Steve Ballmer

Students are an example, but there's plenty of others who are trying to do startups and blah, blah, blah. Um, so in any event, you know, we kind of get going, we're learning, you know, how to do the things we're building capability for sure in the cloud through both products. Uh, and, uh, you know, by the time I leave, we have some, some, some momentum with Azure, but some momentum.

Students are an example, but there's plenty of others who are trying to do startups and blah, blah, blah. Um, so in any event, you know, we kind of get going, we're learning, you know, how to do the things we're building capability for sure in the cloud through both products. Uh, and, uh, you know, by the time I leave, we have some, some, some momentum with Azure, but some momentum.

The big momentum really is in the last 11 years since I left.

The big momentum really is in the last 11 years since I left.

No, it was extremely disruptive, but it wasn't. Yes and no. The things we understood were translatable. Now, people get locked into a model. You had to replace server into a leadership to make this happen. Will IT accept things that run in the cloud? That was not obvious back in 2008, 2009. It's not like Amazon was an enterprise company at the time.

No, it was extremely disruptive, but it wasn't. Yes and no. The things we understood were translatable. Now, people get locked into a model. You had to replace server into a leadership to make this happen. Will IT accept things that run in the cloud? That was not obvious back in 2008, 2009. It's not like Amazon was an enterprise company at the time.

It was mostly for startups, and that's who was using AWS at the time. And so, no, I agree. I do agree with you. We had to shake up our internal culture. God dang it. This was my basic message. God dang it. This is our future. We can preserve and enhance these businesses. We can take more value out of the system because other people, the customers don't have to set up their servers anymore.

It was mostly for startups, and that's who was using AWS at the time. And so, no, I agree. I do agree with you. We had to shake up our internal culture. God dang it. This was my basic message. God dang it. This is our future. We can preserve and enhance these businesses. We can take more value out of the system because other people, the customers don't have to set up their servers anymore.

They don't have to do all this work. Essentially, money that would have been spent on people and hardware will get spent with us.

They don't have to do all this work. Essentially, money that would have been spent on people and hardware will get spent with us.

We're going to do this. And it was hard for me, even telling our people, There was still, you know, la resistance, as they say. And that's why I did the speech at UW where we talked about the fact that we're all in on the cloud. It was partly a reminder to people, you know, get with it or get out of it.

We're going to do this. And it was hard for me, even telling our people, There was still, you know, la resistance, as they say. And that's why I did the speech at UW where we talked about the fact that we're all in on the cloud. It was partly a reminder to people, you know, get with it or get out of it.

It's very... Some of what you have to do because people believe the newspaper more than they'll believe an internal email.

It's very... Some of what you have to do because people believe the newspaper more than they'll believe an internal email.

But that's sort of a classic thing. It shouldn't be mind-blowing. I mean, Windows and Windows NT were in different groups too. Sometimes in order to protect the sort of baby while it grows up, You can't put it with the thing that's established. I mean, you could say it's part of the issue with Windows when we tried to use Windows on things for which we probably should have started.

But that's sort of a classic thing. It shouldn't be mind-blowing. I mean, Windows and Windows NT were in different groups too. Sometimes in order to protect the sort of baby while it grows up, You can't put it with the thing that's established. I mean, you could say it's part of the issue with Windows when we tried to use Windows on things for which we probably should have started.

Yeah, I was going to ask. Mobile would have played out differently if you'd taken this approach with mobile. We did break it out, but we constrained it with Windows. We broke Windows NT out and constrained it with Windows. It worked fine because Windows belonged. So how you do... Those incubations. And in this case, I just said, look, it'll get probably subsumed. I don't know.

Yeah, I was going to ask. Mobile would have played out differently if you'd taken this approach with mobile. We did break it out, but we constrained it with Windows. We broke Windows NT out and constrained it with Windows. It worked fine because Windows belonged. So how you do... Those incubations. And in this case, I just said, look, it'll get probably subsumed. I don't know.

Partly, Ray wanted some operating control over the thing. And putting it under Muglia would have made it harder for Ray. And obviously, it was less palatable. And I'm not sure Cutler would have... If it was all, you know, all in server and tools. But it was the right thing to do, even though it was, quote, part of the future of servers. It was the future of server and tools, essentially.

Partly, Ray wanted some operating control over the thing. And putting it under Muglia would have made it harder for Ray. And obviously, it was less palatable. And I'm not sure Cutler would have... If it was all, you know, all in server and tools. But it was the right thing to do, even though it was, quote, part of the future of servers. It was the future of server and tools, essentially.