Top 10 tips for Steve Ballmer at Microsoft

Microsoft has had a busy week of it at its annual MIX conference in Las Vegas but, as the show winds up, our thoughts have turned to the company's future.

Last week we looked at new priorities for Larry Page as he takes the reins at Google. This week we thought we'd do the same for Steve Ballmer. Ballmer's not new at the job; he's been at Microsoft for over 30 years and has spent pretty much his entire working life around the organisation.

But Microsoft faces serious challenges in the future. The company's mobile strategy is well behind the competitions', it lacks a tablet platform and its traditional operating system and application suites face ever-increasing competition. Meanwhile, developers are being tempted by new software environments.

We asked Rob Enderle, president of the Enderle Group and a friend of Ballmer's, for his tips. Some were sadly unprintable; a suggested chair-throwing competition sounded like fun, but we really liked the idea of putting up billboards outside Apple stores quoting Steve Jobs as saying that $500 computers are junk, that "keyboardless form factors are a recipe for failure", and reminding folks that the iPad starts at $500.

As ever, we have included a couple of less-than-serious 'honourable mentions', but feel free to comment if you feel something has been missed.

Honourable Mention: Resign
Iain Thomson: OK, a little cheeky, but Ballmer's tenure at the top has hardly been all smiles and sunshine, and several investors are asking when they're going to see some more growth in the value of their holdings.

More than a few analysts are pointing out that Ballmer's only really got a few years to turn the company around in a way that will make his tenure a clear success. There have been missed opportunities, especially in the mobile sphere, and Microsoft's core businesses are in slow decline.

Before this all gets to gloomy I'd say that his prospects look good. Windows 7 is a success, Microsoft's moves into the cloud are doing well and the company has made huge strides with security and systems management software.

Windows Phone 7 looks interesting, and that's a division Ballmer has personally kicked into shape. But if things do get worse, he should have the good grace to get a successor in place and leave sooner, rather than later.

Shaun Nichols: I think this one actually has some legs, Iain. With all due respect to Ballmer, once in a while you need to bring in some new blood. Ballmer has been with the company since its earliest days, and the market has changed more than a little in the past two decades, to say the least.

Ballmer has always been a great software salesman. And that was perfect when Microsoft was in the business of periodically developing, marketing and selling software.

But the biggest knock on Microsoft over the past decade has been its inability to transition from the old formats and mediums to new platforms, such as web services and cloud computing platforms.

Perhaps it really is time for Ballmer to join Bill Gates on the golf course and public speaking circuit, or even help him save the world.

Honourable Mention: When in doubt, copy Apple
Shaun Nichols: Microsoft has long had a reputation for following Apple's lead, so much so that the two companies engaged in a landmark copyright case in the early 1990s over the Windows and Mac OS interfaces.

I'm not suggesting that Microsoft should once again blatantly copy Apple's example, but there are many things the company can learn from its counterpart in Cupertino when it comes to new platforms.

The first is design philosophy. Apple has long held simplicity above all else when it comes to designing mobile devices and interfaces. This has resulted in the iOS system's being sleek, intuitive and streamlined.

Microsoft has some interesting ideas with Windows Phone 7 and the Live Tiles interface, but the company needs to be sure that the features will add functionality, rather than just create more clutter and distraction.

Ballmer should look to Apple's example for its upcoming tablet and handset platforms, and remember that simplicity and practicality are always better than useless bells and whistles.

Iain Thomson: The pedant in me points out that Apple was merely following Xerox PARC's lead in the graphical user interface, Shaun. Apple paid a lot of money for two days inside PARC and it was a bargain.

On the device front, Shaun and I used to take the piss out of the Zune for its chunkiness and lousy operating system but the new devices are really rather good, and are excellent in ease of use terms.

It's not quite as good as the competition, but certainly good enough. With a few revisions and a little bit of pruning this could be just the system Microsoft needs.

But honestly, I don't think Microsoft should be too fixated on Apple, which doesn't have the monopoly on innovative design and good software. Microsoft should walk its own path.