Ballmer, IBM reportedly surprised by Oracle-Sun deal

Reporters caught up with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer in Moscow to get his take on Oracle's deal to buy Sun Microsystems for $7.4 billion.

But apparently Ballmer, who is rarely at a loss for words, didn't exactly have a sound byte at the ready.

"I need to think about it," Ballmer told reporters in Moscow, according to Reuters. "I am very surprised."

I'm hearing that Ballmer wasn't the only one surprised by Monday's deal. According to a source of mine, IBM hadn't given up on purchasing Sun and was blindsided by Oracle's move.

Oracle is, of course, one of Microsoft's chief rivals in the database and business applications space--a fact that Ballmer highlighted in an interview in February. Sun is also a longtime rival, although the two companies have had a technology partnership in recent years stemming from their settlement of legal hostilities back in 2004.

I imagine we'll hear far more from Ballmer and Microsoft in the coming days and weeks.

[myles taylor]

I wonder (honestly and without being negative) what Ballmer's traits are that make his opinion worth anything. What does he bring to the table? What is he good at (besides crappy infomercials)? Does anyone honestly care what his opinion on anything is?

[Mr. Dee]

I know that he is a sales man, runs one of the worlds most highly successful and innovative company's, highly technical background in Mathematics and Economics, very driven and competitive, very passionate about his career and loyal to his job and nobody makes a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet scream like Steve Ballmer. So, yes, we do care about his opinion, unlike yours.

I am sure you are nowhere near one of those attributes myles, so go back to your desk and finish writing that school report about what I would like be someday.

[myles taylor]

Mr, Dee, no need to be insulting. I certainly wasn't.

Yes, he runs the company but he didn't build it and I'm wondering what makes him qualified to run it. Driven and competitive? I guess so. Slightly deranged...that too. Loyalty is overrated. So you care about his opinion? Nice to know. Why?

You shouldn't jump to conclusions. Maybe I do, maybe I don't. You don't know that. I actually graduated a long time ago.

[zvonr]

@MrDee you failed to mention one single reason why Balmer is qualified to be the Microsoft CEO. My dog is passionate and loyal too...

Balmer is quite an entertaining buffoon.
His statements show his lack of vision and understanding...

[joetesta70]

I've personally been in a meeting with Ballmer. He's pretty charismatic and damn sharp. You have no idea what you're talking about.

[sachanta1]

Not sure about his traits and dont care about them. I for one am certainly interested in his perspective as the CEO of the major competitor of both ORacle adn Sun. At the very least it provides a quick insight into how Microsoft sees this deal impacting them.

CNet has publishes a lot of garbage blogs does not mean everything they publish is garbage.

[RighteousSoutherner]

Mr. Dee:

I couldn't agree with your more! These punks are probably miserable little socialist cube dwellers in some left-wing run organization in San Francisco, lol. They envy Microsoft because it represents the pinnacle of captialism, so that's where their hatred for the company and its leaders stems from. No doubt the were indoctrinated by the left-wing teachers that infest the public school systems. So there's the root to the problem of the little cretens understanding business and its leaders.

[myles taylor]

RighteousSoutherner, I was homeschooled and I live on the east coast. :P

[shootthecops]

RighteousSoutherner: i'm antisocialist. i also happen to be antifascist which is unfortunate for microsoft because it means i cant be one of their customers.

Has anyone answered why Steve Balmer is worth a grain of salt? Did microsoft just need a big name to replace Bill Gates? Some of us HONESTLY want to know this because we see no real accomplishments solely by him.

[Mr. Dee]

Since taking over the CEO post from Gates in 2000, Microsoft's revenue intake has tripled, from $6.59 billion in 2001 to over $66 billion in Fiscal 2008.

@ Mr. Dee

Quote: "I am sure you are nowhere near one of those attributes myles, so go back to your desk and finish writing that school report about what I would like be someday." - Mr. Dee

If you are going to attack someone's intellect or education, you should at least make sure you don't have any mistakes in YOUR post --- "I would like TO be someday" ?

[winstein]

The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

[odubtaig]

Or they're Stalin, and also your enemy.

[solitare_pax]

Or maybe everyone is out to get us all.

[Jesse_Gilleland]

What I'm most curious about,and what made me afraid of the IBM/SUN merger, is whether they will continue to maintain Sun's support of OpenSource.

Oracle has in the past gone back and forth across the fence on the topic and I would be curious as to what their plans are going forward for Solaris X86 / Oracle.

If they were to, for example, make SolarisX86/Oracle available to the public (with support options a-la carte) they could easily end up dominating the market and pushing Microsoft Windows/SQL out into the woodshed.

Simply put people go with what they know. Many of the people who use Microsoft SQL do so because learning the ins and outs of Oracle is a daunting (and sometimes expensive) task. Giving geeks (like me) the chance to "play" with it would increase demand for the enterprise versions that run on Sparc/AIX/HPUX, etc.

[Neo Con]

You go Myles. Microsoft? Who ever heard of that company? They are so irrelevant. Who cares what their CEO thinks? Now excuse me while I go back to my cave...

[myles taylor]

No Microsoft is very relevant. Bill Gates has a lot of respect in my book. I just wonder what Steve Ballmer's qualities are that makes him relevant.

[martin1212]

@myles, what is your problem? You just said Microsoft is very relevant. Therefore what the guy who runs Microsoft has to say is by definition very relevant too.

[myles taylor]

Apparently no one gets what I'm saying so I'll just drop it.

[Renegade Knight]

@myles taylor

He runs MicroSoft. Simple as that.
Recently I got a promotion. (I don't run MicroSoft). Same person, same thoughts, same ideas. Amazingly now everone listens a lot more. Nothing in the worth of my opinions changed.

[sargess25]

steve ballmer is a joker who's pulled the biggest prank on his customers - he convinced them that Vista does really exists, he's now saying that Vista SP2 is not a joke and re-branded it Windows 7

[sachanta1]

??

http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2009/02/25/announcing-the-service-pack-2-for-windows-vista-and-windows-server-2008-rc.aspx


BTW, I am running vista SP2

[Inconnux]

Its not SP2, Win7 is Vista SP3... and for you naysayers

http://www.pcworld.com/article/153624/under_the_hood_windows_7_is_vistas_twin.html

[The_happy_switcher]

If he hadn't been chosen to be Gate's dorm mate he'd still be selling cars.

[Tbdsamman]

And if they'd have chosen me to be your roommate, I'd have probably hurt you for having such bad logic.

[Mr. Dee]

Apple, I see that those rocks that were intentionally thrown at the fruit accidentally hit you across the head. He attended Harvard, graduated, was working at Procter and Gamble, wanted to go back to school to get his MBA at Stanford, but Gates persuaded (note persuaded) him to work in a managerial position at a "little" startup named Microsoft 1981. Steve was reluctant, but took the job and became employee No. 31.

[The_happy_switcher]

And what exactly has the stock done under his 'leadership' the last 5 years? oops, nothing. From standpoint, I hope continues to run Microsoft. He's good for Apple in the long run.
[CNET editor's note: Personal attack deleted.]

[David Dudley]

Ballmer has not been good for Microsoft at all. In fact, he has brought mostly negative equity to the stock.

Microsoft is stuck in a bizarre position as they are essentially the de facto computer in business (desktops, that is), have watched their enterprise market become highly challenged by Linux (a place where Apple fails to make any headway, hence the layoffs in the enterprise sales team), are having issues bringing any consumer product other than the XBox to the masses successfully and have ultimately failed on their internet initiatives (eg: www.live.com).

It's clearly a classic case of the innovator's dilemma. Unless the market is huge and proven, it is does not make fiscal sense for them to jump in.

[sargess25]

some Ballmer?s gems:

?What we've gone through in the last several years has caused some people to question 'Can we trust Microsoft?' (indeed lol ...)

?Our people, our shareholders, me, Bill Gates, we expect to change the world in every way, to succeed wildly at everything we touch, to have the broadest impact of any company in the world.? (mumbo jumbo speak at its finest, does the guy actually speak English?)

?I have four words for you: ?I love this company YEAGH!? (Stevie feeling emotional .... that's actually 5 words)

?We will make our products work out of the box? (probably meant for the virus writers & hackers confraternity)

?Developers. Developers. Developers. Developers. Developers. Developers. Developers. Developers. Developers. Developers. Developers. Developers. Developers. Developers. Yeagh!? (Steve doing what he does best, monkeying around)

[aheyn]

Those who have a go at what Ballmer is capable of....

He joined MS in 1980 - only 5 years after Gates started it all. He initially led the Windows 1.0 team (sure that was a basic product), but throughout his 28+ years with them he was principally involved in the business model/financial side of things. If he was that poor, then would MS be making 60+B of revenue each year? Gates might have been responsible for the technical side, but Ballmer was the sales/marketing guy, and worked out how and who to sell it all to etc. Without that side of things, even the most brilliant technical work won't get anywhere.

He has a huge amount of passion for what he does - sure that can come across as weird sometimes, but I would definitely want something this passionate and energetic to be a CEO of my company. He has also seen so much history of what Microsoft has done, it would be stupid to replace him with someone less experienced, unless MS started suddenly going very badly.

Some ppl here should actually watch a few of his keynotes/speeches (MIX08 was great, Stanford Graduate Business School even better)... if you ignore the occasional over-the-top ness, he is a very smart guy and its great to listen and learn from what he says. Those who don't believe me - just watch those two keynotes to get you started.

[Renegade Knight]

@aheyn

I am but a caveman in a monkey suit world. Yet I wonder how it is that a company who won't even sell me their product, has issued DMCA takedown notices on unused software being sold, quits trying to support Vista when this problem was theirs to solve, among other things, all of which makes my experience with MicroSoft unpleasant, shows any of the wonderful things you have just said?

As a caveman I find it hard to use a great keynote speech to solve any of the problems MicroSoft has caused me for just trying to use their stuff.

[info_tech_guy]

I'm actually rather disinterested in what the Microsoft senior management types like Ballmer think or say they think about anything -- including the reported acquisition of Sun by Oracle.

Many of us who actually utilize/administer Sun Microsystems servers and software, are concerned with the issues of continuity, support and product enhancement.

I, for one, am much more interested in what Oracle will do to make Sun software more competitive with HP-UX and Linux. And, of course, there is that thing called Java...

All in all, the focus which some of us have is far less about what Borgs from Microsoft say or think or represent in the press and far more about how this acquisition affects the "UNIX Universe".

While Microsoft profits impress some evinced in the homage to the Ballmer, the core technology of Microsoft remains *inferior* (IMHO) to UNIX/OS X/LINUX.

[eferron]

myles (and company):

What makes his thoughts worth reading or listening too, is a subjective question. Some people like to hear the reaction of one's competitors or someone who sits from his vantage point. Whether or not we believe he is qualified or not, he currently occupies a position many of do not. Which gives him a unique and rare perspective that we do not have.

The question does not appear to be objective and indeed in passive tone it comes across as a negative statement even though you stated your intent was not negative. I recommend asking or rewording the question and possibly use a diffrent forum, especially if you are looking for an objective answer.

Think about what will you do with the information? How will it benefit you or the other readers of the forum? If you are looking to get a well thought out response versus an emotional reaction destined to start a war of words between fans on each side of the argument.

Here are a few sources where you may be able to get a more objective response -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Ballmer
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/exec/steve/default.aspx.

[pentest]

It doesn't change the fact that idiocy spews from his mouth daily.

[pentest]

This shows what happens when you sell out to corporations. There is a reason mysql didn't let Oracle buy them a few years ago, but stupidly let a company that has to answer to greedy morons buy them. If you are publicly traded, you lost control of your company. Now, people who would destroy you just to make a buck are calling the shots.

People mocked me when I wrote that the worst thing a company can do is go public or allow VC funding. This is why it is so bad.

Hopefully, a fork is incoming for mysql and Java and Oracle can choke on it knowing they lost two very valuable properties.

[sharmajunior]

IBM, Balmer checkmated by Oracle's moves. Freaking Priceless.

Hahahahahahahaha

[The_happy_switcher]

Ballmer is surprised by his daily bowel movement.