Version: 2008

Comments on: Who's in, out at Microsoft

With all the executive shuffling going on, it can be hard to remember who's who at the center of Redmond. Beyond Binary tries to sort things out with a chart of notable hirings and departures.

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Where's all the Msft haters?
by Koo Breez January 14, 2008 8:32 AM PST
Come on, this article has been online for at least 5 minutes. Where's all you dork Msft hater comments? LOL
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Give it a rest.
by TV James January 14, 2008 8:59 AM PST
They've finally decided to wait until they had something specific to say, that this site is tired of random drive-bys and ready for intelligent discourse. Stop trying to incite.
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Geez....
by Commander_Spock January 14, 2008 9:19 PM PST
What is the matter with you man did you not get the earlier vibrations from the Explorer "Aftershock" originating in Europe - You have got to watch out for the Tsuname Waves that/which can reach the US shores dude. Please be cautious. :-X !
Here I am
by t8 January 14, 2008 9:40 PM PST
Google will win more of the Web than Microsoft.
Microsoft is a has been.

Are you happy now?
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Micro Soft
by lyntone January 14, 2008 10:36 AM PST
It's hard to say anything bad about a great company, even if it started out by stealing from Steve Jobs, like in the movie, "pirates of silicon valley"!
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Don't forget all the other stuff they stole
by t8 January 14, 2008 1:04 PM PST
In fact all their successful products were once somebody else's product or idea.

But Microsoft took their markets away by the power of bundling.

Thankfully the industry is moving toward the Web as the platform for services. In that world, Microsoft cannot abuse their market dominance in desktop software because the Web is not the desktop.
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watch this
by lyntone January 14, 2008 10:54 AM PST
click or paste this link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=im589uTchKs
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Bill Gates is a Superhero
by supervillains January 14, 2008 11:18 AM PST
At least for us people living on a developing and third world country, Bill Gates is a hero, who helps us bring food on our tables.

Many people don't appreciate what he does, but for us literally fighting for hunger and survival, he's investment helps many to get jobs and improve lives.

Being an open source guy, it's undenyably that Bill had been a part of me, that inspired me when I was young to jumpstart my interest in computing... he will always be my hero.
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agreed
by delf76 January 14, 2008 7:00 PM PST
Whether you like Microsoft, Apple, Unix, Linux... or whatever, you have to admit Gates influenced the world.

However, I wonder if he's gone for a while, if he'll begin to miss Microsoft and come back? Think about that... if you founded a company at an early ripe age, and grew it into the Huge Microsoft Campus today, wouldn't it be a little hard to walk away from that?
New execs all "new" to MSFT
by y82whs January 14, 2008 1:03 PM PST
As an ex-MSFT person, the thing that leaps out to me is that all the promoted executives are essentially new to the company. In addition to Raikes and Gates, they also lost the "core" of their systems team several years ago: Maritz and Silverberg. Other execs who had been there longer clearly got passed over. Ozzie is fundamentally a "non-MSFT person", Bach is peripheral (XBox isn't Windows/Office), and given Mundie's track record (e.g. MSFT's track record) in areas like set top boxes, etc., one wonders....

Ballmer is definitely there, but can be divisive, and also, Bill was fundamentally the technology guy (and now Ozzie/Mundie).

There is a philosophy and credibility that comes with years of service. Jeff Raikes will be hard to replace: He has been there "forever", had Bill's trust (yes, I know he's leaving, etc.).

Without Bill to "meld" a team with his smarts, it will be interesting to see if these new guys can form a team at such a now-huge organization.
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Comparing Microsoft's new line up
by t8 January 14, 2008 1:05 PM PST
Comparing Microsoft's new line up with Google's and it seems to me that Google will win the future.
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Who's That Guy????
by Llib Setag January 14, 2008 5:49 PM PST
You mean the fat, bald, giant, red faced, big mouthed buffoon throwing chairs & shouting his head off at people defecting to Google?

That's Steve " BaldyBot" Ballmer, the CEO.
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Some Fresh blood
by delf76 January 14, 2008 6:57 PM PST
I think It will do Microsoft some good to get some new blood in the doors.

Every company goes through changes like this from time to time, and if done correctly, it can really be a good thing for the company.

It will be interesting to see how things play out this year going into 2009....

I often wonder when Ballmer is going to retire...?
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Now I Know Why !
by The_Vulcan January 14, 2008 6:58 PM PST
Now I know why Microsoft hasn't come up with anything new for years.

Its run by a bunch of old farts who wouldn't see a trend coming if it bit them on the ass.

They need to do some house cleaning and get some fresh blood in there.

And they should recall Vista while they are at it.
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Does it Matter?
by Sumatra-Bosch January 14, 2008 8:09 PM PST
If all these guys in, out, whatever, left the company and jumped off a bridge, it would not matter to the company. The OS franchise would continue to gush money no matter what and, in fact, in their absence and in the absence of the cost centers they work for, MSFT would make more money. If Vista was any indication, MSFT would do best to locate some competent programming help, scrap Vista, fire most all of their 60,000 employees, starting with Ballmer, and maintain XP and the pre-2007 versions of Office. You could probably keep the OS and Office franchises going indefinitely with 2000 people. It would be insanely profitable, beyond anyone's greediest imaginings and it would stop spewing incompetently developed consumer electronics crap like Zune, worthless Web apps like Live and uninspired enterprise applications. Hey, Gates and his father figured out licensing schemes and bootloader exclusivity deals that locked out the competition in OSes. OK, they won. No one expects MSFT to do anything but milk the franchise and aim their lawyers at anything that threatens it.

Roberto
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The apple fanboys have landed!
by zunezrok January 15, 2008 7:02 AM PST
Why can't all of you fanboys mind your own buisness! Microsoft has changed the way we all live our lives! Besides... all that other compenies do is copy microsoft! Apple is just a one hit wonder and microsoft will live on FOREVER! Go microsoft! Apple can suck it!!!
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About Beyond Binary

During her years at CNET News, Ina Fried has changed beats several times, changed genders once, and covered both of the Pirates of Silicon Valley. These days, most of her attention is focused on Microsoft.


Beyond Binary is a look at how technology is changing our lives and the people behind all that life-changing stuff, with an extra emphasis on that which emanates from Redmond, Wash.

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