Steve Ballmer

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GigaOM Reads: A look back at the week in tech

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Is Tim Cook like Steve Ballmer? Well that was the discourse in the tech blogs and business news channels this week, following the news of Apple issuing a less-than-stellar earnings report and higher dividends. Apple’s stock has been taking a beating for a while and some analysts want Tim Cook’s head. Remind you of anyone? Nick Wingfield at the New York Times made the connection between Cook and Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer, saying that while stock prices may be down, revenues and profits are the only numbers that really matter to the high-powered CEOs.

So why is it that, with Apple being the maker of all things cool — from the iPod to the iPhone and iPad — its stock would be tanking when profits are up 45 percent? Neil Irwin at The Washington Post ventures to guess it’s because there’s no obvious “next big thing” on the horizon, Apple TV and iWatch be dammed. Well, if it was obvious to columnists, then trust us, it wasn’t worth doing. Remember, gadget reviewers adored the Palm phones.

The Touchscreen Toddlers: Whether it’s video games or TV, children’s use of technology is always up for debate. Some parents might want to limit kids’ screen time and instead want them to focus on playing outside exploring the world, getting fresh air and exercise. The Atlantic looks at how technology affects child development, and how our tech might be causing addictive behaviors that result in major temper tantrums beyond the terrible twos.

In San Francisco, rents get bubbly: The startup boom is having a predictable impact on the San Francisco economy — real estate prices are rising faster than seed funding. When Facebook IPO’d last summer, real estate prices exploded in preparation of new millionaires. And now, it seems that it’s not just homebuyers who are finding it hard to compete with tech-millionaires. One of San Francisco’s coveted Marina district breakfast spots is being forced out due to doubling rent, which is ironic because a large percentage of its daily patrons are work-from-anywhere startup-types that enjoy the all-day breakfast and free-flowing WiFi. Maybe it is time to look at Austin, Boston, LA, Seattle, Philadelphia and others that are coining themselves the “next Silicon Valley”. For now their real estate price tags are in the manageable range.

Got 3D a printer, will print a gun. Debate: 3D printers might be great for homemade action figures, mini model home furniture, and battle-bots, but 3D printers also have the capacity to make dangerous goods. Take guns for example — Cody Wilson of Defense Distributed, a nonprofit focused on defending the 2nd Amendment rights of U.S. citizens, says that for better or worse, 3D printed guns are inevitable. Good sense aside, American’s are still divided on gun control laws. But unfortunately for those who believe that guns should be restricted, they may not have a say in the matter — Wilson says he and his team have successfully fired 11 rounds from a 3D printed firearm already. With 3D printers becoming more affordable and getting mainstream coverage, that’s kind of a scary thought to grapple with.

Netflix and the Future of TV: For a company that has been disrupting the business of television and cable for past few years, we are confident in putting a premium on their outline of the future of TV. During this week’s Q1 earnings call, and in an 11-page whitepaper shared on Netflix’s investor relations site, CEO Reed Hastings laid out his $2 billion+ plan to licence hot content and create original programming to compete with the likes of HBO, Hulu, and Amazon Prime. It’s an ambitious project considering the sheer volume of choices that TV watchers have when it comes to entertainment. Netflix also announced it’s new $12 family plan, which allows subscribers to access Netflix on four screens (instead of two). While some may think that the goal here is to cut down on password sharing, Hastings says it’s not really that big of a deal. Being flippant about password sharing and piracy seems to be the avenue of choice for popular content producers – even HBO says downloading Game of Thrones illegally won’t land you in court.

Rumors at network scale: Nothing reflected the growing role of social media in our lives as does the hack of the Associated Press Twitter account, which was compromised this week. Hackers falsely tweeted that explosions at The White House had injured President Obama. Mass panic ensued and the Dow quickly lost 100 points. It seems the AP was a victim of an email phishing attack purported by the same Syrian propagandists that hacked CBS’s 60 Minutes earlier this month. We think it’s time for Twitter to add in a second layer of account protection. Not only will two-step verification help users keep their accounts safe, but it can also prove to the public that Twitter is serious about security.

And now for some stories you might have missed last week:

How much would you pay win an hour-long coffee date with Tim Cook? Someone is willing to shell out over a half a million. Good news – it’s also for charity.
The PC is now an essential part of life. Much like an appliance.
SciFi flick Oblivion had at least one thing going for it – amazing sound design.
Speaking of sound, for the first time ever, you can now hear Alexander Graham Bell’s voice.

Tagged with: Alexander Graham Bell • Reed HAstings • Steve Ballmer • Tim Cook

feb 19

After bashing Ballmer, former Microsoft exec outlines turnaround plan for the company

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Joachim Kempin has some ideas about how Microsoft, his former employer, can achieve greatness again and they go beyond his already widely publicized call for the company to deep-six CEO Steve Ballmer.

Kempin, who left Microsoft in 2002, was the exec who ran the company’s cash cow OEM business. He was the guy who cut the deals with hardware makers who bundled Microsoft Windows and Office on their machines. Those negotiations were by most accounts brutal, leaving hardware partners like Dell and HP reeling. They also led some to call Kempin Microsoft’s Dark Angel . And now he’s peddling a book on Microsoft and is penning a series of blogs for ReadWrite.

Here are the some of his suggestions for Microsoft from his first post:

1: Microsoft needs a tech guru.

Kempin writes:

“The company needs a bold and charismatic executive with bona fide technical credentials to head all of its product divisions. This dynamic leader must not only serve as the main spokesperson for all products, but he or she must also inspire and command the respect of developers. (Unfortunate Ray Ozzie did not survive in this role, and the one who came after him, Craig Mundie, was from the beginning the wrong person.)”

No kidding. This is true, and it was also true when Bill Gates started stepping back from day-to-day duties at Microsoft. Even when he dubbed Ozzie his successor as chief software architect in 2006, many wondered why he didn’t go for a younger, new-age thinker; a response to the Google guys. No one doubted Ozzie’s tech vision, but by that time Microsoft had already “missed” the internet and had to make up for lost time. Ozzie was of the same generation as Gates and Ballmer. The feeling was Microsoft really needed an infusion of new blood. Ozzie was new to Microsoft but he was rooted in the same client-server world they came from. For what it’s worth, Microsoft is bleeding many of its long-time execs with Robbie Bach, J Allard and Steven Sinofsky all exiting over the past two years.

2: Go easy on the enterprise schtick

Kempin said Microsoft’s focus on enterprise customers was lucrative but hurt the company with consumers.

“… its reputation as an innovative tech leader deteriorated in the public eye. Once cool, today Microsoft is a well-oiled money machine, but the contagious excitement around the time when Windows 95 launched is long gone …. That torch has passed to the Apples, Googles, Twitters, and Facebooks of this world.”

My take: I’m not sure anyone ever thought of Microsoft as “cool.” The big flash-bang Windows 95 event was fun; but cool? Hardly. Jay Leno hosted and even in 1995 Leno was your father’s talk show host. Even many language and compiler geeks found Borland a much more amenable culture than Microsoft.

It’s true that Microsoft has gotten too enterprise-oriented. In fact, it appears hell-bent to replicate Oracle and IBM at a time when many question the relevance of those companies in a consumer IT focused world. Even Microsoft Surface is painted with an “Office” paintbrush. Exceptions to this rule: Xbox and Kinect — which probably doesn’t carry the Microsoft brand on purpose. The reason companies update Windows and Office is to stay legal, not because of any compelling new features. Sad but true.

3: Microsoft needs to go back to school.

Kempin writes:

“The US school system is antiquated and needs to be brought into the 21st century. This presents an opportunity for Microsoft to engage and help teachers, parents, and children to excel.”

Assuming here that excel is not a pun, he has a point. Most students use Google Docs (and most of the students I know personally are using it on MacBooks.) And when is the last time you heard a student (or anyone) request a Dell (or HP or Acer) laptop running Windows?

Kempin thinks Microsoft (with help from its big cool philanthropic friend The Gates Foundation) should just underwrite a complete re-do of technology in the nation’s schools. It would be a bold move. But Microsoft still needs to make products that people want to buy, not products that they accept because they have to.

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Tagged with: apple • bill gates • Craig Mundie • dell • Facebook • google • HP • Jay Leno • Joachim Kempin • Microsoft • Steve Ballmer

feb 04

Dell buyout deal is reportedly near

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The specter of a privately held Dell is starting to gel into reality, according to several press reports.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer

Citing unnamed sources, the Wall Street Journal reported that talks over the deal — at a price of about $13 or $14 per share – continued into Sunday night. The Journal reiterated earlier reports that the buyout, worth about $22 billion, would be led by Silver Lake Partners, a private equity firm (and former employer of John Swainson, president of Dell’s Software unit) and Microsoft. Dell founder and CEO Michael Dell who owns 16 percent of the company, would keep a stake, the paper reported.

The prospect of Microsoft — which is a long-time Dell partner — holding sway over a major hardware player continues to raise eyebrows. Cozying up with one supplier — say Dell, over others such as HP, Lenovo, Acer etc…. could obviously cause problems. But Microsoft appears to be losing leverage over its traditional PC partners, most of which could be counted on to pre-load Windows on virtually all of their laptops and desktops.

As a sign of changing times, HP on Monday announced its first Chromebook, a laptop that ships with Google’s Chrome OS, not Windows. Whether that is a reaction to all this Dell-Microsoft talk or was just an inevitable hedging of bets is unclear.

For its part, Dell, which is the third-largest PC maker, offers Project Sputnik, a developer-focused laptop preloaded with Ubuntu Linux, but all of its retail PCs ship with Windows, according to The NPD Group.

The Journal last week reported that Microsoft’s role in a new Dell was a bone of contention in the talks. It’s obvious that Microsoft would want to call the shots as to what software is loaded on Dell machines from laptops to servers.

DELL data by YCharts

In a research report, Sanford Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi said a deal could make sense given that Dell is relatively inexpensive; that private equity firms have a ton of cash to spend and that Michael Dell is a “committed partner” with incentives and a stake that would strongly align him with the interests of private equity buyers.

Still, people who have watched both companies for some time have a hard time envisioning Mr. Dell “working for” Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer so if Dell does go private with Microsoft owning a significant share, stay tuned.

This story will be updated as new details emerge.

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Tagged with: chromebook • dell • google • Hewlett-Packard • HP • John Swainson • Michael Dell • Microsoft • Silver Lake Partners • Steve Ballmer

gen 25

Lucovsky moves from Cloud Foundry back to VMware in Pivotal shift

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Mark Lucovsky has moved from Cloud Foundry, the open-source Platform-as-a-Service effort that is being spun off from VMware as part of the fledgling the Pivotal Initiative and apparently back to the VMware mothership.

This is how Lucovsky’s Twitter profile appeared Friday morning:

“Done with Cloud Foundry. Hand off to Pivotal Labs complete. Now hacking a mega-cloud platform for VMware with Vadim, Skaar, Oleg, Ben, and Doug.”

According to a profile update later in the day, Lucovsky is “working on big cloud stuff at VMware.”

The timing is unclear, but last fall Lucovsky was the top gun at Cloud Foundry. A source close to Pivotal says he actually transitioned months ago, although people outside Cloud Foundry circles don’t seem to know it. VMware formally announced the Pivotal spin-off — to be headed by former VMware CEO Paul Maritz.

Lucovsky is a veteran developer. He became VP of engineering at VMware after stints as director of engineering for Google and distinguished engineer for Microsoft. His name may be familiar to non-developers because it was his exit from Microsoft to Google that caused the notorious chair-tossing incident by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

Lucovsky could not be reached for comment. In other Cloud Foundry staffing news, Jerry Chen, another top figure with the effort is on sabbatical, according to his LinkedIn profile.

The Pivotal Initiative draws on tech assets from VMware and its parent company EMC. The goal is to bring together expertise in big data, analytics, Java frameworks and agile development, the latter from Pivotal Labs, a company acquired by EMC last year. Since the spinoff still evolving it’s natural that there be some ebb-and-flow of personnel. Along with Maritz, Pivotal Labs president Rob Mee is helping to manage effort.