Steve Ballmer

Well, no, forget what we called it. Just starting from scratch. Maybe keeping parts of the kernel, but otherwise starting from scratch and throw out all the scruff. Now, I don't think we would have popularized it. And if we'd looked at it that way, we probably wouldn't have built it. But by then, we were a little cocky about Windows, and it was our thing.

So I don't think we had the right grind in our system there in the early 2000s. Between Bill and I, did we make some good decisions? Yeah, we did make a good decision to do Xbox. Were we doing too many things? Yeah, we were doing too many things. I would say there was probably a voraciousness misplaced by Bill and me. Maybe I had to deal with some of the pragmatics of hiring people and stuff.

So I don't think we had the right grind in our system there in the early 2000s. Between Bill and I, did we make some good decisions? Yeah, we did make a good decision to do Xbox. Were we doing too many things? Yeah, we were doing too many things. I would say there was probably a voraciousness misplaced by Bill and me. Maybe I had to deal with some of the pragmatics of hiring people and stuff.

So I probably didn't push back on it. But I probably felt the pain a little bit more in terms of trying to hire people. And so that's kind of 2000 to 2004. And then by 04, Bill was already sort of talking to me about wanting to be able to go. And then in 06, we announced that he was going to go in 08. I also think we screwed that up. You can't have a long goodbye. Long goodbyes are not helpful.

So I probably didn't push back on it. But I probably felt the pain a little bit more in terms of trying to hire people. And so that's kind of 2000 to 2004. And then by 04, Bill was already sort of talking to me about wanting to be able to go. And then in 06, we announced that he was going to go in 08. I also think we screwed that up. You can't have a long goodbye. Long goodbyes are not helpful.

Yeah, yours was short. Yeah, it was goodbye. I stayed on the board for one more board meeting after I left. That was it. But a long goodbye, then nobody knows their role. I think I did some of my very best work after Bill left. If you ask me, I think I did my best work when I started.

Yeah, yours was short. Yeah, it was goodbye. I stayed on the board for one more board meeting after I left. That was it. But a long goodbye, then nobody knows their role. I think I did some of my very best work after Bill left. If you ask me, I think I did my best work when I started.

When I was running sales and sort of evolving this enterprise business, some when I ran system software, and then the last six years I was there. That's cloud. That's Surface. That's some of the improvements in Windows. I feel really good about my last six. last six years. Bing, that's when we hire, I think that's when we hire Chi Lu. Chi Lu, yeah.

When I was running sales and sort of evolving this enterprise business, some when I ran system software, and then the last six years I was there. That's cloud. That's Surface. That's some of the improvements in Windows. I feel really good about my last six. last six years. Bing, that's when we hire, I think that's when we hire Chi Lu. Chi Lu, yeah.

Chi Lu is, do you guys know the story of Chi Lu at Microsoft? Chi Lu is one of the most pivotal, pivotal things at Microsoft. Okay, why? I knew he was important, but tell us the story. Pivotal, in a way you may not even know. First of all, brilliant guy, great guy. So Chi's talking about leaving Yahoo. He's at Yahoo at the time.

Chi Lu is, do you guys know the story of Chi Lu at Microsoft? Chi Lu is one of the most pivotal, pivotal things at Microsoft. Okay, why? I knew he was important, but tell us the story. Pivotal, in a way you may not even know. First of all, brilliant guy, great guy. So Chi's talking about leaving Yahoo. He's at Yahoo at the time.

And Chi, I think, went to graduate school with Harry Shum, who had been in Microsoft Research, and Harry was now working on Search, and he was working for Satya, who was running Bing.

And Chi, I think, went to graduate school with Harry Shum, who had been in Microsoft Research, and Harry was now working on Search, and he was working for Satya, who was running Bing.

And Harry says, Chi's a genius. We've got to hire Chi. I don't know if Chi really wants to work.

And Harry says, Chi's a genius. We've got to hire Chi. I don't know if Chi really wants to work.

Okay, so Satya, me, Harry fly down to California and we meet with Chi Lu. And we talked to Chi and Chi's brilliant. We're learning all this stuff about Chi and Chi leaves the room. God, there's a lot. I don't know who throws the idea out at first. Maybe Satya. We should hire Chi and I should work for him. Whoa. So Harry and Harry was all in. Harry worked for Satya who worked for Chi. No.

Okay, so Satya, me, Harry fly down to California and we meet with Chi Lu. And we talked to Chi and Chi's brilliant. We're learning all this stuff about Chi and Chi leaves the room. God, there's a lot. I don't know who throws the idea out at first. Maybe Satya. We should hire Chi and I should work for him. Whoa. So Harry and Harry was all in. Harry worked for Satya who worked for Chi. No.

We flipped it around. So you flipped the whole reporting structure to hire Chi in the room. After Chi walked, we talked for about 15 minutes. And then Harry calls Chi and said, do you mind coming back? Wow. Wow. I forget where Chi was thinking he'd take his next job. He had a next job in mind. Maybe it was with Baidu. I can't remember. Someplace.

We flipped it around. So you flipped the whole reporting structure to hire Chi in the room. After Chi walked, we talked for about 15 minutes. And then Harry calls Chi and said, do you mind coming back? Wow. Wow. I forget where Chi was thinking he'd take his next job. He had a next job in mind. Maybe it was with Baidu. I can't remember. Someplace.

It's the story I just told you. It's what it told me about Satya. I mean, I love Satya. We were giving him more and more responsibilities anyway. But it told me this guy will do the right thing for the company. He'll prioritize that. He doesn't have an ego that gets in the way. And she did great work. I mean, she knew about search. She could bring in a different – The product got a lot better.