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Comment by jahewson | Hacker News Reader

I couldn't get over this masterpiece:

We will allocate resources and build devices and services that provide compelling, integrated experiences across the many screens in our lives, with maximum return to shareholders.

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Can you elaborate over what you find so wrong with that?

Probably the "with maximum return to shareholders" part.

To elaborate further, the point of this memo isn't to alert the shareholders of Microsoft's organizational changes, it's about easing this transition with a motivational message about innovation and what not.

Even if the corporation's main aim is to benefit its shareholders, that unnecessary line is going to come across as alienating to employees, who probably care very little about how these changes will affect wealthy shareholders.

Ah yes, I see now. I definitely agree with you then. That line will most likely not sit well with employees that don't give a damn about the shareholders and would rather just create amazing products.

I'm curious what amazing products Microsoft is working on.

The new Kinect, were it not locked into the new Xbox and used for creepy advertising-related purposes, would be an amazing product.

After the NSA revelations, the absolute last thing I plan to do is install a high-resolution, always online camera from Microsoft (or any major US corporation for that matter) in my living room.

No doubt. I am, however, interested in using depth-sensing technology for less nefarious, non-cloud-based means (see my profile). I like the technology, but I strongly dislike what Microsoft might do and is doing with it.

There is already sign-up opened for new Kinect for Windows:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/kinectforwindowsdev/newdevkit...

From all accounts their Office 365 and Azure platforms are doing well.

The say more than 50% of the Fortune 500 are now using Azure:

http://www.neowin.net/news/windows-azure-now-used-by-over-50...

These are fairly radical changes as they are getting off the desktop platform amd moving straight into the cloud.

I dunno, I work in the cloud space, largely with fortune 500 companies, and I don't know of any off the top of my head that are investing in Azure.

That doesn't mean the article isn't technically accurate, of course, but I'd suspect that MSFT is being very generous with their definition of "using" and counting any pilot project in some engineering team as "using" - in which case I'm sure that most of the fortune 500 have someone somewhere playing with Azure.

But that's not the same as using from the standpoint that we typically think about it.

Most Microsoft employees are Microsoft shareholders, so we have an interest in higher stock prices also.

How's that felt over the past decade?

I've only been in for 5+ years, and I don't look at my stock so closely, it has traveled a bit up and down, nothing to think much about.

The way American/Chinese taxes work, actually, I'm annoyed to get stock at all as compensation and wish it would just come in as salary.

If they are really interested in creating amazing products evidently they're working for the wrong company.

I wouldn't say stupid things like this. I work in Windows Phone and I have a lot of faith in our product (and judging by reactions to the 1020 and our customer sat ratings, it looks like I'm not alone). The Xbox One is exciting, and Windows 8+ has definitely opened a new chapter for the company.

If you have something stupid to say, keep it to yourself.

Too bad you don't take your own advice. You would have saved yourself the embarrassment.

It's a very odd phrase to stick at the end there. To make sense of it I think you have to link the end to the start:

We will allocate resources ... with maximum return to shareholders

You have to imagine the meeting where they discussed this and someone thought that this sentence was going to sound to investors like a giant money pit. So in true committee style, they voted for a camel and stuck this odd phrase on the end to satisfy that person.

> Can you elaborate over what you find so wrong with that? reply?

I would, if I could find any content in it. Still searching...

One could play some serious buzzword bingo with the line, and it's not the most elegantly written statement I've ever seen. Still, I take it to mean "we're trying to integrate our devices and our experiences."

In other words, Ballmer realizes MS is a heavily siloed company, and that developing in silos is proving counterproductive to any serious attempt at cross-screen UX and platform integration.

How much of that is true, and how much of that is the spin being given to a cost-cutting reorg, is up for debate.

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