Editing Steve Ballmer (section)

==On competing companies and software==

===Apple===
In 2007, Ballmer said, "There's no chance that the [[iPhone]] is going to get any significant market share. No chance."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-what-steve-ballmer-thought-about-the-iphone-five-years-ago-2012-6#ixzz2gnjXZ4wo |title=Here's What Steve Ballmer Thought About The iPhone Five Years Ago |website=Business Insider |date=June 29, 2012 |access-date=December 27, 2013 |archive-date=December 27, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131227163238/http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-what-steve-ballmer-thought-about-the-iphone-five-years-ago-2012-6#ixzz2gnjXZ4wo |url-status=live }}</ref>

Speaking at a conference in NYC in 2009, Ballmer criticized Apple's pricing, saying, "Now I think the tide has turned back the other direction (against Apple). The economy is helpful. Paying an extra $500 for a computer in this environment—same piece of hardware—paying $500 more to get a logo on it? I think that's a more challenging proposition for the average person than it used to be."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.slashgear.com/ballmer-critiques-apple-500-more-to-get-a-logo-2038377|title=Apple is no more than a $500 logo|date=March 20, 2009|access-date=August 3, 2009|archive-date=August 22, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100822183058/http://www.slashgear.com/ballmer-critiques-apple-500-more-to-get-a-logo-2038377/|url-status=live}} [[SlashGear]]</ref>

On September 25, 2014, Ballmer said he would bar the team from using [[Apple Inc.|Apple]] products such as [[iPad]]s, and replace them with Microsoft products.<ref>{{cite web |date=September 25, 2014 |title=Ballmer wants Clippers to ban Apple products |url=https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2014/9/25/6844451/steve-ballmer-clippers-apple-ban-policy-microsoft-nba-2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171113060250/https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2014/9/25/6844451/steve-ballmer-clippers-apple-ban-policy-microsoft-nba-2014 |archive-date=November 13, 2017 |access-date=November 12, 2017}}</ref> It has been reported that he had previously also barred his family from using iPhones.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Maddaus |first1=Gene |date=September 25, 2014 |title=Steve Ballmer To Ban L.A. Clippers From Using Apple Products |url=https://www.laweekly.com/steve-ballmer-to-ban-l-a-clippers-from-using-apple-products/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200307231833/https://www.laweekly.com/steve-ballmer-to-ban-l-a-clippers-from-using-apple-products/ |archive-date=March 7, 2020 |access-date=April 4, 2020 |website=LA Weekly}}</ref>

In 2015, when Apple had become the world's most valuable company, Ballmer called Microsoft's decision to invest in Apple to save it from [[bankruptcy]] in 1997 as the "craziest thing we ever did".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/microsofts-biggest-mistake-investing-apple-was-craziest-thing-we-ever-did-1525752|title=Microsoft's biggest mistake: Investing in Apple was the 'craziest thing we ever did'|first=James|last=Billington|date=October 26, 2015|access-date=November 12, 2017|archive-date=November 6, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171106044529/http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/microsofts-biggest-mistake-investing-apple-was-craziest-thing-we-ever-did-1525752|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2016, Ballmer revisited his [[iPhone]] statements, saying, "People like to point to this quote...but the reason I said that was [that] the price of $600–$700 was too high". He said he did not realize that Apple was going to have phone carriers build the cost into the customer's monthly bill.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFe0S3F389w |title=Microsoft's Former CEO Says Disagreement With Gates on Smartphones Drove Them Apart |work=Bloomberg |via=[[YouTube]] |author= |date= November 4, 2016|access-date=January 24, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161107061621/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFe0S3F389w&gl=US&hl=en |archive-date=November 7, 2016 |url-status=live}} {{webarchive |format=addlarchives |url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211205/qFe0S3F389w |date=December 5, 2021 |title=Ghostarchive}}</ref>

===Free and open source software===
{{Main|Microsoft and open source}}
In July 2000, Ballmer called the [[free software]] [[Linux kernel]] "[[communism]]"<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2000/07/31/ms_ballmer_linux_is_communism/|title=MS' Ballmer: Linux is communism|website=[[The Register]]|access-date=December 29, 2017|archive-date=December 4, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101204002525/http://www.theregister.co.uk/2000/07/31/ms_ballmer_linux_is_communism/|url-status=live}}</ref> and further claimed that it infringed with Microsoft's intellectual property.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.zdnet.com/article/ballmer-linux-infringes-our-intellectual-property/|title=Ballmer: Linux "Infringes our intellectual property" – ZDNet|first=Adrian|last=Kingsley-Hughes|website=[[ZDNet]]|access-date=April 16, 2020|archive-date=June 14, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200614035624/https://www.zdnet.com/article/ballmer-linux-infringes-our-intellectual-property/|url-status=live}}</ref> In June 2001 he called Linux a "cancer that attaches itself in an intellectual property sense to everything it touches".<ref>{{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011211130654/http://www.suntimes.com/output/tech/cst-fin-micro01.html |date=December 11, 2001 |title=Microsoft CEO takes launch break with the Sun-Times }}, ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'', June 1, 2001; archived from the [http://www.suntimes.com/output/tech/cst-fin-micro01.html original] on December 11, 2001; retrieved December 18, 2009.</ref> Ballmer used the notion of [[viral license|"viral" licensing terms]] to express his concern over the fact that the [[GNU General Public License]] (GPL) employed by such software requires that all derivative software be under the GPL or a compatible license. In April 2003 he even interrupted his skiing holiday in [[Switzerland]] to personally plead with the mayor of [[Munich]] not to switch to Linux.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.cnet.com/news/munich-breaks-with-windows-for-linux/|title=Munich breaks with Windows for Linux|newspaper=CNET|access-date=November 23, 2016|archive-date=November 22, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161122223459/https://www.cnet.com/news/munich-breaks-with-windows-for-linux/|url-status=live}}</ref> But he did not succeed with this and Munich switched to [[LiMux]], despite his offering a 35% discount at his [[lobbying|lobbying visit]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/2003-07-13-microsoft-linux-munich_x.htm|title=Linux took on Microsoft, and won big in Munich|newspaper=USAtoday|access-date=November 28, 2016|archive-date=February 23, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170223170254/http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/2003-07-13-microsoft-linux-munich_x.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

In March 2016, Ballmer changed his stance on Linux, saying that he supports his successor [[Satya Nadella]]'s [[Open-source model|open source]] commitments. He maintained that his comments in 2001 were right at the time but that times have changed.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.informationweek.com/software/ballmer-linux-no-longer-a-cancer--/d/d-id/1324661|title=Ballmer: Linux No Longer A Cancer – InformationWeek|date=March 11, 2016|access-date=November 12, 2017|archive-date=November 13, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171113003426/https://www.informationweek.com/software/ballmer-linux-no-longer-a-cancer--/d/d-id/1324661|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.silicon.co.uk/software/open-source/steve-ballmer-linux-microsoft-187802?inf_by=5a088e9d671db8d83d8b4959|title=Steve Ballmer: Linux Is No Longer 'A Cancer'|date=March 11, 2016|access-date=November 12, 2017|archive-date=November 13, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171113003828/http://www.silicon.co.uk/software/open-source/steve-ballmer-linux-microsoft-187802?inf_by=5a088e9d671db8d83d8b4959|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Google===
In 2005, Microsoft sued Google for hiring one of its previous vice presidents, [[Kai-Fu Lee]], claiming it was in violation of his one-year [[non-compete clause]] in his contract. [[Mark Lucovsky]], who left for Google in 2004, alleged in a sworn [[affidavit]] to a Washington state court that Ballmer became enraged upon being told by Lucovsky that he was about to leave Microsoft for [[Google]], picked up a chair, and threw it across his office, and that, referring to then Google Executive Chairman [[Eric Schmidt]] (who had previously worked for competitors Sun and Novell), Ballmer vowed to "kill Google." <ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/2005/09/14/microsoft-google-both-claim-victory/e76ecf6d-1f24-4efb-8661-08866515e573/ |title=Microsoft, Google Both Claim Victory |newspaper=the Washington Post |date=September 13, 2005 |access-date=March 15, 2025}}</ref><ref name="Heats up">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4213466.stm |work=BBC News |title=Microsoft-Google battle heats up |date=September 4, 2005 |access-date=February 17, 2011 |archive-date=May 12, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110512003510/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4213466.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> Lucovsky reports:<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/09/05/chair_chucking/|title=Microsoft's Ballmer: Chair-tossing potty-mouth|work=The Register|author=John Oates|date=September 5, 2005|access-date=February 7, 2014|archive-date=February 12, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140212150551/http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/09/05/chair_chucking/|url-status=live}}</ref>

{{blockquote|At some point in the conversation Mr. Ballmer said: "Just tell me it's not Google." I told him it was Google. At that point, Mr. Ballmer picked up a chair and threw it across the room hitting a table in his office. Mr. Ballmer then said: "Fucking Eric Schmidt is a fucking pussy. I'm going to fucking bury that guy, I have done it before, and I will do it again. I'm going to fucking kill Google."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/08/24/top_10_steve_ballmer_quotes_from_microsoft_history/ |title=Top 10 Steve Ballmer quotes: '%#&@!!' and so much more |website=The Register |date=August 24, 2013 |access-date=January 12, 2017 |archive-date=January 13, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170113144341/http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/08/24/top_10_steve_ballmer_quotes_from_microsoft_history/ |url-status=live}}</ref>}}

Ballmer then resumed attempting to persuade Lucovsky to stay at Microsoft. Ballmer has described Lucovsky's account of the incident as a "gross exaggeration of what actually took place".<ref name="Heats up" />

During the 2011 [[Web 2.0 Summit]] in San Francisco, he said: "You don't need to be a computer scientist to use a Windows Phone and you do to use an Android phone&nbsp;... It is hard for me to be excited about the Android phones."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://androidandme.com/2011/10/news/steve-ballmer-android-is-for-computer-science-geeks/ |title=Steve Ballmer: Android is for computer science geeks |publisher=Android and Me |date=October 19, 2011 |access-date=December 27, 2013 |archive-date=December 27, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131227124607/http://androidandme.com/2011/10/news/steve-ballmer-android-is-for-computer-science-geeks/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTX1e-pMN6E |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/MTX1e-pMN6E |archive-date=December 11, 2021 |url-status=live|title=Microsoft's Ballmer mocks Android phone |date=October 19, 2011 |publisher=YouTube |access-date=December 27, 2013}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

In 2013, Ballmer said that Google was a "[[monopoly]]" that should be pressured from market competition authorities.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theverge.com/2013/9/20/4751516/ballmer-calls-google-a-monopoly |title=Ballmer calls Google a 'monopoly' that authorities should control |date=September 20, 2013 |access-date=November 12, 2017 |archive-date=November 13, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171113003629/https://www.theverge.com/2013/9/20/4751516/ballmer-calls-google-a-monopoly |url-status=live}}</ref>