Short Bytes: In an interview with Bloomberg,
ex-CEO Microsoft and the owner of Los Angeles Clippers, Steve Ballmer,
recalled the time when he made the decision to take Microsoft into
the hardware business. This decision destroyed his long-term friendship
with co-founder Bill Gates.
In the last few days, Steve Ballmer is busy recalling Microsoft’s failure stories. First, it was the unsuccessful Facebook buyout attempt
that he talked about on CNBC. And now, he told Bloomberg how the
strategic bitterness destroyed his friendship with Bill Gates.
Ballmer
acted as Microsoft’s CEO for 14 straight years from 2000 to 2014. He
told Bloomberg that his decision to make Microsoft a hardware company
was disagreed by the board, including Bill Gates.
“There was a fundamental disagreement about how important it was to
be in the hardware business,” said Ballmer. “I had pushed Surface. The
board had been a little — little reluctant in supporting it. And then
things came to a climax around what to do about the phone business.”
Ballmer
regrets taking Microsoft into hardware segment but on the note that he
didn’t do that earlier. In fact, he considers it a mistake. “I would
have moved into the hardware business faster and recognized that what we
had in the PC, where there was a separation of chips, systems and
software, wasn’t largely gonna reproduce itself in the mobile world,” he
said.
Microsoft did enter the hardware business by launching the
Surface RT and acquiring Nokia’s phone division. The company faced
hardship initially but they are making headlines with their recent Surface Studio and a rumored Surface Phone which could also be an end for the Lumia devices.
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Source: https://fossbytes.com/bill-gates-and-steve-ballmers-life-long-friendship-was-ruined-here-is-why/
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