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Dayglored Note: This is a real article from 2001. Ballmer really did say this, and believe it... Contaminates all other software with Hippie GPL rubbish Microsoft CEO and incontinent over-stater of facts Steve Ballmer said that "Linux is a cancer that attaches itself in an intellectual property sense to everything it touches," during a commercial spot masquerading as a interview with the Chicago Sun-Times on June 1, 2001.Ballmer was trying to articulate his concern, whether real or imagined, that limited recourse to the GNU GPL requires that all software be made open source."The way the license is written, if you...

Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer launches new website consolidating 30 years of government data to make facts more accessible Ex Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has launched the website USAFacts.org The site is a $10 million effort to consolidate 30 years of government data online It focuses on a 'nonbipartisan' presentation of the facts in a user-friendly fashion Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has created a new organization to analyze government spending and revenue to make it easier to understand. Ballmer gathered a group of data specialists that spent nearly three years compiling the information for its first reports, which are...

... In his first interview since Blake Griffin punched out the team's assistant equipment manager, the Clippers owner [Steve Ballmer] sounded as if he was prepared to discipline his All-Star forward. Asked Wednesday night if he felt it necessary for the Clippers to take the kind of action that would represent what they stand for, Ballmer didn't hesitate. "There need to be consequences," he said. "It's the right thing to do." ...

Ex-CEO Steve Ballmer has a huge holding of Microsoft stock. At yesterday's shareholder meeting, he tore into the company and its current CEO, Satya Nadella, cursing about the financial reporting and saying a key part of its strategy "won't work." Ouch. Far be it for you humble blogwatcher to repeat the actual naughty word Ballmer used. Let's just say he was alluding to bovine excrement. NSFW language aside, the ex-CEO seems unhappy about changes made to the Windows Phone strategy he put in place. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers settle in with some delicious popped corn. Not to mention: He loves...

Businessman and Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer is known for his passionate outbursts in all spheres of his life, including the success of his team. So after last night’s incredibly exciting buzzer-beating game-winning shot by the Clippers’ Chris Paul, he Ballmered out all over the place – surprising no one, but delighting everyone (except for Spurs fans).You can’t really blame Steve Ballmer for reacting as he did. Even fans who don’t have any financial interest in the LA Clippers were probably losing their minds after Chris Paul took the game away from the Spurs with just a single second...

LOS ANGELES -- There's only one place to correctly start this column and that's with the scene because it was, honestly, something to be seen. Steve Ballmer officially arrived here Monday -- showing up several weeks after his reputation did, Ballmer's reputation being that, as a public speaker, he's passionate, motivating and spirited. Or, said another way, he's as outrageous as someone who has had one too many drinks or one too few meds.

Donald Sterling railed on the witness stand Tuesday against the doctors who deemed him mentally incompetent, the executives who bounced him out of the NBA and the opposing lawyer who struggled to get him to answer a question. Sterling was consistently combative during his hourlong testimony that came as he fights to keep ownership of the Clippers. He briefly cried when he professed his devotion to his wife, Shelly. He predicted he would win a $9-billion judgment in an antitrust case he filed against the pro basketball league and would one day sell the team for as much as $5...

Shelly Sterling's potentially record-breaking deal with Ballmer was struck after Donald Sterling's racist remarks to a girlfriend were recorded and publicized.In this Nov. 12, 2010, file photo, Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald T. Sterling, right, sits with his wife Rochelle during the Clippers NBA basketball game against the Detroit Pistons in Los Angeles. Shelly Sterling's attorneys will ask a judge Thursday to order Donald Sterling and his attorneys to stop threatening, harassing or intimidating his wife's legal team and the doctors who determined the Los Angeles Clippers' co-owner was mentally incapacitated. A person with knowledge of the legal proceedings told...

That’s $2 billion with an uppercase B! Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has apparently won the bidding war Thursday for the Los Angeles Clippers with a staggering $2 billion offer for the NBA franchise, according to the L.A. Times. The frenzied battle to get the team from Sterling drove the franchise’s price sky high for a team that Forbes estimated was worth at $575 million in January of 2014.

Several corporate executives have joined forces with prominent local lawmakers, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, and George Soros’ National Immigration Forum (NIF) to organize a campaign on Monday to target GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill to get them to try to support amnesty. Those executives include Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, Boeing CEO and chairman Jim McNerney, Marriott hotels chairman and CEO Bill Marriott, NewsCorp chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch, and Disney president and CEO Bob Iger. Ballmer, McNerney, Marriott, Murdoch, and Iger, along with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, and San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro form the...

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has a rosy outlook for their new Windows 8 operating system, saying Monday that "we're seeing preliminary demand well above where we were with Windows 7." But other measures indicate that this statement may be somewhat misleading. Ballmer was speaking at a San Francisco event where Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 hardware were being showcased. Windows 8 itself officially launched last Friday, but has been available in preview form for more than a year. Comparing the new OS to its predecessor is natural, but could Windows 8, which has been intensely polarizing in the tech...

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is convinced that Windows 8 will be a winner, he doesn’t seem too impressed with Amazon’s Kindle Fire, and he expects Microsoft to build on its core capability in software to become more of a “devices and services” company in the next five to 10 years.Those are a few of the takeaways from a wide-ranging interview with Ballmer published online by the Seattle Times Saturday evening, providing some insights into the Microsoft CEO’s mindset as the company prepares for the pivotal launch of Windows 8 this fall.At one point in the interview, Seattle Times reporter Janet...

Microsoft stopped giving forward guidance a couple years ago when the company hit a rough patch, but yesterday at a Rotary event in Seattle, CEO Steve Ballmer spilled some rough figures about the company's 2011 fiscal year, which ends today. As reported by GeekWire's John Cook, who was at the event, Ballmer said: There’s a reason why we’ll do almost $70 billion in revenue this year, and we will make over $20, whatever, $26, $27 billion in profits. That $70 billion would be a 12% increase from last year's revenue of $62.5 billion, and would mean a quarterly revenue figure...

Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer insinuated this week that his company's ailing brand holds value for users, unlike Apple's, while at the same time conceding that he's seeing a lot more of his adversary's iPads deployed in the real world than he'd like to.... "I think you clearly have a lot more variety than Apple has. There's really only one choice in the Apple world," he said. " I think the problem, if you don't have a minimum kind of standard […] the brand means nothing to the user. Our brand means something to the user... [Regarding Macs and iPads:]...

If you were hoping to upgrade all the computers in your house to Windows 7 as a present to your loved ones, and let’s be honest an upgrade from Vista really will show you care, you’re going to have to pay extra. In a move that makes about as much sense for pleasing your customers as handing out coal filled stockings, Microsoft has discontinued the 3 license Windows 7 Family Pack. WindowsITPro reports that stock of the discounted Windows 7 upgrade is already drying up at online retailers like Newegg; and though you can get it in some local stores,...

The iPhone & Steve Ballmer: It’s Time For Him To Eat Some Serious CrowWednesday, August 26, 2009 There are very few people in the tech world who annoy me quite like Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft. It’s not just that he’s loud, dismissive and arrogant. It’s that he manages to be all these things while usually being spectacularly wrong, especially when it comes to Apple. Take for example his thoughts on the iPhone from a USAToday article in 2007: “There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance,” said Ballmer. “It’s a $500...

Ballmer expects Windows 7 to grab share from Apple In a bullish presentation to financial analysts today, Steve Ballmer promised Windows 7 PCs that would 'overturn the conventional wisdom that Apple has the coolest hardware'. He also described Apple's impact on Microsoft sales this year as 'a rounding error', saying that; "Apple's share globally costs us nothing." "Hopefully we will take share back from Apple," said Ballmer, "But they sell only about 10 million computers globally so it's a limited opportunity." Taking a bite out of AppleBallmer said that research data showed that Microsoft adverts targetting Apple's prices were working,...

Microsoft Corp's chief executive attempted to laugh off the challenge of Google Inc's planned computer operating system on Tuesday, conceding only that it was "interesting". "I will be respectful," Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said to laughs from the audience at a conference for the company's technology partners in New Orleans, which was broadcast over the Internet. Industry gets feverish after Google action ATF prices slashed, but will airfares drop? Are FII dealings outside market substantial? "Who knows what this thing is? To me, the Chrome OS thing is highly interesting," said Ballmer, choosing his words carefully and drawing more amusement...

It takes an incredibly powerful company to threaten the U.S. government in hopes of impacting a significant decision, but that's precisely what Microsoft is doing. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer made headlines when he publicly attacked President Barack Obama's plan to cut tax breaks on U.S. companies' foreign profits, a plan which is currently awaiting Congressional approval.

"The unemployment rate has hit a 25 year high, now standing at 9.4 percent and since President Obama has taken office the U.S. has lost 2.2 million jobs. How does the Administration and tax-writers in Congress plan to remedy this? Well, by implementing policies that will ship more jobs and capital out of the U.S. and into foreign countries.