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Ballmer Speaks on His Solo Act

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the but-does-he-do-the-monkey-dance dept.

Carl Bialik from WSJ writes "In his first one-on-one interview since Bill Gates's retirement announcement, Steve Ballmer tells the Wall Street Journal he is bullish on Microsoft's investments in online services, and he dismisses as 'random malarkey' the idea that Microsoft is having trouble hiring and keeping the kind of brilliant employees that have always been the company's competitive weapon. Here's Ballmer on Gates's departure: 'As co-leaders of the business, I could allow Bill to be the full-time champion of innovation. And [now] with me really being the guy who's here every day running the place, I must be the champion of innovation.' And on competing with Google: 'We're going to compete. We're going to be in the online business. We are going to have a core around online. We're going to be excellent. That, I would tell people, to count on...'"

2 of 196 comments (clear)

  1. Rather scary... by jejones · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Steve Ballmer, from TFA: "When did China get great? China didn't get great under Mao Zedong. China got great under -- in the recent years -- probably got great under Deng Xiaoping."

    I'm skating on the edge of Godwin, but... it's kind of scary when the head of an organization such as Microsoft cites a totalitarian government as an example of greatness.

  2. Re:"We're going to be excellent..." by SpecTheIntro · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Ugh, the stream of bullshit coming out of Ballmer's mouth just makes my head spin. I don't understand why every chief officer in a tech company thinks they have to admit absolutely no fault and use meaningless business speech? Listen to some of the crap Balmer says:

    I must be the champion of innovation. That doesn't mean I must be the guy who comes up with every innovation, but I really have to carry the mantle that says we're going to innovate, we're going to do new things, we're going to get into new areas, we're going to protect and nurture all kinds of innovation. That is my role.
    This is not a one-trick pony. We are multicapable, multicore.
    The best thing we can do for our shareholders is to be willing to be open-minded to possibilities.

    They can't be open-minded, no, they have to be willing to be open-minded. What the hell? And what the hell does being multicapable mean? It's all a bunch of fluff talk, intended to make people think Microsoft is "dynamic," and that they're "expanding into key new markets." Just call it like it is, man. Microsoft hasn't done anything really impressive, on the software front, for five years. Your stock has flat-lined. It's ok to admit that you've got serious work to do. Instead he wants to tout how amazing Microsoft is, or how cutting-edge and forward-thinking their staff is. Just give it a rest. The PR machine really makes me sick.