Steve Ballmer

He had told me, but, you know, talk about that. But he had told me, but hadn't left yet. So he was involved until he left. And even then... you know, different nature of involvement. But anyway, so I get Cutler and Amitabh to go do this thing. And then Cutler brings some of his, I'll call gang, his favorite guys. He brings them over because he's a magnet for talent.

He had told me, but, you know, talk about that. But he had told me, but hadn't left yet. So he was involved until he left. And even then... you know, different nature of involvement. But anyway, so I get Cutler and Amitabh to go do this thing. And then Cutler brings some of his, I'll call gang, his favorite guys. He brings them over because he's a magnet for talent.

And we get started and we made an explicit decision. And I guess you could say it's also a function of thinking windows first. I think you guys may have talked about this in your episode. We say we're going to build platform as a service because it's a windows platform. Infrastructure is a service a little bit if you think about it. You're sort of by nature accepting everybody's infrastructure.

And we get started and we made an explicit decision. And I guess you could say it's also a function of thinking windows first. I think you guys may have talked about this in your episode. We say we're going to build platform as a service because it's a windows platform. Infrastructure is a service a little bit if you think about it. You're sort of by nature accepting everybody's infrastructure.

It's by nature multi, quote, multi-platform. You become a different kind of a platform because you're running other people's Linux and whatever.

It's by nature multi, quote, multi-platform. You become a different kind of a platform because you're running other people's Linux and whatever.

It doesn't leverage our strengths in the sense that we've got great low-level operating system people. So we have all the talent to go do it. But we say, hey, we're going to do – and it was explicit. We wanted to do platform as a service. We said, hey, they're doing it. And B, it's all about the developers.

It doesn't leverage our strengths in the sense that we've got great low-level operating system people. So we have all the talent to go do it. But we say, hey, we're going to do – and it was explicit. We wanted to do platform as a service. We said, hey, they're doing it. And B, it's all about the developers.

Which they were and they weren't. Windows Server had a strong developer group. Unix had a strong developer group. And on the front end, Windows was definitely stronger.

Which they were and they weren't. Windows Server had a strong developer group. Unix had a strong developer group. And on the front end, Windows was definitely stronger.

Hard for me to remember. I think if you go to the field of productivity, the answer is, yes, there were still. The problem is if you left the areas of productivity and gaming. Productivity and gaming, yes. If you leave productivity and gaming, I think the answer was no.

Hard for me to remember. I think if you go to the field of productivity, the answer is, yes, there were still. The problem is if you left the areas of productivity and gaming. Productivity and gaming, yes. If you leave productivity and gaming, I think the answer was no.

Yeah, there was lots of, it was enterprise developers. You know, people, remember, people were, the web wasn't good for a number of things for IT because people couldn't count on, people didn't feel like they could count on the connectivity. Either the amount of bandwidth or latency or just its very existence. We were still at that point. So I'm not saying, fair.

Yeah, there was lots of, it was enterprise developers. You know, people, remember, people were, the web wasn't good for a number of things for IT because people couldn't count on, people didn't feel like they could count on the connectivity. Either the amount of bandwidth or latency or just its very existence. We were still at that point. So I'm not saying, fair.

We were right in the way we thought about it. I'm not saying that. But I'm also saying there was a Windows thing There was still a great Windows developer ecosystem. It didn't go from a lot in 99 to nothing by 05. Totally fair. And then on Windows Server, Unix was stronger on the back end. And of course, we're trying to make Windows strong, and we're trying to get to the cloud.

We were right in the way we thought about it. I'm not saying that. But I'm also saying there was a Windows thing There was still a great Windows developer ecosystem. It didn't go from a lot in 99 to nothing by 05. Totally fair. And then on Windows Server, Unix was stronger on the back end. And of course, we're trying to make Windows strong, and we're trying to get to the cloud.

And then we're learning more things about the cloud from both Exchange in the cloud and Azure in the cloud. How do you make it easy to provision? What's the speed of provisioning? You know, what do you do to serve developers? The notion that you give them, you know, a number of, you know, sort of a set of free usage and then let them embrace. Because developers have two aspects too.

And then we're learning more things about the cloud from both Exchange in the cloud and Azure in the cloud. How do you make it easy to provision? What's the speed of provisioning? You know, what do you do to serve developers? The notion that you give them, you know, a number of, you know, sort of a set of free usage and then let them embrace. Because developers have two aspects too.

There's developers who are not part of enterprises and there's developers who are. And the developers who are not part of enterprises need a whole different sales motion. You can call them consumer, not developers of consumer apps, but they are like developers They are not like big corporations in terms of the way they use.

There's developers who are not part of enterprises and there's developers who are. And the developers who are not part of enterprises need a whole different sales motion. You can call them consumer, not developers of consumer apps, but they are like developers They are not like big corporations in terms of the way they use.