Hey, Teflon Ballmer. Look, isn't it time? You know, time to quit? ? The Register
[h=2]Hey, Teflon Ballmer. Look, isn't it time? You know, time to quit?[/h]
Microsoft chief defies pundits by hanging on - we reveal how
Analysis Those who upgraded to Windows 8 aren't the only ones unhappy with the new touch-driven operating system - Wall Street is too. Just don't expect any of the criticism hurled at Steve "Teflon" Ballmer, Microsoft's shy and retiring boss, to stick.
The chief executive is under fire from money men who responded to tech reporters trolling the markets for blistering opinions on Microsoft's leadership, given that: PC sales are crashing; Windows Phone 8 smartmobes are in fourth place in the US mobile OS market; and Windows 8 Surface gadgets are barely on the worldwide tablet sales charts. The new touchscreen-friendly Windows has not been that well received, resulting the software giant undoing decisions made at the highest levels.
"Certainly investors think Ballmer's the wrong guy," Ed Maguire, an analyst at investment biz CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets, told The Telegraph. "You could make the argument that he missed tablets and he missed smartphones, and that these are the two areas of technology that really count."
And Fort Pitt Capital Group analyst and former programmer Caughey Forrest hankered for a Bill Gates-like geek in the seat. "That's what is missing - a charismatic technology leader," she told the broadsheet.
Ironically, as we shall see, a certain charismatic tech leader is keeping Ballmer firmly on the throne, for now.
[h=3]But first, who exactly is taking the heat for the Windows 8 defeat?[/h] Last week, Windows group chief marketing and financial officer Tami Reller was finally handed the white flag and given the job of walking out into no man's land with a mea culpa to deliver from Microsoft: she confirmed the company will shift from "no compromises" on Windows' new Metro design to reinstating the familiar desktop Start menu.
By any measure, heads should roll: Windows 8 was Microsoft's big bet on the future, a supposedly seamless segue from keyboard and mouse to a world of touchscreen tablets and laptops. That bet has gone horribly wrong for Redmond's executives, to the point where the software giant is being blamed for knackering PC sales the world over.
Windows group chief Steven Sinofsky, the process king who made Microsoft's Office train run on time before bulldozing aside any and all objections to Windows 8, left the company suddenly and without explanation mid-way through the Windows 8 launch cycle in November 2012.
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[h=2]Hey, Teflon Ballmer. Look, isn't it time? You know, time to quit?[/h]
Microsoft chief defies pundits by hanging on - we reveal how
Analysis Those who upgraded to Windows 8 aren't the only ones unhappy with the new touch-driven operating system - Wall Street is too. Just don't expect any of the criticism hurled at Steve "Teflon" Ballmer, Microsoft's shy and retiring boss, to stick.
The chief executive is under fire from money men who responded to tech reporters trolling the markets for blistering opinions on Microsoft's leadership, given that: PC sales are crashing; Windows Phone 8 smartmobes are in fourth place in the US mobile OS market; and Windows 8 Surface gadgets are barely on the worldwide tablet sales charts. The new touchscreen-friendly Windows has not been that well received, resulting the software giant undoing decisions made at the highest levels.
"Certainly investors think Ballmer's the wrong guy," Ed Maguire, an analyst at investment biz CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets, told The Telegraph. "You could make the argument that he missed tablets and he missed smartphones, and that these are the two areas of technology that really count."
And Fort Pitt Capital Group analyst and former programmer Caughey Forrest hankered for a Bill Gates-like geek in the seat. "That's what is missing - a charismatic technology leader," she told the broadsheet.
Ironically, as we shall see, a certain charismatic tech leader is keeping Ballmer firmly on the throne, for now.
[h=3]But first, who exactly is taking the heat for the Windows 8 defeat?[/h] Last week, Windows group chief marketing and financial officer Tami Reller was finally handed the white flag and given the job of walking out into no man's land with a mea culpa to deliver from Microsoft: she confirmed the company will shift from "no compromises" on Windows' new Metro design to reinstating the familiar desktop Start menu.
By any measure, heads should roll: Windows 8 was Microsoft's big bet on the future, a supposedly seamless segue from keyboard and mouse to a world of touchscreen tablets and laptops. That bet has gone horribly wrong for Redmond's executives, to the point where the software giant is being blamed for knackering PC sales the world over.
Windows group chief Steven Sinofsky, the process king who made Microsoft's Office train run on time before bulldozing aside any and all objections to Windows 8, left the company suddenly and without explanation mid-way through the Windows 8 launch cycle in November 2012.
More