“It seems absurd to call Steve Ballmer, the billionaire CEO of Microsoft, a failure. However, as billionaire CEOs go, it’s not all that crazy,” Rocco Pendola writes for TheStreet.
“Here’s a guy who gets a free pass from the media as well as shareholders. He never gets asked the tough questions. He rarely puts himself in a position to get asked the tough question,” Pendola writes. “The Microsoft board gives Ballmer a free pass as well. Is it because of the company’s massive cash hoard, seemingly endless free cash flow and Ballmer’s presumably close relationship with Bill Gates?”
MacDailyNews Take: Substitute “presumably close relationship” with “incredibly incriminating photographs.” At this point, it’s the only explanation for why Ballmer remains on the bow of the SS Microtanic.
“While I understand that companies regularly put out OS updates, this one, at least as presented in early media reports, sounds like little more than a do-over. Another Ballmer-led attempt to fit a round peg into a square hole,” Pendola writes. “To salvage the dying PC industry via an arranged marriage between the desktop and mobile. This is 2013, Balms, arranged marriages tend not to fly.”
Pendola writes, “So Ballmer continues to oppress MSFT shareholders and the rest of us just dying to see a company other than Apple bring something innovative to market.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take:
Why you’re “dying” to “see a company other than Apple bring something innovative to market,” Rocco, is an excellent question to pose to your shrink.
Now, hoist, for a familiar toast: “May Steve Ballmer remain Microsoft’s CEO for as long as it takes!”
Related Ballmer buffoonery:
To stellar CEO Steve Ballmer, Office without iPad support makes ‘a lot of sense’ – January 30, 2013
Former Microsoft exec: CEO Ballmer culls internal rivals to retain power – January 22, 2013
Ballmer: Gee, maybe should have moved quicker on tablets, but we’re innovating on a seam or something – November 28, 2012
Bill Gates backed Steve Ballmer in Sinofsky ouster – November 13, 2012
Ballmer inexplicably calls Apple a ‘low-volume player’ – October 30, 2012
Ballmer on tablets: ‘I don’t think anyone has done a product that I see customers wanting’ – October 27, 2012
Ballmer: ‘Windows 8 is going to do great; It’s a fantastic product’ – September 17, 2012
Microsoft’s Buffoon, er… Ballmer throws down gauntlet against Apple – July 10, 2012
Microsoft CEO Ballmer: ‘We are in the Windows era; we were, we are, and we always will be’ – November 15, 2011
I like MDN’s take on this. Who besides Rocco is “dying” to see a company other than Apple release an innovative product? I’m not.
It’s an Apple Hater thing and a call not likely to ever be answered. I saw someone on another site saying MSFT as a stock should be rising (after a stagnant decade) considering how much dough they make (sound familiar?) but Microsoft’s stock won’t rise until the day Steve Ballmer steps down. So pretty much never.
I would.
Good products are wonderful things. Right now, Apple is embarrassingly ahead of the pack on most items.
I’d like to see some great work from somewhere else that pushes things ahead as fast as Apple’s iPhone/iPad work did. Apple seems to have their hands full – why do they have to do all of the work?
Who besides Rocco is “dying” to see a company other than Apple release an innovative product?
Hey, I am! It’s competition. It’s great for business. It keeps everyone on their toes and pushes the envelope farther and faster. That’s a great thing. Apple always requires competition.
And no, the parasite dumdum copy machine companies, and you know who they are, do NOT qualify as competition. They only qualify as parasite dumdum copy machine companies. Swiftly may they rot and die. 😛
Especially ShameScam.
MDN’s take could use improvement..
“Why you’re dying”
you’re = you are : Why you are dying?
Um, MDN was right. They were saying:
Why you are “dying” to see “another company…” is an excellent question to pose to your shrink.
That’s correct grammatically and logically. It is equivalent to saying:
An excellent question to post to your shrink is why you are “dying” to see “another company….”
Perhaps you were thrown off by truncating the sentence at “dying?” It’s more obvious that it’s correct if you say:
“Why you are dying to see….”
ALAIT©!! Cheers!
Free pass from the media? Never gets asked any tough questions? Financial disaster? Gee, I thought the author was talking about someone else.
Same here – I thought they were talking about that persistent whinger, Tony Abbott.
Who?
Tony Abbott will be Australia’s next Prime Minister on 14 September 2013, according to current polls.
Likening Microsoft as a rival to Apple is like likening Ghana as a rival of the U.S. Or comparing a hobo’s net worth to Buffet’s. Or…
[b]Another Ballmer-led attempt to fit a round peg into a square hole,[/b]
LOL best quote evar!
In Baldmer we trust.
Ballmer must stay! His true mission at Microsloth has not been accomplished yet!
Microsoft has never brought ANYthing innovative to the market. Microsoft has actively fought innovation at every turn in an attempt to preserve their ill-gotten market supremacy.
I must disagree. Microsoft does bring a lot of innovation to the market, but their execution and user experience efforts are extremely poor, and they rely on the inherent problems in Windows to keep their users needing them.
Agreed.
They try but when you build your house on a foundation of shit the results are never pretty
Microsoft must go! Or at least change. They need to shake everything down to the core and invent a new business model.
They are still stuck in the 90’s!
Unlike Samsung and Google which I boycott because of evil business practices, I boycott Microsoft for pathetic software.
I hope Apple can take advantage of this void and create a suite of software that rivals Microsoft and Adobe
No, don’t kick him out.
He’s doing too good a job shooting themselves in the foot….
Ballmer is being guided by the right nut who is phoning it in from Acapulco.
Windows Blue? Must be short for Windows blue screen of death.
Or it plain old refers to how you feel when you’re using the POS.
:-Q*****
Ballmer has done his job for Microsoft. Now he needs to take the reins of Samsung and execute the same plan all over again, and then over to Google. This man has a bright future.
I don’t understand how the man has stayed there? Oh wait, there’s the Bill Gates factor. Okay, now I understand. Nevermind.
Every time I read an article about Microsoft/Baldyworld it strikes me as the world, or at least the idiotic fray that follow Microsoft, expects something more from this bargain basement garbage scowl. GIVE IT UP PEOPLE, there just isn’t anymore substance to be found with this company.
When Ballmer spend all his time making sure he protects the mountain he is king of…he has no time look under the surface where the innovation is going on…tunneling through his foundations.
Microsoft warned itself (& others) by noting the coming rise of tablets a dozen years ago…then did nothing.
It is a joke.
Rocco is the villiage asswipe idiot, like Ballmer. One stupid fuck.
As Balmer’s offspring, is that the best you can come up with?
Hey, x,
I’d like to disagree with 3l3c7ro and thank you for your insightful analysis and penetrating logic. It really added to my understanding of the whole situation. And I’d like to congratulate you on an exceptional percentage of swear words and name calling compared to other words. Well done!
What could I expect than that from you? That is the world you live in and admire.
Uhhh — what? I was being agreeing with you by being jokingly sarcastic about x’s nasty little post.
My mistake, it didn’t seem like you were in agreement with me here. Sorry.
Wow. Just wow. Good show Seamus. Nice, appropriate apology 313c7ro. Nice to see such civility beneath such puerility.
Apple doesn’t allow itself to be asked tough questions. Instead we get staged managed circus events.
Apparently you’ve never listened to an Apple quarterly conference call.
I’m sure middle men and lower have come up with some innovation at MS but its up to the big guys to say yes or no to it.
Ballmer is my HERO. He needs to have a lifetime contract with MS! LONG LIVE BALLMER!!!
It seems absurd to call Steve Ballmer, the billionaire CEO of Microsoft, a failure.
NO it doesn’t! End of conversation.
While billionaire Balmer was learning that a marriage between mobile and desktop operating systems was like pounding a square peg in a round hole over the last few months here is what I learned:
Running Windows 7 under parrallels on an iMac i7 runs better then running Windows 7 on a i7 quad mobile by far. I was able to do this because my company runs a “portal instance” of xp pro that can be accessed from windows 7. Xp is required to run the legacy software we need. Still following me? Good because something has to give becuase microsofts support for xp ends in Apirl ’14. The software I run? AT&T’s “desktop” software for outside plant engineering.
What did I learn? That the proceeding paragraph is quite different then Apple’s “it just works” philosophy. I won’t forget what I learned.
As long as it takes
I like Steve Ballmer … I like him a lot
Are you sure “blue” is the right spelling?