Steve Ballmer

And the thing they were sort of realizing is, well, we have made software that people like to use, so they're using it in businesses. They always kind of wanted that to be the goal, but now it was happening. People are doing their work in Excel. People are bringing PCs to the office. Maybe businesses are buying their PCs, but people are actually buying them themselves and using them in the office.

And so it just made them that much more efficient. And so Microsoft really had to figure out how to sell to businesses... But we actually have no idea how to do that. And it sounds crazy today. The Microsoft you know today, as late as the mid-90s, really had no idea how to sell or build software for businesses.

And so it just made them that much more efficient. And so Microsoft really had to figure out how to sell to businesses... But we actually have no idea how to do that. And it sounds crazy today. The Microsoft you know today, as late as the mid-90s, really had no idea how to sell or build software for businesses.

In part because prior to this, personal computers were not used by enterprises. It was just not an enterprise tool. So now that it was happening, Microsoft had to figure out how to be the ones that would benefit from it.

In part because prior to this, personal computers were not used by enterprises. It was just not an enterprise tool. So now that it was happening, Microsoft had to figure out how to be the ones that would benefit from it.

And certainly didn't want to buy operating systems one at a time.

And certainly didn't want to buy operating systems one at a time.

Right. And there really isn't yet a business server that couples nicely with the PC on the desk. And so you have this weird thing where there's a mainframe that is where the companies like real enterprise applications run, but people are bringing PCs and those PCs don't actually communicate well with anything else yet.

Right. And there really isn't yet a business server that couples nicely with the PC on the desk. And so you have this weird thing where there's a mainframe that is where the companies like real enterprise applications run, but people are bringing PCs and those PCs don't actually communicate well with anything else yet.

They just are there for the employee to do their own work on a spreadsheet or something, print it out, because finally 3.1 had printer drivers, and then deliver that. But it wasn't like a system that operated with other systems in your enterprise.

They just are there for the employee to do their own work on a spreadsheet or something, print it out, because finally 3.1 had printer drivers, and then deliver that. But it wasn't like a system that operated with other systems in your enterprise.

Right. It wasn't like, hey, let's sell something to businesses that they want to buy. It's, hey, let's convince businesses that PCs are a good idea for their workforce to adopt. Right.

Right. It wasn't like, hey, let's sell something to businesses that they want to buy. It's, hey, let's convince businesses that PCs are a good idea for their workforce to adopt. Right.

And all of this stuff is pretty out of scope for this episode, including all the software systems you would need to build for the enterprise, like Windows NT Server and Exchange and SQL Server and Active Directory, like the classic mid-2000s Microsoft stuff that they got known for. But that is what this would all evolve into.

And all of this stuff is pretty out of scope for this episode, including all the software systems you would need to build for the enterprise, like Windows NT Server and Exchange and SQL Server and Active Directory, like the classic mid-2000s Microsoft stuff that they got known for. But that is what this would all evolve into.

And it really just started with everyone kind of looking at Steve and saying, can you figure this out? We've all to date basically just been either running dev teams or running marketing or running product groups and been selling through retail or distributors in the application side or mostly through OEMs.

And it really just started with everyone kind of looking at Steve and saying, can you figure this out? We've all to date basically just been either running dev teams or running marketing or running product groups and been selling through retail or distributors in the application side or mostly through OEMs.

on the systems and operating system side, but can you go figure out how to sell everything we make in a completely different way to a completely different buyer profile and keep us posted on how that needs to change all the products we make in order to do that? That's a pretty crazy change.

on the systems and operating system side, but can you go figure out how to sell everything we make in a completely different way to a completely different buyer profile and keep us posted on how that needs to change all the products we make in order to do that? That's a pretty crazy change.

Well, it's painfully obvious. It's Microsoft Office. And it's the fact that the whole workforce is already using Microsoft Office.