Who is the "kingdom" of the Renaissance Microsoft Empire?

The rise and Fall of empires, in addition to history, are largely unrelated to their rulers. This is almost the case for an IT empire like Microsoft.

"Vanity Fair" in the November issue of the long feature "Microsoft Empire Renaissance" (the Empire reboots) to Bill Gates, Ballmer, Cetea Nadra three CEO style as the main line, the details of Microsoft's declining in recent years, and the next restart plan.

Bill Gates or another mountain?

Cetea Nadra: Do you want me to answer first? (Nadra looking at Bill Gates asked)

Bill Gates: Of course.

When the reporter interviewed the two alternate generation CEO process, asked what will let them feel excited, two people some humility move, let people think of Gates and Ballmer "from friends to strangers" relationship. Nadra, who took office this February, looks like a fresh blood infusion for Microsoft, not only announcing some "inspiring" reform plans, but also above in dealing with Microsoft's internal relationships.

Of course Bill Gates is also very pleased with the CEO. In a recent interview with Bloomberg Television, Gates once again praised Nadra. It is noteworthy, however, that Bill Gates recently began to talk more and more about Microsoft in his interview. It seems a bit out of the way that philanthropy is his main business, as it has repeatedly said.

Earlier this year, Bill Gates said he would "spend one-third of his time in the product team and define next-generation products". Bill Gates, whether in an interview with Bloomberg or Vanity Fair, never forgot to talk about Microsoft's future strategy: software-centric, providing users with software that can be used on any platform. He also presented the slogan "re-inventing productivity" with the new CEO, Ned.

Although the interval between a Ballmer, Nadra seems to be more like Bill Gates. Both have an engineer background, and later became businessmen, even the Myers-briggs personality test that both are rational types. But what if Gates really "came out" and led Microsoft to revive with Mr. Ballmer? Before we speculate, we can look at the Ballmer-Gates era first.

"Ballmer-Gates" era: one side is the father, while the mother, who should listen to?

People who have experienced the "Ballmer-Gates" era have likened that period to "parental rule", and no one knows who is the decision-maker. When an engineer is dissatisfied with Ballmer, he will run to see gates.

Many people blame Mr. Ballmer for the decline of Microsoft, saying he failed to steer Microsoft to the fore in the Mobile world. Ballmer himself admits that he has not developed Microsoft's search business and mobile phone business. But Mr. Ballmer felt his biggest mistake was not a search nor a mobile phone, but a Microsoft Longhorn project, the system renamed Vista later. Mr. Ballmer said he called the company's top team to do the project, wasting all the resources on a wrong project.

People familiar with Microsoft Longhorn may know that Longhorn was the gates-led project. A former Microsoft executive said in an interview that Longhorn was a foolish risk-taking, but Gates did not heed the advice of other engineers. At this point, Ballmer is Microsoft's CEO.

Before Gates left (2008), I never felt like a "boss" of Microsoft ... He doesn't know how to let me be CEO, and I don't know how to deal with it ...

Ballmer had his frustration. Those who miss the gates-led era of Microsoft's brilliant days think that Microsoft's failure was the result of Mr Ballmer; and, of course, former Microsoft executives pointed out that Ballmer was actually picking up his (gates) mess.

Hal Berenson, a former general manager at Microsoft, also pointed out that under Ballmer's leadership, Microsoft's revenue has doubled by more than three times times and dealt with thorny antitrust issues. He also disclosed that the "biggest mistake" of Longhorn's plan, which was proposed by Mr. Gates, missed out on important opportunities for change.

No matter who is right or wrong, Ballmer chose to resign after a conflict over the takeover of Nokia. After a long period of CEO "Selection War", the Board of directors finally decided to "serve" within the Microsoft "22 years of staff Nadra as the new Microsoft CEO."

The "Na de la era" of Microsoft

Nadra stand firm, but do not force people, positive but not blind optimism;

Others say that Microsoft's new CEO, Microsoft's former executive, also believes that almost everyone likes Nadra, Gates likes him and Ballmer likes him. Greg Sullivan of Windows phone Department also says people are willing to be led by him.

For the time being, Nadra's actions did not disappoint: the idea of "the future will be a software-driven world" was mentioned at the outset, and then the strategy for Microsoft to "move first, Cloud first" was announced; announcing the launch of the ipad version of Office opened up a good head for the opening of Office software; layoffs, The move to give up Nokia and the function machine is also an indication that he is acting decisively, with a clear target; the acquisition of game company Minecraft to pave the way for Microsoft's software to "occupy" various platforms ...

In addition, Nadra was trusted by Wall Street investors, who took office to raise the company's stock by 30%.

For the new CEO, Ballmer's advice is "to do the right thing boldly" (Be bold and yes), and in addition to continuing to hold a large number of Microsoft shares (the most personally held shareholder), Mr Ballmer seems to have really let go. "What would you do if you disagreed with Barnard," said the next CEO, Gates. The answer to the question is:

Della was running the company, so it was up to him to make the decision.

Gates said he had learned from his relationship with Ballmer. He admits he has limited energy and may see the problem in a less comprehensive way. But Mr Gates's recent frequent appearances and comments have raised fears that he will continue to influence Microsoft's big decisions.

Nadrayian confident. He said he came from the "Ballmer-Gates" era and he knew how to deal with gates.

(Responsible editor: Lvguang)