In the Valley yes it is all about Vision...the problem is I would say for the past 10 years Vision has been entirely absent from Redmond, so perhaps a visionary is what they need and not someone practical, so that they don't miss the next bandwagon that comes along.
Brit-boy Bates is Silicon Valley's pick for Microsoft's CEO
Could a Briton end up running quintessential American multinational Microsoft, the world’s largest software company? Or, put another way: could an exec who only briefly ran a small loss-making telco end up in charge of a $73bn business? Why the hell not, if you’ve got the Silicon Valley mindset. London boy Tony Bates, born …
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Monday 2nd December 2013 14:59 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: since when is Redmond
the hot favorite among Silicon Valley types
possibly you should get your eyes tested too and read the article. it's not saying that those in Redmond have chosen Bates, just that those in Silcon Valley think that he's the man for the job.
Seems wierd to ask the people who have nothing to do with the company in question what they think, but there you go.
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Monday 2nd December 2013 14:49 GMT Kristian Walsh
The Valley...
...is notable for not including Redmond, WA.
I wouldn't trust the hunches of anyone labelled a "Silicon Valley Insider" when it came to succession within Microsoft, because I don't believe that any of them understand how large businesses operate outside of that strange parallel universe of the Bay Area. In the Valley, Microsoft is defined (and vilified) as being Not One Of Us.
My equally uninformed hunch is that it'll be Mullally, who I expect will carry out a major restructuring and streamlining, then hand over to a new candidate three years from now.
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Monday 2nd December 2013 16:25 GMT Oh Homer
Sillycone Valley's prick for Microsoft's CEO
Here's my Top 10 most suitable pricks for the job, in reverse order:
10. Dead Steve Jobs (hey, even a corpse can't do any worse than Fester)
9. Carly Fiorina (ditto)
8. Larry "Everyone Else Must Fail" Ellison (because ... everyone else will FAIL. Obviously)
7. Keith B. Alexander, director of the NSA (they practically already own Microsoft anyway)
6. Tom Cruise (because he likes cult scams, and is "the only one who can really help", after all)
5. Sarah Palin (for having a similar sense of "diplomacy" and "ethics" as Fester)
4. Nyan Cat (pointless, monotonous and disturbingly compelling, just like Windows)
3. Richard Stallman (because he'd emancipate all that oppressed, proprietary software ... then do nothing with it for 20 years, until people abandoned it, moving on to something better. Finally!)
2. Russell Brand (Master of the Art of popularising and selling unpalatable concepts, word-salad bandit who'd give even the most hardcore marketese-gibberish linguist a headache, and all-round funny guy)
1. Gene Hunt (fictional character and notorious "armed bast'd" who bears a striking resemblance to a Mancunian version of Fester, both in attitude and demeanor, albeit with more hair)
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Monday 2nd December 2013 16:39 GMT Anonymous Coward
Mulally is just Ballmer MK2
While its fashionable to mock Ballmer he was never as incompetent as people made out. Microsoft constantly increased revenues while he was CEO and has demonstrated the same positive attributes you listed for Mulally.
Ballmer's failings were that he missed too many boats and reacted to change instead of leading it and Mulally has yet to show he's any different. Microsoft is losing ground, not profits and they don't need someone who can fix the ship, they need someone who can build a new one.
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Monday 2nd December 2013 17:09 GMT Ian Michael Gumby
Just a small nit...
Did the El Reg reporter forget that Elop was an exec at Microsoft prior to going to Nokia?
While everyone is betting on who's next, remember that Microsoft isn't in the Valley, but sitting way up north in a different state. And a different state of mind. ;-)
But yes, I can see where a Brit trade rag would want to root for one of its home town heroes. Its only natural.
But don't forget that Elop is Canadian, no?
And well if he's not French Canadian, he's the closes thing to a Brit, no?
So he could be a bastid son of the UK and you'd still win.
Just trying to put the positive spin so you don't feel bad when Elop gets the job. ;-)
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Tuesday 3rd December 2013 07:20 GMT Ian Michael Gumby
Re: Just a small nit... @Ian Michael Gumby
The point is that the author portrays Elop as a Nokia man. Not as a former exec and insider to Microsoft.
Rumour has it that Elop left Microsoft to gain CEO experience so he could prove himself ready for the job.
With the ok'd acquisition of most of Nokia... he's back to being a Microsoft exec.
That's what's missing from the article.
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Monday 2nd December 2013 19:57 GMT Sir Sham Cad
Re: Just a small nit...
I'm pretty sure the article thoroughly detailed exactly what percentage of fuck all Bates has achieved in order to be linked with the job apart from already be there and be "different". I still have no idea what "to engage" actually means but maybe he's qualified to do it whatever it is.
Oh wait, run the world's biggest software company? The ground counts, yes?
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Tuesday 3rd December 2013 01:45 GMT Paul J Turner
Tony is a bold choice...
That's 'Bold' as in 'Courageous' then?
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Yes,_Minister
[How to guide ministers to making the right decisions]
Sir Humphrey: If you want to be really sure that the Minister doesn't accept it, you must say the decision is "courageous".
Bernard: And that's worse than "controversial"?
Sir Humphrey: Oh, yes! "Controversial" only means "this will lose you votes". "Courageous" means "this will lose you the election"!
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Tuesday 3rd December 2013 10:26 GMT Bogle
As a techie
As a techie (well, software developer) I like the sound of Bates. Bootstrapped himself, no degree, gets the tech, knows something about getting products into the market. Seems genuinely interested in what I might want from MS.
Also, I can't imagine him dancing around the stage like U. Fester, oh dear no. British, dear boy!