4 ms·

If you take a look back, Steve Ballmer was responsible for a lot of the success of Microsoft. He mostly got hate because people hated Microsoft. I'm don't thi

If you take a look back, Steve Ballmer was responsible for a lot of the success of Microsoft. He mostly got hate because people hated Microsoft. I'm don't think Ballmer's list of accomplishments at Microsoft is fully appreciated particularly compared to the good press Tim Cook as enjoyed.

digi_owl 10y ago
My impression is that he got less hate and more ridicule. Sure, Gates looked like the archetype nerd any time he presented something. But not was lightyears better than the whole "developers developers developers" dance Ballmer managed to pull. Sadly the tech media have over the years blended over into lifestyle media. No longer is the computer or phone something to get a job done and that's it, now its a indicator of how you see yourself and how you want others to see you. And that image goes all the way back to the company making them, and the people that are the faces of said company.
- wastedhours 10y ago
  Whilst I agree tech has blended with lifestyle, I don't see it as "sad", its perception being more akin to other aspects of personal identity isn't to be seen as derogatory but celebrated as it's expanded the market and the media interest in reporting on it.
zekevermillion 10y ago
I don't have anything personal against Ballmer. Would be interested to know more about his role in building MS.
josu 10y ago
>He mostly got hate because people hated Microsoft. I believe that the hypothesis of the article is that people hated Microsoft because of Ballmer.
- protomyth 10y ago
  Mr. Gates was in charge when Microsoft did quite a bit of their hated activities. It was Gates as CEO who rigged it so all of us buying a PC to run a different OS had to pay for Windows.
  - josu 10y ago
    Apple also did a fair share of evil things, but it managed to be viewed as cool rather than evil. However, it is obvious that we are talking about subjective things here, and establishing causality is certainly not easy.
    - r00fus 10y ago
      Interesting - do you have a cite?
toyg 10y ago
> He mostly got hate because people hated Microsoft. He was the face of "bad" Microsoft, the unashamedly anti-competitive win-at-all-costs bully. Gates could win some people back with his nerd-cred and things like the mid-'00s "security push". Ballmer was first and foremost a suit, or rather a suit trying to pretend he's down with the nerds just enough to screw them as soon as they turn around, and his "fuck you" attitude wasn't exactly friendly. > I'm don't think Ballmer's list of accomplishments at Microsoft is fully appreciated Probably because they were accomplishments for Microsoft rather than for the industry as a whole. Apple gets a lot of leeway because the iPhone really made a difference for the industry, not just winning but drawing a path. Microsoft has not really done anything like that since the Win 95 / Office / IE 5 progression.
- protomyth 10y ago
  Microsoft publishes research, Apple does not. I love Apple via NeXT, but let's be real, Apple is in it for Apple and they don't even treat their partners of any kind very well.
hyperpape 10y ago
But Tim Cook had tons of bad press. Back when the stock was falling in late 2012-2013, there was a cottage industry of people calling for him to resign. I wonder if Ballmer really got bad press outside of geeky circles until relatively late in his career, when hindsight showed that Microsoft was missing out on a lot of new products.
- the_watcher 10y ago
  He got plenty of bad press, but you're right in that it was countered by (valid) good press about his success in strengthening Microsoft's enterprise business.
the_watcher 10y ago
No, Ballmer got hate because Microsoft's consumer products consistently flopped. The stuff that those of us who flipped to Apple while he was in charge used (Zune, Windows Vista, original Surface, Windows Phone) were consistently underwhelming. However, Ballmer was simply inarguably an effective CEO from the perspective of investors. He grew the enterprise business consistently (which has a huge amount of value for legacy purposes), and some of the stuff he launched to support that (Azure, notably) positioned the company to grow in new ways that Nadella has really leveraged. He wasn't a visionary at all, but Ballmer was one of the best executor CEOs out there.
- alanh 10y ago
  For the kids out there: “original Surface” isn’t what you think. It was a “smart table” and its most compelling use case was to present a menu right underneath your place setting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zxk_WywMTzc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zxk_WywMTzc
  - doodpants 10y ago
    Don't forget this classic parody video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZrr7AZ9nCY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZrr7AZ9nCY
    - alanh 10y ago
      There’s a distinct trend of YouTube commenters who believe that the Surface (tablet) is somehow a descendent of the Surface table, just because their names are the same. Interesting. Funny video — thanks for sharing.
  - the_watcher 10y ago
    Heh, thanks for reminding me of that.
  - Jtsummers 10y ago
    For me its most compelling use case was as a gaming table. At Origins I got to see it used for D&D. Quite fun, but too expensive an option for the average gamer (who isn't already buying Geek Chic furniture).
pjmlp 10y ago
> He mostly got hate because people hated Microsoft There are developers that actually do enjoy using Microsoft stacks, even though we also have experience using other systems.

digi_owl 10y ago

My impression is that he got less hate and more ridicule. Sure, Gates looked like the archetype nerd any time he presented something. But not was lightyears better than the whole "developers developers developers" dance Ballmer managed to pull. Sadly the tech media have over the years blended over into lifestyle media. No longer is the computer or phone something to get a job done and that's it, now its a indicator of how you see yourself and how you want others to see you. And that image goes all the way back to the company making them, and the people that are the faces of said company.

wastedhours 10y ago
Whilst I agree tech has blended with lifestyle, I don't see it as "sad", its perception being more akin to other aspects of personal identity isn't to be seen as derogatory but celebrated as it's expanded the market and the media interest in reporting on it.

zekevermillion 10y ago

I don't have anything personal against Ballmer. Would be interested to know more about his role in building MS.

josu 10y ago

>He mostly got hate because people hated Microsoft. I believe that the hypothesis of the article is that people hated Microsoft because of Ballmer.

protomyth 10y ago
Mr. Gates was in charge when Microsoft did quite a bit of their hated activities. It was Gates as CEO who rigged it so all of us buying a PC to run a different OS had to pay for Windows.
- josu 10y ago
  Apple also did a fair share of evil things, but it managed to be viewed as cool rather than evil. However, it is obvious that we are talking about subjective things here, and establishing causality is certainly not easy.
  - r00fus 10y ago
    Interesting - do you have a cite?

toyg 10y ago

> He mostly got hate because people hated Microsoft. He was the face of "bad" Microsoft, the unashamedly anti-competitive win-at-all-costs bully. Gates could win some people back with his nerd-cred and things like the mid-'00s "security push". Ballmer was first and foremost a suit, or rather a suit trying to pretend he's down with the nerds just enough to screw them as soon as they turn around, and his "fuck you" attitude wasn't exactly friendly. > I'm don't think Ballmer's list of accomplishments at Microsoft is fully appreciated Probably because they were accomplishments for Microsoft rather than for the industry as a whole. Apple gets a lot of leeway because the iPhone really made a difference for the industry, not just winning but drawing a path. Microsoft has not really done anything like that since the Win 95 / Office / IE 5 progression.

protomyth 10y ago
Microsoft publishes research, Apple does not. I love Apple via NeXT, but let's be real, Apple is in it for Apple and they don't even treat their partners of any kind very well.

hyperpape 10y ago

But Tim Cook had tons of bad press. Back when the stock was falling in late 2012-2013, there was a cottage industry of people calling for him to resign. I wonder if Ballmer really got bad press outside of geeky circles until relatively late in his career, when hindsight showed that Microsoft was missing out on a lot of new products.

the_watcher 10y ago
He got plenty of bad press, but you're right in that it was countered by (valid) good press about his success in strengthening Microsoft's enterprise business.

the_watcher 10y ago

No, Ballmer got hate because Microsoft's consumer products consistently flopped. The stuff that those of us who flipped to Apple while he was in charge used (Zune, Windows Vista, original Surface, Windows Phone) were consistently underwhelming. However, Ballmer was simply inarguably an effective CEO from the perspective of investors. He grew the enterprise business consistently (which has a huge amount of value for legacy purposes), and some of the stuff he launched to support that (Azure, notably) positioned the company to grow in new ways that Nadella has really leveraged. He wasn't a visionary at all, but Ballmer was one of the best executor CEOs out there.

alanh 10y ago
For the kids out there: “original Surface” isn’t what you think. It was a “smart table” and its most compelling use case was to present a menu right underneath your place setting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zxk_WywMTzc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zxk_WywMTzc
- doodpants 10y ago
  Don't forget this classic parody video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZrr7AZ9nCY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZrr7AZ9nCY
  - alanh 10y ago
    There’s a distinct trend of YouTube commenters who believe that the Surface (tablet) is somehow a descendent of the Surface table, just because their names are the same. Interesting. Funny video — thanks for sharing.
- the_watcher 10y ago
  Heh, thanks for reminding me of that.
- Jtsummers 10y ago
  For me its most compelling use case was as a gaming table. At Origins I got to see it used for D&D. Quite fun, but too expensive an option for the average gamer (who isn't already buying Geek Chic furniture).

pjmlp 10y ago

> He mostly got hate because people hated Microsoft There are developers that actually do enjoy using Microsoft stacks, even though we also have experience using other systems.