CEO Nadella promises to shake-up Microsoft's culture: 'Nothing is off the table'

Started by 7H3, Jul 11, 2014, 04:48 AM

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7H3

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2452820/nadella-on-microsofts-culture-change-nothing-is-off-the-table.html

Quote
Microsoft staffers worldwide should buckle their seat belts because a big culture shakeup is in the works at the company.

In a long letter sent to employees on Thursday, CEO Satya Nadella said that he and his lieutenants are taking "important steps to visibly change our culture."

Microsoft has historically had a reputation as being a tough place to work, due to infighting, staff fragmentation and cutthroat office politics. Steve Ballmer, Nadella's predecessor, set in motion his own culture-changing effort, called One Microsoft, shortly before announcing his retirement.

It's not clear from Nadella's letter whether his plan builds on One Microsoft or sets it aside. Whatever the case, Nadella uses strong language to convey the need for the company to function in a more effective way.


http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/ceo/index.html
^the letter from CEO Nadella^
"It's hip to be square." - Eurogamer<br />"Shut up its art!" -Legend

7H3

Quote from: Nadella Letter
I also want to share some additional thoughts on Xbox and its importance to Microsoft. As a large company, I think it's critical to define the core, but it's important to make smart choices on other businesses in which we can have fundamental impact and success. The single biggest digital life category, measured in both time and money spent, in a mobile-first world is gaming. We are fortunate to have Xbox in our family to go after this opportunity with unique and bold innovation. Microsoft will continue to vigorously innovate and delight gamers with Xbox. Xbox is one of the most-revered consumer brands, with a growing online community and service, and a raving fan base. We also benefit from many technologies flowing from our gaming efforts into our productivity efforts - core graphics and NUI in Windows, speech recognition in Skype, camera technology in Kinect for Windows, Azure cloud enhancements for GPU simulation and many more. Bottom line, we will continue to innovate and grow our fan base with Xbox while also creating additive business value for Microsoft.
"It's hip to be square." - Eurogamer<br />"Shut up its art!" -Legend

Legend

Probably a good thing.

Microsoft has been doing great at making money, but they aren't in a position to sit with their feet up.

7H3


Probably a good thing.

Microsoft has been doing great at making money, but they aren't in a position to sit with their feet up.

Hasn't most of their money made as of late been from services mostly to corporations? In order to continue this trend, and do better with their hardware (phones/tablets) they do need some changes. Personally I don't use a tablet or really want one as I can do all I need via my PC or smart phone currently. However, I would probably get a Windows tablet for myself if I wanted a tablet. I have 3 or so android tablets in my house already though.
"It's hip to be square." - Eurogamer<br />"Shut up its art!" -Legend

darkknightkryta


Hasn't most of their money made as of late been from services mostly to corporations? In order to continue this trend, and do better with their hardware (phones/tablets) they do need some changes. Personally I don't use a tablet or really want one as I can do all I need via my PC or smart phone currently. However, I would probably get a Windows tablet for myself if I wanted a tablet. I have 3 or so android tablets in my house already though.

That's where the lion's share of their money has been coming from.  They don't even make nearly as much money with their OS anymore (It's become a means to their business solutions).  Though one thing Nadella is missing is that the "mobile" bubble is just about ready to burst.  "Games" on phones have been relegated to those free to play/spend money on replenishing your stamina to continue playing.  I'm not sure they'd benefit much from it.  There's also not much meaning to invest into apps for marketing anymore.

Raven


That's where the lion's share of their money has been coming from.  They don't even make nearly as much money with their OS anymore (It's become a means to their business solutions).  Though one thing Nadella is missing is that the "mobile" bubble is just about ready to burst.  "Games" on phones have been relegated to those free to play/spend money on replenishing your stamina to continue playing.  I'm not sure they'd benefit much from it.  There's also not much meaning to invest into apps for marketing anymore.


I was thinking the same thing. The boat already sailed for mobile gaming and it's due to hit that iceberg soon enough. I think what Microsoft is going to realize soon about the console market, if they haven't already, is that the 7th gen was a fluke and generations where more than one console was actually successful don't happen often. The PlayStation 4 is probably going to dominate this gen and there is nothing Microsoft can do about it at this point. What makes it worse for them is that Sony is not likely to slip up even for the next gen and it already has massive consumer faith and the right media attention. The brand name has been popular since the mid-90's when it first came out and Sony's history of crushing the competition in the console space is well known. The fact that they came back in what should have been a completely disastrous generation for them definitely illustrates Sony's strength. Had it not been for the PS3's really bad start, they could have very well won the last gen too.

The point is, Microsoft is facing down an opponent who just simply rocks it in the console market and will probably see another reign in that space for the next couple generations. Microsoft isn't Nintendo. They don't need the console gaming industry. They could drop their console efforts and be no worse off. It would probably be better for them than smashing their face against the wall. They had one successful generation so far and it required them to do absolutely everything right at the right time and they still came in last at the very end anyways. Microsoft may actually be better served by focusing on PC gaming again and other forms of interactive entertainment. The console industry as it is will not last forever anyways.