Netizen

That Other Other Steve

Wow. Big news. Msft should go android now. http://t.co/FCgzzYw4HH
— mark pincus (@markpinc) August 23, 2013

History's biggest acqui-hire: What if Microsoft gets a new CEO by buying Yahoo?
— Christopher Mims (@mims) August 23, 2013

Why not “retire” immediately? Can’t even leave properly.
— Marco Arment (@marcoarment) August 23, 2013

From @dinabass sources, 4 on MSFT's internal list of CEO candidates: Tony Bates, Qi Lu, Satya Nadella, Terry Myerson http://t.co/DuDAH1T8Nm
— Sarah Frier (@sarahfrier) August 23, 2013

By announcing his own retirement, Ballmer just drove the value of his 300M $MSFT shares by ~$1B.
— Zach Epstein (@zacharye) August 23, 2013

"No chance the iPhone is going to get any significant market share."
— MG Siegler (@parislemon) August 23, 2013

My worst 2012 Worst CEO List: Mason $GRPN; Ballmer $MSFT; Johnson $JCP; Pincus $ZNGA; Perez $EK (or whatever its symbol is now)
— Herb Greenberg (@herbgreenberg) August 23, 2013

If only Ballmer had been shouting "mobile developers! mobile developers! mobile developers!"
— Josh Constine (@JoshConstine) August 23, 2013

In the last 20 years he's had big wins as well as loud failures. it's a hard role to fill. talking about @benaffleck as Batman of course
— Frank X. Shaw (@fxshaw) August 23, 2013

What Steve Ballmer achieved at Microsoft is actually amazing. It's underrated simply because consumer tech casts an irrationally big shadow.
— Anil Dash (@anildash) August 23, 2013

"You can tell which is his office at MS HQ. It's the one where they took the desktop away and hid it in a cupboard." http://t.co/syt8YUSYU9
— Charles Arthur (@charlesarthur) August 23, 2013

All joking aside, MS needs some external to come in and look objectively at their businesses and cut/expand accordingly. No more status quo.
— Paul Thurrott (@thurrott) August 23, 2013

Notable: In 2010, Ballmer indicated he’d stay CEO until around 2018. http://t.co/sN6W9NBDMK
— Casey Newton (@CaseyNewton) August 23, 2013

Way off. Marissa Mayer for CEO of MicroHoo."@mims: Elon Musk for CEO of Microsoft."
— Amir Efrati (@amir) August 23, 2013

Why Steve Ballmer Failed
The Rise and Fall of Windows Mobile, Under Ballmer
For Ballmer, Resistance Was Futile
Ballmer is leaving at the right time as the whole IT landscape shifts
Beyond Ballmer: who will be Microsoft's next CEO?
Ballmer’s Exit Adds $18 Billion To Microsoft’s Value As Investors Cheer Its Impending Leadership Change
Let's Throw Out A Bunch Of Names For Who Should Be The Next Microsoft CEO
Five People Who Could Replace Steve Ballmer As Microsoft CEO
Microsoft Signals Change Ahead With Ballmer Departure
5 questions for Microsoft's next CEO
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to Retire. What Happens Next Won't Be Pretty
Steve Ballmer's market cap 'problem'
From ‘Monkey Boy’ to Developers: 6 classic videos of Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer
Microsoft stock surges 8% on news that Ballmer is retiring
Steve Ballmer's Legacy Is a Limping, Bleeding Microsoft
The Steve Ballmer Legacy: A Very Bumpy Ride

Ingress: The Creators Of The Game Are Unimaginative About Its Use Cases

In short, I am saying the people who created the game and are still updating it every few weeks do not know. Only the players who are pushing the game's limits can know. They need to be listened to. A mindless capturing and recapturing of portals gets boring fast. How many L8 farms can you attend?

The poor portal approval mechanism is getting in the way. And the game should allow each agent so many new invites per month like clockwork. You get new portals approved to change the very map on which you are battling. And you have the levers with which to actively recruit and build a team. You do these two things and the game stays challenging. Otherwise, yawn.

Ballmer's Successor

Image representing Vic Gundotra as depicted in...

Image by Google via CrunchBase

I think the next CEO can not be an outsider. For a company like Microsoft the next CEO necessarily has to come from inside, just my opinion. And the cloud and enterprise vice president Satya Nadella would be a decent choice. The next CEO has to be about the future, not the past.

Or Microsoft could pull a Yahoo, and bring in Vic Gundotra, a former Microsoft soldier. Gundotra just might bite, since Larry Page is just getting started and Vic might already have hit the glass ceiling at Google. Gundotra's Microsoft past and Google present is an amazing combination. And many would say Microsoft has also had the Yahoo problem: it is widely considered a has been company. The shine just is not there anymore.