Slashdot Mirror
Ballmer Speaks on His Solo Act
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...'"
Apparently this is as close to admission that they're not presently excellent as we can hope for.
You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
I thought he spoke about His Solo Monkey Dance Act!
If you keep throwing chairs, one day you'll break windows....
I must be the champion of innovation
Isn't that spelt
I must wait for someone to do something clever and then rip it off
Summation 2
The Lone Ballmer toure plans to play 30 venues in 90 days, with 3 nights at each. It will feature such classics as "Developers, Devolpers" along with new hits such as "I'm Gonna Fucking Kill $FOO", a scale model of Stonehenge built from office chairs and Ballmer himself dressed in Andre the Giant's classic leotard.
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"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
We're going to compete. We're going to be in the online business. We are going to have a core around online. We're going to be excellent.
(howard dean voice) YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRGGGGGHHH
I could allow Bill to be the full-time champion of innovation. And [now] with me really being the guy who's here every day running the place, I must be the champion of innovation.
When Bill was being the "innovative" guy, they generally resorted to copying existing products or entering markets that others had already proven to be successful. Is Steve saying that his approach to "innovation" is a step behind even that?
This guy's the limit!
Steve Ballmer, from TFA: "When did China get great? China didn't get great under Mao Zedong. China got great under -- in the recent years -- probably got great under Deng Xiaoping."
I'm skating on the edge of Godwin, but... it's kind of scary when the head of an organization such as Microsoft cites a totalitarian government as an example of greatness.
Now that Gates is leaving, will we be replacing the classic "We are Microsoft, you will be assimilated" logo for Microsoft stories? Would we have a Borg Ballmer? A Chair-Throwing Ballmer? Just a M$ in large font?
You are reading a copy of my copyrighted post.
I would be a bit worried about Microsoft now that Bill is leaving. I would be worried that a 'geek' has left the innovation chair and is now being turned over to a businessman. That's pretty dangerous, not because he *is* a businessman, but because he is no technological visonary, ie. Steve Jobs.
We're all hypocrites. We all have hidden parts, it's the contrast between them that make us more a hypocrite than others
Yeah, I think we can all agree that orderly, predictable malarky is much preferable.
This space intentionally left (almost) blank.
Am I the only one that thinks Bill Gates is getting out of the business before Google embarrasses them so that He can blame the company's failure on Ballmer? Think about it. Under Bill Gates Microsoft is a multi-national; multi-billion dollar business. Under Ballmer they get pummeled by Google and Mozilla. Thus, Gates preserves his image as a brilliant mind and doesn't expose himself for being nothing more than a lucky, opportunistic, proprietor hack.
'And [now] with me really being the guy who's here every day running the place, I must be the champion of innovation.'
QED
First, Microsoft itself prefers to use Google: http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/06/22/02
Then, Microsoft "warns google away": http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/16/20432
After that, they change their mind and are going to allow competitive search: http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/19/21
And now, they are going to
What's going to be next?
Steve and Linus are braggarts in their own regard, but what they *do* speaks much louder than what they *say*. Especially Linus. As a person I think he's just as egotistical as Balmer, but the revolution he has created as an engineer was created not by words, but actions.
I think more than anything this is an indicator of the state of Microsoft. If you've got to send the CEO out on PR all the time, then there's some pretty shaking ground that the company is sitting on. Products and services should be able to speak for themselves without the CEO having to go on a media tour to tell how great they are. He's got to go around evangilizing MS because if people (employees as much as customers) hear it enough, they just might start to believe it.
We're all hypocrites. We all have hidden parts, it's the contrast between them that make us more a hypocrite than others
They talk about some specific thing they personally want to do.
BIll Gates didn't say "I want to make innovative software," he said he wanted a computer on every desk and Microsoft software in that computer.
Edwin Land didn't say "I want to develop innovative imaging-related products for the consumer and technical markets," he said "Marketing is what you do when your product is no good" and "The bottom line is in heaven."
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!