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aristarchus [soylentnews.org] writes:

I find this hard to report. It comes from MS Poweruser [mspoweruser.com], which is already a blue screen of death flag, if there is such a thing. But on the other hand, if he has actually washed his hands, nice to hear something like this from Bill Gates.

It is rare to see a company owning up to their mistakes but in a Techcrunch interview published yesterday ex-Microsoft CEO and founder Bill Gates just did, calling losing the smartphone market to Google’s Android his “greatest mistake.”

I am stifling myself with ecto-ironic beams of death, to avoid commenting on the initial sentence. Help me, Soylentils!

He also owes up to mismanagement – it was a war which Microsoft could have won – Windows Mobile preceded Android by nearly 10 years, but Microsoft never understood the importance of mobile, never gave it adequate resources, was distracted by desktop priorities and was constantly changing direction.

Quick Soylent quiz: What do the Confederate States of America and Microsoft have in common? Anyone? Beuller?

The point of this article is not to replay the past, but to counter this view expressed by those who take Microsoft’s current share price as proof that losing mobile was actually a happy accident:

$MSFT, in 3yrs, has climbed from $35 to an all time high of $137 w/ positive Q3FY19 gains in generally every business, incl. Windows.
…but please tell me more abt how Microsoft's downfall will be a consequence of its retreat from Windows Phone, Microsoft Band, & Groove Music. pic.twitter.com/4IOb6ptEJb

— kurtsh (@kurtsh) June 22, 2019

Microsoft's future is in bitcoin. You heard it here first!!

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