Steve Ballmer

I don't know if you've ever seen that.

I don't know if you've ever seen that.

It was just a fun thing. It was not a real speech. And it was for internal consumption, where you're saying... Yeah, it was for sales.

It was just a fun thing. It was not a real speech. And it was for internal consumption, where you're saying... Yeah, it was for sales.

Yeah. I mean, there's a lot of little nuances in there. We were trying to get our people pumped up about Windows.

Yeah. I mean, there's a lot of little nuances in there. We were trying to get our people pumped up about Windows.

Exactly. I can't remember whether we're pre-LAMP or LAMP by then, but I don't remember. There's some infrastructure on top of Linux that people are using to write, let's say, their backends, not their user-facing code. And we had tons of competition. The interesting thing is people say only think about your customer, never think about your competitor. I actually think you have to think about both.

Exactly. I can't remember whether we're pre-LAMP or LAMP by then, but I don't remember. There's some infrastructure on top of Linux that people are using to write, let's say, their backends, not their user-facing code. And we had tons of competition. The interesting thing is people say only think about your customer, never think about your competitor. I actually think you have to think about both.

And ironically, we were pretty consumed with our competitor, which I think was essential. And we were pretty consumed about doing new things. But the competitor thing wound up being very important. I mean, we have no business. We're not in the enterprise. We could lose windows on the client. We have to, you know, and in the company, we weren't like really self-confident.

And ironically, we were pretty consumed with our competitor, which I think was essential. And we were pretty consumed about doing new things. But the competitor thing wound up being very important. I mean, we have no business. We're not in the enterprise. We could lose windows on the client. We have to, you know, and in the company, we weren't like really self-confident.

The DOJ was really self-confident that we were kind of a lock and there was no competition and life was easy. That's not where our heads were. Now, there is some time in the 2000s where I think we do – I do. We do. We, we think that extending, we did a slide once called windows everywhere.

The DOJ was really self-confident that we were kind of a lock and there was no competition and life was easy. That's not where our heads were. Now, there is some time in the 2000s where I think we do – I do. We do. We, we think that extending, we did a slide once called windows everywhere.

We used to use this on all these devices and we became too wed to extending what we had versus jumping to something new because in a sense we were too confident. Hmm. We were too confident. If we only Windowsized something, you guys make a point in your episode on us. You guys call it sticking with Windows too long, but that may be it. But I don't think we stuck with Windows too long.

We used to use this on all these devices and we became too wed to extending what we had versus jumping to something new because in a sense we were too confident. Hmm. We were too confident. If we only Windowsized something, you guys make a point in your episode on us. You guys call it sticking with Windows too long, but that may be it. But I don't think we stuck with Windows too long.

I think what we did is we tried to put Windows in places that it didn't naturally go. And we tried to be too Windows-y, both in the API and the UI in some things. Mobile being an obvious. Windows Mobile, exactly. And the car. The car. We did a layer on Windows that when you hooked your PC up to the TV, it had a simplified user interface for the TV.

I think what we did is we tried to put Windows in places that it didn't naturally go. And we tried to be too Windows-y, both in the API and the UI in some things. Mobile being an obvious. Windows Mobile, exactly. And the car. The car. We did a layer on Windows that when you hooked your PC up to the TV, it had a simplified user interface for the TV.

Media Center.

Media Center.

Media Center, exactly right. So we became convinced either out of... to some degree, paranoia and some degree confidence. You know, okay, well, our birthright here comes from windows. That's our permission to enter the area. But then we also, in some areas, it just wasn't going to be extensible. So there was both like a fear and a overstated confidence in trying to take windows everywhere.

Media Center, exactly right. So we became convinced either out of... to some degree, paranoia and some degree confidence. You know, okay, well, our birthright here comes from windows. That's our permission to enter the area. But then we also, in some areas, it just wasn't going to be extensible. So there was both like a fear and a overstated confidence in trying to take windows everywhere.