“Steve Ballmer was sobbing. He repeatedly tried to speak and couldn’t get the words out. Minutes passed as he tried to regain his composure. But the audience of 130 of Microsoft’s senior leaders waited patiently, many of them crying too,” David Kirkpatrick reports for Fortune. “They knew that the CEO was choked up because this executive retreat, held in late March at a resort north of Seattle, was the last ever for company co-founder Bill Gates, as well as for Jeff Raikes, one of the company’s longest-tenured executives. ‘I’ve spent more time with these two human beings than with anyone else in my life,’ Ballmer finally said. ‘Bill and Jeff have been my North Star and kept me going. Now I’m going to count on all of you to be there for me.'”
MacDailyNews Take: Dork. Supposedly, Microsoft is Ballmer’s “family.” If true, that’s really sad. See: Microsoft CEO Ballmer: I’m outta here in 9 or 10 years; as soon as my last kid goes away to college – June 05, 2008. “Saint Peter don’t you call me ’cause I can’t go… I owe my soul to the company store.” Ballmer can’t even manage his own priorities, much less a multi-billion dollar company. Maybe they’re not just crocodile tears, it could be that he’s really, genuinely crying — because he knows there’s no unprepared sugared water salesbozo around to sign away Apple’s company jewels this time.
Kirkpatrick continues, “What the executives were witnessing was the end of an era. On July 1, Gates officially retires from daily duties at the software giant. He’s leaving in order to begin a second life as a full-time philanthropist and to explore his dizzying range of intellectual interests.”
MacDailyNews Take: Yeah, the vertigo is intense when you’ve spent the last 25 years staring 850 miles due south.
Kirkpatrick continues, “But his departure raises some obvious and very large questions about the future of Microsoft: Can the now $60 billion behemoth keep finding new ways to grow? Will Ballmer and his lieutenants be able to successfully adapt their products to an increasingly web-driven world? In short, does the company have what it takes to thrive without its iconic founder at the helm?”
MacDailyNews Take: No. No. And no.
Kirkpatrick continues, “And then there’s Apple. From the iPod to the iMac to the iPhone, its products have cornered the market on cool. Apple’s small share of the PC market in the U.S. is growing fast – it was 7.4% in the first quarter of 2008, up from 5.1% a year earlier, according to International Data Corp. (IDC). Perhaps even more alarming, its ubiquitous ‘Get a Mac’ TV ads have painted the personal computer loaded with Windows software – the central achievement of Gates’ 33 years at Microsoft – as a loser. To a lot of consumers out there, Microsoft really does seem like that bumbling nebbish played by Daily Show contributor John Hodgman.”
“The feud with Apple is mostly about honor. It pains Ballmer and his troops react viscerally when they watch those Apple ads – and when they see how much they’ve harmed Microsoft’s reputation. The consulting firm CoreBrand calculates Microsoft has declined from 11th among global brands in 2004 to 59th today, and reports that the two-year-old ‘Get a Mac’ campaign has almost certainly played a role,” Kirkpatrick reports.
Kirkpatrick reports, “The ads hurt even more because they strike a nerve… Ballmer does not intend to keep tolerating Apple’s insults.”
MacDailyNews Take: “Buy a Dell and get a Zune?” Sounds more like a prison term than a marketing promotion.
Full article, in which Kirkpatrick looks at Microsot’s plans to make Windows “cool” with a new marketing campaign, here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “JES42” for the heads up.]
he’s not sad, he’s scared shitless.
He IS scared. Gates is the only thing keeping Ballmer at the helm.
Watch how fast they boot his ass out after Gates leaves.
“”What the executives were witnessing was the end of an era.”
I think they mean, “end of an error”.
Biggest fscking error in history.
He’s used loads of antiperspirant for the big day and the sweat can’t come out any other way.
It’s not about ads or just perception.
Using a PC is torture. Using a Mac is joy.
That simple.
Not an error, truly, for W H Gates jnr had a direct line to W H Gates snr.
Barmier has direct lines to the nearest Dunkin’ Donuts and restroom.
I love using my Mac. At the same time, i don’t feel the need to bash Microsoft at every turn. If Steve Jobs retires, you’d be seeing a lot of people crying too. Apple is a company and Macs are tools. As much as I love my Mac I’d use something else if it was better for what i need my tool to do or what my tool can do for me.
Balmer is genuinely sad. He can’t dump out his stock due to his insider position. He can only watch it erode under his guidance.
Some of those guys were sobbing with joy. Imagine being in a room with Barmier and him not being able to speak, truly an unbelievable, unexpected, unlikely to ever happen again, experience, one to savour.
I’m no Windows fan and I think my Apple laptop rocks, and I have little doubt VIsta and the Zune player pretty much suck as products. But even if there is little reason to respect Steve Ballmer as a tech executive, making fun of his display of emotion over the departure of two people he probably really cares about, and calling him a “dork” for that display, is completely uncalled for, don’t you think?
Whatever his faults, the guy is a human being and deserves to be accorded a basic level of respect to which we are all entitled.
Maybe the resident dorks at MDN need to grow up a little.
You can’t market cool. The iPod ads were ‘cool’ because the product was already cool.
Apple now remains cool by saying nothing. MS will remain uncool by both their products and telling us how cool MS is.
Ballmer has nowhere to hide now – the buck stops with him.
slow news day…
From the article, He’s leaving in order to begin a second life as a full-time philanthropist and to explore his dizzying range of intellectual interests.
There’s real news, Bill has intellectual interest, even bigger news, it means he must have intellect. No, that can’t be, must be a report in Forbes.
From the article, Last year’s rollout of the latest version of Windows, called Vista, was a public relations and consumer marketing disaster.
No it wasn’t, it was junk, pure junk. Fsck public relations and consumer marketing (BTW they are the same thing). It’s about customer experience.
From the article The rest of the software industry, meanwhile, is either supporting its products with advertising, like Google, or starting to rent them as online services.
Wrong again, there is one company that shuns saddling it’s customer with advertising and actually sells stuff (that works).
From the article. But despite setbacks, despite image problems, and despite Google, Microsoft is in many ways stronger than it has ever been. Just look at the numbers.
Spoken like a true bean counter.
(PS, I am not a bean).
Apple hasn’t damaged Microsoft’s reputation and credibiltiy nearly as much as Microsoft itself has by producing and mismanaging a poor product. It is as if they are blaming Apple for their own incompetence.
I agree with R5D4
“Yeah, the vertigo is intense when you’ve spent the last 25 years staring 850 miles due south.”
Nice one.
Thank you, R5D4. I was thinking the same thing, but I couldn’t have said it better.
From the article. Steve has a computer in his head.
Most of us have a brain.
This shit is so funny, how to condense what is wrong with the corporate world (and much more) in one article.
In fact, now that I’ve had a few minutes to reflect on my last comment—
IF I DON’T SEE A RETRACTION OF THE FIRST PART OF THE MDN TAKE ON THIS STORY BY 11 PM PST TODAY, I AM FOREVER DONE WITH THIS BOARD.
This site in informative and fun but, in the end, inessential to my continued enjoyment of Apple and its product. Thank you.
R5D4,
It seems clear to most of us that MDN is criticizing Ballmer for misplaced priorities – crying about MS execs’ retirements, but won’t retire himself until his last kid is out of the house.
Misplaced priorities, indeed.
Ballmer is the very definition of a dork.
R5D4, Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.
From the article. As evidence, he estimates that about half the questions he’s asked on conference calls concern the money-losing $3.3 billion Online division – or Windows Live Services, which includes Microsoft’s search product and Hotmail – even though it represents only about 6% of company revenues. Of course, that’s the division that competes with Google.
Good job it’s not more than 6% of revenues otherwise it would be losing even more money.
R5D4 – goodbye!
From the article. <The one concrete commitment Gates has made to Ballmer, other than continuing to chair board meetings, is that he will keep working with the search and advertising team.>
So we see Bill’s priorites (or rather his dad’s) find out what people are interested in and shove more advertising at them.
From the article. This year Microsoft will put about $1.7 billion into data centers and servers for its online business.
Lets hope they are running IIS.
Correct me if I am wrong but Bill is staying on as Chairman of the board isn’t he?
Bill is just getting out so he can save face when he buys an iPhone on July 11:-).
Also Bill Gates, at least get Tech, he is a geek at heart even if he is a plagiarizing ruthless business geek. He may not be the best programmer in the world but he has programmed a computer before, what has Ballmer ever done but befriend Bill Gates.
I will say this for Bill gates, if rewards his friend handsomely.