“Say what you want about the word ‘conviction,’ but patience has its limits. This is what J.C. Penney has just realized with Ron Johnson, who is out after two years of brutal results,” Richard Saintvilus writes for Seeking Alpha. “Whether or not Johnson got the ‘quick hook’ depends on your level of patience.”
“Unlike Johnson, Microsoft’s CEO, Steve Ballmer, has had more than enough time,” Saintvilus writes. “I no longer believe that growth is Microsoft’s top priority. You might argue that Windows 8 and the Surface tablet were answers to the mobile revolution. Perhaps. But what type of meaningful traction have they gained?”
Saintvilus writes, “Microsoft has had plenty of time and has wasted it. The company has been too slow to adapt… The remarkable aspect of this is that there hasn’t been an outcry for Steve Ballmer’s removal.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Nevahhh, evahhh!
Steve Ballmer is
an excellentthe perfect CEO for Microsoft and should stay tight where he is for as long as it takes.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “GetMeOnTop” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
Ballmer must go: ‘Windows Blue’ won’t save Microsoft – March 25, 2013
Former Microsoft exec: CEO Ballmer culls internal rivals to retain power – January 22, 2013
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
Ballmer exits the CES stage shouting Windows is the future – January 10, 2012
Steve Ballmer has proven his head should be up on the chopping block time and time again but let’s hope they don’t awaken the slumbering Redmond giant and it’s somnambulant Board.
His head WAS on the chopping block. That’s why he runs around like a headless chicken these days.
Yeah – minus one testicle. Eh Fatty Boy?
As long as Bill Gates is on the Board at MS and has a mindset that thinks the Surface RT tablet is “unbelievably great”*, then the Board will continue along in its self-inflicted stupor thinking all the while that Ballmer is doing a fantastic job.
* Ref.: http://is.gd/Dk11Ag
“Steve Ballmer is an excellent the perfect CEO for Microsoft and should stay tight where he is for as long as it takes.”
Anytime since January is as long as any Microsoft competitor needed for Ballmer to stay in place.
New leadership will need a year to restructure management and MSFT’s direction. It will then take a slimmer, more focused, MSFT 5 years to offer a compelling product that doesn’t have its roots in Windows 95.
That process can be sped up by purchasing Blackberry, and dumping the one OS serving desktop AND mobile platforms.
I would really miss those snappy Surface commercials if Mr . Ballmer was gone. Microsoft’s taste in these ads is without parallel.
Yes, those commercials are amazing, and are sure to win multiple CLIO awards next month.
The only thing lacking in that brilliant series is one where Steve Ballmer himself clicks his heels, juggles Surfaces, and rapidly folds/unfolds chairs to a clicking chorus before hurling them into the distance.
Those commercials astound me every time. They do not have a clue how to highlight the use of the device. A guy jumping around on a table? So stupid, and insulting to most peoples intelligence.
As much as I may not want one of those devices, I’m sure they could have been portrayed in a little better light – say a practicality, useful light maybe?
MDN: I made a ‘I LOVE STEVE BALLMER’ badge at the arts & crafts class just for you.
Creep…
It’s becoming more and more clear Ballmer and Gates played hide the sausage in that Harvard dorm room one fateful night years ago. The fateful question Gates consented to? “Do you mind if I take a Polaroid?”
He’s still there because he’s the perfect incarnation/archetype of all Microsoftians. Those who LOVE Microsoft are, by and large, exactly like Ballmer in every significant way.
He should stay ‘tight where he is’- let that sphincter work!
Wall Street loves Ballmer! MS makes a profit, pays a decent dividend and stock price is not volatile. The small brained WS types have no concern about long term. Get over it folks, until two of those factors change drastically, Ballmer has a job. Think Kodak!
I do sort of like the retro humor from Ballmer’s better days hopping around screaming “Developers, developers, developers”.
We need more humor. Keep Ballmer their & give him time on SNL.
ballmer is already on the youtube channel – no need to be on snl
I imagine that the Bill Gates connection helps Ballmer a bit. And these writers from Seeking Alpha are amateurs. And not very good amateurs either.
Much as a MS failure would be just desserts, I’ve never agreed with MDN’s “as long as it takes” mantra. A competitive MS can only make Apple even better.
They did “thinkt different” with WinPhone 8 (at least, mire different than Android!)
Ballmer MUST STAY FOREVER! He has tons of stupid ideas that needs to go into production. Let him blow MS WADS of money until completely depleted. GO BALLMER GO!
I thought Steve Ballmer was dead allready.