Steve Ballmer Steps Down

Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, announced that he would step down in the next twelve months. Folks have been quick to respond, some cheering and some asking the question: Was he pushed?

The almost-unanimous view of Ballmer's stewardship has been one of dismay if not outright failure. People cite Microsoft's delay into the tablet market, the poor reception of Windows 8, and other products such as the Kin and Zune. (With an occasional reference to "Microsoft Bob".)

I say "almost-unanimous" because I dissent from this view. Yes, Microsoft did enter the tablet market later than Apple and Google. Yes, Windows 8 is quite different from previous versions. But Microsoft has bee giving its customers what they want, and in that they are not to be considered a failure.

Microsoft's customers are mostly businesses, and they are a self-centered lot. I have seen several businesses respond to new versions of Windows, and the responses have been uniform: make this new version work like the old version.

Businesses, for the most part, do not want a new version of Windows. Businesses want to go about their business and not worry about computers or GUIs or databases. Many businesses today run Windows XP, seeing no need to move to later versions.

The complaints about Microsoft seem inconsistent. People criticize Microsoft for delivering the systems that they want, while also complain that Microsoft delivers nothing new. And now that Microsoft has delivered something new, people complain about that.

I think of Windows RT as a suitable operating system for tablets. I consider the Surface RT tablet a competitor in the iPad and Android tablets. A bit pricey perhaps, yet good technology. I consider the Surface Pro a compromise tablet, a transition from the classic Windows environment to Windows RT.

The lack of apps for the Surface RT is a problem, but only for the consumer market, and I view the Surface RT as a device for the office. In the office, it is not consumer apps that are important but the apps used by the business, many of them in-house apps. Businesses will create their own apps, just as they have created their own documents and spreadsheets.

I look on the Surface as a successful product. I see Windows RT as a valid path forward. I see Windows 8 as an interesting mix of the old and new technologies.

Given these accomplishments, I view Steve Ballmer as a success. He moved Microsoft into new directions and introduced new products. Microsoft's products did not take the world by storm, or establish a new monopoly. But they are worthy contenders.