Microsoft is the new Apple

“When Microsoft launched its Surface RT and Surface Pro tablets last year, it went down a path the company had not yet taken. Here was Microsoft – which historically made software that ran on other manufacturers’ PCs – designing, building and selling its very own personal computer,” Dwight Silverman writes for The Houston Chronicle. “Of course, if its hardware partners had done a decent job, this move would be unnecessary. Microsoft wanted to show how Windows 8 should be done, even if it risked its relationship with manufacturers.”

“Indeed, at the opening keynote for Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference in Houston, the announcement that sales of Surface tablets would begin soon in 28 more countries brought stony silence from the 14,000+ gathered in the Toyota Center,” Silverman writes. “Ballmer has made it clear that Microsoft would be building more hardware. He has repeatedly said Microsoft would become a ‘devices and services’ company. On Thursday, Microsoft announced a sweeping reorganization of its structure aimed at doing just that. The company, which famously had been fractured into many business units, will consolidate into a much more horizontal structure aimed at ending the notorious infighting that has plagued it for years.”

Steve Ballmer
Microsoft CEO Ballmer
“With its plans to build its own hardware, and this new organizational structure, it’s becoming increasingly clear that Microsoft is morphing its business model to match that of its top rival. Microsoft is becoming the new Apple,” Silverman writes, “Of course, Microsoft still has challenges. It has to execute well on these changes. You can move an org chart around, but a culture of infighting and corporate fiefdoms can’t be changed overnight with the issuance of a 2,700-word memo.”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Microsoft is the new Apple (if Apple made half-assed, ill-conceived, non-selling crap under the auspices of an increasingly delusional clown).

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Brawndo Drinker” for the heads up.]

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