“In an interview, Ballmer talks a lot about how, five years after Chairman Bill Gates made him CEO, he is redefining Microsoft for its next phase, making it more disciplined and decentralized,” Kevin Maney reports for USA Today. “While it’s clear that Microsoft is changing, old behaviors die hard. When Ballmer gets talking about how Microsoft must be first with technology innovations — which, so far in Microsoft’s history, has not often happened — the exchange is more like vintage pugilistic Microsoft.”
Ballmer: “You’ve got to be not just first in an area; you’ve got to be first with important innovations even in areas that you’ve pioneered.”
USA Today reporter: “Well, you guys have proved over and over again being first is not necessarily …”
Ballmer: “We love to be first.”
Reporter: “You love to be first but …”
Ballmer: “We love to be first.”
Reporter: “You certainly weren’t the first — you know, I mean, here looking at your …”
Ballmer: “We love to be first. Well, our big success is Windows. We were first. Windows, we were first — and then everybody faded out because there was a period during which the concept was — I mean, Apple stuck around with their concept of that, but everybody else faded out, basically.”
Maney writes, “Tech people must be scratching their heads. Windows wasn’t the first graphical user interface — that was invented by Xerox and was first made popular by Apple Computer. Microsoft didn’t have the first browser or video player or cell phone operating system. Time and again, the company has come in late and, in many cases, won the day with tenacity. It is a strength Microsoft could boast about but doesn’t. The yin and yang — past and future — in Ballmer’s remarks echo around Microsoft. In interviews with nearly a dozen Microsoft executives, the company sometimes seems to be grappling with which parts of itself to leave behind and which parts it can’t live without. Change is happening. But it apparently isn’t easy, and it’s not yet evident what kind of company Microsoft is becoming. ‘The problem isn’t that Microsoft can’t change,’ says Jeffrey Tarter, editor of influential newsletter Softletter. ‘The real problem is it’s not at all clear how the company should change.'”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The only thing Steve Ballmer does first is order seconds. Dance, Monkey Boy, dance. It’s clear that Monkey Boy’s idea of chronological order is as backwards as clicking “Start” to stop your computer. Sweat much? Developers, developers, developers…. The famous Microsoft first? MS Bob. Stick to copying Apple, Monkey Boy, it’s taken you guys this far.
Now we know why Longhorn is taking so long, Ballmer’s desperately trying to build a time machine that’ll be able to transport him and a copy of Apple’s Mac OS X back in time so he can be “first” for once.
I remember reading an interview with Larry Ellison a couple of years ago, where he discussed Microsoft’s position on Java. In the interview Ellison also characterized Microsoft’s patented 4-step strategy to diminish cool, non-MS technology, in this way:
1. Microsoft declares that this new technology is irrelevant and useless.
2. Microsoft concedes that the technology has some advantages, but is irrelevant anyway.
3. Microsoft claims their version is better than the original one.
4. “Hey, what are you talking about? We invented it in the first place!”.
Guess we have got to the fourth stage…
Ballmer: ‘Microsoft loves to be first with innovation’…. Then they had better get a move on.
Wouldn’t YOU just love to work for Microsoft!
I wouldn’t mind working for MS. I like long naps in the afternoon.
“Yes, I should be done sometime in 2006.”
Try this for a quick quiz. Now remember the graph is logarithmic:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?t=1y&s=MSFT&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=AAPL
Microsoft can spout alot of ideas about their future efforts and claim they were the first. Just like the old adage says “history is written by the victors.” If the competition no longer exists then you were first.
As for Microsoft’s boast that they want their customers to reach their potential? What potential? Most Windows users just want their machine to work without having all the problems they now have. Microsoft’s customers have a want and desire to have a platform that works. That is acheiving the potential that Ballmer is talking about.
As for listening to their customer base: that doesn’t happen in Microsofts world. Just the other day a couple at the local Apple Store purchase two iMac G5’s to replace two six-month old (according to the customers) Dells that have been inundated with viruses and malware. Are you listening Microsoft? This is just the beginning of an exodus from the Windows platform.
I think that Apple recognized this trickle and so have released the Mac mini and iPod shuffle to appeal to the budget crowd. Apple has plans that Microsoft cannot even fathom. Apple has won significant mindshare and now has to turn that into sales and market share.
Microsofts goal of having their customers reach their full potential is finally being realized: its just not on Windows.
Surely he meant to say “We love to COME first”.
Imagine the scene: Night – the Ballmers’s boudoir.
Steve Ballmer: “We love to come first.”
Ballmer’s wife: “Yes dear, Bill’s wife say’s the same about him…”
If only M$ could get all its messy business over with in a couple of minutes….
Steve Ballmer head is an Windows 95 System and its hang off and now you only hear “we love to be first…”
Yes its right first in hang off Systems all over the world….
From the first lie: “Yes with have an OS” [DOS] to IBM [for their first PC] all the way up to now … the company philosophy hasn’t changed.
MDN: this is farking with Camino
http://z1.adserver.com/w/cp.x;rid=3;tid=18;ev=2;dt=3;ac=17;c=889;
looks like an error in the line “Please enter the Magic….”
Looks like Monkey Boy got out of its cage again. MS really needs to try something else, like an invisible fence or tranquilizer snipers to keep Ballmer confined.
Anyway, let’s hope he keeps on babbling. Let him show the world just how fucked up the guy who runs MS really is. Apple, enjoy the show.
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