Why retiring Steve Ballmer deserves more credit than gets

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People love to hate Steve Ballmer, but he's been hugely successful at Microsoft, and deserves a more considered judgement that includes his successes as well as his failures.

The larger-than-life but now (literally) retiring Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer has been roundly trashed online over the past few days. Suffice it to say that if Ballmer were a play, it wouldn't have survived for a second night, let alone 33 years.

Yes, he made some painful mistakes. But on any rational judgement, Ballmer has been one of the world's most successful businessmen, and built what is still one of the world's top 10 companies by value. Much of Microsoft's success is down to Bill Gates, but the two friends have worked as a deadly duo since 1980, when Microsoft was a tiny, 29-man company. Ballmer deserves some credit for that, besides his $15 billion-worth of stock.

Read more at: Why the retiring Steve Ballmer deserves more credit than he's getting | ZDNet