This whole story with Ballmer leaving Microsoft is just too interesting and hence I can’t keep myself from posting more about it. It is essentially like watching a train hit the wall at full speed. It really amazes me how detached this man is from reality.

ZDNet published an interview with the man a few days back which I have been saving for this sunday to read. And sure enough Baller just keeps on giving with his ignorance.

I have never made it a secret how little time I have for this man, and I am enjoying every little second of the failure of this bully. And I’m going to give my five cents on his replies to the questions in that interview.

To the question on what his day was like after he announced his retirement Ballmer said:

“Somebody said congratulations to me this morning, and I’ve got to say that surprised me, probably shouldn’t. When you retire, it’s a perfectly reasonable thing… But given that my personal plans wouldn’t have had me here forever, this seemed like an appropriate time to me to move forward with retirement.”

Well Steve whoever this person was, they probably congratulated you for finally realising that you are only dead weight. How and why it took you more than a decade after Bill Gates left to realise this is another mystery.

You see, you were born with the destiny to ruin one of the most successful companies in recent history. The sure fact, when looking at Microsofts performance since you took over, is that you were not competent enough to lead. Every single product released under your leadership has been a complete and utter failure. Unfortunately your ego was too (is) too big to realise this.

When asked, when he finally made the decision to step down he according to ZDNet said:

“Officially, a day or two ago. We had a board call. When was that, two days ago? And it was really two days ago … I would say that we really — I finalized and we finalized that this was the right path forward.”

The confusion in this answer, is Ballmer in his essense. Walking on the wrong path tilting his balled head and screaming developers, developers, developers, until he finally was asked to leave. Yes, it is clear, someone at Microsoft finally grew a pair and asked him to step aside. Before the company had to be put into an artificial coma so to avoid any further destruction. He didn’t leave because he wanted to, he left because he had to.

But it keeps on getting better. He is asked what his biggest regret is:

“… I would say probably the thing I regret most is the, what shall I call it, the loopedy-loo that we did that was sort of Longhorn to Vista. I would say that’s probably the thing I regret most. And, you know, there are side effects of that when you tie up a big team to do something that doesn’t prove out to be as valuable.”

Christ on a bike, is this man serious? Oh yes he is. He simply cannot see that his complete lack of skill in what the market wants and how to nurture innovation is the source of all these problems. Vista didn’t fail because it wasn’t valued, it failed because it was the worst product of the century. It was, in essence unusable from the first string of code. And not to mention with how much you missed the mark, when it comes to listen to your customers. That story would have more pages than the bible.

// The General

Update: It seems that more people are convinced that Ballmer was forced out. Given an option to leave without “loosing face” (as if that had not already happened).

According to Computerworld the last straw might have been the failure of Surface RT, that resulted in a mind blowing $900 million write-off. Computeworld also quotes an analyst saying:

“It was the $900 million write-down. That caught the attention of the board, and based on Ballmer’s over-enthusiastic public commentary on Windows RT and Surface RT, they lost a lot of credibility. So did Ballmer. How can you be that far off what consumers want? Was it that you’re not listening to your team? Was it because the team was afraid to give him advice? Was it because the team saw a different reality? Or was it that the team lacked the skill set to anticipate the failure?”

From my own experience from within Microsoft it is exactly this. I’ve never been in an organisation before Microsoft where management is purely interested in their own career. To the extent that they are willing to sacrifice the company that provides them with one. Partially because of internal politics that does not allow the questioning of strategic decisions. What comes down from Steve is the law, no matter how stupid it might be. This attitude of do not question the captain has lead to people leaving in droves. Only to leave behind the “I know it all group” who do their best to kill of every newcomer with ideas and passion like a cockroach in a kitchen. The few that still dare to believe are just too afraid to question or to give advise. What we are left with is a flat soda like concoction with a nice outside but a inside loosing its beauty fast.

Apparently Bill Gates will be on the board that is to look for a new CEO. Personally I do not know what I think about this. He didn’t do a good job with Ballmer, and seems to be more focused on his charity than anything else. Maybe we should just accept the fact that Microsoft is ripe enough to movie into the category of behemoths with no sole and creativity like IBM, General Motors and now quickly fading Kodak. I personally do not find it in myself to see Microsoft ever become interesting again. It is too far gone and it has lost the assets of human capital that once made it number one. The only way back to the top is with steroids (cleaning house), but I do not think anyone within todays or in the future Microsoft will have the courage to take this step.