Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by fromdoon 4513 days ago
Just asking, how can a new CEO change Microsoft's directions.

Or

What suggestions would you give Satya, if you were to meet him today?

4 comments

I'd say, from my armchair: take a long hard look at what's really happening out there, step out of your bubble. Stop this ridiculous attitude towards competitors and open source, at least long enough to see what they have to offer. Get your people some Macs, get your server people exposed to some Linux, get them some iPhones and iPads and Android devices, and make them see why you've been losing ground. Those competitors aren't perfect, they all have distinct and horrible weaknesses that you can exploit by making something better. Step out of your bubble and make something.
I think they did get some iPads at one point :-) http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/01/07/ipad_theft_microsoft...
It has always seemed to me that Microsoft treats every product, company, or standard that is not theirs as if they were direct competition.
I am no fan of MS given what I went through with them in the '90s, but I'll give Satya the benefit of the doubt. Here's what I'd say to him:

Recognise that operating systems are less relevant than they were and port everything to everywhere. This means dev tools, Office, etc. People will pay for Visual Studio on the Mac and on Linux if it's the same experience as it is on Windows.

De-complexify Windows and focus on its number one use case: Office. Windows is essentially a platform for running Office and playing games.

Buy Oculus VR.

My 2 cents would be: open up C# and the CLR. Buy Xamarin and work towards a ubiquitous platform.
Make Visual Studio Pro free or unify Express and allow extensions. Make ASP.NET & friends as easy to deploy on Linux as it is on Windows (or put some serious energy into mono).

Not sure if they are good suggestions or not for the business but they would certainly help me out!