Ballmer's Dilemma: No Quick Fix for What's Ailing Microsoft

CAN NOT TELL THEY WORK FOR YAHOO

Hey Henry, when will I be able to sell AMZN? I am holding until it reaches $400.

Go Yahoo, be bought!

they seem very unbiased for sure. i like Aaron but think Blodget's a goof.

no evidence of progress.... outside of net income growth from 8B to 22B+ from 2002 - 2008... but that's minor i suppose.

Microsoft has this compulsion to ignore and reinvent standards that work well for everyone else. It's their way to lock customers in to their software and it's worked for years in the enterprise environment. But their customers are becoming tired of needing to spend $thousands to buy into their enterprise solutions when they see alternate cheaper, and in some cases free, alternatives in the Java and Apple world. Microsoft should be concentrating on innovating in the external standards world rather than on reinventing those same functions in ways that only run on Windows. Even in the Office products world, Microsoft made a big blunder in not having Office 2008 on the Mac include their Visual Basic. Now they've made the Apple customers mad and many are making Apple's iWork applications replace MS Office. Microsoft had a near monopoly in Office on the Mac, but they just couldn't avoid screwing with it - it's in their DNA to blunder. Maybe they think they can't compete in a new, open environment?

Nobody knows who will win.Of course there is a lot OF ADJUSTMENT TO THE TECHNOLOGY THAT PEOLE WANTS.........MICROSOFT, APPLE ARE ALL EVEN THEY HAVE THE TECHNOLOGY IN SECRET EVEN YAHOO HAD THEIR OWN TECHNOLOGY IN SECRET WHATEVER IT IS IT IS GOOD FOR ALL. IT IS ADVANCEMENT.THEY ALL ALL EVEN MOVING TOWARD THE NEXT TEN YEARS. iT IS THEIR BUSINESS AND I am the consumer and user.Too much technology too much confusion..I dont know who is better.

how can people watch these 2 clowns every day? dumb and dumber. maybe bobble-head Henry Fudgit can do a better job running MSFT.

If you guys want a good seat to see the fall of Monopolysoft as it unfolds over the upcoming few years (fingers crossed), drop by linuxtoday dot com periodically. I think Monopolysoft is reaching the end of their bullying years. The sales pipeline only goes so deep. .. now need to go spin me a new distro.

I think we are approaching a tipping point in terms of Microsoft and Apple. Microsoft is a big, fat, self-satisified dinosaur waiting for an asteroid to hit.

If the writer had more maturity, s/he would recognize the fallacy of the following statement: "The bottom line is no technology leader has gone through such a "paradigm shift" as is occurring now and emerged as a leader on the other side, as Microsoft is trying to accomplish." In his book, Elephants Can Dance, Lou Gerstner states that the industry goes through these transitions approximately every 10 years. Microsoft thrived through at least one such paradigm shift, from standalone PCs to networked computers/client server computing, in the early 90s. At the time, those predicting Microsoft's demise were wrong. That said, this time I think the pundits are right and odds of Microsoft succeeding are low but it won't be because "no technology leader has gone through such a "paradigm shift"...it will be because Steve Balmer lacks the vision to lead Microsoft through the shift. Regards, Ken

Microsoft needs a new leader in their internet division. They don't have any creativity. Microsoft is a copycat who sells low quality imitations.

Hilarious! Vista breaks apps and drivers, is sluggish, and won't run on machines that supposedly should, generally ticking off its customer base. Ballmer's response? Launch an ad campaign to convince those same customers that their hard experiences are wrong. Don't bother fixing the problems, Steve. Just tell your customers that they're complaints are unfounded. Yeah, that'll fix the business.... Whoosh! (sound of toilet swirl.)

There is a quick fix. Dissolve the corporation.

Sadly, Steve will be remembered as a failure as his career at MSFT winds down for his inability to orchestrate a deal with Yahoo, something that would've vaulted MSFT and positioned them to actually compete with GOOG. How do you start a deal with only one offer ($31, that 33 was never official) and then come back with a radically different approach (search-only). What's he possibily thinking? Seems that if MSN will continue to dwindle either you get aggressive (pull the trigger) and make the deal happen or you simply divest and stick to your core business (unstable software that sucks btw). He's probably the laughing stock at GOOG (and probably YHOO) for his lack of prowess. He should've taken lessons for Larry Ellison.

Sadly as Steve's career winds down he'll be remembered as a failure for his inability to orchestrate the deal of deals for MSFT. The only hope that MSFT ever had to compete with GOOG is Yahoo. Who starts a deal and makes only one offer (his 2nd at 33 was never official) and then comes back with a radically different proposal (search-only deal). What's he thinking? In the meantime he loses his key General and MSN will continue to dwindle. (Maybe they've given up and they're just planning to divest MSN.) He's the laughing stock at GOOG (and YHOO) for his lack of deal prowess. He should've taken M&A lessons for Larry E.

It is time for Verizon or AT&T and step up and make a bid for Yahoo

All of you predicting the end of Mircosoft might want to check the bottem line. Microsoft is growing in revenue and profit while it is spending to get into new markets. This isn't the end, it is the beginning.