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As I mentioned elsewhere, I would love to see a charasmatic product guy like Scott Guthrie at the helm. But, Ballmer had nearly 20 years experience running tea

As I mentioned elsewhere, I would love to see a charasmatic product guy like Scott Guthrie at the helm. But, Ballmer had nearly 20 years experience running teams in a large and successful technology company before he was became CEO. Furthermore, the dude has a mathematics degree (with honors) from Harvard. That means that he probably earned an 'A' in Math 55, the hardest undergraduate course at Harvard[1], which implies that he would have no trouble keeping up with most of the theoretical computer science stuff. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Math_55 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Math_55

jacobolus 14y ago
I am almost certain that Ballmer did not take Math 55, though Bill Gates did (and supposedly got a ‘B’). Do you have a source citation for that? You don’t have to take Math 55 (a freshman course with 10–20 students per year) to graduate with high honors in Math/Economics. (Which isn’t to say that Ballmer is a slouch: he is clearly very sharp, and was even as an undergraduate.)
- noblethrasher 14y ago
  This is the only corroborating evidence that I could find: http://www.mersenneforum.org/showthread.php?t=4618 http://www.mersenneforum.org/showthread.php?t=4618 For some reason I had it in my head that Bill and Steve took Math 55 together.
  - w1ntermute 14y ago
    They're both of the same age and both entered Harvard in 1973, but all it says on Gates' Wiki page is: > While at Harvard, he met Steve Ballmer, who later succeeded Gates as CEO of Microsoft.
alttab 14y ago
Theoretical computer science stuff has little overlap with shipping a quality product and a great customer experience. Microsofts success has always been a combination of "good enough" and cunning yet cut throat business practice. In the age of the web though, the market will now continue to out step Ballmer and whatever Harvard theoretical math he could throw at his developers developers developers developers.

jacobolus 14y ago

I am almost certain that Ballmer did not take Math 55, though Bill Gates did (and supposedly got a ‘B’). Do you have a source citation for that? You don’t have to take Math 55 (a freshman course with 10–20 students per year) to graduate with high honors in Math/Economics. (Which isn’t to say that Ballmer is a slouch: he is clearly very sharp, and was even as an undergraduate.)

noblethrasher 14y ago
This is the only corroborating evidence that I could find: http://www.mersenneforum.org/showthread.php?t=4618 http://www.mersenneforum.org/showthread.php?t=4618 For some reason I had it in my head that Bill and Steve took Math 55 together.
- w1ntermute 14y ago
  They're both of the same age and both entered Harvard in 1973, but all it says on Gates' Wiki page is: > While at Harvard, he met Steve Ballmer, who later succeeded Gates as CEO of Microsoft.

alttab 14y ago

Theoretical computer science stuff has little overlap with shipping a quality product and a great customer experience. Microsofts success has always been a combination of "good enough" and cunning yet cut throat business practice. In the age of the web though, the market will now continue to out step Ballmer and whatever Harvard theoretical math he could throw at his developers developers developers developers.