Steve Ballmer

The way that Apple products became mainstream always felt odd to me as someone who was using them when they weren't. But it's been interesting gaining a new appreciation for Microsoft through studying their history that I absolutely did not have as a user during this era.

And it was the wrong strategy for Apple, and it was the right strategy for Microsoft. I mean, Apple has always, at least in my opinion, created a better computing experience by being completely integrated. I mean, it's the Alan Kay quote, anyone who cares about making great software needs to build their own hardware.

And it was the wrong strategy for Apple, and it was the right strategy for Microsoft. I mean, Apple has always, at least in my opinion, created a better computing experience by being completely integrated. I mean, it's the Alan Kay quote, anyone who cares about making great software needs to build their own hardware.

And the complete integrated package that Apple offers, I have always found to be the best computing experience. And it doesn't scale.

And the complete integrated package that Apple offers, I have always found to be the best computing experience. And it doesn't scale.

In that era, yeah. The way to scale is make the software that is going to get distributed on the most PCs, and then that is the most interesting to software developers, and it is the most interesting to consumers who want the software and IT buyers who want to buy the standard thing.

In that era, yeah. The way to scale is make the software that is going to get distributed on the most PCs, and then that is the most interesting to software developers, and it is the most interesting to consumers who want the software and IT buyers who want to buy the standard thing.

Apple's strategy versus Microsoft's strategy in this era, Apple was always going to be a bit player rather than the sort of scale winner. And the trade-off is lots of PCs had blue screens to death. Apple never had blue screens to death. Like what do blue screens come from? It's driver problems.

Apple's strategy versus Microsoft's strategy in this era, Apple was always going to be a bit player rather than the sort of scale winner. And the trade-off is lots of PCs had blue screens to death. Apple never had blue screens to death. Like what do blue screens come from? It's driver problems.

It's that the printer is not speaking the same language as your particular computer and what the operating system knows about your computer. And are the device drivers right for your particular version of whatever's on your motherboard? Like Apple never had those issues, but they also had very few units shipped and, you know, much more expensive product. Yeah.

It's that the printer is not speaking the same language as your particular computer and what the operating system knows about your computer. And are the device drivers right for your particular version of whatever's on your motherboard? Like Apple never had those issues, but they also had very few units shipped and, you know, much more expensive product. Yeah.

Yep. So a little bit more on Windows 95 before we finish the story here. It is remarkable to reflect that it took, what, five, six years to go from Windows' plan B to Microsoft being extremely right that that was the franchise, like that was the bet to bet the entire company on.

Yep. So a little bit more on Windows 95 before we finish the story here. It is remarkable to reflect that it took, what, five, six years to go from Windows' plan B to Microsoft being extremely right that that was the franchise, like that was the bet to bet the entire company on.

And as Brad Silverberg put it this way to me, he said, Windows 95 cemented Windows as the franchise product for Microsoft, which interestingly, it was not yet. And David, this is crazy. It would remain the franchise product for the next 20 years, perhaps five or 10 years too long, but we'll save that story.

And as Brad Silverberg put it this way to me, he said, Windows 95 cemented Windows as the franchise product for Microsoft, which interestingly, it was not yet. And David, this is crazy. It would remain the franchise product for the next 20 years, perhaps five or 10 years too long, but we'll save that story.

Yeah, it's crazy. From a product perspective, there was just so much that really got smoothed here. This was a user experience where they finally had time to think, what actually do users want to do with an operating system? What features should be part of the OS and what should we delegate to applications? What are modern networking technologies that we should bring in?

Yeah, it's crazy. From a product perspective, there was just so much that really got smoothed here. This was a user experience where they finally had time to think, what actually do users want to do with an operating system? What features should be part of the OS and what should we delegate to applications? What are modern networking technologies that we should bring in?

I don't want to foreshadow too much, but how should the internet be in a modern operating system? That was a huge thing. The multimedia, the video stuff, an operating system really showed up and said, we thought about this experience for you. You're looking for where to start. You're looking for cool stuff to do, and you're looking for it to not break on you.

I don't want to foreshadow too much, but how should the internet be in a modern operating system? That was a huge thing. The multimedia, the video stuff, an operating system really showed up and said, we thought about this experience for you. You're looking for where to start. You're looking for cool stuff to do, and you're looking for it to not break on you.

We now finally have a complete story around all of that.