Steve Ballmer

But I mean, Cutler and I have been to basketball game together. We've played golf a number of times. We've done golf trips together. So But Cutler, he's a hard ass at work. I mean, if he doesn't want to do something, he'll tell you. If he thinks you are wrong, he'll tell you. If he thinks somebody else in your organization is bad, he'll tell you.

He's very blunt. He was a great athlete in college, two sports. I think he played maybe three even in college. But anyway, so I get Cutler. And there's a guy working in MSR who I think is underutilized too, this guy Amitabh Srivastava, who you guys talk about. I thought he was underutilized doing what he's doing. So grab him, grab Cutler, bring them both onto this project.

He's very blunt. He was a great athlete in college, two sports. I think he played maybe three even in college. But anyway, so I get Cutler. And there's a guy working in MSR who I think is underutilized too, this guy Amitabh Srivastava, who you guys talk about. I thought he was underutilized doing what he's doing. So grab him, grab Cutler, bring them both onto this project.

I think Bill, is Bill still with the company?

I think Bill, is Bill still with the company?

He's about to leave, I think. Yeah.

He's about to leave, I think. Yeah.

He had told me, but, you know, talk about that. But he had told me, but hadn't left yet. So he was involved until he left. And even then... you know, different nature of involvement. But anyway, so I get Cutler and Amitabh to go do this thing. And then Cutler brings some of his, I'll call gang, his favorite guys. He brings them over because he's a magnet for talent.

He had told me, but, you know, talk about that. But he had told me, but hadn't left yet. So he was involved until he left. And even then... you know, different nature of involvement. But anyway, so I get Cutler and Amitabh to go do this thing. And then Cutler brings some of his, I'll call gang, his favorite guys. He brings them over because he's a magnet for talent.

And we get started and we made an explicit decision. And I guess you could say it's also a function of thinking windows first. I think you guys may have talked about this in your episode. We say we're going to build platform as a service because it's a windows platform. Infrastructure is a service a little bit if you think about it. You're sort of by nature accepting everybody's infrastructure.

And we get started and we made an explicit decision. And I guess you could say it's also a function of thinking windows first. I think you guys may have talked about this in your episode. We say we're going to build platform as a service because it's a windows platform. Infrastructure is a service a little bit if you think about it. You're sort of by nature accepting everybody's infrastructure.

It's by nature multi, quote, multi-platform. You become a different kind of a platform because you're running other people's Linux and whatever.

It's by nature multi, quote, multi-platform. You become a different kind of a platform because you're running other people's Linux and whatever.

It doesn't leverage our strengths in the sense that we've got great low-level operating system people. So we have all the talent to go do it. But we say, hey, we're going to do – and it was explicit. We wanted to do platform as a service. We said, hey, they're doing it. And B, it's all about the developers.

It doesn't leverage our strengths in the sense that we've got great low-level operating system people. So we have all the talent to go do it. But we say, hey, we're going to do – and it was explicit. We wanted to do platform as a service. We said, hey, they're doing it. And B, it's all about the developers.

Which they were and they weren't. Windows Server had a strong developer group. Unix had a strong developer group. And on the front end, Windows was definitely stronger.

Which they were and they weren't. Windows Server had a strong developer group. Unix had a strong developer group. And on the front end, Windows was definitely stronger.

Hard for me to remember. I think if you go to the field of productivity, the answer is, yes, there were still. The problem is if you left the areas of productivity and gaming. Productivity and gaming, yes. If you leave productivity and gaming, I think the answer was no.

Hard for me to remember. I think if you go to the field of productivity, the answer is, yes, there were still. The problem is if you left the areas of productivity and gaming. Productivity and gaming, yes. If you leave productivity and gaming, I think the answer was no.

Yeah, there was lots of, it was enterprise developers. You know, people, remember, people were, the web wasn't good for a number of things for IT because people couldn't count on, people didn't feel like they could count on the connectivity. Either the amount of bandwidth or latency or just its very existence. We were still at that point. So I'm not saying, fair.