Joachim Kempin has really been in the news lately, which is not all that surprising considering the guy just launched his new book (titled Resolve and Fortitude) where the Redmond veteran spilled the beans on Microsoft’s history.
The former vice president of Windows Sales division actually left the company way back in 2003.
But any publicity is good publicity, and Kempin knows this. He recently talked to IGN with a view that Microsoft has forsaken the PC industry, and suggested that the company focus back on the PC:
“It’s what they’re doing to the PC manufacturers. When they announced Surface, the tablet, and the upcoming notebook, they’re trying to go their own way again. They’re abandoning the partnership model which has worked for the last 20, 30 years and whoever the partners are they are not happy about it. I personally think it’s a mistake, but Ballmer doesn’t think so and he runs the company.”
Ultimately, Kempin is not the only one who thinks Redmond’s new strategy may negatively affect the hardware market.
Several computer vendors have already made clear their reservations in this regard that Microsoft, with building its own hardware and releasing new products, will ultimately end up competing with the ones released by its partners.
In fact, Acer CEO was one of the first to suggest that Microsoft is actually planning to kill the entire ecosystem with its own products — helped by more than $63 billion in cash.
All the while rumors are growing that Microsoft is gearing up to launch new Surface models later this year, one of which is supposed to be a Surface gaming tablet.
All Comments
hahh, ye, other manufacturers now must do a little more R&D.
Anyway, MS did not release a whole line of products, just a tablet. Not laptops, all-in-ones, convertibles, so there is still space to innovate
Agreed, there is room for one more Apple and Google. Ultimately, it is the PC industry model that appears to be most at risk, if vendors are to be believed.
Quite frankly MS gave a superb OS to start innovate, so let them work for their bucks (ours).
What MS did is not the will to kill the industry entirely, but they acted and refreshed Windows for a new era where people use all kind of devices, and thus they developed the right Windows edition for the age! Thanking them every day for it
Minor grammar check here – I don’t think Kempin is a “20-year-old Redmond veteran.” That would suggest he was 11 years old when he left his VP position 🙂
True, true.
Cool. Thanks for the heads up! I’m going to have to take the issue up with the little birdie that brings me these news bits.
Jokes aside, this 20-year bit was a last second addition, I read it someplace right before I slid in the article. Will revise it in a minute.
Its absoloutrly wrong that Microsoft leaves the PC industry behind why cant they just make separate VGA OR DVI OR HDMI touchscreens for desktops. Microsoft seriously need to change their attitude towards hardcore desktop computer users such as myself. Its an absoloute joke.
I am sorry, but I dont get how they are leaving you behind. I have two systems running Windows 8 and they dont have touchscreens. They work great and I now much perfer them over Windows 7. Touchscreens may add to the feeling, but they surely are not crippled without it.
I disagree with this guy completely. I think he is using the issue to get his name back out. It is easy calling out things people complain about, but he has no solutions at all. Since he is no longer with the company, it isnt a far stretch to think that Balmer may be part of the reason. Therefore, anything he says should really be taken with a grain of salt. Balmer has strange antics that allow him to be photographed in embarrasing poses. This makes him an easy target for criticism.
I really feel that in general, MS knows what it is doing. As near as I can tell, the divide on like vs dislike of Windows 8 seems pretty split down the middle. I think this is worse than they would like. Some pick it up and get lost, others almost instantly get it. This is nothing new to MS. Windows 95 has the same issue with the start menu and Explorer. When Windows 2000 came out I had the unenviable job of upgrading some change averse people to it from Winodws 98. They wanted the arrangement of the icons on the desktop the same, and file manager on the desktop. There was absolutley nothing I could say that would get them to realize that Explorer did everything file manager did and then some. This is exaclty how I feel peoples dislike of Metro is. Absolutely irrational. I can guarantee that there is nothing, absolutley nothing that you can do faster with the start menu than you can with the start screen. You just have to learn how. The problem is that people just dont see the reason that it changed and therefore dont get it.
Let me highlight this from my own side. One of the things that bugged me for the longest was the location of the power button. It seemed absolutly crazy that it was in the charms bar. I knew where it was at, so it was OK, but I always had this nagging, “why would they put it there of all places, did they not have enough ideas to find a more logical place?” I use the Desktop for 98% of my time, so it made absolutely no sense. But I decided that MS must have had a logical rationale for why they did that. So when I thought that they want a completely integrated feel to the OS that anyone could grab any Windows device and use it almost exactly the same way. I realized the start button had to be in a location that was accessible by Windows RT. Therefore it absolutely had to be in a Charm. Problem solved. This was actually the right place for it to be.
Well put it this way I’ll bechanging os if microsoft alters anything else dramatically, reason being is because it costs me on average 50 to 100 pounds just to upgrade one system alone itself. And by the way I think that android tabs will be microsofts biggest downfall, I own two and basically the amount of programs available dwarfs micros8fts windows store.