On the Ballmer
The New York Times has an interview with Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft. He waxes poetical about his youth in Belgium and why it's so hard to make Windows work. He says that Windows is different because it manages the hardware. Responding to the growing threat to Redmond from the open source movement and Internet software distribution in general, he acknowledged that it's the future, but downplayed the significance of the Internet to the company's well-being.
The article all but says that Vista will be the last significant Microsoft operating sytem.
I agree with this conclusion. MIcrosoft, as we know it, is really three companies today. It is an operating system developer, forcing hardware manufacturers to conform to a universal spec. It is an application developer, building the definitive versions of word processors, spread sheets and presentation management. It is recently a consumer entertainment company, selling the XBox line along with associated content and controllers. It's soon-to-be released Zune MP3 player shows where they're going .
The first Microsoft is the one being hammered by Open Source. The second company only succeeds because of the monopolistic tricks practiced by the first. The consumer company is and has always been, in a highly competititve environment.
The Microsoft of the future must empathize the 2nd and 3rd corporate incarnations. They are losing their grip on the first part, the Operating System division, that's been so lucrative for them in the last two decades.
It seems to me that for them to be successful in recasting their company they will need a new culture and new management. Mr. Ballmer may be too attached to the old world order and ultimately may not prove hungry enough to discover a new world for Microsoft to conquer.
Posted on October 16, 2006
