Like Grandma in the Kitchen

“Steven A. Ballmer, Microsoft's chief executive, walked away from a Yahoo deal on Saturday still looking for an answer to his company's fundamental problem: its time-tested recipe for success isn't working against Google, the leader in the current wave of Internet computing.

“With a bid for Yahoo, Microsoft was trying to buy its way out of the problem. It was a controversial step and a gamble, but at least it was a big move. Now, there is no clear prospect of a quick fix for Microsoft, as the center of gravity in computing continues to move away from the personal computer, Microsoft's stronghold, and to the Internet.

“Microsoft remains a powerful company, and highly profitable, but its stock price has stagnated amid doubts about future growth. Years of antitrust scrutiny have tempered its competitive behavior in new markets.

“Mr. Ballmer, 52, must lead the Internet-era shift in strategy and corporate culture without the man who, to many, is still the public face of Microsoft: Bill Gates...

“‘Steve Ballmer will be defined by how he manages this tremendous Internet transformation over the next few years, and his record hasn't been distinguished so far,’ said George F. Colony, chief executive of Forrester Research…

“Though he became chief executive in 2000, Mr. Ballmer has typically been cast as a marketing dynamo: tireless, hyperkinetic and a booming orator, renowned for his uninhibited performances at Microsoft sales meetings. But Mr. Ballmer, colleagues say, has a deep mastery of strategy and finance. He is a math whiz who as a student scored a perfect 800 on the SAT math exam.

“Yet Mr. Ballmer's business skills have not yet helped Microsoft much in trying to catch Google, analysts say…

“Looking at Microsoft today, Mitchell Kapor, an elder statesman of modern computing, is reminded of another industry power that was chastened by a lengthy antitrust struggle and a seismic shift in the technology landscape -- I.B.M. in the 1980s and early 1990s, as the mainframe gave way to personal computing.

“‘I.B.M. came out of those years still large and enormously important to its customers, but I.B.M. was displaced by Microsoft,’ he said. ‘I.B.M. was no longer the defining company.’

“‘The irony is that what Microsoft did to I.B.M., Google is doing to Microsoft,’ said Mr. Kapor.”

(“A Step Back For Microsoft.” Steve Lohr. The New York Times. May 5, 2008. pg. 1)

YOU MAY HAVE the time-tested recipe for success, but Grandma had the touch, the sense, the feel, and her secret ingredient...

love.