Gates on Yahoo: It's the people
,----[ Quote ]
| Asked what makes Yahoo worth more than $40 billion, Gates pointed not to the
| company's products, its huge base of advertisers, or its market share, but
| rather to the company's engineers. Those people, he said, are what Microsoft
| needs to go after Google.
`----
http://www.news.com/8301-13860_3-9874922-56.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
In other words, Microsoft requires *NIX skills and it cannot hire people. All
Microsoft has left is the executive exodus and the huge drop in terms of
employee attraction (see news below).
Do they /really/ think the 'Yahoos' will stay on board and take order from
Ballmer & Gang?
Trolls, please address the message if you must. Enough with the personal
attacks. Thanks.
Yesterday;
,----[ Quote ]
| Would you believe... that Microsoft has dropped down to #86 within the
| Fortune Best Places to Work survey? That's down from #50 in 2007 and #42 in
| 2006. Like a rock. In a bad way. And who is #1 for two years in a row? Grab
| that chair and give it a big effen toss in the air to Google! Toot! They get
| bigger and they're still #1.
`----
http://minimsft.blogspot.com/2008/02/some-quick-quips-yahoo-86-and-mspoll.html
Recent:
Bradley Horowitz bids Yahoo farewell
,----[ Quote ]
| Bradley Horowitz, who headed up Yahoo's Advanced Technology division, bid
| adieu to the company in a blog entry posted on Valentine's Day.
`----
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9873183-7.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Week in review: Yahoo snubs Microsoft
,----[ Quote ]
| "The smell of fear and rage is pervasive on"The smell of fear and rage is
| pervasive on campus," wrote one News.com reader to the TalkBack forum. "They
| might as well have been told the Mansons were buying the place." campus,"
| wrote one News.com reader to the TalkBack forum. "They might as well have
| been told the Mansons were buying the place."
`----
http://www.news.com/Week-in-review-Yahoo-snubs-Microsoft/2100-1083_3-6230761.html?part=rss&tag=2547-1_3-0-20&subj=news
Is Microsoft/Yahoo about Windows' failure as a top server platform?
,----[ Quote ]
| Before my whiney enemies all get up in arms about yours truly once more
| beating up on Microsoft, I'd like to point out that the idea of Microsoft
| buying Yahoo being a tacit admission that Windows can't cut the mustard as a
| top Internet server platform didn't originate with me.
|
| No, the credit, or blame if you prefer, goes to Marcelo Carvalho, an IT
| manager in San Francisco and Damien Hocking, a Linux-Watch reader who brought
| Carvalho's thoughts to my attention.
`----
http://www.linux-watch.com/news/NS8001941484.html
Yahoos won’t work for Microsoft
,----[ Quote ]
| I work for Yahoo!, and I have had to explain to a few people recently why the
| Microsoft buyout talks are so troubling for Yahoos. They don’t seem to
| understand the severity of the impact that a Microsoft takeover will have.
|
| [...]
|
| Key reason #1 - Microsoft is anti open-source...
|
| [...]
|
| Key reason #2 - Microsoft is evil...
`----
http://www.techyouruniverse.com/technology/yahoos-wont-work-for-microsoft
The real difference between Microsoft and Google
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft can shuffle the deck chairs all it wants.
|
| It can buy Yahoo or YooHoo. It can trot out Steve Ballmer in Spandex and a
| cape.
|
| Microsoft’s problem in competing with Google is far more basic.
|
| It’s organizational.
|
|
| [...]
|
| It’s not about the money. It’s not about the fame. It’s not about the name on
| the door. It’s not about becoming an executive.
|
| It’s about the work. It’s about doing something over the course of just a few
| months and then seeing it online. It’s about trying, and sometimes failing,
| then trying again.
|
| [...]
|
| So far I’ve seen no evidence this is going to happen. I think Microsoft’s bid
| for Yahoo is proof of that. Once the deal goes down, all those smart
| Yahoo-ers will be free to leave. The dumb ones will be left, waiting for
| orders from Redmond.
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/open-source/?p=2025
Microsoft to take case to Yahoo shareholders: report
,----[ Quote ]
| The board believes Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft is trying to take advantage
| of some recent weakness in Yahoo's share price in order to "steal" the
| company, the report said.
`----
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/microsoft-take-case-yahoo-shareholders/story.aspx?guid=%7B7F963245%2D5B26%2D4A77%2D8D18%2D4D2122A9D4AE%7D&siteid=yhoof
http://tinyurl.com/3dpl6n
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft is threatening to launch a boardroom coup at Yahoo! within six
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
| weeks if the internet search engine fails to accept its $45 billion (£23
| billion) hostile takeover proposal or start serious merger talks, The Times
| has learned.
`----
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/technology/article3300964.ece?EMC-Bltn=LOXCF1
Options Before Microsoft: Upping Bid; Tender Offer; Hostile Takeover; Pressure
Tactics
,----[ Quote ]
| Hostile board overthrow: This would be the most contentious, and Microsoft
| has indicated its willingness to go through with this if need be: it could
| seek to oust Yahoo's board at its next election; it would have until March 13
| to nominate a new slate of directors. Yahoo has taken "poison pill"
| provisions, and Microsoft have to oust the board to get past these
| provisions.
`----
http://biz.yahoo.com/paidcontent/080209/1_319741_id.html?.v=1
Microsoft rejects Yahoo! rejection
,----[ Quote ]
| Steve Ballmer still wants to swallow Jerry Yang's company.
`----
http://www.regdeveloper.co.uk/2008/02/11/microsoft_still_wants_yahoo/
Why Microsoft Should Fret
,----[ Quote ]
| But what if at stake in the battle isn't just Microsoft's position in selling
| ads, but the very survival of its core software business? Microsoft would
| never admit that so much is on the line.
`----
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120277476716860601.html?mod=yahoo_hs&ru=yahoo
Microsoft's Last Big Beat: Internet Domination or Death
,----[ Quote ]
| What can $44.6B USD mean? Well, for Microsoft (MSFT) it may mean the cost of
| survival.
`----
http://seekingalpha.com/article/63876-microsoft-s-last-big-beat-internet-domination-or-death?source=yahoo
Related:
Microsoft to partners: It's time to change
,----[ Quote ]
| Aiming to rally its partners around the reality of hosted software, Microsoft
| Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner told them it was a matter of financial
| life and death.
`----
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-6195764.html
Microsoft's executive shuffle expected Thursday
,----[ Quote ]
| The move will see three top executives--including two prominent outside
| hires--out of a job. Leaving the company are: Senior Vice President Steven
| Berkowitz, the former Ask.com CEO who had been heading Microsoft's online
| services unit, and Mike Sievert, the former AT&T Wireless executive brought
| in to run Windows marketing. Both Sievert and Berkowitz had already seen some
| duties handed off to others at the company and their departures were largely
| expected.
|
| Also leaving is Pieter Knook, longtime head of Microsoft's Windows Mobile
| unit.
`----
http://www.news.com/8301-13860_3-9871715-56.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Microsoft is Dead
,----[ Quote ]
| A few days ago I suddenly realized Microsoft was dead. I was talking
| to a young startup founder about how Google was different from Yahoo.
| I said that Yahoo had been warped from the start by their fear of
| Microsoft. That was why they'd positioned themselves as a "media
| company" instead of a technology company. Then I looked at his face
| and realized he didn't understand. It was as if I'd told him how much
| girls liked Barry Manilow in the mid 80s.
`----
http://www.paulgraham.com/microsoft.html
Will Microsoft Survive the Next 10 Years?
,----[ Quote ]
| I am not really an expert in this but when I read all the negative
| headlines and articles I ask myself if Microsoft really will survive
| the next 10 years.
|
| [...]
|
| I am pretty sure that the Open Source Community, the new Ubuntu,
| Google and of course Apple are those companies that are ready for
| our century and they will get more and more people that know what
| they really want.
`----
http://websquirrel.blogspot.com/2007/03/will-microsoft-survive-next-10-years.html
Vista marketing chief to bid Microsoft adieu
,----[ Quote ]
| Michael Sievert, Corporate Vice President for Windows Product Marketing, is
| moving on, according to multiple sources of mine.
|
| It’s hard to make the case that Sievert, who was responsible for the
| worldwide introduction of Windows Vista, isn’t being pushed for the
| less-than-enthusiastic public perception of Microsoft’s latest version of
| Windows. Even though Microsoft has moved 100-million-plus copies of Vista,
| many consumers and businesses still consider the new release buggy, sluggish
| and incompatible with existing software and drivers.
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1158
Raikes and Other Exits
,----[ Quote ]
| It's weird that Mini and all the commenters here have failed to notice the
| mass exodus from the Xbox team in 2007. By my count, more than 15% of the
| product team (dev/PM/test) have left Microsoft for Apple, Sony, Google,
| Yahoo, MySpace, Amazon, and various other companies (including several
| startups, local and in the Valley).
`----
http://minimsft.blogspot.com/2008/01/raikes-and-other-exits.html
Another Microsoft manager jumps from the Live Search ship
,----[ Quote ]
| Mike Nichols, Group Program Manager for Live Search, has resigned and is
| moving to work for Yusuf Mehdi, Senior Vice President of Strategic
| Partnerships.
|
| [...]
|
| What to make of all the recent resignations and reshufflings among the
| various Microsoft business units? Well, it is reorg season in Redmond. But on
| the Live Search side of the house, it’s got to be tough to keep banging your
| head against the wall and making little or no headway in growing your market
| share….
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1115
Veteran Windows architect resigns from Microsoft
,----[ Quote ]
| On the heels of a week of news of a number of Microsoft executive departures
| and reshufflings, another has come to light. Rob Short, Corporate Vice
| President for Windows Core, has resigned from the company.
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1110
Juniper Networks exec to succeed Microsoft Business Division President Raikes
,----[ Quote ]
| Another reason I consider the Raikes announcement timing odd: Why announce
| Raikes’ departure a day after acknowledging the defection of your mergers and
| acquisitions chief Bruce Jaffe? You could make the argument that Microsoft
| wants to get all its defection/churn announcements out of the way at once.
| But I’m not sure I’d look at things the same way, if I were one of the
| company’s “image makers”….
|
| Microsoft also announced on January 10 that Bob Muglia, the Senior Vice
| President in charge of Microsoft’s Server and Tools Business, is going to
| move out of the Business Division and report directly to CEO Steve Ballmer.
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1101
Microsoft loses top executive in China
,----[ Quote ]
| "Li Gong is currently exploring other career opportunities," Microsoft said
| in a statement to News.com.
|
| [...]
|
| In a September 2005 Business Week interview, Ballmer touted Gong as
| one of several key hires that Microsoft had made.
|
| Most recently, Gong has served as managing director of Windows LiveC
| hina and as Vice President of Microsoft China R&D Group.
|
| Gong's name came up in the case over Kai-Fu Lee, the top Microsoft
| executive whose hiring by Google sparked a multistate legal battle.
`----
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6149735.html
Microsoft losing acquisition playmaker
,----[ Quote ]
| In a previous life Jaffe was the CFO for Microsoft's MSN division, and also
| had roles overseeing acquisitions related to Microsoft's consumer business,
| groups like MSNBC and Microsoft Games.
`----
http://www.news.com/8301-13579_3-9847376-37.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Microsoft’s OEM chief defects to Lenovo
,----[ Quote ]
| While so many of us Microsoft watchers were preoccupied with the hasty
| departure of former Microsfot CIO Stuart Scott, the resignation of the
| company’s OEM chief slipped right by most of us.
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=999
Related:
Microsoft Windows hardware leader takes a ‘vacation’
,----[ Quote ]
| Veteran Softies are dropping like flies lately. The latest Microsoft exec to
| leave is Jawad Khaki, Corporate Vice President of the Windows Hardware
| Ecosystem.
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1002
Danny Thorpe quits the Windows Live development team
,----[ Quote ]
| Danny Thorpe, one of the higher-profile hires Microsoft made to its Windows
| Live team, has decided to leave for greener pastures.
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=806
Microsoft’s open source chief takes on Windows server marketing
,----[ Quote ]
| The change comes amid a long-building storm that exploded in May, when the
| company said that Linux violates 235 Microsoft patents.
`----
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/100807-microsoft-open-source-windows-server.html
Microsoft says Zune executive will leave company
,----[ Quote ]
| Bryan Lee, corporate vice president at Microsoft's entertainment
| and devices division, also played a key role in shaping the Xbox
| game console business and the introduction of its Internet
| Protocol television software.
`----
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-6155200.html
Yet another Microsoft search exec calls it quits
,----[ Quote ]
| In March, Blake Irving, the Corporate VP in charge of the Windows
| Live platform, announced his plans to leave Microsoft, effective
| this summer. Payne announced his resignation from Microsoft shortly
| after Irving made his announcement.
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=407
at least no chairs were thrown…
,----[ Quote ]
| A friend of mine was walked out of Microsoft today.
|
| I’m not talking about Stuart Scott, the now former Microsoft CIO who was
| canned for “violating company policies.” No, another friend decided to leave
| the MSN Live Search team and join Google Kirkland.
`----
http://selberg.org/2007/11/06/at-least-no-chairs-were-thrown/
Another Microsoft Search reorg: Shum now leads engineering
,----[ Quote ]
| That same month, Windows Live Platform VP Blake Irving resigned, as did Chris
| Payne. the Corporate Vice President in charge of Windows Live Search.
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=927
Former Microsoft Search Chief Bill Bliss On Early Search Missteps
,----[ Quote ]
| Bill's biggest regret? Not bypassing middle management that wasn't
| listening to him scream about the coming threat of Google and going
| right up to Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer.
`----
http://searchengineland.com/070309-094930.php
Microsoft Search Leader To Leave Company
,----[ Quote ]
| The Microsoft Corp. vice president who led the company's push into
| Internet search is leaving the software giant as the effort he
| helped launch loses ground against lead competitor Google Inc.
`----
http://online.wsj.com/preview_login.html?url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB117329976478329930.html%3Fmod%3Dyahoo_hs%26ru%3Dyahoo
http://tinyurl.com/2jran7
Microsoft Businesss Solutions Group's Burgum to resign
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft Corp.'s Business Solutions group senior vice president Doug
| Burgum will resign, effective June 30, and leave the company to pursue
| other opportunities, the company said on Tuesday.
`----
http://yahoo.reuters.com/news/articlehybrid.aspx?storyID=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20060912:MTFH70760_2006-09-12_16-35-37_N9C318839&type=comktNews&rpc=44
http://tinyurl.com/h4coe
Database head to leave daily duties at Microsoft
,----[ Quote ]
| Paul Flessner, who leads Microsoft's data storage and platform
| division, will step down from his daily duties after the new year.
`----
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-6131496.html
XBLA's Ross Erickson leaves Microsoft, heads over to Sierra Online
,----[ Quote ]
| Of course, this follows XBLA General Manager Greg Canessa's
| departure a couple weeks back. While having two of the most
| senior Xbox Live Arcade execs jump ship in a two week time
| span after a particularly long string of subpar Wednesdays
| -- nothing, Ms. Pac-Man, Lumines add-on, nothing, Root Beer
| Tapper, Paperboy, nothing -- might seem to imply certain
| disaster, Ross insisted that he and Greg's decided to
| leave under entirely different circumstances.
`----
http://www.joystiq.com/2007/02/20/xblas-ross-erickson-leaves-microsoft-heads-over-to-sierra-onli/
http://tinyurl.com/25s6he
XBLA main man jumps ship
,----[ Quote ]
| In somewhat surprising news, Greg Canessa, the big guy behind
| Xbox Live Arcade, has left the Microsoft compound for PopCap Games.
`----
http://www.destructoid.com/xbla-main-man-jumps-ship-29716.phtml
Microsoft Windows Live VP to resign
,----[ Quote ]
| Blake Irving, a Corporate Vice President in Microsoft's Windows
| Live Platform group, is resigning his post, according to sources
| close to the company.
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=296
Evangelist Gartenberg back to being analyst
,----[ Quote ]
| After only three weeks at Microsoft as an "evangelist," Michael
| Gartenberg is returning to his old job as vice president and
| research director at JupiterResearch.
`----
http://news.com.com/2061-10805_3-6165381.html?part=rss&tag=2547-1_3-0-20&subj=news
|
|
