Tag Archives: Joachim Kempin

Video Gaming

Microsoft Insider Claims It Should Refocus on PC

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Microsoft has lost its way in recent years, misled by a board of lame ducks, focusing on the wrong areas of its business, and generally relying far too much on the Xbox 720. Or, at least, that’s what Joachim Kempin thinks, the man who enjoyed a long and successful career at a senior level in the company.

Starting at Microsoft in 1983, Joachim spent 20 years with the company, eventually rising to the role of senior vice president of Windows Sales before leaving in 2003. In that time he saw the PC and software-focused company he joined diversify into one with arms in numerous different facets of entertainment.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at IGN Video Games

Video Gaming

Why Microsoft's Acquisition of SEGA Fell Through

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Microsoft’s long-rumoured plan to acquire SEGA never came to pass because Bill Gates was sceptical the company had “enough muscle” to stop Sony, according to the company’s former VP of Windows Sales.

Joachim Kempin, who worked at Microsoft between 1983 and 2003, made the claim in an interview with IGN due to go live later today. He explained that the acquisition of SEGA was originally floated as an easy way for Microsoft to enter the console space and stop Sony, especially given the huge financial losses associated with in-house hardware manufacturing.

“There were three companies at that point in time, I think this was

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at IGN Video Games

Video Gaming

Why Microsoft Got Into The Console Business

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Microsoft only entered the console market because Sony refused to work with them, according to a former Microsoft exec.

Joachim Kempin, who was VP of Windows Sales at Microsoft for 20 years starting in 1983, made the claim in an interview with IGN that will be published in full on Friday.

When asked why Microsoft decided to enter the console space, he asserted that, “The main reason was to stop Sony. You see, Sony and Microsoft…they never had a very friendly relationship, okay? And this wasn’t because Microsoft didn’t want that.

“Sony was always very arm’s length with Microsoft. Yeah, they bought Windows for their PCs but when you really take a hard look at that, they were never Microsoft’s friend. And Microsoft in a way wanted them to be a friend because they knew they had a lot of things we could have co-operated on because they are, in a way, an entertainment company, you know? I mean, at least a portion of Sony is and they had some really good things going there, but as soon as they came out with a video console, Microsoft just looked at that and said ‘well, we have to beat them, so let’s do our own.’”

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at IGN Video Games

Computers

Microsoft alum: Windows 8 "a much deadlier assault weapon" than Windows 7

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Windows 8 is just what Microsoft needs to take advantage of the ongoing irreversible shift from PCs to handheld devices including iPads, iPhones, and other form factors yet to be designed, according to the company’s former OEM chief.

Just as Windows 7 won instant popularity after the debacle of Vista, Windows 8 is poised to capture business from phone and tablet leaders such as Apple, only to greater effect, says Joachim Kempin, former Microsoft senior vice president in charge of OEMs who worked for the company from 1983 to 2002.

“Windows 7 spearheaded a comparably small rejuvenation,” Kempin says in his just-released book “Resolve and Fortitude: Microsoft’s Secret Power Broker Breaks his Silence”. “I predict Windows 8 is readied as a much deadlier assault weapon.”

Kempin says the main intent of Windows 8 is to push the operating system into low-powered mobile devices running ARM processors vs. those running traditional x86 chips. He says that when Microsoft introduced Windows 8 nearly two years ago it “flabbergasted the IT world by running on a tablet powered by NVidia’s ARM-based CPU. I consider this move to ARM a scale 9 earthquake and wake-up call for MS‘s longtime allies Intel and AMD.”

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at PCWorld

Video Gaming

Former Exec: Wrong Person in Charge of Microsoft

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Steve Ballmer is not the right person to be leading the world’s largest software company, according to a former Microsoft executive.

This is the opinion of Joachim Kempin, who left the company under a cloud back in 2002. He’d been with Microsoft since 1983, and was senior vice president overseeing Windows sales.

“Is he a great CEO? I don’t think so. Microsoft’s board is a lame duck board, has been forever. They hire people to help them administer the company, but not to lead the company. That’s the problem,” Kempin told Reuters, promoting his new book.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at IGN Video Games