Steve Ballmer

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.

First trick was not that big. Yeah. You can decide whether to call it a trick or not. But I'm not taking anything away from NVIDIA, and I should know the company better. But... So you say, one-trick ponies, they're amazing. Like, everybody should be in awe of a one-trick pony. Now... Two-trick ponies... Ooh la la. Those people tend to go down in business history.

First trick was not that big. Yeah. You can decide whether to call it a trick or not. But I'm not taking anything away from NVIDIA, and I should know the company better. But... So you say, one-trick ponies, they're amazing. Like, everybody should be in awe of a one-trick pony. Now... Two-trick ponies... Ooh la la. Those people tend to go down in business history.

Especially if those tricks stay alive for a long time. IBM was a one-trick pony. Microsoft, two to two and a half tricks.

Especially if those tricks stay alive for a long time. IBM was a one-trick pony. Microsoft, two to two and a half tricks.

Give us your trick accounting. Okay. You can do it a little differently. I'm going to call the desktop business, which I include Windows and Office. and the server slash enterprise business, back office, two tricks. Now, both tricks could have died if they didn't get moved to the cloud, and I knew they could die.

Give us your trick accounting. Okay. You can do it a little differently. I'm going to call the desktop business, which I include Windows and Office. and the server slash enterprise business, back office, two tricks. Now, both tricks could have died if they didn't get moved to the cloud, and I knew they could die.

But there are two tricks, two different revenue models, two different licensing models, essentially different sales motions. Even the way Microsoft sells those stuff, I don't know about today, but when I left, they were kind of different muscles. One account manager, two different muscles, because one, you're selling applications, and one, you're just selling, hey, this is to serve your users.

But there are two tricks, two different revenue models, two different licensing models, essentially different sales motions. Even the way Microsoft sells those stuff, I don't know about today, but when I left, they were kind of different muscles. One account manager, two different muscles, because one, you're selling applications, and one, you're just selling, hey, this is to serve your users.

You need an AD account, an exchange account, it's exact, a Windows. I mean, that's what you need. This is what M365, you could call the two, the modern translation of those two things are the Windows OEM business in M365 and Azure. And then you could say, is gaming its own trick? I'd call it a half a trick, just like YouTube.

You need an AD account, an exchange account, it's exact, a Windows. I mean, that's what you need. This is what M365, you could call the two, the modern translation of those two things are the Windows OEM business in M365 and Azure. And then you could say, is gaming its own trick? I'd call it a half a trick, just like YouTube.

So I'm going to call it a half trick. Or you could say it could be a trick. I mean, look, I would say Microsoft is optimistic it'll be a full-on trick. Mm-hmm. OK? I hope it is. I run into Phil Spencer at the golf course, and he's a really optimistic guy. It could be.

So I'm going to call it a half trick. Or you could say it could be a trick. I mean, look, I would say Microsoft is optimistic it'll be a full-on trick. Mm-hmm. OK? I hope it is. I run into Phil Spencer at the golf course, and he's a really optimistic guy. It could be.

There we go. Whatever you want to call it, you said it's a small trick, and I think that's probably right. So that's amazing. Amazon's two-tricker. AWS and the store, they're two-tricker. Apple's two-tricks. What's your trick accounting there? Mac. And mobile, if you want to say it's high power consumption and low power consumption.

There we go. Whatever you want to call it, you said it's a small trick, and I think that's probably right. So that's amazing. Amazon's two-tricker. AWS and the store, they're two-tricker. Apple's two-tricks. What's your trick accounting there? Mac. And mobile, if you want to say it's high power consumption and low power consumption.

I consider it just part of the trick. If you go by your platform definition, it's part of the platform. I call it really a trick. They've just monetized it. It's kind of like us adding things to Office and redoing the EA and It's a monetization model. It's an additional monetization model, but it's not a new locomotive.

I consider it just part of the trick. If you go by your platform definition, it's part of the platform. I call it really a trick. They've just monetized it. It's kind of like us adding things to Office and redoing the EA and It's a monetization model. It's an additional monetization model, but it's not a new locomotive.

A locomotive is the business that can pull the cabooses, and the locomotive remains the phone. The services business would go away pretty quick if the phone volume fell apart. So I'm going to call. It's additional. Very important. but not uncorrelated the way that AWS and- No. I get the sense. And I think Mac versus everything iOS is also uncorrelated. Yeah.

A locomotive is the business that can pull the cabooses, and the locomotive remains the phone. The services business would go away pretty quick if the phone volume fell apart. So I'm going to call. It's additional. Very important. but not uncorrelated the way that AWS and- No. I get the sense. And I think Mac versus everything iOS is also uncorrelated. Yeah.

You wanted to buy Facebook. I'm going to tell you why. It's either... Sure, because we were still on the Paul Allen strategy. We've got to do all the software that these things will ever need. I mean, it was still of the mindset that said, and there's an arrogance to that, and there's a hunger to that that says, there's just nothing we shouldn't do. And I don't think that was a good mindset by...