>Apple's Steve Jobs Talks Microsoft, Gates, Ballmer in New Bio
>http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and-Wireless/Apples-Steve-Jobs-Talks-Microsoft-Gates-Ballmer-in-New-Bio-604826/
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>He also reserves some choice words for current Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. “When the sales guys run the company, the product guys don’t matter so much, and a lot of them just turn off,” he said. “It happened at Apple when Sculley came in, which was my fault, and it happened when Ballmer took over at Microsoft.” As a consequence, “I don’t think anything will change at Microsoft as long as Ballmer is running it.”

Ken Levy, who is in a pretty good position to know, said much the same thing here not long ago. Morale is nowhere near what it was at Microsoft. It isn't even the hot company any more for hotshot new hires.

Re Jobs, my admiration of him has long been clear so I won't gas on about it again. I ordered the biography and have it sitting here at the top of the TBR pile. (Sometimes I forget that not everyone here speaks English as a first language. TBR = to be read). The review in the New York Times was favorable but not a rave. The reviewer thought the biographer's liking of the subject interfered with his ability to be evenhanded. Walter Isaacson is a respected biographer, best known for his bio of Benjamin Franklin. Maybe there's a good reason most biographies are not written in the subject's lifetime.

Circling back, one of the best tributes to Steve Jobs after he died came from Bill Gates.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/mobiledia/2011/10/06/bill-gates-mark-zuckerberg-pay-tribute-to-steve-jobs/