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Ballmer Hits 10th Anniversary As Microsoft CEO
bednarz writes "Ten years ago on Jan. 13, 2000, Microsoft's Bill Gates turned over the CEO reins to Steve Ballmer. Back in 2000, Microsoft was still under threat of being broken up by the Department of Justice. Today, Ballmer is trying to meld enterprise and cloud computing. He has spent the past decade working through lawsuits, mergers, acquisitions, competitive battles and, of course, new software including Windows 7, which could become the legacy of his leadership at Microsoft. Not that we'll ever forget Ballmer's 'developers, developers, developers' rant."
Did they mention his important work in the field of chairodynamics?
or
How about his charitable donations of 288,000 pints of human sweat?
"Microsoft: A Decade of Failure"
With a chair!
Goodnight everybody, I'll be here all week. Remember to tip your waitress.
Was it just me who read the headline "Ballmer Hits..." and my mind automatically filled in with " ...XXX With A Chair" ?
This is a substitute for a clever sig that fits within the maximum number of characters.
Ballmer is living proof that excessive executive compensation doesn't correlate with talent.
I saw one of those annoying pop up ads saying that Bill Gates would pay you x amount of dollars to do Data Entry for Microsoft from home.
I just kind of sighed and went "Really? REALLY?"
He hasn't been the CEO of Microsoft for a decade now. Ask all of the people you know "Who runs Microsoft" and I am willing to bet a fair share of those not in the computer industry will still say Bill Gates.
Not that we'll ever forget Ballmer's 'developers, developers, developers' rant."
Or flying chairs.
...NOT. According to him, it's
" a cancer that attaches itself in an intellectual property sense to everything it touches.
It must fly in the face of every business practice he's come up with.
"Before God we are all equally wise - and equally foolish"
Albert Einstein
Does that mean the Microsoft icon changes to a Borg Ballmer?
crazy dynamite monkey
"LOL Moron"- says Anonymous random, about man who successfully gained a CEO position at one of the world's biggest companies, and many billions of dollars.
Yeah, what a complete moron.
This is a substitute for a clever sig that fits within the maximum number of characters.
During these 10 years, there's been change in the target audience of Windows. Older versions of windows were designed specifically for office use. Windows 2000 and XP did not change this line and were still clearly aimed for business users.
Vista and 7 changed the playfield. Apple came along with OS X, and Windows started to compete for home users market share, and somewhere on the line pretty much forgot the business users. The OS is no longer clearly aimed for business users.
Vista was a disaster pretty much every way you look at it, but 7 has fixed some of its flaws. Part of the problem is the overly simplifying things and forcing old reliable tree-browsing into libraries.
Library-like browsing is fine, if you want to watch photographs or browse mp3 collections at home, but it doesn't really work for corporate cases. Fileservers are easier to use if you can logically follow the treeview. (yes 7 has treeview too, but it sucks compared to old xp model)
There are no atheists when recovering from tape backup.
Steve's thoughts while at CES this year demoing the new Office....
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/01/msft-key-0260.jpg
It seems to me he's just slowly, gently, running Microsoft into the ground. He's not a horrible failure, but there seems to be a complete lack of inspiration and mojo.
Has Microsoft had any major hits since 2000? Like, real killer apps or disruptive new technologies?
I've seen "people I'd like to have a beer with" lists that some people make.
I wouldn't even want to ride an elevator with Steve Ballmer. He seems like a real prick.
My campus office used to be adjacent to the Business School at my institution, before they built a shiny new building for the b-school, and I used to have lunch in the cafeteria that was in their basement. I used to observe a lot of the over-amped business students that had similar grating mannerisms as Ballmer. Smelling of cheap cologne and flop-sweat, they were part obnoxious frat-boy, part desperate grasper, and part arrogant sociopath.
That's what I think of Steve Ballmer.
You are welcome on my lawn.
-- Steve in his retro "Toxic Pit Stains" look.
Hawt.
...I think the other one was Kevin Spacey
What this world is coming to - is for you and me to decide.
http://www.google.com/finance?client=ob&q=NASDAQ:MSFT
Even if you take into account that 10 years ago was the height of the tech bubble, it is amazing how much money Microsoft has wasted trying to get into new markets without any appreciation to its stock price.
All that Zune R&D money should have been given out directly to stockholders so they could have done something useful with it.
Except for ending slavery, the Nazis, communism, & securing American independence, war has never solved anything.
OK, rich moron
There's a difference between a rant and a chant, guys...
Just because he got that job (from hist long-year friend und co-partner), doesn't qualify him to be _not_ a moron.
Windows and MS have gone down the toilet in the last ten years. I liked Windows 2000 and Windows 98 for gaming. These days though, they are putting secret kill switches in the OS for the entertainment industry.
http://www.afterdawn.com/news/archive/13980.cfm
They also tried to hijack the PMP market.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/10/27/accidental_music_monopoly_bid/
Not only gained, but kept, for a full decade, without any media speculation of "who will succeed him?" his CEO job. There's a large number of major corporations that rotate through CEOs every 3-7 years, and even right now, even though he's secured another 3 year contract, the media is already asking who NBC's current CEO will be. Not to mention the big three automakers in the last year, along with many major banks. Balmer's done some pretty dumb, boneheaded stuff in his decade at Microsoft, but nobody in the media has ever honestly questioned his ability to run Microsoft in ten years; a rare feat for such a high profile company.
moox. for a new generation.
It would be interesting to see how the "personality" of Microsoft will change when Steve "Dancing Monkey-Boy" Ballmer finally leaves Microsoft.
Maybe it will become a "friendlier" company as a result.
In recent years Steve "my other monopoly is sweat glands" Ballmer seems to be hindering the company and maybe a fresh perspective by someone is needed for Microsoft.
It seems that since Bill Gates has left the company the attitude of Microsoft has "softened" (I use that word in the loosest possible terms!) towards Open Source stuff and begrudgingly partly accepting (again in the loosest possible terms) it.
I always felt Ballmer was the wrong choice for the CEO. In these 10 years the competition has not only come to their doorstep but into it. Under his reins Microsoft scrambled for MBAs and the others got the real geeks. And to top it, the world has started to realize that a computer is not Windows and the internet is not IE.
Just because he got that job (from hist long-year friend und co-partner), doesn't qualify him to be _not_ a moron.
Bastard? Sociopath? Arsehole? Prick?- maybe.
Moron? I'd say no. A *moron* would have fouled it all up somehow, either not getting the job in the first place or not retaining it for the last 8 years. He didn't.
This is a substitute for a clever sig that fits within the maximum number of characters.
many fucking happy returns!
Only three things are certain; death, taxes, and apocryphal quotations - Ben Franklin.
You can be a moron and still be successful. For reference, see politics.
Granted, it's rarer in areas where you are chosen not for your looks or your ability to kiss baby asses but for your (alleged) knowledge and where you're (allegedly) accountable for your blunders, but it works here too!
For reference, see banks.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
A *moron* would have fouled it all up somehow
Have you ever _used_ Vista?
Ballmer may have many faults, but that's one thing I'd never accuse him of!
Only three things are certain; death, taxes, and apocryphal quotations - Ben Franklin.
Have you ever _used_ Vista?
Has anyone?
This is a substitute for a clever sig that fits within the maximum number of characters.
That's cos Bill didn't have the physical strength to lift and throw a chair being the penultimate geek.
If Gates was the penultimate geek, I want to know who was the ultimate geek, and what does that make me?
A house divided against itself cannot stand.
To be a successful CEO, you simply have to be less of a moron than your shareholders (or rather, your board of directors). Given the current crew running most large corporations, that's really not that great of an accomplishment.
A keen riposte sir, I applaud you. *tips hat*
Compare their stock price to the common indices. He's done significantly worse than the S&P and Dow, and barely eked out a little better than the NASDAQ.
Now THAT'S innovation.
Before you design for reuse, make sure to design it for use.
It was a pane in the glass.
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
MSFT stock is down about $20/share during Ballmer's ten-year run as CEO. Meanwhile, AAPL is up $184/share over the same period.
I know, I know. Apples and Oranges.
Say hello to my little sig.
You can be a moron and still be successful. For reference, see politics.
Uh, huh.
Sure he gave an over-the-top presentation about how important developers are, but was his message wrong? Developers ARE important and he was rallying the troops.
// I'm no fanboy -- Vista sucks and I run a few Apache/Linux web servers
After all, look at the completely unnecessary work his ideas have provided for us.
After all, VB6 couldn't be automatically upgraded to VB.net. Neither C# nor VB.net forms projects can be automatically upgraded to ASP.net, C++.net. (Of course most C++ code somehow magically runs in the .net environment).
Yes, we're all enjoying the benefits of that wonderful CIL. It's just provided the folks on the ground *so* many benefits like, um, er... Well uh, .........
Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
O RLY? And how do you explain this guy's job performance? I agree that Balmer is certainly not a moron, but keeping that kind of job for 8 years doesn't prove it.
Similar to the upcoming US election results
I think Microsoft has done well by him. There's no way to know how much can be attributed directly to him, but I think Microsoft has improved considerably in the last 10 years. Windows isn't complete junk any more. The XBox came out of nowhere to kick major butt. .NET's been improving at a steady pace. Zune...good hardware, software, and service. It's really a shame that it isn't catching on. But the biggest improvement, there are many areas where Microsoft legitimately has beat out competitors instead of doing it by shady deals.
Just remember that there was a crowd cheering Ballmer.
I have no problem with Ballmer's enthusiasm; I can act like Ballmer anyday when I am happy. But people cheer me for acting like a clown ?
Those childlike morons clapping their hands represent what I resent in Microsoft fans: unquestioning devotion.
That reminds me of the following joke:
A boy goes to his dad and tells him "Dad, when I grow up I want to be a fucking loser".
The father surprised and a bit angry asks his son "Why would you want to be that?"
To what the kid answers: "Well, every time we are on the street, if you see a guy with a great car you say 'what a fucking loser'. When we see a guy with to girls you say 'look at that fucking loser' and last time we went to the supermarket and you fought with the manager you said 'I hope that fucking loser rots in hell' after they kicked you out of the place".
Or something like that...
Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'I can't configure Debian'
From a tech CEO perspective: yes. For everything else; no.
Don't confuse business with technology. The only reason that Microsoft is even in business today is because most people are morons when it comes to anything remotely logical and technical... But that also doesn't mean that most people are morons.
Here be signatures
Have you ever _used_ Vista?
Is that even possible? I thought that that OS was ran by a computer instead of the other way around. I somehow needed to buy a new computer to run the OS.
Hello... earth to you people; an OS is there to run a computer. If it can't run a 3 year old Dell business desktop (Pentium D with an Intel onboard GPU) you know there's something wrong with it....
Here be signatures
While Bush made it through all 8, it's easier to please Joe American Public and keep your job, especially when the other contenders for it are equally moronic. Steve Ballmer who has stockholders to answer to. It's always tougher when there's money involved.
Have you ever _used_ Vista?
Has anyone?
What else should I run my Windows ME emulator on?
because he has gained a ceo position, he cant be a moron ?
Read radical news here
L ike ballmer. By the way does Microsoft have plans for a cellphone to take on googles android?
What it amounts to is the most fortuitous dorm assignment in the history of the world, that's all. The guy is an idiot. That being said, may he stay CEO as long as possible, I'm enjoying watching Microsoft take on water. . . .
... into a Ferengi outfit.
To quote Monty Python: "Well nowadays a really blithering idiot can make anything up to ten thousand pounds a year - if he's the head of some big industrial combine."
A slightly more modernized version: "Well nowadays a really blithering idiot can make anything up to $100 million a year - if he's the head of some big investment bank."
I am officially gone from
"Not that we'll ever forget Ballmer's 'developers, developers, developers' rant."
I am principally a developer in *nix. But...as a concept, his developers rant was actually and a correct view.
Know thine enemy.
In post Patriot Act America, the library books scan you.
Has Microsoft been rudderless and uninspired/uninspiring for 10 years already?
He only got there because he was Bill Gates' best buddy, and that's about it (and everybody knows it). It certainly wasn't based on technical skills with actual computer sciences (which Mr. Gates actually has, Ballmer does not), and based on his mess with VISTA, apparently not on the business end either.
Not me. I waited for Mojave to come out.
Don't click link in parent post. The page has javascript or something that connects to the freenode irc network and does something malicious. Seems to be exploiting a security flaw in freenodes servers that allows you to connect to it using HTTP post.
Posted by a Debian GNU/Linux user
You claim he did fine because he delayed in the inevitable. A good CEO would have avoided the inevitable. It is like saying the captain of the Titanic was good because he got so far before sinking. Sorry, a good captain would have avoided the icebergs altogether.
MS has in many ways been playing catchup and using delay tactics. Fine, but that is something a crap ceo does because he can't do any better. A good CEO would have made everyone WANT to use IE and make it the best browser around. It isn't hard. ALL other browser makers have done that successfully. It takes a REALLY crap CEO to put billions into research and come out with Vista and IE8.
Had that money been given to Steve Jobs, we would have a REALLY slick computer (but with half the keys missing) and had we given it to the banks, they would have given themselves really big bonusses... Sony would have spent it on yet another piece of tech that they can't sell. Nintendo would have released a color Virtual Boy.
I think as a CEO Ballmer has actually been cursed, when you are on the bottom, the only way is up, but when you are at the top, it takes real skill to go even higher. And he doesn't have it, he was probably good in the earlier days of MS, but not the man to take the company further.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
So you're saying that GW wasn't involved with any money? I wonder who has more money, the US government or Microsoft.
A loop, by its nature, continues. If that didn't make sense, start reading this sentence again.
Yes, I have and Office 2007 with the ribbon.
Remember, I'm fighting them over here so you don't have to fight them over there.
but still not /. avatar
Steve Ballmer has little technical knowledge. Can an ignorant CEO run a technology company?
Microsoft makes most of its money because it has a virtual monopoly. People buy any trash (Vista) that Microsoft produces. They are locked in.
In my opinion, Ballmer has no "legacy". He just imitates Bill Gates' severe abusiveness.
So, when will M$ produce their version of Dance, Dance, Revolution? Bet you'll be the chief avatar.
Pain is merely failure leaving the body
As Bill has left for long time and Ballmer is becoming so "important" in the /., why don't we change the icon about MS stories with Ballmer?
So, if Bill Gates is the penultimate geek, who is the last geek? XD
Penultimate = next to the last.
Do we settle the argument by staging athletic throwing event with a 16 pound chair replacing the regulation hammer?
Stop that!
/. !! Please respect the terms of engagement.
They are BOTH morons!
Remember! This is
Oh wait... can they be morons AND Antichrists at the same time?
Please explain.
.
- aqk
F U
>Funny how Vista is oddly missing in that list of achivements.
Probably Vista is not an achievement, but a failure....
With all due respect to mr Ballmer, but not only he is looking like a used cars salesman, but he also seems not to have any imagination whatsoever regarding new products and technologies. He is the least inspiring person for the position he has. At least, with mr Gates, we always expected something new out of him, even if in the end he did not deliver that.
Sadly it is not a troll. It should be modded Insightful.
Nope, I haven't wrote that, just trying to defend it.