Steve Ballmer: Developers

> Steve Ballmer: developers developers developers developers developers - ▶ this video If you haven't seen the remix, here you go: link

The people here are also the ones who tell grandma which computer to buy. You need mass market adoption, but you really also need the "developers! developers! developers!" (or sub "power users" for "developers") [0] [0] ▶ this video

Wondering how this affects Apple employees. Back in the day, working for Apple seemed cool. (Pirate flags on building etc). Previously MSFT used to be (maybe they've turned that around?) the most hated tech company (becz of their very aggressive attitudes to competitors especially Netscape). One thing they didn't FU and is represented by the infamous sweaty Balmer video [0] of him shouting "Developers, developers, developers", is pissing of people who build on their platform. Well Apple seems to have topped that with this and other malicious compliance shenanigans in the EU. I can't every imagine developing an iOS/native app on that platform going forward. [0]: ▶ this video

It's self-serving of me to like this clip by Balmer, but maybe Microsoft gets it some times. "Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, [...]" ▶ this video

No one is talking about it because developer tools is literally the core business Microsoft is in and was founded as such, 48-years ago. Yes, they have expanded in many ways - but developer tools/languages/IDEs/libraries is their bread & butter. The famous “Developers Developers Developers” by Steve Ballmer. ▶ this video

Developer! Developers! Developers! ▶ this video One can say a lot about Microsoft and Windows, but they were always keen on building a platform which enabled others to build upon.

> Steve Ballmer They have some really good blow in Redmond. If anybody could win an award for being coked up and sweaty on stage... ▶ this video

> As someone who owned a Windows phone around that time, and knew others who did as well, the shared opinion was that it was a pile of crap. and had no apps. Windows Phone/Mobile had atrocious developer share. There few apps that were available were of terrible quality. Ironic, considering this happened in the era of a sweaty Balmer screaming "Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers!"[1] 1. ▶ this video

From the article: "Surprisingly, setting up kernel debugging is extremely easy on Windows." Microsoft (at least used to) take developers very seriously. The OS actually plays along when you're trying to debug things, and Windows error reporting actually sends you data that you can work with. Say what you want about their business practices, but I'd deal with Microsoft's developer support over Apple's anytime. And mandatory Youtube: ▶ this video

> "we need to spend spend spend to revitalize the economy" Yeah, I'm showing my age but I'm reminded of a comparative ethos regarding developers ▶ this video

All in the name of UI cleanliness and simplicity . Like how there's no way to manually trigger the firmware update for the AirPods. You just have to keep them plugged in next to your iPhone and ... wait ... until some magic pixie in Apple's cloud decides it's time to push the update to you. Steve Jobs used to say it over and over again when criticized by angry developers[1] that their main focus will always be users instead of developers and that the latter will just have to suck it up if they want to get a piece of the lucrative Apple user base pie. In comedic contrast, here's a sweaty Steve Balmer shouting "Developers!" for half a minute.[2] Ah, the early 2000's, with Apple and Microsoft battling it out, what a time to be alive. [1] link [2] ▶ this video

Microsoft understood, and still understands strategy wrt developers. Microsoft went Open Source because that is where devs go, why do they go there? Access, control and agency. Why do you think they make VSCode? With VSCode and Github, Microsoft has access to probably > 40% of all developers in the world! How did they do it? Open Source. ▶ this video