>http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2012/07/microsoft-downfall-emails-steve-ballmer
>

This is exactly what Bill Gates worried about when Microsoft was at its peak. He said we could be the next IBM. And no one believed him. Microsoft is still a very serious player in every market it's in but they no longer rule the waves.

I don't think Ballmer is evil, it's just a mismatch of personal style with the industry he's in. He started out as a marketing guy at Proctor and Gamble. Their philosophy, shouted from the rooftops, has always been that if we can't be #1 or #2 in a category we will drop that brand. That Darwinian outlook does not exactly encourage the kind of creative thinking behind most great software. There is a difference between challenging people and making them feel threatened into a corner.