Steve Ballmer

It's very... Some of what you have to do because people believe the newspaper more than they'll believe an internal email.

But that's sort of a classic thing. It shouldn't be mind-blowing. I mean, Windows and Windows NT were in different groups too. Sometimes in order to protect the sort of baby while it grows up, You can't put it with the thing that's established. I mean, you could say it's part of the issue with Windows when we tried to use Windows on things for which we probably should have started.

But that's sort of a classic thing. It shouldn't be mind-blowing. I mean, Windows and Windows NT were in different groups too. Sometimes in order to protect the sort of baby while it grows up, You can't put it with the thing that's established. I mean, you could say it's part of the issue with Windows when we tried to use Windows on things for which we probably should have started.

Yeah, I was going to ask. Mobile would have played out differently if you'd taken this approach with mobile. We did break it out, but we constrained it with Windows. We broke Windows NT out and constrained it with Windows. It worked fine because Windows belonged. So how you do... Those incubations. And in this case, I just said, look, it'll get probably subsumed. I don't know.

Yeah, I was going to ask. Mobile would have played out differently if you'd taken this approach with mobile. We did break it out, but we constrained it with Windows. We broke Windows NT out and constrained it with Windows. It worked fine because Windows belonged. So how you do... Those incubations. And in this case, I just said, look, it'll get probably subsumed. I don't know.

Partly, Ray wanted some operating control over the thing. And putting it under Muglia would have made it harder for Ray. And obviously, it was less palatable. And I'm not sure Cutler would have... If it was all, you know, all in server and tools. But it was the right thing to do, even though it was, quote, part of the future of servers. It was the future of server and tools, essentially.

Partly, Ray wanted some operating control over the thing. And putting it under Muglia would have made it harder for Ray. And obviously, it was less palatable. And I'm not sure Cutler would have... If it was all, you know, all in server and tools. But it was the right thing to do, even though it was, quote, part of the future of servers. It was the future of server and tools, essentially.

Eight years. No, we'd been working on the cloud since Energizer. We'd been working on Azure for eight years. People think everything in tech gets popular in 10 minutes. It's kind of- People think Acquired was founded two years ago. Good point. Different scale. When was OpenAI actually founded?

Eight years. No, we'd been working on the cloud since Energizer. We'd been working on Azure for eight years. People think everything in tech gets popular in 10 minutes. It's kind of- People think Acquired was founded two years ago. Good point. Different scale. When was OpenAI actually founded?

Okay. So seven or eight years after, it really became something. Okay, fair to say. And I give them all the credit in the world, seven or eight years. Most things take a while. Even things that are, quote, oh, they just burst on the scene. People have been sweating, you know, blood, sweat, and tears for years before these things get liftoff, as I call it, my little deck here.

Okay. So seven or eight years after, it really became something. Okay, fair to say. And I give them all the credit in the world, seven or eight years. Most things take a while. Even things that are, quote, oh, they just burst on the scene. People have been sweating, you know, blood, sweat, and tears for years before these things get liftoff, as I call it, my little deck here.

And so, yeah, we were starting to get to liftoff. But, yeah, eight years. And we had more in on exchange. Most businesses are zero-trick ponies. You never create a billion-dollar business. You never create – you might create something that goes nowhere. You might create what's essentially a feature for somebody else's business and get acquired. You might. I'll call that zero tricks.

And so, yeah, we were starting to get to liftoff. But, yeah, eight years. And we had more in on exchange. Most businesses are zero-trick ponies. You never create a billion-dollar business. You never create – you might create something that goes nowhere. You might create what's essentially a feature for somebody else's business and get acquired. You might. I'll call that zero tricks.

Then you get a one-trick pony. And one-trick ponies are – Amazing. Amazing. I mean, people should be in awe of one-trick ponies.

Then you get a one-trick pony. And one-trick ponies are – Amazing. Amazing. I mean, people should be in awe of one-trick ponies.

Or it could be, no, it could be more.

Or it could be, no, it could be more.

It could be more. There are not many one-trick ponies. I might argue that Google is a one to one and a half trick pony. Still. I mean, if you just look at its revenue. It's 80% search ad revenue, something like that.

It could be more. There are not many one-trick ponies. I might argue that Google is a one to one and a half trick pony. Still. I mean, if you just look at its revenue. It's 80% search ad revenue, something like that.

You either call YouTube half a trick, or you can call it a second trick. But it's not clearly a second trick. And they're huge, and they have great market cap. TSMC, you did an episode on them. They're a one-trick pony, very successful one-trick pony. NVIDIA. Is a one-trick pony.