back to article Windows Phone chief and Xbox brain exit Microsoft

If there's a job more thankless than leading Microsoft's perpetually loss-making online business operations, it's running the Redmond unit that handles Windows Mobile and Xbox. When consumer gadgets were flying off the shelves last Christmas, Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices unit actually saw sales drop — by 10 per cent …

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  1. Richard Plinston
    FAIL

    that took Microsoft into the hardware business

    No, Microsoft was in the hardware business with the Z80 Apple II Sotftcard plus CP/M. Then there were the mice, and the keyboards. While they didn't build the MSX machines themselves they did specify them, just like they don't build the XBox themselves.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Thumb Up

      Makes me feel old

      Wow. I remember CP/M and the Z80 card. I had an Apple IIe. Computers I used at the time were an odd collection- IBM PC desktops, Tandy TRS-80, Nascom II, Commodore PET, Apple II, PDP8e, LSI-11 etc. Not to mention using IBM card punches and cards for mainframes.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    side note

    Seamus Blackley perhaps should get more credit than J Allard for creating the xbox. Of course Blackley had the sense to quit a long time ago.

  3. Pirate Dave Silver badge
    Pirate

    maybe...

    I'm being too cynical, but it doesn't sound like there's much innovation left in the upper echelons of MS management. Business savy, yes, but technical foresight, not so much. Shame. As much as I rant and rave about the poor quality of MS and Windows, Billg still did a pretty good job of getting it developed and getting it sold. Now MS seems drifting without a rudder - nobody gives a shit about Windows or Office sales anymore - their sales numbers are about as interesting as US Savings Bonds sales. MSSQL server is getting bogged down in layer after layer of useless crap and horrible admin interfaces designed by Mrs. Williams' third-grade art class. Windows CE/Mobile is slowly losing its wheels. Bing is ultimately destined for the same Clearance Rack -75% off- that Zune is gathering dust on now. Xbox is the only semi-sexy thing they have left and they just nearly fubared that with the RROD problem and the horrible disc-scratching issue. Looks like stagnation has set in.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Jobs Halo

      Steve Jobs, agrees with you...

      BusinessWeek interview with Apple CEO Steve Jobs, 12 October 2004:

      Steve Jobs: Apple had a monopoly on the graphical user interface for almost 10 years. That's a long time. And how are monopolies lost? Think about it. Some very good product people invent some very good products, and the company achieves a monopoly. But after that, the product people aren't the ones that drive the company forward anymore. It's the marketing guys or the ones who expand the business into Latin America or whatever. Because what's the point of focusing on making the product even better when the only company you can take business from is yourself? So a different group of people start to move up. And who usually ends up running the show? The sales guy... Then one day, the monopoly expires for whatever reason. But by then the best product people have left, or they're no longer listened to. And so the company goes through this tumultuous time, and it either survives or it doesn't.

      BusinessWeek: Is this common in the industry?

      Steve Jobs: Look at Microsoft -- who's running Microsoft?

      BusinessWeek: Steve Ballmer.

      Steve Jobs: Right, the sales guy. Case closed.

  4. StooMonster
    Gates Horns

    Ballmer now been CEO for decade

    "chief executive Steve Ballmer is taking control of E&D"

    Well that's going to turn it around and make it all fine then ...

  5. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Word on the street

    Is this is the lead up to Microsoft wrapping up their ventures in hardware and gaming and a return to core business of software.

    Lets face it Zune and Xbox have been MASSIVE flops for Microsoft financially ($9bn losses on Xbox development, NVIDIA litigation, 360 Development and RROD)

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Grenade

      It's all relative

      Not as big a flop as their web businesses though, and every other division other than (desktop) Windows and Office lose money too.

      Microsoft pulling out of the console business is as likely as Sony doing the same because of the massive losses of the PlayStation division; it ain't gonna happen.

  6. slack
    Coffee/keyboard

    Awesome

    "Steve Ballmer is taking control of E&D."

    This should be good for a laugh!

  7. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

    Wanted: Redmond Base: Head Honcho for NeuReal Division: No Time and Space Wasters please.

    "..and chief executive Steve Ballmer is taking control of E&D. If history is any teacher, Mattrick or Lees will be promoted to the head of E&D — unless the group is re-orged out of existence."

    There is always the possibility of Steve bringing in fresh new virgin blood and a new head to effectively re-org the group into another existence to make better use of company assets/product penetration. Someone able to Sublimely Create a Dynamic Global Products Interactive Capture for XBox to Parallel Mimic in Great Game Games for Mobile Platforms to Share via Servered Communications with Global Operating Devices would be Novel and raise the Microsoft Profile somewhat above the Bottom Line which only merely follows Innovation rather than leading it with IT, or leading IT with it.

  8. Andy Jones
    Coat

    Product renaming

    With Ballmer in charge is the next version of the games console going to be called the sweatBox?

    /Mines with the one with the banner marked Ha Ha in the pocket!

  9. Alan Bourke
    FAIL

    Ballmer in charge of the xBox ?

    Say it ain't so.

  10. Jay Jaffa
    Pint

    Perhaps they should buy Google

    After all it's only a website - right Steve.

    Why they allow Ballmer to come to work is beyond me. The man's got none of the attributes needed to hold down even a cleaning job over there.

    I'll drink to that.

  11. Daniel 1

    One day, this will make a very good book

    "What the Hell Happened to Microsoft?" New Riders, 600 pages, hardback (10% discount for Kindle version)

    People like Bach will doubtless write some of the key chapters, but the editor will definitely be that 'Minimsft' guy (and won't it be nice to finally get to find out Who da'Punk really is? - like discovering that the writers of Ashes-to-Ashes actually did have a point).

  12. PeterM42
    FAIL

    Microsoft can't DO hardware

    Microsoft never have been able to do hardware properly and the X-Box is a good demonstration of that generic failing. You only have to look at the various forums to see what sort of problems people have with X-Box and I seem to remember it even featured on BBC's "Watchdog" program.

    No, Microsoft - stick to software, but stop producing disasters like Windows ME and Vista. Listen to those who test it, NOT your bean counters screaming for more revenue from inadequately tested products.

    1. CD001

      I dunno

      I rather like MS "Natural" style keyboards :P

    2. Michael Jones

      Can't do hardware...really?

      Re: PeterM42

      Admittedly the XBox has had its share of hardware problems, but I've always found Microsoft's keyboards and mice rather spiffing - although they do represent significantly less advanced tech than a games console.

      Their trackballs - now no longer sadly produced - were some of the best pointing devices I had the pleasure to use.

    3. N2

      Yes they can!

      They do mice reasonably well

      :D

  13. Giles Jones Gold badge

    Why do they bother?

    Honestly, they should spend all their time making a better OS and applications. They make all their money from Windows and Office still, so why go into other markets and make no money?

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    re: It's all relative

    Playstation as a brand is VERY profitable for Sony. The PS3 is now profitable, and it's paid back most of it's development costs. It's development costs were much lower than Microsoft's because the development costs were shared across other products like their other BD players, and other Cell based devices.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Headmaster

      If you say so fanboi

      However, Sony's annual reports paint a different story of what you call a "very profitable" brand.

      Sony lost $3-billion on PlayStation division from 2006 to 2008; the firm made an overall loss of $1bn last year which it has narrowed to $0.44bn this year, and although PlayStation division made a couple of quid (big portion of which was still PS2) it's going to take a long long time to break-even on historic losses of PS3.

  15. Richard Conto
    Troll

    Pseudo-pedant pursues proper use of "past time" and "pass time"

    > Re-org is one of Microsoft's favorite past times, and the summer is high season for such activities.

    In the past, a pass-time I enjoyed was remarking on the grammar or spelling of someone's blog post or response. That, of course, was long in the past and it quickly came to pass that I (like other pseudo-pedants) was roundly criticized (negatively) for not passing on a simple human frailty. Nevertheless, as a resident of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan (living "below" the Mackinaw Bridge and therefore an Troll in ways that someone from a land-locked polity can never aspire to), I must make comment on your usage of "past time".

    1. Nanki Poo
      FAIL

      The law of inevitability ...

      "... and therefore an Troll in ways ..."

      logs splinters and all that ... that's all... ;)

      nK

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      @Richard Conto

      Pity the word is actually pastime

      http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pastime

    3. dieselbug
      FAIL

      #fail

      Pass-time? an Troll?

      Pot, Kettle. Kettle, Pot.

  16. Patrick 8
    Gates Horns

    same days that this news hits Apple surpasses Microsoft on stock market

    Could this news have something to do with it? Or does the guy really want to retire? Its getting crazy out there now. Fanbois on all sides will be screaming :)

    It's Official: Apple Is Now Worth More Than Microsoft

    http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Its-Official-Apple-Is-Now-siliconalley-3062572220.html?x=0&.v=8

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