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Comment: Re:Microsoft had won against entrenched players. (Score 1) 248

by jafac (#46425025) Attached to: Steve Ballmer Blew Up At the Microsoft Board Before Retiring

Zune wasn't rejected because it was late to market.

It was rejected because Microsoft refused to give up on their lockin, and make the system open so that users could play any non-DRM'd format. Like it or not, the enforced DRM presents a serious usability issue for non-technical users. (Technical users don't care about usability problems - but they appreciate "slick" when it's there, and they appreciate ways to work around "only plays protected .WMV files"). When grandma's Zune won't play the files that little Johnny ripped off his CD or Napster, they don't give a fuck who's rights are being violated. All they know is "shit's broken".

Add to this; Microsoft was far-behind in terms of technical capabilities, compared to other players. (video, audio quality, etc - and later, iPod touch with apps and all that). Microsoft could have sunk enough R&D into Zune to do all that. But I think MS never really believed that they could succeed.

Comment: Re:What a surprise. (Score 1) 248

by jafac (#46424989) Attached to: Steve Ballmer Blew Up At the Microsoft Board Before Retiring

The worst part about metro is that it's straight-up ADWARE. Right there on the main screen of the computer, delivered by the OS developer.

You can remove it, you can change it, but by default, Microsoft decides what "tiles" are on your screen, and what gets displayed. The user wants an application-picker. Metro is like a billboard, when the user needs a dashboard - and it's no surprise that drivers go careening into the guardrails every time they sit down behind the Windows 8 wheel.

Comment: Re:What a surprise. (Score 1) 248

by jafac (#46424949) Attached to: Steve Ballmer Blew Up At the Microsoft Board Before Retiring

In general, CEO's are the "rock star" of the business world today.

But I would say that MS was an exception. Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer founded that company. They were executives because they were there at the start. Not because they were charismatic, or even technically competent. All they did was oversee the OS's pillaging of IBM's former market dominance. (look at IBM now, lol!).

If you look at Microsoft's products, "charisma" is not a factor in the equation. There's lots of "attempted charisma" that falls far short of the self-scrutiny that is required to attain real charisma. Here and there, Microsoft does shine, technically. (like Active Directory). But the business-side of it was run basically like organized crime (lockin). And that put a nasty stink on everything that came out of Redmond. Ballmer was pretty handy with the gangster stuff. But that's about it.

Comment: Re:Ballmer is supposed to be a nice guy (Score 1) 248

by jafac (#46424911) Attached to: Steve Ballmer Blew Up At the Microsoft Board Before Retiring

"inherited" is right.

The only reason he was ever employed at Microsoft in the first place, is because he was Bill Gates' card-playing business-major friend in college. He was a co-founder of Microsoft. If Bill Gates didn't know him, I am pretty sure that this obtuse, bullying gangster would never have had the technical chops to get in to such a position. I have to say one thing about Microsoft is that they were so successful, even Ballmer's intimate involvement could not sink them.

Comment: Re:the real shortage (Score 1) 491

by jafac (#46349085) Attached to: Do We Really Have a Shortage of STEM Workers?

Companies are sitting on an historically mammoth pile of cash (in general) :

Why are they being so stingy?

They have realized that it is far more profitable to invest in CONGRESSMEN, than it is to invest in their own labor-pool.

"Beware of programmers carrying screwdrivers." -- Chip Salzenberg