Microsoft CEO (after throwing chair): "I'm going to (bleeping) kill Google"

[Unassisted]

It isn't often that you read about the CEO of a Fortune 100 company speaking in such strong terms about harming another Fortune 100 company.

http://news.com.com/Court+docs+Ballm...3-5846243.html

Court docs: Ballmer vowed to 'kill' Google


Published: September 2, 2005, 1:07 PM PDT
By Ina Fried
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer vowed to "kill" Google in an expletitive-laced, chair-throwing tirade when a senior engineer told him he was leaving the company to go work for Google, the engineer claimed in court documents made public on Friday.

The allegation, filed in Washington state court, is the latest salvo in an increasingly nasty court fight triggered when Microsoft executive Kai-Fu Lee jumped to Google in July in what Microsoft claims is a violation of a one-year, non-compete agreement.

In a sworn statement made public Friday, Mark Lucovsky, another Microsoft senior engineer who left for Google in November 2004, recounted Ballmer's angry reaction when Lucovsky told Ballmer he was going to work for the search engine company.

"At some point in the conversation, Mr. Ballmer said: 'Just tell me it's not Google,'" Lucovosky said in his statement. Lucovosky replied that he was joining Google.

"At that point, Mr. Ballmer picked up a chair and threw it across the room hitting a table in his office," Lucovosky recounted, adding that Ballmer then launched into a tirade about Google CEO Eric Schmidt. "I'm going to f***ing bury that guy, I have done it before, and I will do it again. I'm going to f***ing kill Google." Schmidt previously worked for Sun Microsystems and was the CEO of Novell.

Late Friday, Ballmer issued a statement disputing Lucovsky's declaration. "Mark Lucovsky's account of our conversation last November is a gross exaggeration of what actually took place," Ballmer said. "Mark's decision to leave was disappointing and I urged him strongly to change his mind. But his characterization of that meeting is not accurate."

The Lukovsky declaration is the latest salvo in the heated battle between Google and Microsoft over Google's hiring of Lee. Google has said Microsoft is attempting to scare its employees away from Google.

[KronoRed]

Google will eventually crush all.

I welcome our Google Overlords

[snowstorm]

I bow down to the power of Google. :notworthy

[Jaycint]

Maybe they could have an Ultimate Fighting match complete with protractors and those little pocket protector thingys.

[RedsBaron]

Maybe they could have an Ultimate Fighting match complete with protractors and those little pocket protector thingys.

[ochre]

Balmer's an idiot that hitched his cart to the right horse(s) (gates and allen).

for further proof see this video

[Reds Nd2]

Balmer's an idiot that hitched his cart to the right horse(s) (gates and allen).

for further proof see this video

Check this one out. Too funny.


www.kontraband.com/show/show.asp?ID=710& NEXTID=0&PREVID=723&DISPLAYORDER=20030515000050&C. .. - 38k -

[ghettochild]

google has owned all since google earth has come out

[SunDeck]

Balmer's an idiot that hitched his cart to the right horse(s) (gates and allen).

for further proof see this video

Man, does that guy live in a van down by the river, or what?

[CrackerJack]

I don't understand why people are so obsessed with Google. I find Yahoo to have a lot more to offer and approximately the same search engine results - both have annoying sponsored link results and both are simply web portals.

I will never really understand it. Guess I'm a Yahoo fan boy, they have more to offer, I never use Google it makes no sense to me.

[Unassisted]

I don't understand why people are so obsessed with Google. I find Yahoo to have a lot more to offer and approximately the same search engine results - both have annoying sponsored link results and both are simply web portals.

Google is a darling because its stock is still flying high and some people are zealously supportive of some of Google's offerings, like Gmail. Yahoo's stock grew very large in the late 90s and 2000, but fell quite a bit when the tech bubble burst.

I agree that Yahoo has a broader range of services to offer. If I could only use one, I'd go with Yahoo. I haven't really found any services for which I prefer Microsoft.

Google's MO seems to be that it is OK to be late to the party on a technology, as long as the version you bring to the party is vastly better than anything else that's in the market... e.g., Gmail and Google Maps.

[oneupper]

Ballmer should better employ his energy finding ways to satisfy customers instead of "crushing" competitors.

Windows is ****. 95.000 (and counting) strains of virii and other forms of electronic pests CANT ALL BE WRONG.

[MWM]

Anything that pisses Microsoft off is a good thing in my book.

[cincinnati chili]

I don't understand why people are so obsessed with Google. I find Yahoo to have a lot more to offer and approximately the same search engine results - both have annoying sponsored link results and both are simply web portals.

I will never really understand it. Guess I'm a Yahoo fan boy, they have more to offer, I never use Google it makes no sense to me.

I was a yahoo guy too. As a test once, someone said to google myself and then yahoo myself. Yahoo found about half as much stuff. That was enough to convince me, and I haven't looked back. Google found stuff I forgot that was written about me.

[westofyou]

I used to be an alta vista guy, one day on my way to rolle rblade by the bay in Mt View I saw these guys putting up a sign for a company named Google, so I went home later and checked it out.

I never looked back, as a researcher Google really trumps all.