

Interview With Steve Ballmer: Products, Competition, The Road Ahead - dwynings
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/09/24/microsoft-ballmer-interview-exclusive-techcrunch-bing-mobile-azur/

======
dennismoulton
It's always a thrill to listen to Steve Ballmer talk about the company roadmap
and it's hard to imagine that anyone could do a better job in that role. The
company faces the law of large numbers and an uphill battle against perception
(at least on the consumer client side) but the innovation and execution
strategy for incumbent slots and catch-up slots is dialed in (as it seems to
always have been).

~~~
cubicle67
sarcasm?

~~~
potatolicious
I have several friends who work for MS, and from what I see MS's worst enemy
is its own handling of the very concept of competition.

Take the iPhone for example - a product that completely trounced Windows
Mobile in every way (and continues to do so), despite MS's years of effort in
the field.

Response? It's now politically incorrect on MS campus to openly admit to
carrying an iPhone. Instead of embracing the competition and figuring out why
they're better, MS is too busy burying its head in the sand.

Similarly, I've heard of stories of HR contacting employees for organizing
after-hours Wii parties with coworkers. Apparently even _using and enjoying_
your competitors' products is disallowed.

No wonder MS is in the rut they're in. They spent years practically pretending
the competition didn't exist, and now they're surprised that they've been left
in the dust.

I do sense the winds of change at MS lately though - there is certainly more
willingness to admit that the competition is more successful (though still
generally non-kosher to admit that they rock). There are certainly real
engineering efforts to play catch-up.

But Ballmer is not the right guy to lead this charge - he's the guy who openly
admitted that his kids aren't allowed to use iPods or Google. A guy with an
ego this large should not be allowed to run a company that is financially and
developmentally stagnant amidst a sea of strong competitors.

~~~
adrianwaj
In the video Google is called "the incumbent." Balmer seems like the CEO of
yesteryear, when even having competition was a failure.

