» The uncanny valley

Ben Thompson in a terrific piece discussing the pitfalls of Microsoft’s recent reorganization:

It’s on this point, actually, that concern and criticism of Tim Cook is most warranted. I’ve already made the case as to why he is a great CEO for Apple, but his greatest weakness – product vision – is hugely magnified by the fact that Apple is organized functionally, and thus especially reliant on a visionary leader (this should, of course, make it obvious why Steve Jobs was so insistent on a functional organization). Clearly Jony Ive has been nominated to fill the role of visionary; it is likely that at least one of Ive’s once-peers was not happy about that elevation.

It remains to be seen whether setting Ive up as Apple’s visionary-in-chief will work as well as having Jobs in that role did. Who knows? It could work out better (leather). However, we already know how having Steve Ballmer in that role has worked out for Microsoft.