Steven Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, recently talked with BusinessWeek. In this column, he expressed his thoughts on a wide range of topics. Here are my favorite picks.
On being a gentler Steve Ballmer.
I have worked hard on it. I am still every bit as energetic and able to get pumped as I ever have been. But just as I have had to understand what my role is in Microsoft as CEO, I also have to recognize that the role I have to play externally as a leader of the company is different. I can bring all the excitement and all the enthusiasm and all the passion to the job, but I have to bring it in a different way.
On what Microsoft has learned from the antitrust battle.
It doesn't matter how we may have seen ourselves, we have to see ourselves as others see us. That, by far, is the biggest lesson.
On Microsoft's growth prospects.
Ten years from now, will the world of technology be: A) largely the same, or B) largely evolved and different than it is today? I think the answer is clearly B. Things will change. New value will be added. That means there is opportunity. Exactly how you convert that change, that dynamism, that additional value -- that's not 100% clear. Whether that creates 5%-a-year or 10%-a-year or 15%-a-year opportunity for our company, I don't know. The fact is that the opportunity is there, so we're investing $6.9 billion in R&D to positively change the world.
My preferred one is what he says about Linux's threat to Microsoft.
It's a weirdo competitor. There is no company behind it. You don't know exactly who builds it. It's free. I prefer to say: "Look, what we have here is a small price disadvantage." It's the first time we've had a price disadvantage.
Most analysts think the price of Windows to our hardware customers, people like Dell Inc., is about 50 bucks. If you stop and think about it, most people are going to own their PCs for four years. So do we offer $12 a year of value where you can run tremendously more applications, it's tremendously easier to take care of? It's $12 a year when people are spending $90 to $100 a month on cell-phone bills, and we're talking about saving you hours and hours of time. I think it's a pretty good value proposition, myself.
Ballmer also comments about hackers and spammers, viruses and worms, and about computer jobs moving to China and India.
Source: Stephen B. Shepard, BusinessWeek Magazine, December 1, 2003
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