Sign in

BALLMER TO RETIRE FROM MICROSOFT

Final Ballmerism: 'There's never a perfect time, but now is the right time'

Kelly Fiveash Fri 23 Aug 2013 // 13:27 UTC

Steve Ballmer is leaving identity crisis-hit Microsoft.

The software maker's chief announced his intention to retire from MS within the next year.

He said: "There is never a perfect time for this type of transition, but now is the right time."

Whomever the new boss of Microsoft will be, he or she has a big job ahead of them in forcing the company to swallow a business strategy that wraps itself around devices and services - something Redmond has failed to achieve to date.

Microsoft, in recent months, has undergone one of the biggest restructures in its life as the Seattle-based company attempts to shake off the fact that it is still best known for selling shrink-wrapped packages of software.

The hunt is now on for a replacement and Microsoft said a special committee would direct the transition from Ballmerism.

Microsoft shares are already up nearly 9 per cent as this article is published following the announcement. ®

128 Comments

Similar topics

Narrower topics

Other stories you might like

  • Pentester pops open Tesla Model 3 using low-cost Bluetooth module
    Anything that uses proximity-based BLE is vulnerable, claim researchers
    Brandon Vigliarolo Tue 17 May 2022 // 16:30 UTC

    Tesla Model 3 and Y owners, beware: the passive entry feature on your vehicle could potentially be hoodwinked by a relay attack, leading to the theft of the flash motor.

    Discovered and demonstrated by researchers at NCC Group, the technique involves relaying the Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) signals from a smartphone that has been paired with a Tesla back to the vehicle. Far from simply unlocking the door, this hack lets a miscreant start the car and drive away, too.

    Essentially, what happens is this: the paired smartphone should be physically close by the Tesla to unlock it. NCC's technique involves one gadget near the paired phone, and another gadget near the car. The phone-side gadget relays signals from the phone to the car-side gadget, which forwards them to the vehicle to unlock and start it. This shouldn't normally happen because the phone and car are so far apart. The car has a defense mechanism – based on measuring transmission latency to detect that a paired device is too far away – that ideally prevents relayed signals from working, though this can be defeated by simply cutting the latency of the relay process.

    Continue reading
  • Google assuring open-source code to secure software supply chains
    Java and Python packages are the first on the list
    Jessica Lyons Hardcastle Tue 17 May 2022 // 16:00 UTC

    Google has a plan — and a new product plus a partnership with developer-focused security shop Snyk — that attempts to make it easier for enterprises to secure their open source software dependencies.

    The new service, announced today at the Google Cloud Security Summit, is called Assured Open Source Software. We're told it will initially focus on some Java and Python packages that Google's own developers prioritize in their workflows. 

    These two programming languages have "particularly high-risk profiles," Google Cloud Cloud VP and GM Sunil Potti said in response to The Register's questions. "Remember Log4j?" Yes, quite vividly.

    Continue reading
  • Rocket Lab is taking NASA's CAPSTONE to the Moon
    Mission to lunar orbit is further than any Photon satellite bus has gone before
    Richard Speed Tue 17 May 2022 // 15:27 UTC

    Rocket Lab has taken delivery of NASA's CAPSTONE spacecraft at its New Zealand launch pad ahead of a mission to the Moon.

    It's been quite a journey for CAPSTONE [Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment], which was originally supposed to launch from Rocket Lab's US launchpad at Wallops Island in Virginia.

    The pad, Launch Complex 2, has been completed for a while now. However, delays in certifying Rocket Lab's Autonomous Flight Termination System (AFTS) pushed the move to Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand.

    Continue reading

Biting the hand that feeds IT © 1998–2022

Do not sell my personal information Cookies Privacy Ts&Cs