Nomura Holdings Inc.,” Tom Keene, Ken Prewitt and Dina Bass report for Bloomberg.
“‘It’s a cultural issue: Microsoft has always been more on the analytical side — sort of left side of the brain — and you need some artists, you need some right side of the brain people there that really drive creativity, innovation,’ Sherlund said today in a radio interview on ‘Bloomberg Surveillance,'” Keene, Prewitt and Bass report. “‘They’ve just not shown that spark of innovation that Apple has on the consumer side,’ keeping Microsoft shares mired in a slump for the past 10 years, Sherlund said. With tablet computers, Microsoft labored for more than a decade with little result, while Apple’s iPad allowed it to seize the market.”
Keene, Prewitt and Bass report, “Microsoft has been shaped in the image of Gates and Ballmer, its current chief executive officer, Sherlund said. That’s created a culture where more analytical types have prevailed over creative executives and engineers, he said. Apple, under the leadership of the late Steve Jobs, has been the opposite in many ways, Sherlund said.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Microsoft is a bloated, dysfunctional blob stuck neck-deep in a pool of political molasses. Most definitely, it’s been shaped in the image of Ballmer. We see no evidence that Gates cares a whit about the company. Likely he knows how history will view it: Like a brain-damaged puppy that followed Apple around until it could no longer keep up.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Carl H.” for the heads up.]
File under “News To No One”
Well you’ve got to give credit to Gates & Ballmer for cornering the market on fartistic thinking at least.
No way this can happen until both Gates and Ballmer are kicked to the curb or thrown out by the scruff of their vision less necks. Ballmer in particular is one of those annoying blowhard gnats you want to scream at “Get the f**k out of the way clown!”
Yeah, that’s going to happen.
Captain Obvious – you are cleared for landing on runway “No Shit, Sherlock, Niner”…
Hey, quit pickin’ on puppies!
i can’t wait until microsoft dies as a company
Yeah, and water is wet.
Jeezus, how stupid do you have to be to be an “analyst?”
Calling them “analysts” is giving them too much credit. They’re sales guys and nothing more. They repackage somebody else’s product and use their deep pockets to muscle themselves into a market. Although that strategy worked with Windows, they haven’t had much success with that strategy lately (e.g., search, mobile, Zune, and they’re about to find out with Windows 8 tablets). They can no longer simply outspend to gain market share. Competitors like Google and Apple have plenty of cash too. But man, can Ballmer dance.
Somebody must be reading a new book.
And Richard Scatlund gets paid for spewing this shit?
Gee, where do I sign up?
The only types prevailing at M$ are the types with brown noses.
This guy must be reading a new book he bought yesterday.
Hilarious! As if Microsloth doesn’t employ a boatload of designers/artists — in addition to lots of incredibly competent coders, communications specialists and more. The problem is not with their employees.
“… they just have no taste, they have absolutely no taste, and what that means is – I don’t mean that in a small way I mean that in a big way. …….. I have no problem with their success…. I have a problem with the fact that they just make really third rate products.” (abbreviated)
Steve Jobs
Maybe they should drop some acid.
Like this….
Ballmer worked at Microsoft.
Ballmer is no more.
What he thought was H20
was H2SO4.
Loving the chemistry joke, but I’m a bit of a nerd. Wait, are nerds allowed to like using Apple products?
I really wish MDN would say what they think. They too often beat around the bush and really never give an opinion.
Captain obvious? That said, is Microsoft even competing with Apple anymore. I look at Google as the competition.
First thing I thought when I saw the headline was
“Isn’t it a little late for that?”
You can’t just turn it on like a switch. Ballmer is a soulless sales hack. He wouldn’t know how to marry creativity and tech if his life depended on it.
Even with the smartest GPS, Microsoft’s leadership will never find the intersection of technology and liberal arts.
Instead they are stuck in a loop… An infinite loop!
They are permanently parked at the intersection of Crap & Clueless with no idea how to move forward. At least with present leadershit.
“It’s a cultural issue: Microsoft has always been more on the analytical side — sort of left side of the brain”
It’s not left brain or right brain, it’s the brain stem. Microsoft basically only has a primordial brain good for going ape.
Seekin’ ain’t findin’. Companies like Microsoft wouldn’t know what to do with “artistic thinking” if they had it. Apple’s products are so brilliant because of brilliant concepts, brilliant execution and brilliant design. Microsoft has none of these. Adding just one of them would be a gigantic waste of everybody’s time and money. That analyst doesn’t have the faintest idea what he’s talking about.
Artists, Artists, Artists, Artists, Artists, Artists, Artists, Artists, Artists, Artists!
Wait, you mean Ballmers painting of dogs playing poker isn’t art?
“Microsoft has always been more on the analytical side — sort of left side of the brain”
As one who trends to the left-brain analytic side, I frequently analyzed Microsoft’s product offerings over my years doing computer and network support. More often than not, analysis confirmed those products sucked.
WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!!!
Microsoft is NOT bloated, nor are they in need of any artists. Leave them alone, the company is just fine. They’ve charted their course, and may Ballmer remain at the helm for as long as it takes.