Ballmer On Google – Uh Oh

Late last week Steve Ballmer gave an speech at Stanford in which he stated that Google is a “one trick pony” – that trick being search, of course. He also noted that Google’s staff growth is “insane” and called Google, in short, “cute.”

Lordy, Steve. That’s simply baiting the bear, isn’t it? Now, lemme think. For its first ten years (Google is nearly ten years old now), Microsoft was a “one trick pony” – that trick being DOS. IBM, the incumbent, most certainly saw you as “cute.” And as you piled on staff up there in Redmond, handing out options like it was crack, I bet someone gave a speech claiming you were “insane.”

I love the fire in the belly. But where’s the plan of attack? I’m guessing you have one. No, I’m sure you do. Can we hear it?