Did Microsoft lie about top exec's departure?
,----[ Quote ]
| The departure of Brian Valentine, a 19-year Microsoft veteran before he left
| in 2006, has always been a bit of a puzzle. In August of that year, Microsoft
| management told his staff he was taking a new job within the company after
| shipping Windows Vista. A month later, he left for Amazon.com. Now,
| Amazon.com has cleared things up with a belated SEC filing: Microsoft lied to
| its employees.
`----
http://valleywag.com/357831/did-microsoft-lie-about-top-execs-departure
How timely. A week ago Microsoft was spinning like nobody's business amid the
latest huge wave of executive departures. Microsoft lies as it crumbles.
Yesterday's 'big announcement' showed that it had given up (hello, Samba) and
put all its horses on software patents and BS like Silverlight and OOXML,
_BOTH OF WHICH_ are under EU antitrust scrutiny.
Tough times for Microsoft, which approaches debt. Microsoft -- the next Unisys.
Last week:
Microsoft spin:
,----[ Quote ]
| Press Release Source: Microsoft Corp.
|
| Microsoft Announces New, Expanded Roles for Key Executives
`----
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/080214/aqth103a.html?.v=2
Microsoft refuting its shill journalists like Ina Fried, Ben from WSJ, Mary Jo
Foley et al.:
Microsoft's online, mobile phone chiefs depart
,----[ Quote ]
| The software giant says the management shake up has nothing to do with its
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
| proposed buyout of Yahoo.
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
`----
http://money.cnn.com/2008/02/14/technology/msft_personnel.ap/index.htm?source=yahoo_quote
The departures (recent ones alone):
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
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
Related:
Yahoo's Way Out
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft will have to go into debt to buy Yahoo—at least $10 billion by
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
| reasonable estimates, assuming the deal is half cash and half stock and
| Microsoft wants to leave some operating capital in the bank. That debt is the
| weakness in Microsoft's offer. A year ago—even a month ago—the debt wouldn't
| have been much of a problem. But there's a huge credit crunch going on in the
| US right now that got a whole lot worse in just the past week.
|
| Banks are seeing real problems in areas like LBO, or leveraged buy-out, debt
| that along with problems with commercial mortgages and bonds are putting a
| real squeeze on credit. I'm sure Microsoft is a good credit risk, but there
| still has to be money to lend. And Microsoft might look like a whole lot less
| of a good risk should the company have to borrow more to buy Yahoo.
`----
http://www.microsoft-watch.com/content/corporate/yahoos_way_out.html?kc=MWRSS02129TX1K0000535
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
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
P. Graham: 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. Barry who?
|
| Microsoft? He didn't say anything, but I could tell he didn't quite
| believe anyone would be frightened of them.
`----
http://www.paulgraham.com/microsoft.html
|
|
