Steve Ballmer

And that's where you say, are you a... The word consumer sounds like unserious. Are you for users and for enterprises, which really means IT departments? Or are you for users and not IT departments? And do you allow both all aspects of what you do to be extended by developers? That's the frame I believe in. You know, we had some issues over the course of where we went in the 2000.

We can talk about that if you want to, but go back to 99, um, You know, come on. We need you guys on Windows. IBM's still selling OS2. Linux is right there on the horizon. It's coming like a freight train. Is the web starting to enter your psyche at all? The web's part of that, right? We're trying to get people to write for Windows Server. Good point.

We can talk about that if you want to, but go back to 99, um, You know, come on. We need you guys on Windows. IBM's still selling OS2. Linux is right there on the horizon. It's coming like a freight train. Is the web starting to enter your psyche at all? The web's part of that, right? We're trying to get people to write for Windows Server. Good point.

We're trying to get them to extend ActiveX controls. This is a heyday of Netscape, right? We're the part of the browser. So we were trying to get our browser to be a platform, a unique platform. Sorry, embrace and extend, I think is what we said. We'll embrace the internet and we'll extend with these ActiveX controls. We need developers to do ActiveX. We need them to do Windows Server.

We're trying to get them to extend ActiveX controls. This is a heyday of Netscape, right? We're the part of the browser. So we were trying to get our browser to be a platform, a unique platform. Sorry, embrace and extend, I think is what we said. We'll embrace the internet and we'll extend with these ActiveX controls. We need developers to do ActiveX. We need them to do Windows Server.

We're just sort of getting ready on .NET. And, you know, I have my own kind of wild style. And how do you end a speech? You tell people you love them, that you want them. That's sort of the call to action. And that's where I think the developers thing came. I mean, before that one, there was a different video that people sort of characterized. I love this company. No, it was my Windows video.

We're just sort of getting ready on .NET. And, you know, I have my own kind of wild style. And how do you end a speech? You tell people you love them, that you want them. That's sort of the call to action. And that's where I think the developers thing came. I mean, before that one, there was a different video that people sort of characterized. I love this company. No, it was my Windows video.

I don't know if you've ever seen that.

I don't know if you've ever seen that.

It was just a fun thing. It was not a real speech. And it was for internal consumption, where you're saying... Yeah, it was for sales.

It was just a fun thing. It was not a real speech. And it was for internal consumption, where you're saying... Yeah, it was for sales.

Yeah. I mean, there's a lot of little nuances in there. We were trying to get our people pumped up about Windows.

Yeah. I mean, there's a lot of little nuances in there. We were trying to get our people pumped up about Windows.

Exactly. I can't remember whether we're pre-LAMP or LAMP by then, but I don't remember. There's some infrastructure on top of Linux that people are using to write, let's say, their backends, not their user-facing code. And we had tons of competition. The interesting thing is people say only think about your customer, never think about your competitor. I actually think you have to think about both.

Exactly. I can't remember whether we're pre-LAMP or LAMP by then, but I don't remember. There's some infrastructure on top of Linux that people are using to write, let's say, their backends, not their user-facing code. And we had tons of competition. The interesting thing is people say only think about your customer, never think about your competitor. I actually think you have to think about both.

And ironically, we were pretty consumed with our competitor, which I think was essential. And we were pretty consumed about doing new things. But the competitor thing wound up being very important. I mean, we have no business. We're not in the enterprise. We could lose windows on the client. We have to, you know, and in the company, we weren't like really self-confident.

And ironically, we were pretty consumed with our competitor, which I think was essential. And we were pretty consumed about doing new things. But the competitor thing wound up being very important. I mean, we have no business. We're not in the enterprise. We could lose windows on the client. We have to, you know, and in the company, we weren't like really self-confident.

The DOJ was really self-confident that we were kind of a lock and there was no competition and life was easy. That's not where our heads were. Now, there is some time in the 2000s where I think we do – I do. We do. We, we think that extending, we did a slide once called windows everywhere.

The DOJ was really self-confident that we were kind of a lock and there was no competition and life was easy. That's not where our heads were. Now, there is some time in the 2000s where I think we do – I do. We do. We, we think that extending, we did a slide once called windows everywhere.

We used to use this on all these devices and we became too wed to extending what we had versus jumping to something new because in a sense we were too confident. Hmm. We were too confident. If we only Windowsized something, you guys make a point in your episode on us. You guys call it sticking with Windows too long, but that may be it. But I don't think we stuck with Windows too long.