Posted on 09/12/2005 2:09:10 PM PDT by Panerai
The chief executive of Microsoft responds to accusations that he threatened to kill Google and tells Martin Baker what it means to be Bill Gates's boss
Steve Ballmer is a very big man. And the chief executive of Microsoft, who is now Bill Gates's boss, no less, is having quite a big day, even by his own standards. We meet in Microsoft City, just outside Seattle, where Microsoft is formally announcing a range of products aimed at small and medium-sized companies, complete with the 12th version of its ubiquitous Office software.
Steve Ballmer: ‘It's gratifying to hear "good job" from Bill’ Analysts, hacks and customers have gathered to see the gods of the geek world do their stuff. The dress code is "business casual": chinos, not jeans; open-neck shirts, not T-shirts. The atmosphere is ruthlessly conformist. Sheepish smokers huddle outside. Inside, coffee, muffins, cheese snacks and salty nut mixes are in limitless supply as the conference hall monitors flick into life.
Our appointment is scheduled for early afternoon, after a morning's hard networking. The crisp, late-summer sun makes the buildings seem like cut-outs against a huge blue sky. This is the kind of gorgeously bleak cityscape that would have appealed to the painter Edward Hopper.
But that famous sense of isolation and meaninglessness doesn't come from figures trapped in their environment. That ambience has been created by the dehumanising language of the conference sessions. Gates, a grown man visibly upset that people in offices still use Post-It notes, intones: "The word 'dynamics' speaks to some very specific architectural capabilities" - this seems to be a claim that new software works quite well.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
In before Rusty Turkey & Gore2000!
"Hall monitors"?
Flashback! I have pictures of older kids sitting at a lone desk in the hall and questioning passersby during class time.
Did he say that stuff? I'd bet he did. Is he disturbed by it? I'd bet he is, mostly because he's the kind of guy who would view backsliding on a "no cussing" vow as a weakness.
Which section is Ballmer head of at MicroSoft?
Interesting. The charges came in a sworn affidavit, submitted under penalty of perjury. Ballmer's non-denial "denial" comes in a one-on-one with a friendly -- almost worshipful -- journalist.
In legal terms, the charge has not been rebutted. This is nothing but spin.
As far as Ballmer's energy, only his physician knows for sure, but the manic/crash cycle he's on certainly reminds me of some character deficiencies that our society keeps painting as illnesses....
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
Ballmer is the boss of the whole thing -- although Gates is "Chief Software Officer."
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
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