benchmark Posted October 19, 2012 Share Posted October 19, 2012 Bing lost 200M less than last year! Great Success! Seriously though that is good. I know that they are spending a lot on Bing and are quite serious. I just lost out on one good candidate to Bing team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myth465 Posted October 22, 2012 Share Posted October 22, 2012 I am seriously considering getting a Chromebook and selling my Nexus 7, anyone else? MSFT should be very worried. Windows 7 might be my last major OS purchase, and I may migrate to Google Docs and Evernote to replace onenote. Aside from that everything else I use is open source or a web app. Interesting times. Also I think the Chromebook has stolen the thunder from Surface. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest valueInv Posted October 22, 2012 Share Posted October 22, 2012 Also I think the Chromebook has stolen the thunder from Surface. Why? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myth465 Posted October 22, 2012 Share Posted October 22, 2012 Price point, cheap is cheap. MSFT needs to get with the program and stop trying to be the market leader premium product. If someone is dropping $550 to $600 they will likely simple get an IPAD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest valueInv Posted October 22, 2012 Share Posted October 22, 2012 Price point, cheap is cheap. MSFT needs to get with the program and stop trying to be the market leader premium product. If someone is dropping $550 to $600 they will likely simple get an IPAD. Chromebooks have always been cheaper, but have gotten little traction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myth465 Posted October 22, 2012 Share Posted October 22, 2012 I think the Chromebook will be a nice toy for techies. My point is they, Andriod, and Apple are breaking the links to installed apps and moving people towards the cloud. My second point is Samsung, Acer, and Amazon are all bringing out quality devices at very cheap price points. MSFT is no Apple and will have to offer more for less, not more for more... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palantir Posted October 22, 2012 Share Posted October 22, 2012 I think the Chromebook will be a nice toy for techies. My point is they, Andriod, and Apple are breaking the links to installed apps and moving people towards the cloud. Uh....in what sense are they "moving people towards the cloud"? Android is an installed OS that uses downloaded apps, not virtual apps offered "over the cloud". Same with iOS. I think people will pay for the Surface if it is a good product. That's been the message in the industry so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross812 Posted October 22, 2012 Share Posted October 22, 2012 I went with my girlfriend to the mall this weekend, which means she went shopping and I tried to find something to do to avoid Sherpa duty hauling clothing treasures around the store. I went into Best Buy to check out the Asus Transformer Infinity Tablet having sold an iPad 2 last week. Apparently the Best Buy I went to put out all of their displays for Windows 8 the night before. Everything out was available for pre-order only and could be picked up on the 26th. I went in pretty convinced from online review that the Infinity Tablet was going to replace my iPad. I was floored by the variety of offerings running Windows 8. Ultrabooks, Ultrabooks with touch screens, all in one touch screen desktops, windows rt tablets, windows 8 tablets, convertible tablet ultrabook hybrids (this will be my next device), and run of the mill laptops. I spent about an two hours in there tinkering with windows 8 and talking with a couple of the geek squad guys who were trained on Windows 8 that morning. Windows 8 has a bit of a learning curve but I could accomplish anything I can on Windows 7 (which I use 50+ hours a week) after about 45 minutes of trying to figure it out. First of all I’m quite convinced that the iPad is in trouble for anything resembling business. The new convertible tablet/ultrabook hybrids are amazing! One I played with albeit not an ultrabook (it had the new atom processor Z2760-hopefully that is the right number) ran a full version of Windows 8, had an 11.6” touch screen that detached from keyboard dock, weighed 1.6 lbs, 9mm thick, and got 8-9 hours of battery life in tablet mode and 14 hours if attached to the keyboard (the keyboard had an additional battery). To put it in perspective the screen was 51% larger than the iPad 3, .1 mm thicker, and weighs 2.5 ounces more. In addition the new tablet runs legacy software and has full size usb ports, hdmi, and a micro sd reader. All in all, I was very impressed by the new offerings from Microsoft and their OEMs. My girlfriend really liked one of the convertible tablets. She was excited that there were tablets that she could use with a mouse and keyboard when she needed to run her Adobe CS5 programs or was blogging, then could detach the keyboard when she wanted to read books or surf the web. Windows 8 may make a splash. We will have to see what public opinion has to say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palantir Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 A must read article! Steven Sinofsky Is The Heir Apparent http://articles.businessinsider.com/2012-02-28/tech/31106885_1_steve-ballmer-windows-team-steven-sinofsky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alpha231616967560 Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 Is it me or is Sinofsky really trying pretty hard to emulate Captain Jean Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise? I like that he is not afraid of having an approach to software development that differs from the herd, and he gets excellent results. At least he is not afraid. I think that has been the most resonant criticism of Ballmer, is that he is a deer in the headlights. Sinofsky is pretty much the opposite, which has its own perils, but seems like what the Dr. ordered for this time. We'll see how W8 does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
txlaw Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 Cnet article on Sinofsky: http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-57536905-75/steven-sinofsky-microsofts-controversial-mr-windows-8/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palantir Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 I like that he is not afraid of having an approach to software development that differs from the herd, and he gets excellent results. At least he is not afraid. I think that has been the most resonant criticism of Ballmer, is that he is a deer in the headlights. Sinofsky is pretty much the opposite, which has its own perils, but seems like what the Dr. ordered for this time. SteveSi seems to have his detractors. That being said, he has a track record of delivering good product in MSFT's most important divisions - Office and Windows, which is difficult to argue with. Who could be more qualified to be CEO than that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest rimm_never_sleeps Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 the job of a ceo is allocating capital. those people aren't easy to find. ask Yahoo. msft BOD is operating under the philosophy of "devil you know" with Ballmer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alpha231616967560 Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 the job of a ceo is allocating capital. those people aren't easy to find. ask Yahoo. msft BOD is operating under the philosophy of "devil you know" with Ballmer. And "devil you're getting to know" with Sinofsky? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palantir Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 the job of a ceo is allocating capital. those people aren't easy to find. ask Yahoo. msft BOD is operating under the philosophy of "devil you know" with Ballmer. Only if he's an investment manager. I surely don't want Tim Cook focusing his time on "allocating capital"! I hope SteveSi isn't obsessed with "allocating capital" either... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest rimm_never_sleeps Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 the job of a ceo is allocating capital. those people aren't easy to find. ask Yahoo. msft BOD is operating under the philosophy of "devil you know" with Ballmer. Only if he's an investment manager. I surely don't want Tim Cook focusing his time on "allocating capital"! I hope SteveSi isn't obsessed with "allocating capital" either... you certainly have every right to disagree with warren buffett on the role of the ceo. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palantir Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 I'm happy to exercise that right. 8) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mysticdrew Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 the job of a ceo is allocating capital. those people aren't easy to find. ask Yahoo. msft BOD is operating under the philosophy of "devil you know" with Ballmer. Only if he's an investment manager. I surely don't want Tim Cook focusing his time on "allocating capital"! I hope SteveSi isn't obsessed with "allocating capital" either... you certainly have every right to disagree with warren buffett on the role of the ceo. :) Allocating capital is a key part of a ceo and or managements duties - I'm not talking about allocating capital from an investment management perspective but from a running a business perspective. Much of the decisions revolve around where to put in resources to run/maintain/grow the business. Spending money on R&D, deciding which capital projects to pursue and how much to spend, which departments get more headcount, deciding which products get more money to grow, how much to spend on marketing campaigns and which marketing campaigns. A lot of it comes down to where to spread out your capital and resources. Capital allocation is much more than just should I dividend or buyback stock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrankArabia Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 I believe with tech firms, the CEO's vision of where the company should be matters a bit more than say at a bank like Wells Fargo. Jobs could hardly be called a "capital allocator" but rather a genius in making products.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mysticdrew Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 I believe with tech firms, the CEO's vision of where the company should be matters a bit more than say at a bank like Wells Fargo. Jobs could hardly be called a "capital allocator" but rather a genius in making products.... But he did allocate capital. He didn't make the products himself. He had to devote resources to a R&D team, a product team, a marketing team. He had to figure out which teams to put those resources into and which areas to cut those resources (he cut down a lot of product skus as an example). Those are all forms of capital allocation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest rimm_never_sleeps Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 I believe with tech firms, the CEO's vision of where the company should be matters a bit more than say at a bank like Wells Fargo. Jobs could hardly be called a "capital allocator" but rather a genius in making products.... he certainly was a capital allocator. and apple would have a much higher stock price than $625 if he had taken Buffett's advice and bought back stock instead of just letting it sit there and do nothing on his balance sheet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palantir Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 I believe with tech firms, the CEO's vision of where the company should be matters a bit more than say at a bank like Wells Fargo. Jobs could hardly be called a "capital allocator" but rather a genius in making products.... But he did allocate capital. He didn't make the products himself. He had to devote resources to a R&D team, a product team, a marketing team. He had to figure out which teams to put those resources into and which areas to cut those resources (he cut down a lot of product skus as an example). Those are all forms of capital allocation. So is an NFL quarterback a "ball-allocator"? By your logic, everybody is a "capital allocator" of some sort. I just allocated some capital to buy some doughnuts. Questionable decision btw, I'm unnecessarily increasing my asset size as well as long term liabilities. I might need to allocate some time (another form of capital) at the gym so I can increase "operating efficiency" and achieve "restructuring". ;D Only in the broadest and therefore most trivial sense is a CEO a "capital allocator". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mysticdrew Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 I believe with tech firms, the CEO's vision of where the company should be matters a bit more than say at a bank like Wells Fargo. Jobs could hardly be called a "capital allocator" but rather a genius in making products.... But he did allocate capital. He didn't make the products himself. He had to devote resources to a R&D team, a product team, a marketing team. He had to figure out which teams to put those resources into and which areas to cut those resources (he cut down a lot of product skus as an example). Those are all forms of capital allocation. So is an NFL quarterback a "ball-allocator"? By your logic, everybody is a "capital allocator" of some sort. I just allocated some capital to buy some doughnuts. Questionable decision btw, I'm unnecessarily increasing my asset size as well as long term liabilities. I might need to allocate some time (another form of capital) at the gym so I can increase "operating efficiency" and achieve "restructuring". ;D Only in the broadest and therefore most trivial sense is a CEO a "capital allocator". And yes I guess you can call a quarterback a ball allocator. He decides what to do with the ball each time. And trivial as it might sound yes you are in your examples. Also, are you saying those are the only decisions you've made in your life? You've never decided how to spend your years or money in any significant way? No house purchases? No stock purchases? Other examples of allocating capital by Jobs - deciding which execs he wants to keep around reward with significant pay packages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palantir Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 Point is - the notion of the CEO as primarily a capital allocator is so broad it is trivial. Everyone is a capital allocator of some sort! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest valueInv Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 The most detailed Surface review you'll ever see: http://techcrunch.com/2012/10/23/microsoft-surface-rt-review/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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