Steve Ballmer
👤 SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
Yeah, the idea of Windows overlapping on top of each other, that was a sort of uniquely Mac thing and a thing that smart engineers at Apple figured out how to do that in a performant way that offers good user experience. I would classify Windows 1.0 as like a half step between command line and an actual graphical user interface.
Yes, that's right. Apple does do a deal to license a lot of, quote-unquote, their intellectual property, which of course came from Xerox, to Microsoft. Apple, I think, was under the impression that it was just for Windows 1.0, but the actual terms of the agreement are this and all future versions of Windows, which comes back to haunt Apple later. But yes, they totally get the license.
Yes, that's right. Apple does do a deal to license a lot of, quote-unquote, their intellectual property, which of course came from Xerox, to Microsoft. Apple, I think, was under the impression that it was just for Windows 1.0, but the actual terms of the agreement are this and all future versions of Windows, which comes back to haunt Apple later. But yes, they totally get the license.
Isn't it crazy? In all of their early marketing, they referred to it as Windows, a graphical operating environment that runs on the Microsoft MS-DOS operating system. Yes. And actually, it was not until Windows 95 that Windows was its own operating system. It was in Windows 1, 2, 3, 3.1, and Windows for Workgroups. It was a graphical operating environment. Yeah. But here's the question.
Isn't it crazy? In all of their early marketing, they referred to it as Windows, a graphical operating environment that runs on the Microsoft MS-DOS operating system. Yes. And actually, it was not until Windows 95 that Windows was its own operating system. It was in Windows 1, 2, 3, 3.1, and Windows for Workgroups. It was a graphical operating environment. Yeah. But here's the question.
Why is Microsoft doing Windows? Obviously here, Microsoft knows they need to evolve DOS. They need to figure something out for the graphical world. And so, David, are you telling me that Windows is the widely agreed upon future of the company and it's just a straight line?
Why is Microsoft doing Windows? Obviously here, Microsoft knows they need to evolve DOS. They need to figure something out for the graphical world. And so, David, are you telling me that Windows is the widely agreed upon future of the company and it's just a straight line?
Well, I mean, the IBM PC was such a big deal last time around, you would think that whatever IBM wants to do next is a pretty good way to ally yourself.
Well, I mean, the IBM PC was such a big deal last time around, you would think that whatever IBM wants to do next is a pretty good way to ally yourself.
This is such a crazy part of the story to me because we just talked about how Microsoft discovered this amazing business model and with everyone needing to license DOS from them, they're taking over the world and they're becoming the standard development platform. Why on earth, if all that is true, are they going to develop some software that's going to be locked to IBM computers?
This is such a crazy part of the story to me because we just talked about how Microsoft discovered this amazing business model and with everyone needing to license DOS from them, they're taking over the world and they're becoming the standard development platform. Why on earth, if all that is true, are they going to develop some software that's going to be locked to IBM computers?
And so even though Microsoft's doing all these little hedges... Windows, this tiny little team, I think it's 30 people or something. It's not the most prestigious place at the company. The people in the applications division may as well be on another planet by this point from the systems division. They're trying all kinds of crazy stuff.
And so even though Microsoft's doing all these little hedges... Windows, this tiny little team, I think it's 30 people or something. It's not the most prestigious place at the company. The people in the applications division may as well be on another planet by this point from the systems division. They're trying all kinds of crazy stuff.
And the company motto at this point is, the next big thing is OS2 and IBM, and we are the software vendor for that.
And the company motto at this point is, the next big thing is OS2 and IBM, and we are the software vendor for that.
Well, you say it was good, but not great. Bill Gates said it was brain-dead.
Well, you say it was good, but not great. Bill Gates said it was brain-dead.