Ex-Windows designer: Ballmer was dogmatic, Sinofsky's bonkers, and WinPho needs to change

And now for the Good News: no more Sinofsky and Ballmer

Both Sinofsky and Ballmer prevented Microsoft from working coherently in response to competition, the designer explained. Ballmer killed an early Office for iPad because it worked so well.

“When Ballmer saw the iPad version of Office, he reportedly said something like, ‘you’re killing me’, It was so fucking good. Way better than anything on any other platform… Ballmer knew it was good. And he knew the company’s other efforts weren't.

Nadella clearly doesn't follow that dogma, and has no qualms about putting Microsoft software on rival platforms. Just Cortana remains a Windows-only play, and for how much longer isn't certain.

As for the future, Bell thinks Microsoft should stick by its mobile platform, regardless of low market share and the howls of pain from loyalists. Why, exactly?

So when <insert disruptive technology here> blows up, Microsoft can say they kick ass at the cloud AND every endpoint your users might want. That’s huge. Keeping your eye on the horizon like that means that even in WP never goes past 5-10% market [share], who cares? They’re still very much in it.

There’s plenty more detail, and it’s a super read, here. ®

Bootnote

In the AMA the participant is "anonymous but verified", but Bell identifies himself several times. He was the poster child for Microsoft attracting new talent to take on the "old guard". He's @ienjoy on Twitter, and his (mothballed) Medium blog has a few choice observations on the old guard, too.