Steve Ballmer

I mean, you sort of can't blame them because there was nothing to build off of. But yeah. Yeah. One of the things my little PowerPoint here says is luck is important in the creation of great companies. It is. And a lot of people sort of say we're masters of the universe. We figure everything out. We never have any luck. And it's because we're so talented.

I mean, you sort of can't blame them because there was nothing to build off of. But yeah. Yeah. One of the things my little PowerPoint here says is luck is important in the creation of great companies. It is. And a lot of people sort of say we're masters of the universe. We figure everything out. We never have any luck. And it's because we're so talented.

Sure, there are talented people and hardworking people. Most people have a little luck in their story. And this was our big luck.

Sure, there are talented people and hardworking people. Most people have a little luck in their story. And this was our big luck.

No. No. I can't remember what year it would have been. But Andy Grove, who was running Intel at the time, said, yeah, pretty soon we'll be selling 100 million PCs a year. Sometime in the 80s, I think. It might have even been in the 90s. And Bill and I laughed and said, ah, that's not going to happen. We invested big time. And if it did happen, we said, that's great. We're not going to underinvest.

No. No. I can't remember what year it would have been. But Andy Grove, who was running Intel at the time, said, yeah, pretty soon we'll be selling 100 million PCs a year. Sometime in the 80s, I think. It might have even been in the 90s. And Bill and I laughed and said, ah, that's not going to happen. We invested big time. And if it did happen, we said, that's great. We're not going to underinvest.

But we thought, ah, he's crazy. This market will never grow like that. I would say we classically under-forecast. That was kind of our tendency.

But we thought, ah, he's crazy. This market will never grow like that. I would say we classically under-forecast. That was kind of our tendency.

The personal computing layer. I think by the mid to late 80s, I mean, you make it sound very strong. No, we didn't feel very strong. Yeah. There was IBM, man. IBM was still the sun, the moon, and the stars. That didn't change. I would say we didn't drop that theory well into the 2000s. Into the 2000s, Lotus Notes was coming for us, and that was mid-'90s and beyond.

The personal computing layer. I think by the mid to late 80s, I mean, you make it sound very strong. No, we didn't feel very strong. Yeah. There was IBM, man. IBM was still the sun, the moon, and the stars. That didn't change. I would say we didn't drop that theory well into the 2000s. Into the 2000s, Lotus Notes was coming for us, and that was mid-'90s and beyond.

But maybe you could say late, but we weren't an enterprise company. If you looked at the enterprise, the enterprise was still- IBM. IBM. We used to say we had to hang on to IBM that if we ever let go, they might trample us. We called them the bear. Called this riding the bear. You had to stay on. Then, of course, graphical user interface. It's-

But maybe you could say late, but we weren't an enterprise company. If you looked at the enterprise, the enterprise was still- IBM. IBM. We used to say we had to hang on to IBM that if we ever let go, they might trample us. We called them the bear. Called this riding the bear. You had to stay on. Then, of course, graphical user interface. It's-

kind of coming out of Xerox PARC at the time, and Apple's doing their thing, and we start... That's another disruption. Could blow everything up. So I would say no sense of confidence about controlling the ecosystem well into the 90s before, I think, any of that.

kind of coming out of Xerox PARC at the time, and Apple's doing their thing, and we start... That's another disruption. Could blow everything up. So I would say no sense of confidence about controlling the ecosystem well into the 90s before, I think, any of that.

So we've been staying with IBM. They decided they wanted to build something that was sort of their operating system and sort of not. This is 8283. We and they would collectively build part of it. We would be able to license it to others. They would build a value add layer that was a database and a 3270 emulator. Crazy to say now.

So we've been staying with IBM. They decided they wanted to build something that was sort of their operating system and sort of not. This is 8283. We and they would collectively build part of it. We would be able to license it to others. They would build a value add layer that was a database and a 3270 emulator. Crazy to say now.

We were going to work on the operating system and what was called presentation manager, call that the graphical user interface. And they were going to have rights equivalent to ownership in the code we wrote. This sounds so convoluted. It was so convoluted.

We were going to work on the operating system and what was called presentation manager, call that the graphical user interface. And they were going to have rights equivalent to ownership in the code we wrote. This sounds so convoluted. It was so convoluted.

Man, there was a time when I made 16 trips to the East Coast in 16 weeks, most of them to South Florida, a couple of them to New York, leave California.

Man, there was a time when I made 16 trips to the East Coast in 16 weeks, most of them to South Florida, a couple of them to New York, leave California.