If you’ve been wondering what Microsoft’s Software+Services strategy is for its Windows Mobile platform, the answer should become a lot clearer in another couple weeks. Microsoft is set to take the wraps off these three services at the Mobile World Congress conference in Barcelona in mid-February.
My post about Microsoft’s post-Windows operating system, code-named “Midori,” elicited some interesting responses–and a few potential new clues over the past week.
“Hey! Ho! Time for Ballmer to Go,” a Wired.com headline proclaimed on Tuesday. My rejoinder: “Hell, no. There are no Softies ready for a promo.” Wired’s story attempts to make a case for CEO Steve Ballmer taking the hits for Vista’s less-than-stellar market reception, as well as the so-far-unconsummated Yahoo-Microsoft merger. “Other CEOs have gotten canned for lesser crimes,” Wired concludes. There’s just one problem, as Wired notes in an aside. No one’s ready to step up within the company and fill Ballmer’s big shoes.
Companies (at least publicly traded ones) are beholden to shareholders. But they also are beholden to their employees. And while most Softies are afraid to state for the record that they think Microsoft should abandon its takeover of Yahoo, that opinion is a real and prevailing sentiment among many in the Microsoft ranks.
Microsoft’s touch-sensitive tabletop is about to get a spherical makeover. Microsoft officials have been talking up the company’s plans to introduce more consumer-focused form factors of its Surface multi-touch tabletop. They’ve said future iterations of Microsoft’s Surface multi-touch technology will be available as part of next-generation PCs, cellphones, desks, kitchen counters and even walls in consumers’ homes over the next five to 10 years.
On Feb. 14, Microsoft announced a corporate reorganization affecting many of its divisions. As with any Microsoft early-year reorg–which typically occur after the company’s fiscal midyear reviews–there are winners and losers. As of today’s reorg announcement, a bunch of execs got fancy new titles and promotions. A few veterans are out–or on their way out. Keep in mind that some of the execs mentioned in today’s official press release from Microsoft actually announced their departures months ago. Microsoft swept up all of the big comings and goings into today’s announcement for simplicity’s sake (not to mention to keep the noise about executive departures to a minimum).
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