RSSBallmer Denies Court Accusations
By Ed Oswald | Published September 12, 2005, 5:39 PM
In an interview with the Telegraph, a British daily, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer strongly denied accusations that he became violent when Kai-Fu Lee informed him that he was defecting to Google. While he did not directly deny he threatened to "kill" the search giant, Ballmer says he "made a commitment nine years ago that I was not going to curse" which he's broken only twice. "Is that one of them? I don't recall," he said.
Ballmer also denied throwing a chair, saying "I've never thrown a chair in my life." The paper described Ballmer as upset about the whole ordeal, which has brought a lot of negative press on Microsoft since the release of court documents two weeks ago.
I don't recall..
I didn't inhale...
Kai who?
Let's hear it for selective memory!
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|Exactly!
He knows he has only swore 2 times in the past 9 years, but can't recall if that was one of them.
What a joke.
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|I guess it would be a pretty normal reaction for anyone who felt betrayed to display some uncontrolled and/or controlled emotion. some control it and some dont. whats the big deal about it ? denying real emotions make someone loose just about all credibility to be accepted as an adult...
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|Hell, *I've* made comments about how much I hate a company/group/person and that *figuratively* I'd love to kill them and put them out of my misery... and hell, I've thrown a lot more than chairs around a room in frustration... so what's your point? It's not exactly a crime to throw a chair (that you or your company owns) across a room unless it hits someone, lol.
If someone signed a contract with you, you'd expect them to honor it or else you'd be ticked off too.
Deal with it.
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|They are trying to smear, discredit, and generally make MS look bad because of what they did. People will think that Google didn't do such a bad thing, but look at this Steve guy. He has a temper. But in fact the real issue is about Lee and what he an Google are doing.
In my book, if Google wants to destroy MS or MS wants to destroy Google, then big deal. It is business, but how they go about it(anyway) will end up being a public battle. I agree, whomever leaked this story needs to just deal with it. We say and do a lot of things in anger. Some we regret later and some not. Big Deal!!
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|I think the point is that he said it about a rival company and is rather high up in a company that is known for (deservedly or not) Monopolistic practices.
With great power comes great responsibility. You can be a tech and get away with it, you cannot be a CEO and get away with it.
How anyone feels about Microsoft aside, that was just plain stupid. The legal ramifications alone could ruin the company (fast-forward to future Google vs MS anti-compete/trust lawsuit where this'incident' is brought up in court).
Bad news, boys.
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|What does Bill's right hand jerk off (Ballmer) throwing a temper tentrum have to do with the fact that Lee has violated the contract that HE signed.
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|yawn, things that are brought up in court these days,
"ohhh noooes you took my pen, i'm going to sue u now. boohoo"
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|who cares
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|If it's true, then he needs to be fired.
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|Damn, I'd never stay employed if it were illegal or a firing offense to throw things in the office...... for that matter, I'd have a lot more books, rubber bands, pens, CD's, paper, etc. *grin*
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|LOL
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|Fire an employee because he got mad and through a chair!? Hey, when you are that far up the food chain, he can do what he wants. He didn't throw it at Lee. And too many people are interpreting the word "throw" to mean several things. To some it may be the chair left the ground and was flying through the air, yet to some it might have only slid across the floor. They are just making it look worse than it really was for the sake of court and publicity.
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|I probably wouldn't be able to find my desk in the mountain of rubber bands....But I am a lowly network admin, not a CEO.
Such behaviour is excusable for me. It is not for a CEO. (I would probably drop dead of suprise if the CEO of our company walked out and said, for everyone to hear, 'God Dammit, I am going to bury Michael Dell!')
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|He isn't an employee, he is the CEO. He is pretty much as high on the food chain as you can go. The board of directors would have to find probable cause that he did these events to have him removed, there is no proof. Only some heresay from some apparent witnesses. Plus, what did he do wrong? Did he hurt anyone? Was there charges brought? Did it cost the company money? You people are always quick to find ANY reason to blame Microsoft for everything. And you are getting this information second hand.
did you see it? No. Then you have nothing to say. Let it go.
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|Apparently ethics and Microsoft don't mix.
Not that it hasn't been obvious for the last 30 years.
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