Steve Ballmer

And that worked for us on Windows Server. So it's not like we didn't have an existence proof that the thing could work. But, you know, if you're going to, in my little deck I gave you. Yes, please. You know, if you're trying to skate to where the puck is, if you're trying to recognize, what did I call this, about capabilities. If you're a startup in something, there's an ongoing business.

And that worked for us on Windows Server. So it's not like we didn't have an existence proof that the thing could work. But, you know, if you're going to, in my little deck I gave you. Yes, please. You know, if you're trying to skate to where the puck is, if you're trying to recognize, what did I call this, about capabilities. If you're a startup in something, there's an ongoing business.

You just keep enhancing your products. There's a line extension. Okay, we're going to add networking to Windows. No problem. You still call it Windows. It's related, but new. SQL Server, for example, was that for a while. It was related because we had a backend platform. Dynamics, somewhat related, our accounting, et cetera, stuff, because there was some enterprise-y sales, but it was really new.

You just keep enhancing your products. There's a line extension. Okay, we're going to add networking to Windows. No problem. You still call it Windows. It's related, but new. SQL Server, for example, was that for a while. It was related because we had a backend platform. Dynamics, somewhat related, our accounting, et cetera, stuff, because there was some enterprise-y sales, but it was really new.

And it turned out the phone was more like a startup. The phone was more like a startup. And recognizing and thinking about things and then asking yourself, what capabilities do you need? I say get in the weight room. You've got to develop capability. Take a look at a capability we developed that is now essential. We didn't build it for this reason. Hardware design.

And it turned out the phone was more like a startup. The phone was more like a startup. And recognizing and thinking about things and then asking yourself, what capabilities do you need? I say get in the weight room. You've got to develop capability. Take a look at a capability we developed that is now essential. We didn't build it for this reason. Hardware design.

Microsoft's a major hardware design company now. Now, I started it out mostly to help client-side devices. Surface. Xbox, Surface, phone. And guess what? They use that mostly now in Azure data centers. I think the guy who actually runs hardware design used to be on Xbox. The backend hardware design for the data center, the chip, et cetera, infrastructure.

Microsoft's a major hardware design company now. Now, I started it out mostly to help client-side devices. Surface. Xbox, Surface, phone. And guess what? They use that mostly now in Azure data centers. I think the guy who actually runs hardware design used to be on Xbox. The backend hardware design for the data center, the chip, et cetera, infrastructure.

I'm pretty sure there are a lot of talent we brought in. So building capabilities is important. We built some capability, but we didn't build enough capability. We didn't see things as different enough. Okay, let's try to keep the comfortable Windows user interface because people understand it. It wasn't right for the phone.

I'm pretty sure there are a lot of talent we brought in. So building capabilities is important. We built some capability, but we didn't build enough capability. We didn't see things as different enough. Okay, let's try to keep the comfortable Windows user interface because people understand it. It wasn't right for the phone.

I don't even remember what processors we started out on, but I'm pretty sure we started out on Intel. Of course that wasn't right. We tried to keep too much consistency, both out of... sort of a fear that this was our permission to exist and out of a self-confidence that, you know, we had to put windows everywhere.

I don't even remember what processors we started out on, but I'm pretty sure we started out on Intel. Of course that wasn't right. We tried to keep too much consistency, both out of... sort of a fear that this was our permission to exist and out of a self-confidence that, you know, we had to put windows everywhere.

I would say two things were true at the time for us. And this is specifically about mobile. it's also about something else. It's a little bit out of search too. There are two things that are true. Number one, you have to be focusing consciously on the issue. It's easy to get caught up in, you know, there's innovators dilemma. It's a little different, but you get caught up in what you have.

I would say two things were true at the time for us. And this is specifically about mobile. it's also about something else. It's a little bit out of search too. There are two things that are true. Number one, you have to be focusing consciously on the issue. It's easy to get caught up in, you know, there's innovators dilemma. It's a little different, but you get caught up in what you have.

You get caught up in what you know. You get caught up in the capabilities. And that's why I say to myself, you explicitly have to think about it. And look, if we hadn't developed a bunch of capabilities we had, AI, if we hadn't built Bing, company wouldn't have capability.

You get caught up in what you know. You get caught up in the capabilities. And that's why I say to myself, you explicitly have to think about it. And look, if we hadn't developed a bunch of capabilities we had, AI, if we hadn't built Bing, company wouldn't have capability.

We built some important capabilities, but we didn't realize the businesses were enough different to harness those in the new ways. I'm proud of the capabilities we built. Didn't apply them the way we should have. Where did we learn to build internet scale infrastructure? Well, some with Azure, some even more than Azure. Bing and Xbox. No, even more than Azure to get started.

We built some important capabilities, but we didn't realize the businesses were enough different to harness those in the new ways. I'm proud of the capabilities we built. Didn't apply them the way we should have. Where did we learn to build internet scale infrastructure? Well, some with Azure, some even more than Azure. Bing and Xbox. No, even more than Azure to get started.

The Office, what's now M365, the Office backend, because that got critical mass as a cloud infrastructure before Azure did, and even more so with Bing. So we developed the capabilities, but then you look at the product and what was our strategy for Bing? Well, there's too much based upon Windows integration.

The Office, what's now M365, the Office backend, because that got critical mass as a cloud infrastructure before Azure did, and even more so with Bing. So we developed the capabilities, but then you look at the product and what was our strategy for Bing? Well, there's too much based upon Windows integration.