Computer Support Blog

The return of Bill Gates to save Microsoft would surprise no one. What is surprising is the model Gates could follow to return his company to glory.

That would be the Jobs model – the Steve Jobs model.

When Gates left Microsoft, the company had a successful track record and seemed poised to remain atop the technology marketplace.

Things haven’t exactly turned out that way.  A return by Gates has become, in the minds of many, necessary and inevitable.  But can one man really make that much of an impact?

Yes.  The living proof is found in Microsoft’s main competition.  The return of Steve Jobs to Apple restored the company and paved the way for its current prominence in the technology arena.

Like Gates, Jobs, a co-founder of Apple, once left the company he built.  In 1985, following a corporate power struggle, Jobs left Apple and founded NeXT, a platform development company.  He would not return to Apple until 1996, becoming CEO in 1997.

During the decade without Jobs, Apple fell behind Microsoft based on failures including the Performa line and the Newton division.  Stock values plunged.  John Sculley, the man who had forced Jobs out, allowed Microsoft to build a seemingly insurmountable lead.

For Microsoft fans and stockholders, that probably sounds mighty familiar.

When Apple purchased NeXT in 1996, it brought Jobs back to the company and began the rebuilding process.  It was not a painless process, nor did it happen overnight.

Described by Charles Cooper as “a textbook example of how creativity can rescue a near-moribund operation”, the work Jobs did in making Apple a competitor once again was a model of his willingness to walk away from what didn’t work, upset the apple cart, and focus on what made his company different.

Jobs didn’t attempt to compete with Microsoft in the OS market.  Instead, he used an Apple legal victory to bring about cooperation with Microsoft (albeit forced cooperation) to keep Microsoft Office, Windows, and Internet Explorer as part of the offerings for Mac users

Jobs was then able to turn his attention to branching out into burgeoning tech markets.  The development and stunning success of the i-products rejuvenated Apple.  Earlier this year, Apple passed Microsoft in market capitalization, an important and symbolic victory.

The Microsoft and Apple stories are remarkably similar.  While Steve Ballmer has clearly been more successful that John Sculley, Microsoft has still gone adrift under his watch.  Products such as the Kin and Windows Vista have either flopped or had only a fraction of their predecessor’s success.  Windows XP is arguably Microsoft’s most successful product of the last decade, but is so old that Microsoft has ended computer support for it.

In short, the Microsoft of 2010 has found itself in a position similar to that of Apple in 1995 – behind in key markets and forced to play catch up.  It is a credit to the massive success Microsoft had under Gates that it’s still as viable and profitable as it is.  .

Much has been made of Jobs’ ability to be innovative, especially in comparison to Gates and his more ‘ruthless’ style.  But, upon his return to Apple, Jobs displayed a certain level of ruthlessness himself, cutting off projects and moving in for the kill in the newer markets.  He has often displayed an edgier and anything-but-apologetic approach to business.  One has to look back only as far as his handling of ‘Antennagate’ and his  attacking style of self defense to see that under the turtleneck, Jobs can be as cutthroat as Gates ever was.

If Microsoft is going to rise from its own ashes and once again dominate, it doesn’t only need to innovate.  It needs to steal and it needs to do so directly from the Steve Jobs playbook.

Bill Gates must return and trim away the dead weight that is dragging Microsoft down.  He must restore the company’s laser sharp focus.  Microsoft’s monolithic success was built on doing one thing better than anyone – the OS – and then expanding from there.  The success of Windows 7 is a sign that the company might be headed in the right direction, but with such fierce competition, ‘might’ isn’t nearly good enough.

During Microsoft’s heyday, Gates was often described in the most unflattering terms:  ruthless, heartless, a thief, and a bully.

Perhaps it’s a question of image, reputation, or just the need for every story to have a David and a Goliath, but Apple always appeared to be the underdog fighting the good fight against Gates and his evil empire.

Microsoft is the underdog now and the empire is crumbling.  If the ’empire’ wants to strike back, it needs to learn the most obvious lesson of the Apple story – one man can make a difference.

Bill Gates has proven himself to be much more than just his company.  He has spent years building a charitable empire to rival his commercial one.  But now, for Microsoft to be reborn, Gates must prove himself to be something else:

Microsoft’s Steve Jobs.

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Filed under: apple, business, Microsoft, Windows 7, Windows Phone 7, Windows XP