Category: Bill Gates

The iPad Juggernaut …..

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I guess it was bound to happen.  It is something I have seen many times before.  It is annoying, frustrating, and in some corners just plain pathetic.  Addressing the competitive threat by any means necessary.  even when it is obviously desperate.  It’s these type of corporate responses that drive me nuts. Recently Microsoft (my old company) has come under a lot of pressure to come up with a Tablet strategy.  I should add Microsoft has had for years a Tablet.  It was one of Bill Gates’ pet projects,  They just need a strategy that works.   The Microsoft response is a iPad battle card to help Microsoft partners and its field sales force sell Windows 7 slates in the enterprise, while combating the threat from the iPad.

Let me go back a bit in time and just say I have seen these battle cards before.  It was pretty standard practice at Microsoft across all battle lines and often they were very helpful.  However after the successful debut of the Apple iPhone I received in my mail box a little envelope that contained my Windows Phone 6 versus the Apple iPhone battle card (I am serious…I am not making this up).  What were some of the advantages of Windows Phone 6?  It had mobile Office, Sharepoint Support, better Exchange Synch etc..If you read the link earlier you will by now realize that whomever the marketing manager is who put the Apple iPad battle card together has mastered the art of copy and paste.

Do not get me wrong for a minute, I do not envy the marketing Manager who had the responsibility of taking this on.  It is one of those things that when nothing is happening on the product side you still have to generate some sort of response, the worst thing is to be quiet. And to their credit they created some really nice slide ware. I will be however surprised to see if any of my former mates in the Microsoft field sales force ever have the guts to present this to a customer or even regurgitate it over drinks or dinner with a client.

The slide, though intended for partners, demonstrates the focus on the enterprise and the disengagement in general from the consumer market place.  I should also add this did not come out of Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices division.  If it had it would have a far greater emphasis on the general market.  The Windows Division is outside all of that its own $20 billion juggernaut.  We call that power.    The slides do highlight the success the iPad is having in the enterprise space as more and more users want access to their corporate networks from their iPad.  It’s the reverse of what happened with Windows , which first took off in the business world before penetrating the home.  But times have changed and with new devices hitting the market at an ever-increasing pace and a much more affordable price big sea changes in the enterprise often come from the outside in versus the inside out.  People want to be cool even when they are in he office.  Even if they are an accountant.

Finally the biggest issue I hear these days is people at the Big M are tired of following and not leading (the exception being the xBox team with Kinect).  They want to be out in front of the industry.  But if you read my last blog on Facebook I highlighted how similar they were to Microsoft, when it was a younger company.  Now it’s not like people at Microsoft are really old, no far worse, they are middle-aged.  They have kids, they live through their kids, they have divorces, they are joining AA, they buy expensive sports cars, they try really hard physical activities that they used to be able to do, they buy iPads…I think you are getting the picture.

In the mean time the Tablet market keeps chugging along as highlighted in Apples recent earnings announcement.  There are other entrants that are also gaining momentum, like Android (we should seem new slide ware shortly).  I admit I was skeptical when the iPad came out.  I felt like it was just a giant OS, but there is a beauty in having the same core code between your phone and your tablet.  The applications are easy to write for both.  The iPad seems to be gaining momentum as it creates a scenario where a more powerful device can be useful and mobile.  There are a lot of scenario where having a monitor is useful and even desired, but with so much time spent on the web there are a lot of scenarios where it does not, just look at all the useful features of the latest Facebook mobile apps.  How many people out there are just checking into their favorite Starbuck’s? I need no mouse or keyboard for that I just need my finger.  The only way to compete with iPad is to get ahead of it, but once a boulder starts to slide down a mountain it i s hard to stop.

Good Night and Good Luck!

Hans Henrik Hoffmann January 25th, 2011

Facebook

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With the movie “The Social Network” winning big at the Golden Globe Award maybe it’s a good time to  look at the current landscape in the industry one of the glamor children is without question, Facebook. It’s easy to look at Facebook and see the appeal.  For starters they have 500 million users.   It allows you to connect with people from your past life and your present life. It has the ease of use thing down so any person logging on to the internet can quickly get on to start benefiting from the experience.  Finally it’s fun.  But as always in technology there are bigger things at stake.  Underneath it all is a booming business and an opportunity to define the future of technology.   It has, as I have called it, the velocity of business.  With each wave they come bigger and faster.  We started with Microsoft.  Then Google.  Now we enter the Facebook era.

Like any great business in the technology sector it starts young.  Usually around the college age.  Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg sounds like a Bill Gates clone.  Teenage computer wiz, goes to Harvard, drops out, makes his first billion.  It’s a pretty simple formula.  The thing that Facebook has so in common with Microsoft and Google is that in its early years, and Facebook is still there, the employees of Facebook are young.  If I joined Facebook (I am 44) I would probably double the average age of the company.  All great technology companies in the early days have that singular focus, from top to bottom.  They come in late and stay late.  They eat like crap.  They have no sense of fashion.  They do not have families to go home to,  They have but one mission, create the future of tomorrow.  Watch ant CNBC special, read any Facebook blog, you name it and you will see Facebook’s culture is exactly that.  Do not worry that these young kids will dominate the world for the next  twenty years, because in twenty years they will be middle-aged.

The great things about youth is it envisions a greater and brighter future for the world.That is part of being young, that desire and hunger to make a difference.  Facebook started simply as a way for Harvard Students to connect with one another and then it spread to other Universities.  As is so often said, big things start small.  Then the young guns started to think big.  We can bring people’s past to the present.  Beyond friends we can link companies, provide news, drive political discourse etc..Was there a successful campaign run in 2008 that did not leverage Facebook to some degree?  the fact that Barack Obama had this huge grass-roots movement started by the youth of America was instrumental in getting him elected and Facebook was a big part of that .  These things don’t happen by accident like people would like to think.  In the background is a small office in the Silicon Valley, that is young and thinking big and driving these changes in how society functions.

So why the fear by so many companies of Facebook?  Microsoft may be an investor in Facebook, but they worry. Google is terrified of Facebook.  One thing is mass.  Today depending in who and what day you listen to Facebook has between 500 million and 600 million subscribers.  A great many are active.  they spend time on Facebook and not just a few seconds to type in a search criteria but to share comments, to upload pictures, view others comments, to say the “like” a particular post, play games, etc..When people spend a lot of time at a particular location on the internet than the obvious question becomes “how do we monetize it?”  With Facebook it now has developers writing games for Facebook.  Facebook has its own instant message client.  Looking forward you can see search being a larger component of the user experience, I think this alone would keep Google executives awake at night.  the more developers writing applications for Facebook, the less time for Windows.  I would assume a lot of applications for Facebook would not reside on your desktop, but would sit out on the internet thus making Facebook a really great cloud computing platform and putting it in the early lead of consumer facing cloud based applications (as it currently stands today Facebook is a cloud based application).

Finally Facebook has taken advantage of current technology trends to extend its reach, specifically I am referring to mobility.  If you look at your Facebook posts today how many posts are coming from a mobile device?  As Apple launched a new era of mobile apps (yes there were application for mobile devices before but to find them and load them was painful and that is being kind), Facebook took full advantage.  Now you see posts coming from iPhones, Android Devices and Blackberry’s.  The beauty of mobility is freedom and Facebook seems to add nicely to that user experience.  Because in the end we want our lives, in particular our social lives to be care free.

Looking forward it is easy to project now that Facebook will be a major force, but as is so evident in technology things continue to change and things our changing faster than ever.  It took Microsoft twenty years to get to Windows 95.  It was a singular focus that drove that vision.  That kind of commitment, that type of time line is a thing of the past.  As  is evident with Google then with Facebook the internet gives rise to new power players in less than a decade.  It’s important to have a long-term  outlook in business but the question these days is how long do you look forward?  If you look too far out some company may pass you by before you get there.  For now the ball is in Facebook’s court, is there a young kid with an idea with a vision that will pass Facebook?  In all likelihood, based on what we know, the answer is yes.   With that enjoy I hope you enjoyed this post which many of you will access from…Facebook.

Good Night and Good Luck

Hans Henrik Hoffmann,  January 17, 2011

Generating “Buzz”

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With the Consumer Electronic Show just having been completed I think it is a good time to talk about one of those things that every technology provider strives for which is to generate a certain amount of “buzz” around a future product.  It is so very important to the success of any new product that people begin  to talk about it before the product is released.  Certainly out of this years show there was a lot of noise generated around Google’s Android platform, with companies making a big push to showcase upcoming releases of both phones and tablets.  Companies like Verizon, Samsung and Motorola did a lot to push the new releases of Android based tablets, pinning future success on the release of the product.

There are some good historical examples.  The “buzz” generated around Microsoft Windows 95 or the “buzz” created around the Apple iPhone.  In each case you had people lined up at midnight to get the product.  This is great stuff, but there is another type of “buzz” that gets created underneath all that and that is creating the excitement in the developer community.  The people who make the cool apps for the Apple app store or Google store.   Without developers extending and creating a market place an application can have a very short life span

My last role at Microsoft there was a commitment that everyone had to sign up about creating “buzz” in the development community for Microsoft Developer tools .  To clarify for those with no Microsoft background every employee signs up for a “commitment”, which is a goal that will be either fulfilled or not fulfilled come review time at the end of the Microsoft fiscal year.  This determines salary increase, bonus and promotion.  Anybody reading this probably has the same question is what the hell does “generating buzz”  mean?  Being developer land, my first thought was “good luck…with that”.  How are less than 100 people out in the field going to generate excitement around Microsoft Developer technologies, especially when there are so many dependencies? 

To be fair to create buzz goes beyond assigning a few people it really takes a commitment beyond a few individuals, to multiple organizations to external partners.  One of the keys to Apple’s iPhone success was not just the whisper campaign they were generating.  They also had a behemoth like AT&T behind them and they were fully bought in, up to their neck.  Not like the dipping their toes into the water effort they did with the Windows Phone 7 launch.

Another key success factor is just having a product, because it is the end game , it is where you are trying to take the consumer.  When the product launched there is a certain level of satisfaction in having got there.  Sometimes tech companies are guilty of trying to generate excitement without really telling the end customer what to be excited about.  Usually it is to try to get people excited about the company.  Coming from my background at Microsoft the last years seemed to be spent trying to recapture the glory of yester year.

Having a certain level of “buzz” is the difference between having momentum and not having momentum.  When you have the ear of the consumer and the press then a new phenomena sets in, which is “what is next?”  In todays world Apple certainly has tha momentum.  They have the iPod, iPhone, MacBooks,i Pad, Apple Store…they really are in the zone right now here they are setting the industry direction.  Google now is starting to get beyond just being a search company with first Android and next Chrome. Facebook maybe has more momentum than anybody as under their CEO Mark Zuckerburg, they have that “it’s a young mans game” syndrome going.  Similar to what Bill Gate’s had back in the 80’s and 90’s.  It’s the difference between rolling the boulder up the hill or down the hill.

Finally with regards to CES and why it has become what it has. A big reason is that technology is pervasive in everybody’s lives today.  It is not restricted to the “nerd” or “geek” or “hobbyist”.  We all have technology in some capacity of our lives.  It is our cell phones, flat screen TV’s, Tivo, game console’s, Roomba’s, etc.. The Consumer Electronics Show is about showing off how technology is going to further enhance our day-to-day lives in the near future.  Any company participating better not be showing off what is already available.  Attendees want to see the coming years Christmas purchase, not what they already have.  They want the participating companies to wow them.  In short they want some “buzz”.

Good Night and Good Luck

Hans Henrik Hoffmann January 10th, 2011

The end of the Gates Era

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Bill Gates equals Microsoft.  No statement about a corporation is more true than that single statement.  Bill Gates is an industry icon, one of the legends who helped build the industry.  There are many Steve Wozniak, Steve Jobs, Michael Dell, Ray Ozzie, Paul Allen to name but a few.  But possibly, with the exception of Steve Jobs, no one individual has meant more to the success of an individual company than Bill Gates.  Which was why when he left Microsoft it left such an enormous empty space in the company.

In my early days at Microsoft, when I was new to the industry and new to computing, I sat in a cubicle managing the front lines of customer service.  I would receive a hundred calls a day ranging from feature questions about Word for Windows 1.1 to replacement parts for a MACH80 board.  It was trial by fire.  It was fantastic. To educate us the Product managers would often come over from Redmond to our building in Bellevue and provide us the latest details of a recently launched product or an upcoming product release.  In most instances they would talk about a recent product review they had with Bill Gates as during those days of a smaller company he was engaged in every aspect of product development.  Despite not being those meetings, in still felt like everyone in the company had a close personal connection to Bill Gates.

The Gates era did not end when he retired to focus on the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, it really ended when he stepped down as CEO and handed the reigns to his designated number two, Steve Ballmer.  I remember stepping off  of a plane in Atlanta seeing a TV screen right as I entered Hartsfield Airport terminal a  CNN Breaking News Alert with Bill announcing his plans to turn over the running of the day-to-day business of the company so he could focus more on setting the development strategy for Microsoft.    Looking back I could understand.  This was coming on the heels of the DOJ trial that weighed heavily on Bill (and everyone at the company) as it was not so much an attack on Microsoft as it was a personal attack on him.  He was tired.  In some ways it was a good thing as the companies strategy  at the time internally was getting very political as different groups pursued similar goals with different views of what technology to utilize.  Groups were fighting amongst one another. Bill quickly came in and settled those disputes as despite the change in roles Bill’s word was still law. 

During the next 8 years Bill’s voice became much softer at Microsoft. He was  no longer the front man in talking with the press and representing Microsoft.  Steve recognizing the growth at Microsoft set out upon a path of creating a dynamic corporate structure.  While Bill was always focused on technology and the promise of what it could deliver, Steve was reading Jack Welch and how he could create the next GE.  At the annual Microsoft Global Sales Summit, where the highlight was always the closing Bill Gates talk, it was now replaced with the prancing gorilla, Steve Ballmer.  Where the talk was usually a presentation of where Microsoft was technically and where it was going.  It was now replaced with talks of responsible corporate governance.  Technical junkies do not respond well to that type of mantra.  It is no wonder since Microsoft has seen a significant “brain drain” of talent.  The list is long – Paul Maritz, Ray Ozzie, Adam Bosworth, Bill Baker, Todd Nielsen, Brad Silverberg, Cameron Myrvold, Robbie Bach, Brian Valentine, Jim Alchin, Kai-Fu Lee, etc…More importantly since he has left it has been much harder for Microsoft to recruit top-level talent, as Bill was a great recruiter.

When he finally did leave, it was without much fanfare, outside of a funny Bill Gates last day video.  Bill had agonized with his wife Melinda and when he announced he provided a long lag time before he actually left – a little less than 2 years.  He checked out long before that day.  The reigns would be handed over to Ray Ozzie (who has sin ce departed) and Craig Mundie.  What has been left is a gaping hole devoid of leadership.  Microsoft has struggled with the weight of its own identity and its own history.  It was probably unavoidable that without Bill there would be no one individual or group of people who could fill the void left by a legend. 

In the end what has been most missed at Microsoft in Bill’s departure is the calming influence he could have with his words and classic emails.  The ability to craft a strategy that utilized all our assets and take it to the future in a cohesive strategy.  In doing so he inspired those beneath him to follow and follow with passion.  What Bill is doing now with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is monumental.  The fact that he is accumulated wealth that he has decided to try to change some of the big issues and challenges in the world should be admired.   But can Microsoft survive without his guidance may be the true legacy of the Gates era.

Good Night and Good Luck

Hans Henrik Hoffmann Dec 13th, 2010

Technical Vision

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I was drawn recently to an article in the InternetNews announcing that Paul Maritz, current CEO at VMWare was the recipient, for the second time,  of the Internetnews.com CEO Vision Award. Midway through my career at Microsoft I had a one on one meeting with Paul to prepare him for a briefing with one of my customers CEO’s.  At the time he was definitely one of the sharpest people we had at Microsoft and a close confidant of Bill Gates.  He would be a primary driver of Microsoft’s Server and Tools Business, creating the next billion dollar business for Microsoft.  He then went on to create something called Dotnet before retiring and riding off  into the sunset.   However great technical visionaries can never sit on the sidelines too long, they always comeback. To this day, as is evident. he retains that unique technical and business ability to see the direction the industry is headed and get out in front of the curve.

Companies come and go in the tech industry but one thing is certain those that can see the mid-term and long-term horizon stand a much better chance of success than those that simply just follow the lead of others.  A lot of companies start with a mission statement – most I believe is because a company thinks they must have a mission statement.  In the world of tech there are two pieces to a successful mission statement.   First it has to be long terms and have an end goal.  A good example is  the original Microsoft mission statement created back in the mid seventies “A PC on every desktop and in every home”.  One it is long-term it would take over 20 years to realize this dream  Another thing I like about this is nowhere does it mention the business Microsoft is in, software.  Software is implied because of the use of the term PC.  The second piece of a great mission statement is having great and credible people behind it.  In this case you had Bill Gates and Paul Allen and a whole bunch of great technical luminaries who were part of the company at the time (including Paul Maritz),

What if you don’t have those two things?  Well the same company I just referenced does not have those things today.  They live-on as a cash cow.  Not a bad place to be, but long-term it raises questions.  Every company needs to dedicate time to think through a few simple questions: Where will we in 10 years? 15 years? 20 years?  Where will the industry be in that same timeframe?  And how do we participate in those changing trends and stay out in front rather than lag behind?  In technology not an easy thing to do.  When Microsoft launched Windows 95 the future seemed clear and the role the PC would play was going to become greater.  About one month later the internet burst onto the scene and  the whole industry, let alone the world changed.  These type of game changing scenarios keep happening over and over again.  Apple launches it i-devices,  Google jumps out way ahead in search.  Social platforms like Facebook and Twitter come forward, Amazon sees the cloud before the rest and jumps ahead of the curve.  The examples are plentiful.  They are like freight trains leaving the station, catch them before they gain momentum otherwise it is near impossible to stop them.

In politics it is often said if you want to find out about something, “just follow the money”.  In technology I would say just follow the technical talent.    When talent starts leaving Google to go to Facebook, one should ask “why?”  When talent just starts retiring the same question should be asked.  Does a company have the ability to attract new talent?.  When you look across the industry today you see a lot of movement as people try to catch the wave of the next big opportunity or social network.  Once upon a time there were just a few companies that attracted a lot of talented people, now there are hundreds of companies to choose from.

I have been fortunate throughout my career to hear and meet some great technology luminaries in the industry.  I worked at a company with one of the greatest, Bill Gates.  But there are new young guns out in the industry such as Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook and Sergey Brin at Google.  The old guard is still around to guide those passions and promise,  Eric Schmidt, CEO at Google has the business acumen to guide that young talent at Google.  Paul Maritz is still very able and capable, just look at the performance of VMWare, despite increased competition.  My one question to my readers is if you are in the tech industry who is guiding your company to the future?  If you can’t answer or don’t know it may be time to abandon ship, before it sinks.  One thing I can guarantee without a technical vision the boat will sink.

Good Night and Good Luck

Hans Henrik Hoffmann December 7, 2010