Yes, but Xbox did well in spite of Ballmer. I believe Ballmer and Gates were pushing for Xbox to run Windows XP on launch (like actual Windows with Office) and

Yes, but Xbox did well in spite of Ballmer. I believe Ballmer and Gates were pushing for Xbox to run Windows XP on launch (like actual Windows with Office) and the Xbox team had to fight hard for it to be a game console. The only reason Xbox even happened is that Microsoft management was terrified that the PS2 was effectively a computer being sold by the millions - a real threat to Windows and Microsoft. If the Xbox team didn't stick to their guns, the original Xbox would have been a monstrosity. You could say the Surface was a poorly executed version of the same idea. iPad is killing PC sales, so try and jump in and take market share. Too bad Microsoft doesn't have people who really "get" the iPad building and selling the Surface. They eliminated the Courier team.