1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:00,890 2 00:00:00,890 --> 00:00:03,890 >> [MUSIC PLAYING] 3 00:00:03,890 --> 00:00:11,854 4 00:00:11,854 --> 00:00:14,339 >> [AUDIENCE CHEERING AND APPLAUDING] 5 00:00:14,339 --> 00:00:19,806 6 00:00:19,806 --> 00:00:23,285 >> DAVID J. MALAN: This is CS50, Harvard University's introduction 7 00:00:23,285 --> 00:00:26,267 to the intellectual enterprises of computer science 8 00:00:26,267 --> 00:00:27,758 and the art of programming. 9 00:00:27,758 --> 00:00:31,240 We are so excited to have an amazing alum here with us today. 10 00:00:31,240 --> 00:00:34,470 He was a member of the Harvard class of 1977. 11 00:00:34,470 --> 00:00:36,750 He concentrated in applied math economics. 12 00:00:36,750 --> 00:00:39,770 And he was a resident of Currier House. 13 00:00:39,770 --> 00:00:42,220 >> [AUDIENCE CHEERING] 14 00:00:42,220 --> 00:00:44,550 >> He was manager of the Harvard football team, 15 00:00:44,550 --> 00:00:49,020 advertising manager of the Crimson, and publisher of the Harvard Advocate. 16 00:00:49,020 --> 00:00:53,230 And upon graduation, he headed off for a to Stanford's business school, 17 00:00:53,230 --> 00:00:56,090 but didn't stay long, as he was quickly recruited by a friend of his 18 00:00:56,090 --> 00:01:00,650 to a little company we all know now as Microsoft, where he served first 19 00:01:00,650 --> 00:01:05,640 as business manager, later as CEO, and is now the owner of the LA Clippers. 20 00:01:05,640 --> 00:01:09,112 >> [AUDIENCE CHEERING] 21 00:01:09,112 --> 00:01:12,930 >> CS50, this is Steve Ballmer. 22 00:01:12,930 --> 00:01:17,900 >> [CHEERING AND APPLAUSE] 23 00:01:17,900 --> 00:01:31,330 24 00:01:31,330 --> 00:01:32,510 >> STEVE BALLMER: Well, thanks. 25 00:01:32,510 --> 00:01:36,310 I'm honored to have a chance to be here with you today. 26 00:01:36,310 --> 00:01:38,780 When I first talked to David about this, he said, 27 00:01:38,780 --> 00:01:42,280 I'd really like you to come on in and give an advanced lecture 28 00:01:42,280 --> 00:01:46,350 in machine learning and computational thinking. 29 00:01:46,350 --> 00:01:50,190 We didn't dwell on that idea very long. 30 00:01:50,190 --> 00:01:52,870 >> So I thought I'd give you a little talk-- 31 00:01:52,870 --> 00:01:56,290 if I can figure out which space bar I'm hitting-- 32 00:01:56,290 --> 00:01:58,900 what do we need to do to change? 33 00:01:58,900 --> 00:02:01,250 I won't touch that one. 34 00:02:01,250 --> 00:02:03,390 This one I won't touch. 35 00:02:03,390 --> 00:02:04,580 There we go. 36 00:02:04,580 --> 00:02:06,010 OK. 37 00:02:06,010 --> 00:02:09,520 >> I thought I'd give you a little-- you've got to be a competitor in business. 38 00:02:09,520 --> 00:02:12,230 Anyway, I thought we'd talk a little bit today, 39 00:02:12,230 --> 00:02:17,530 just a few thoughts, on most of what I learned 40 00:02:17,530 --> 00:02:20,190 I learned at Harvard University. 41 00:02:20,190 --> 00:02:26,230 I thought I'd try to summarize that in about nine easy steps and then four 42 00:02:26,230 --> 00:02:29,810 things I learned after I got out of this place, 43 00:02:29,810 --> 00:02:32,510 and hopefully get all through that in about 25 minutes-- just 44 00:02:32,510 --> 00:02:34,580 to give you a little bit of food for thought. 45 00:02:34,580 --> 00:02:37,350 And then we'll do Q&A. 46 00:02:37,350 --> 00:02:45,470 >> I am 99.999999999% sure that nothing we talk about today 47 00:02:45,470 --> 00:02:49,330 will matter for your grade or will appear on the final. 48 00:02:49,330 --> 00:02:52,570 I think you're as safe as rain on that today. 49 00:02:52,570 --> 00:02:59,974 But hopefully, get you thinking about a couple things as we go through. 50 00:02:59,974 --> 00:03:02,640 First thing that's probably important for you to register-- this 51 00:03:02,640 --> 00:03:07,560 is sort of academically dangerous-- of all those many important things 52 00:03:07,560 --> 00:03:12,330 I learned at Harvard, it wasn't in the classroom. 53 00:03:12,330 --> 00:03:15,170 As I listened to David do the introduction, I thought to myself, 54 00:03:15,170 --> 00:03:20,130 it sounds like I majored in extracurriculars when I was here. 55 00:03:20,130 --> 00:03:22,160 That's actually true. 56 00:03:22,160 --> 00:03:25,730 I attended all of one class session senior year. 57 00:03:25,730 --> 00:03:29,370 Junior year was a little bit better. 58 00:03:29,370 --> 00:03:32,870 >> With modern technology, I don't know what the possibilities are, 59 00:03:32,870 --> 00:03:35,340 but they would seem to be even greater today 60 00:03:35,340 --> 00:03:37,650 for mischief outside the classroom. 61 00:03:37,650 --> 00:03:45,680 But I will tell you it was really very, very formative and seminal. 62 00:03:45,680 --> 00:03:49,430 I arrived here in 1973. 63 00:03:49,430 --> 00:03:54,580 And I was hell bent and determined that I was going to get my Ph.D. 64 00:03:54,580 --> 00:03:56,600 in either math or physics. 65 00:03:56,600 --> 00:03:58,880 And about the only thing to figure out was 66 00:03:58,880 --> 00:04:02,740 whether it was going to be math or physics. 67 00:04:02,740 --> 00:04:03,370 That was it. 68 00:04:03,370 --> 00:04:05,770 That's all that needed to be figured out. 69 00:04:05,770 --> 00:04:07,910 >> Freshman year, the big decision was whether to take 70 00:04:07,910 --> 00:04:12,960 Physics 55-- I don't know if that course still exists-- or Math 55. 71 00:04:12,960 --> 00:04:21,279 I thought I'd take both, and the kindly adviser said, young Steve, big mistake. 72 00:04:21,279 --> 00:04:23,320 I won't allow you to do that. 73 00:04:23,320 --> 00:04:27,240 So I took one of them and did an independent study in the other. 74 00:04:27,240 --> 00:04:29,760 And thank god I did. 75 00:04:29,760 --> 00:04:32,570 >> First lesson, I learned very, very early. 76 00:04:32,570 --> 00:04:37,000 Freshman year, I took my first exam. 77 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:38,720 I took my first exam. 78 00:04:38,720 --> 00:04:39,820 I walked out of it. 79 00:04:39,820 --> 00:04:42,680 I called my parents and said, I think I just flunked out of school. 80 00:04:42,680 --> 00:04:45,310 81 00:04:45,310 --> 00:04:49,470 I was already involved with the Harvard football team doing statistics. 82 00:04:49,470 --> 00:04:53,250 I was supposed to go down to Penn, so it must have been about this time of year, 83 00:04:53,250 --> 00:04:56,350 since the schedule for football hasn't changed in 50 years. 84 00:04:56,350 --> 00:04:57,940 >> We were supposed to go down Penn. 85 00:04:57,940 --> 00:05:02,320 I didn't go, because I was crest fallen that I had flunked out of school. 86 00:05:02,320 --> 00:05:05,415 I got my exam back the next week, and sure enough, I 87 00:05:05,415 --> 00:05:12,880 had gotten a 33, which was about fifth or sixth in the class. 88 00:05:12,880 --> 00:05:21,430 The guy who got 75 is Ph.D. in physics, is a professor of physics, 89 00:05:21,430 --> 00:05:23,230 and is a genius. 90 00:05:23,230 --> 00:05:26,690 So it took me about two months to learn I wasn't a physicist 91 00:05:26,690 --> 00:05:27,940 and I wasn't a genius. 92 00:05:27,940 --> 00:05:35,780 And everything good started right there with my first big failure, so to speak. 93 00:05:35,780 --> 00:05:39,370 >> I just finished giving a class, actually, at the business school 94 00:05:39,370 --> 00:05:40,570 at Stanford. 95 00:05:40,570 --> 00:05:45,830 And I worked with a lady who had been a professor here at Harvard in economics 96 00:05:45,830 --> 00:05:48,760 and now is at Stanford Business School. 97 00:05:48,760 --> 00:05:55,560 And I took the opportunity to look back and reflect on, let me say, 98 00:05:55,560 --> 00:05:59,750 important lessons that I've learned over the time of my life, 99 00:05:59,750 --> 00:06:04,300 but particularly that mattered to me as I was running Microsoft. 100 00:06:04,300 --> 00:06:07,350 >> And I'm not going to try to go through the detail of each, 101 00:06:07,350 --> 00:06:10,290 but I summarise them in short form. 102 00:06:10,290 --> 00:06:13,670 And when I stopped and looked back and I said, how many of those 103 00:06:13,670 --> 00:06:19,970 relate to something concretely that I got out of my experience at Harvard, 104 00:06:19,970 --> 00:06:22,330 the answer turns out to be very high. 105 00:06:22,330 --> 00:06:26,570 >> Small show of hands-- how many freshman do we have in the class? 106 00:06:26,570 --> 00:06:28,930 Sophomores? 107 00:06:28,930 --> 00:06:30,550 Juniors? 108 00:06:30,550 --> 00:06:33,780 Seniors trying to get that last CS in before you leave? 109 00:06:33,780 --> 00:06:35,740 OK, good. 110 00:06:35,740 --> 00:06:41,690 >> I will tell you that in reflection, the amount you can get out of this place 111 00:06:41,690 --> 00:06:42,860 is stunning. 112 00:06:42,860 --> 00:06:48,630 My best friends, many of them I met to this day while I was here. 113 00:06:48,630 --> 00:06:52,070 The formative experiences, I got here. 114 00:06:52,070 --> 00:06:54,520 And everybody tells you, but it's amazing 115 00:06:54,520 --> 00:06:56,000 what you can get out of the place. 116 00:06:56,000 --> 00:07:01,914 >> Number one for me, life lesson, is ideas matter. 117 00:07:01,914 --> 00:07:03,580 Now, people say, of course ideas matter. 118 00:07:03,580 --> 00:07:08,430 What kind of stupid life lesson is it that ideas matter? 119 00:07:08,430 --> 00:07:13,060 The truth of the matter is this is both under and over appreciated. 120 00:07:13,060 --> 00:07:18,800 Most people think every idea is a good idea as long as they had it. 121 00:07:18,800 --> 00:07:22,240 The truth of the matter is not every idea is a good idea. 122 00:07:22,240 --> 00:07:24,140 Not every idea matters. 123 00:07:24,140 --> 00:07:26,910 And not every idea should be pursued. 124 00:07:26,910 --> 00:07:31,070 >> And if you're in a field like I am or was of innovation, 125 00:07:31,070 --> 00:07:36,300 not every idea is a good idea, even if it strikes you that way on first blush. 126 00:07:36,300 --> 00:07:38,870 In fact, most people are lucky to have one idea that 127 00:07:38,870 --> 00:07:41,120 really matters in their whole life. 128 00:07:41,120 --> 00:07:42,960 That's not a criticism. 129 00:07:42,960 --> 00:07:45,510 But earth shattering, life changing ideas 130 00:07:45,510 --> 00:07:50,820 are very few and far between-- research insights, investment insights, 131 00:07:50,820 --> 00:07:52,260 innovations. 132 00:07:52,260 --> 00:07:55,780 A good idea needs to be cherished and nurtured. 133 00:07:55,780 --> 00:07:58,910 And in some senses, you could say I learned that here at Microsoft-- here 134 00:07:58,910 --> 00:08:00,540 at Microsoft-- here at Harvard. 135 00:08:00,540 --> 00:08:01,950 >> [LAUGHTER] 136 00:08:01,950 --> 00:08:04,910 >> I actually know what's on the slide, though. 137 00:08:04,910 --> 00:08:05,890 I learned it here. 138 00:08:05,890 --> 00:08:12,694 Microsoft was started here by Bill Gates and Paul Allen when I was here. 139 00:08:12,694 --> 00:08:14,860 When I finally joined the company, it was five years 140 00:08:14,860 --> 00:08:17,039 after Microsoft got started. 141 00:08:17,039 --> 00:08:20,330 Some people would say it got started up at the Currier House, but it really got 142 00:08:20,330 --> 00:08:24,360 started up at the housing project up at Ringe, 143 00:08:24,360 --> 00:08:27,250 which is where Paul Allen was living. 144 00:08:27,250 --> 00:08:30,260 >> But this notion, which Microsoft started, 145 00:08:30,260 --> 00:08:35,080 was the idea that software represented a form of free intelligence, 146 00:08:35,080 --> 00:08:40,010 and that if you coupled it with this new essentially free intelligence 147 00:08:40,010 --> 00:08:45,350 in the form of the microprocessor, unbelievable things would happen. 148 00:08:45,350 --> 00:08:50,060 And that basic idea that software was a mobilizing force 149 00:08:50,060 --> 00:08:56,310 for this new microprocessor, which was free-- that obviously was a big idea. 150 00:08:56,310 --> 00:08:58,250 >> And that was the idea that Paul Allen and Bill 151 00:08:58,250 --> 00:09:01,500 Gates had when they started the company. 152 00:09:01,500 --> 00:09:04,300 And ideas do matter. 153 00:09:04,300 --> 00:09:07,780 And it is worth considering and not falling in love 154 00:09:07,780 --> 00:09:12,230 with every idea you have, whether you're trying to solve a problem set 155 00:09:12,230 --> 00:09:14,880 or you're trying to do something else. 156 00:09:14,880 --> 00:09:18,970 >> Second thing I learned is there is an advantage 157 00:09:18,970 --> 00:09:22,290 to being what I like to call now hardcore. 158 00:09:22,290 --> 00:09:25,170 Hardcore-- I don't know quite how to describe it. 159 00:09:25,170 --> 00:09:29,690 It's a combination of tenacious and dedicated and passionate and 160 00:09:29,690 --> 00:09:34,090 committed-- something like that, hardcore. 161 00:09:34,090 --> 00:09:39,360 >> I learned about being hardcore from math concentrators at Harvard. 162 00:09:39,360 --> 00:09:41,660 >> [LAUGHTER] 163 00:09:41,660 --> 00:09:45,180 >> I'm not going to ask whether we have any math concentrators here. 164 00:09:45,180 --> 00:09:48,110 But I would say that's where I got my lesson. 165 00:09:48,110 --> 00:09:51,759 People could just go crazy-- focused. 166 00:09:51,759 --> 00:09:53,550 And it wasn't just that people were genius, 167 00:09:53,550 --> 00:09:57,750 but working and working and working and working. 168 00:09:57,750 --> 00:10:00,740 I'd sit in my room working on a problem set, and after three hours-- 169 00:10:00,740 --> 00:10:03,850 I'm a little ADD-- I just couldn't take it. 170 00:10:03,850 --> 00:10:08,070 The most hardcore people could just power through anything. 171 00:10:08,070 --> 00:10:11,290 >> And the advantage of being that tenacious and dedicated 172 00:10:11,290 --> 00:10:15,470 and committed-- I claim it helped us at Microsoft. 173 00:10:15,470 --> 00:10:17,210 It was fundamental at Microsoft. 174 00:10:17,210 --> 00:10:19,750 But I learned it here at Harvard. 175 00:10:19,750 --> 00:10:23,740 >> Passion-- I think it's probably fair for me to say at this stage in my life 176 00:10:23,740 --> 00:10:26,920 that basketball is a passion. 177 00:10:26,920 --> 00:10:31,492 I started keeping track of rebounds and assists. 178 00:10:31,492 --> 00:10:33,190 $12 a game I used to get paid. 179 00:10:33,190 --> 00:10:36,815 I went to every Harvard basketball game, which I would have gone to anyway. 180 00:10:36,815 --> 00:10:41,620 But I got paid $12 to keep track of rebounds and assists. 181 00:10:41,620 --> 00:10:46,270 >> And I will say that finding your passion is something 182 00:10:46,270 --> 00:10:49,350 you get to do almost in a unique way in college. 183 00:10:49,350 --> 00:10:52,910 And finding the things that you are passionate about 184 00:10:52,910 --> 00:10:56,010 is probably the most important thing that you 185 00:10:56,010 --> 00:10:59,410 get to really start doing when you get to college. 186 00:10:59,410 --> 00:11:02,080 Before college, everything's about getting to college. 187 00:11:02,080 --> 00:11:04,320 It's unfortunate, but I know it's true. 188 00:11:04,320 --> 00:11:08,000 >> Here, take the time to explore your passion. 189 00:11:08,000 --> 00:11:11,790 I now this year will probably go to about 200 basketball games. 190 00:11:11,790 --> 00:11:15,480 I think it's fair to say it is a passion. 191 00:11:15,480 --> 00:11:20,620 But sitting there in the old IAB, which I think is called the Malkin Center, 192 00:11:20,620 --> 00:11:23,760 marking down-- there's a guy named Lou Silver 193 00:11:23,760 --> 00:11:26,630 who played on the Harvard basketball team in 1975. 194 00:11:26,630 --> 00:11:29,960 I gave him the benefit of the doubt on every rebound ever. 195 00:11:29,960 --> 00:11:32,940 I think I was part of his All Ivy success. 196 00:11:32,940 --> 00:11:37,230 And who was one of the first guys to email me when I bought the LA Clippers? 197 00:11:37,230 --> 00:11:42,760 Lou Silver-- passion built early in life. 198 00:11:42,760 --> 00:11:45,300 >> Own the results. 199 00:11:45,300 --> 00:11:50,210 This is actually, I think, one of the hardest things for college kids to get, 200 00:11:50,210 --> 00:11:53,850 especially kids at Harvard, which is at the end of the day, 201 00:11:53,850 --> 00:11:56,670 it's not just about whether you have a good idea 202 00:11:56,670 --> 00:12:00,620 and whether you're really talented and really smart. 203 00:12:00,620 --> 00:12:05,610 That's enough to get you into a lot of good colleges, including this one. 204 00:12:05,610 --> 00:12:10,010 >> But all of those things are not really measures of success. 205 00:12:10,010 --> 00:12:15,130 You have to do something other than make grades and get measured on them 206 00:12:15,130 --> 00:12:15,630 in life. 207 00:12:15,630 --> 00:12:18,280 That's generally how the world works. 208 00:12:18,280 --> 00:12:21,580 And really being accountable for outcomes 209 00:12:21,580 --> 00:12:24,870 makes you better at everything you do. 210 00:12:24,870 --> 00:12:30,430 I comped for the Crimson and had to go sell $1,000 worth of advertising. 211 00:12:30,430 --> 00:12:31,430 That was a lot of money. 212 00:12:31,430 --> 00:12:37,360 I don't know what the numbers would be these days-- but $1,000 of ad revenue, 213 00:12:37,360 --> 00:12:39,460 and then took on ad sales. 214 00:12:39,460 --> 00:12:42,156 >> And feeling the pressure, particularly at an institution 215 00:12:42,156 --> 00:12:44,030 that basically has no money-- at least that's 216 00:12:44,030 --> 00:12:48,070 where the Crimson was 35 years ago-- it's good for you. 217 00:12:48,070 --> 00:12:49,570 It's good for the soul. 218 00:12:49,570 --> 00:12:54,560 And it actually makes you better at everything you do to own outcomes. 219 00:12:54,560 --> 00:13:00,110 >> Time-- how many people in the room would say they are too busy? 220 00:13:00,110 --> 00:13:02,840 Not busy enough? 221 00:13:02,840 --> 00:13:05,360 That's a politically unpopular place to put your hand, 222 00:13:05,360 --> 00:13:09,070 but God bless you for putting your hand up over there. 223 00:13:09,070 --> 00:13:13,720 The truth of the matter is, thinking about time as something 224 00:13:13,720 --> 00:13:18,650 to be managed, whether it's how long-- for those of you who are seniors, 225 00:13:18,650 --> 00:13:22,820 I'm sure you'll ask the question, how long will I do my first job? 226 00:13:22,820 --> 00:13:23,340 How long? 227 00:13:23,340 --> 00:13:27,460 Will I stay in my job six months, a year, five years? 228 00:13:27,460 --> 00:13:30,600 >> How long before I decide whether I really like my career? 229 00:13:30,600 --> 00:13:33,930 How long before I really like my major? 230 00:13:33,930 --> 00:13:37,120 How am I really managing my time? 231 00:13:37,120 --> 00:13:39,200 >> I got involved in a lot of extracurriculars. 232 00:13:39,200 --> 00:13:44,220 The one that broke the bank for me was becoming publisher of the Advocate. 233 00:13:44,220 --> 00:13:45,594 I'm not even sure why I did. 234 00:13:45,594 --> 00:13:47,010 Really, I'm not sure why I did it. 235 00:13:47,010 --> 00:13:49,020 It was another resume build. 236 00:13:49,020 --> 00:13:51,970 I was already busy with football and the Crimson. 237 00:13:51,970 --> 00:13:53,150 >> But I did it. 238 00:13:53,150 --> 00:13:58,170 And then time management really got into my vocabulary. 239 00:13:58,170 --> 00:14:01,100 I really did have to manage-- and I don't even measure it. 240 00:14:01,100 --> 00:14:02,370 I started skipping class. 241 00:14:02,370 --> 00:14:04,500 I already confessed to that. 242 00:14:04,500 --> 00:14:08,350 But managing time even amongst the extracurriculars 243 00:14:08,350 --> 00:14:10,520 got to be a big, big deal. 244 00:14:10,520 --> 00:14:13,024 >> Today, I actually keep a spreadsheet, a bunch of them. 245 00:14:13,024 --> 00:14:15,190 These are all the things I'm going to do in my life. 246 00:14:15,190 --> 00:14:18,310 Here's how much time is budgeted to them, and allocate it. 247 00:14:18,310 --> 00:14:22,370 I record everything into Outlook. 248 00:14:22,370 --> 00:14:25,330 I have a macro that spits it out in Excel. 249 00:14:25,330 --> 00:14:28,850 And I do budget versus actual comparisons. 250 00:14:28,850 --> 00:14:32,550 >> It's a little different since I've, quote, retired, unquote. 251 00:14:32,550 --> 00:14:37,060 But at Microsoft, I could tell you I was going to have 12 one on ones with Harry 252 00:14:37,060 --> 00:14:37,964 this year. 253 00:14:37,964 --> 00:14:39,130 And then I would track them. 254 00:14:39,130 --> 00:14:40,740 How many did I have? 255 00:14:40,740 --> 00:14:45,950 I was going to spend 10 hours a year talking to customers over the telephone 256 00:14:45,950 --> 00:14:46,980 versus in person. 257 00:14:46,980 --> 00:14:52,330 And I just measure everything, because I think time is so important. 258 00:14:52,330 --> 00:14:58,380 >> Storytelling-- I think in whatever you choose to do in life, 259 00:14:58,380 --> 00:15:02,810 even if you're going to be the most hardcore, dedicated computer engineer, 260 00:15:02,810 --> 00:15:09,690 learning to tell a story, whether you do it with my-- I can't write a lick, 261 00:15:09,690 --> 00:15:12,890 but I'm not bad at a speech, but my speech style 262 00:15:12,890 --> 00:15:15,650 is very different than people standing at podiums. 263 00:15:15,650 --> 00:15:16,840 It's very different. 264 00:15:16,840 --> 00:15:21,780 >> Being able to tell a story through your work, through your speech, 265 00:15:21,780 --> 00:15:24,430 through your writing is so important. 266 00:15:24,430 --> 00:15:26,020 You want a grant application? 267 00:15:26,020 --> 00:15:27,260 You better tell your story. 268 00:15:27,260 --> 00:15:29,250 You want your start up idea funded? 269 00:15:29,250 --> 00:15:30,490 You better tell your story. 270 00:15:30,490 --> 00:15:33,610 You want to be the top engineer on the team who's 271 00:15:33,610 --> 00:15:36,350 compelling vision about where the product should go? 272 00:15:36,350 --> 00:15:39,040 You better be able to tell a story. 273 00:15:39,040 --> 00:15:42,340 >> And in general, I don't think people come out 274 00:15:42,340 --> 00:15:45,950 of school well versed in storytelling. 275 00:15:45,950 --> 00:15:50,450 On the other hand, as Harvard football manager, 276 00:15:50,450 --> 00:15:57,750 I had to get up every team meal-- listen up, everbody-- and make announcement 277 00:15:57,750 --> 00:15:59,150 for the coaches. 278 00:15:59,150 --> 00:16:03,250 And I got to tell you, being a manager is not a lofty, revered position. 279 00:16:03,250 --> 00:16:05,040 At least, it wasn't 40 years ago. 280 00:16:05,040 --> 00:16:10,135 I'm sure now it's very different, because the whole system has changed. 281 00:16:10,135 --> 00:16:12,760 But you'd get up there and you'd say, how do I tell this story? 282 00:16:12,760 --> 00:16:14,218 What am I really going to announce? 283 00:16:14,218 --> 00:16:15,380 What am I going to do? 284 00:16:15,380 --> 00:16:19,530 Even learning to give speeches-- I was very shy as a kid. 285 00:16:19,530 --> 00:16:22,400 And being a Harvard football manager for me 286 00:16:22,400 --> 00:16:26,600 was like this huge, transformative experience. 287 00:16:26,600 --> 00:16:30,220 >> The last lesson I learned at Harvard is-- not literally, 288 00:16:30,220 --> 00:16:33,490 but figuratively-- it's get in the weight room. 289 00:16:33,490 --> 00:16:36,430 The weight room in sports is where you get in shape. 290 00:16:36,430 --> 00:16:38,010 You build new muscles. 291 00:16:38,010 --> 00:16:40,010 You build new flexibility. 292 00:16:40,010 --> 00:16:44,140 You learn to do new things because you have new capabilities. 293 00:16:44,140 --> 00:16:47,340 >> In life, you have to stay in the weight room. 294 00:16:47,340 --> 00:16:51,990 You have to keep evolving, building new skills, learning new things. 295 00:16:51,990 --> 00:16:56,460 And that's easy to say, but a lot of people don't do it. 296 00:16:56,460 --> 00:16:59,070 You could say, OK, well, people who go into the tech industry 297 00:16:59,070 --> 00:17:01,750 all do-- not true. 298 00:17:01,750 --> 00:17:04,160 >> I'll just give you one big transformation 299 00:17:04,160 --> 00:17:07,240 that's happening in the world today. 300 00:17:07,240 --> 00:17:11,560 Most people who are my age learned a form of computer science 301 00:17:11,560 --> 00:17:14,990 where you wrote a program that took inputs and gave 302 00:17:14,990 --> 00:17:19,460 you outputs that were correct or incorrect. 303 00:17:19,460 --> 00:17:23,099 Most modern programming says, give me a bunch of inputs 304 00:17:23,099 --> 00:17:28,450 and I'm going to statistically guess about what might be interesting here. 305 00:17:28,450 --> 00:17:30,650 >> That's a very new skill. 306 00:17:30,650 --> 00:17:34,480 And if you find people who are, let's say, 10 or 15 years out of college, 307 00:17:34,480 --> 00:17:38,730 they don't think that way technologically, even to this day. 308 00:17:38,730 --> 00:17:42,130 And so the need-- whether it's in your career or in your life-- for me 309 00:17:42,130 --> 00:17:44,740 at Harvard, I taught Math A? 310 00:17:44,740 --> 00:17:47,060 Does Math A still exist as a course? 311 00:17:47,060 --> 00:17:49,070 It was pre-calculus. 312 00:17:49,070 --> 00:17:54,160 >> Suffice it to say, because I thought of myself as some super math guy, 313 00:17:54,160 --> 00:18:00,080 I had to learn to take concepts and explain them simply. 314 00:18:00,080 --> 00:18:04,550 I was teaching pre-calc, something I had done five years earlier. 315 00:18:04,550 --> 00:18:08,910 And the ability to build new skills-- I point 316 00:18:08,910 --> 00:18:13,350 to the experience of doing that at Harvard. 317 00:18:13,350 --> 00:18:16,370 >> Beyond Harvard-- yeah, there were still a few things to learn. 318 00:18:16,370 --> 00:18:19,950 I know this is the best institution, absolutely, in the world. 319 00:18:19,950 --> 00:18:23,100 I was at the Boston Globe today talking about Harvard, 320 00:18:23,100 --> 00:18:25,050 number one in everything. 321 00:18:25,050 --> 00:18:26,720 I bleed Harvard. 322 00:18:26,720 --> 00:18:31,630 But I actually learned a couple things after I got out of Harvard. 323 00:18:31,630 --> 00:18:34,770 >> The first message I would say is in life, 324 00:18:34,770 --> 00:18:36,890 you want to be your own quarterback. 325 00:18:36,890 --> 00:18:39,350 See the playing field. 326 00:18:39,350 --> 00:18:42,790 Many people like to get myopically tied into one thing, 327 00:18:42,790 --> 00:18:45,630 and they have a hard time stepping back. 328 00:18:45,630 --> 00:18:49,810 Being CO of Microsoft is this amazing, wonderful opportunity. 329 00:18:49,810 --> 00:18:55,080 It turns out, everybody in the world wants to tell you what to do. 330 00:18:55,080 --> 00:18:56,580 And they'll educate you. 331 00:18:56,580 --> 00:18:59,310 >> You want to learn about any field of technology? 332 00:18:59,310 --> 00:19:03,440 As long as you don't act like a know it all, somebody will educate you. 333 00:19:03,440 --> 00:19:09,030 And you have a unique ability to see broadly across the technology field. 334 00:19:09,030 --> 00:19:13,710 Right now, I'm spending a lot of my time studying government and the economy. 335 00:19:13,710 --> 00:19:16,560 >> It turns out the number of places you can actually 336 00:19:16,560 --> 00:19:22,600 read about the totality of government in the United States is almost zero. 337 00:19:22,600 --> 00:19:25,880 What is the total spent in government in this country, 338 00:19:25,880 --> 00:19:28,320 and what does it get spent on? 339 00:19:28,320 --> 00:19:31,420 There's no government report on that topic. 340 00:19:31,420 --> 00:19:35,982 >> The best site happens to come from some random blogger who I met, 341 00:19:35,982 --> 00:19:37,440 who I think it's great, by the way. 342 00:19:37,440 --> 00:19:41,910 But I found him through our Bing search engine, not surprisingly. 343 00:19:41,910 --> 00:19:44,810 >> [LAUGHTER] 344 00:19:44,810 --> 00:19:46,750 >> That's my only plug for today. 345 00:19:46,750 --> 00:19:51,310 I'm still a shareholder-- but seeing the field. 346 00:19:51,310 --> 00:19:56,220 In life, it's always good to be the first person to achieve something. 347 00:19:56,220 --> 00:20:00,960 It turns out the guy who wins is the guy who was doing it last. 348 00:20:00,960 --> 00:20:05,740 So it's always best to invent a new idea, be the first to do something. 349 00:20:05,740 --> 00:20:10,990 But ultimately, it's about committing to be successful and to stay at something. 350 00:20:10,990 --> 00:20:14,190 It's sort of a corollary of being hardcore. 351 00:20:14,190 --> 00:20:17,340 >> And certainly, there are fields of Microsoft's success, 352 00:20:17,340 --> 00:20:22,470 like selling to large enterprises, where when we started on that in the '80s, 353 00:20:22,470 --> 00:20:23,990 people said, you'll never do it. 354 00:20:23,990 --> 00:20:26,340 That's all IBM's purview. 355 00:20:26,340 --> 00:20:30,720 And today, that would be 70% or 83% of Microsoft profits 356 00:20:30,720 --> 00:20:37,860 come because we failed at something for 20 years but we kept at it. 357 00:20:37,860 --> 00:20:44,070 >> Corollary to ideas matter-- it's hard to have a second idea. 358 00:20:44,070 --> 00:20:48,580 If you really study the tech industry, most tech companies have one idea, 359 00:20:48,580 --> 00:20:53,241 and as long as the idea is hot, they stay hot and then they fade to black. 360 00:20:53,241 --> 00:20:55,990 If you look at all the companies that were important in technology 361 00:20:55,990 --> 00:21:00,810 when I got to Microsoft in 1980, only IBM is still around. 362 00:21:00,810 --> 00:21:04,140 And I might argue it's not a tech company anymore. 363 00:21:04,140 --> 00:21:08,190 >> And my great dream for Microsoft is that it is, so to speak, 364 00:21:08,190 --> 00:21:11,370 a two, three, or four trick pony. 365 00:21:11,370 --> 00:21:14,330 I said someplace that I thought Apple and Microsoft were amazing 366 00:21:14,330 --> 00:21:18,900 because they were two trick ponies, and somebody thought I was bashing Apple. 367 00:21:18,900 --> 00:21:21,550 No, that's my ultimate compliment. 368 00:21:21,550 --> 00:21:26,170 >> Anybody who can have two good-- if you have one idea, I think you're amazing. 369 00:21:26,170 --> 00:21:31,850 If you have two ideas, you're lionized in history for your success. 370 00:21:31,850 --> 00:21:34,650 It's really interesting. 371 00:21:34,650 --> 00:21:40,090 >> Optimim-- Colin Powell came to speak one year at our executive retreat 372 00:21:40,090 --> 00:21:42,740 after he had been Head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. 373 00:21:42,740 --> 00:21:45,230 And he has this quote that I have come to love. 374 00:21:45,230 --> 00:21:48,270 "Optimism is a force multiplier." 375 00:21:48,270 --> 00:21:52,380 And particularly amongst technical people and really smart people, 376 00:21:52,380 --> 00:21:57,740 the chic, chic, cool thing to do is to be cynical and skeptical 377 00:21:57,740 --> 00:21:59,730 and pick things apart. 378 00:21:59,730 --> 00:22:03,720 >> I know that would never happen in CS50, but you see that 379 00:22:03,720 --> 00:22:07,990 amongst certain kind of high IQ technical people. 380 00:22:07,990 --> 00:22:11,670 And yet, optimism is a force multiplier. 381 00:22:11,670 --> 00:22:15,920 So how are you brutally realistic and be optimistic? 382 00:22:15,920 --> 00:22:17,285 It's very, very important. 383 00:22:17,285 --> 00:22:20,540 384 00:22:20,540 --> 00:22:22,540 >> I figured this out after a while at Microsoft. 385 00:22:22,540 --> 00:22:26,680 Salespeople at Microsoft are naturally optimistic, probably everywhere. 386 00:22:26,680 --> 00:22:28,890 Just tell us where to go and we're gonna run! 387 00:22:28,890 --> 00:22:30,930 And I know we're gonna succeed! 388 00:22:30,930 --> 00:22:33,200 Because people want to believe. 389 00:22:33,200 --> 00:22:36,840 Engineers, you say, here's where we're going to go, 390 00:22:36,840 --> 00:22:40,180 and the first thing they say is, oh, come on. 391 00:22:40,180 --> 00:22:40,950 >> [LAUGHTER] 392 00:22:40,950 --> 00:22:41,990 >> That's not right. 393 00:22:41,990 --> 00:22:44,240 That's not the right way to go. 394 00:22:44,240 --> 00:22:48,570 But I have found-- and this might belie my fundamental optimism-- 395 00:22:48,570 --> 00:22:50,540 that the engineer's optimist is sometimes 396 00:22:50,540 --> 00:22:52,190 a little different than the salesman. 397 00:22:52,190 --> 00:22:56,850 While the salesman just says, where to go, charge, the engineer likes to say, 398 00:22:56,850 --> 00:23:04,200 the world is all screwed up, but I can fix it. 399 00:23:04,200 --> 00:23:06,980 That's an engineer's optimism to me. 400 00:23:06,980 --> 00:23:11,800 Everything's-- but I can fix it. 401 00:23:11,800 --> 00:23:15,220 >> Luck-- this is the one that really doesn't always 402 00:23:15,220 --> 00:23:18,600 play well amongst Harvard guys. 403 00:23:18,600 --> 00:23:22,590 It turns out that as smart as you are, as privileged as you 404 00:23:22,590 --> 00:23:27,310 are to be at a place like this, and as hard as you work, 405 00:23:27,310 --> 00:23:29,460 luck is still going to be a factor in your life. 406 00:23:29,460 --> 00:23:32,970 Whether you're Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, or the man in the moon, 407 00:23:32,970 --> 00:23:34,740 luck is important. 408 00:23:34,740 --> 00:23:36,110 It really is. 409 00:23:36,110 --> 00:23:38,170 >> Why is that important to know? 410 00:23:38,170 --> 00:23:40,610 Because it means you better like what you're doing. 411 00:23:40,610 --> 00:23:43,824 You better not be doing things just because it will make you successful, 412 00:23:43,824 --> 00:23:46,990 because you're going to need some luck to make yourself as successful as you 413 00:23:46,990 --> 00:23:48,300 want to be anyway. 414 00:23:48,300 --> 00:23:50,880 So find something where your passion wins out, 415 00:23:50,880 --> 00:23:52,730 where you're really satisfied. 416 00:23:52,730 --> 00:23:55,740 And then understand-- I know this. 417 00:23:55,740 --> 00:23:57,280 >> I think I'm really talented guy. 418 00:23:57,280 --> 00:23:58,500 I think Bill's a genius. 419 00:23:58,500 --> 00:24:01,370 I think Paul Allen is amazing, insightful guy. 420 00:24:01,370 --> 00:24:04,410 And I say, boy, how lucky we were. 421 00:24:04,410 --> 00:24:07,330 Apple-- I've seen their success, and yet, 422 00:24:07,330 --> 00:24:10,730 how lucky they were in many dimensions. 423 00:24:10,730 --> 00:24:12,700 We're a company that gave them $500 million 424 00:24:12,700 --> 00:24:16,880 when they were almost bankrupt in '97-- confluence of factors. 425 00:24:16,880 --> 00:24:18,970 And then they did great things with it. 426 00:24:18,970 --> 00:24:22,270 But luck always factors in. 427 00:24:22,270 --> 00:24:26,120 >> And then last, but not least, because I think I'm about out of time, 428 00:24:26,120 --> 00:24:30,040 everything in the world-- and this comes from a guy with a real bias-- 429 00:24:30,040 --> 00:24:32,960 everything is a technology problem. 430 00:24:32,960 --> 00:24:36,780 Innovation and technology is the heartbeat 431 00:24:36,780 --> 00:24:39,610 that leads to progress in the world. 432 00:24:39,610 --> 00:24:41,970 >> I read this book in the last six months. 433 00:24:41,970 --> 00:24:45,060 It's called Inequality, Capital in the 21st Century 434 00:24:45,060 --> 00:24:47,100 by a French economist named Piketty. 435 00:24:47,100 --> 00:24:49,120 It was kind of controversial. 436 00:24:49,120 --> 00:24:51,490 It turns out, if you look at the Amazon statistics, 437 00:24:51,490 --> 00:24:53,670 hardly anybody finished the book. 438 00:24:53,670 --> 00:24:57,510 It sort of reads like a socialist diatribe in the end. 439 00:24:57,510 --> 00:25:01,570 But it's got all this great analysis in the beginning. 440 00:25:01,570 --> 00:25:04,330 >> But a fundamental point he makes, looking back 441 00:25:04,330 --> 00:25:08,380 over thousands of years of history, is GDP growth 442 00:25:08,380 --> 00:25:10,370 is only a function of three things. 443 00:25:10,370 --> 00:25:12,715 So the improvements in life are a function 444 00:25:12,715 --> 00:25:17,980 of population growth and innovation. 445 00:25:17,980 --> 00:25:20,990 That's it-- population growth and innovation. 446 00:25:20,990 --> 00:25:24,750 >> Today, the hot technology, the operating system of all innovation, 447 00:25:24,750 --> 00:25:26,520 is computer science. 448 00:25:26,520 --> 00:25:30,690 And as I guess David likes to say, I'm Steve Ballmer. 449 00:25:30,690 --> 00:25:34,690 This is CS50, the most important class you'll take at Harvard. 450 00:25:34,690 --> 00:25:36,104 Thank you. 451 00:25:36,104 --> 00:25:39,548 >> [APPLAUSE] 452 00:25:39,548 --> 00:26:08,239 453 00:26:08,239 --> 00:26:11,030 DAVID J. MALAN: So Steve has kindly left an enormous amount of time 454 00:26:11,030 --> 00:26:11,900 here to take questions. 455 00:26:11,900 --> 00:26:13,170 We have two microphones here. 456 00:26:13,170 --> 00:26:15,010 We have two microphones in the balcony. 457 00:26:15,010 --> 00:26:18,280 So you are encouraged to meet Gabe and Davin and others here 458 00:26:18,280 --> 00:26:23,500 if you would like to be the first and second to ask these questions. 459 00:26:23,500 --> 00:26:25,000 STEVE BALLMER: Or you can shout out. 460 00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:26,880 I've heard that's standard protocol in this class. 461 00:26:26,880 --> 00:26:27,090 >> DAVID J. MALAN: All the better. 462 00:26:27,090 --> 00:26:28,390 >> STEVE BALLMER: That also works. 463 00:26:28,390 --> 00:26:32,850 464 00:26:32,850 --> 00:26:36,780 >> DAVID J. MALAN: Our first question over by Gabe here. 465 00:26:36,780 --> 00:26:39,510 >> AUDIENCE: What was it like for you making that decision 466 00:26:39,510 --> 00:26:41,405 to drop out and go to Microsoft? 467 00:26:41,405 --> 00:26:45,010 Because obviously, there was a lot of uncertainty. 468 00:26:45,010 --> 00:26:46,680 >> STEVE BALLMER: OK. 469 00:26:46,680 --> 00:26:48,570 It's 1980. 470 00:26:48,570 --> 00:26:53,280 I'm at Stanford Business School finishing up my first year. 471 00:26:53,280 --> 00:26:58,340 Bill Gates calls as I'm trying to decide what to do for a summer job. 472 00:26:58,340 --> 00:27:01,520 He says, hey, look, how are things? 473 00:27:01,520 --> 00:27:02,970 Yeah. 474 00:27:02,970 --> 00:27:04,740 Yeah, oh, you're not finished yet. 475 00:27:04,740 --> 00:27:05,730 Yeah. 476 00:27:05,730 --> 00:27:07,690 Too bad you don't have a twin. 477 00:27:07,690 --> 00:27:11,040 We could kind of use a business person around here. 478 00:27:11,040 --> 00:27:12,663 That was the pitch. 479 00:27:12,663 --> 00:27:15,130 >> [LAUGHTER] 480 00:27:15,130 --> 00:27:18,050 >> I thought about it, and I said, well, shoot. 481 00:27:18,050 --> 00:27:19,710 I guess I could tell him. 482 00:27:19,710 --> 00:27:23,515 So I called him back the next day and said, well, maybe we talk. 483 00:27:23,515 --> 00:27:25,270 We should talk. 484 00:27:25,270 --> 00:27:28,350 And my instincts were actually right. 485 00:27:28,350 --> 00:27:31,140 The most risk-free decision you'll ever make 486 00:27:31,140 --> 00:27:34,360 is the decision to drop out of college. 487 00:27:34,360 --> 00:27:35,070 No, why? 488 00:27:35,070 --> 00:27:36,650 I say it for a reason. 489 00:27:36,650 --> 00:27:40,150 >> Colleges let you drop back in. 490 00:27:40,150 --> 00:27:43,650 All my friends, professors-- oh, you're not gonna do that. 491 00:27:43,650 --> 00:27:47,360 You're gonna go to work for McKinney or blah blah blah-- I can't remember 492 00:27:47,360 --> 00:27:49,740 who I had offers from-- Brownstone Consulting Group. 493 00:27:49,740 --> 00:27:52,550 >> [LAUGHTER] 494 00:27:52,550 --> 00:27:56,336 >> And I said, I might go join this friend of mine who's got this small start up. 495 00:27:56,336 --> 00:27:58,050 Well, what do you know about that place? 496 00:27:58,050 --> 00:28:02,270 And I said, it's the world leader in something called software. 497 00:28:02,270 --> 00:28:07,600 And I had written a couple programs, but it's not like I-- I did not take CS50. 498 00:28:07,600 --> 00:28:11,470 The only programs I had written was for AM115 or something like that. 499 00:28:11,470 --> 00:28:13,690 It was a mathematical modeling class. 500 00:28:13,690 --> 00:28:16,380 >> And they looked at me kind of funny. 501 00:28:16,380 --> 00:28:18,050 And I told my mom and dad. 502 00:28:18,050 --> 00:28:19,342 My dad was an immigrant. 503 00:28:19,342 --> 00:28:20,550 My dad did not go to college. 504 00:28:20,550 --> 00:28:22,660 My mom did not go to college. 505 00:28:22,660 --> 00:28:25,040 My dad was an immigrant from Switzerland. 506 00:28:25,040 --> 00:28:27,950 The only college he really grew up hearing about was Harvard. 507 00:28:27,950 --> 00:28:29,950 Even when I went to Stanford to Business School, 508 00:28:29,950 --> 00:28:32,520 he was afraid I was making a mistake, because it 509 00:28:32,520 --> 00:28:35,214 was some place unheard of to him. 510 00:28:35,214 --> 00:28:36,630 And I said, I'm going to drop out. 511 00:28:36,630 --> 00:28:41,250 And this company is the world leader in software for personal computers. 512 00:28:41,250 --> 00:28:44,440 And my dad said to me, what's software? 513 00:28:44,440 --> 00:28:47,500 Well, that was not an ignorant question in 1980. 514 00:28:47,500 --> 00:28:49,170 It would seem funny now. 515 00:28:49,170 --> 00:28:52,000 >> And my mom asked me an even more prescient question, 516 00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:55,330 which is why would a person ever need a computer? 517 00:28:55,330 --> 00:28:59,720 Because remember, we're in a time of room-sized computers. 518 00:28:59,720 --> 00:29:00,630 But I said, look. 519 00:29:00,630 --> 00:29:04,440 I made a deal with Bill that said if it didn't work, he could fire me 520 00:29:04,440 --> 00:29:08,460 or I could drop back into Stanford at the end of the summer. 521 00:29:08,460 --> 00:29:13,760 >> After a month, I decided I'd made a mistake going to Microsoft. 522 00:29:13,760 --> 00:29:17,200 I was basically the bookkeeper for a 30-person company. 523 00:29:17,200 --> 00:29:18,890 I told Bill we were 30 people. 524 00:29:18,890 --> 00:29:20,270 We needed to add 18. 525 00:29:20,270 --> 00:29:22,490 He said, you're gonna bankrupt this place, Steve. 526 00:29:22,490 --> 00:29:26,710 I didn't ask you to drop out of Stanford to bankrupt Microsoft. 527 00:29:26,710 --> 00:29:29,610 >> And we had a huge fight. 528 00:29:29,610 --> 00:29:31,178 We were good at that. 529 00:29:31,178 --> 00:29:32,522 >> [LAUGHTER] 530 00:29:32,522 --> 00:29:33,897 >> And then he said, come on. 531 00:29:33,897 --> 00:29:35,480 We're going out to dinner with my dad. 532 00:29:35,480 --> 00:29:40,300 Bill's dad's sort of a scary looking dude-- not really, but he's 6'7". 533 00:29:40,300 --> 00:29:42,780 6'7" doesn't look that tall anymore either to me, 534 00:29:42,780 --> 00:29:45,170 but that's a Clipper thing. 535 00:29:45,170 --> 00:29:52,130 >> But anyway, I went through my shtick for Bill and his dad. 536 00:29:52,130 --> 00:29:57,650 And that's where Bill invented what I think was the theme for the company. 537 00:29:57,650 --> 00:29:59,420 He said, you don't get it, Steve. 538 00:29:59,420 --> 00:30:02,390 We're going to put a computer on every desk and in every home. 539 00:30:02,390 --> 00:30:03,820 >> And I settled down. 540 00:30:03,820 --> 00:30:05,050 I stayed. 541 00:30:05,050 --> 00:30:06,680 Stanford would still take me back. 542 00:30:06,680 --> 00:30:10,170 It turns out, to this day, I could go finish my MBA. 543 00:30:10,170 --> 00:30:14,570 It just isn't that risky a proposition, because these great schools 544 00:30:14,570 --> 00:30:19,685 let you take time off as opposed to drop out of their memory banks. 545 00:30:19,685 --> 00:30:24,420 It turns out, I'm still a Stanford alum, too, when it comes to alumni giving. 546 00:30:24,420 --> 00:30:28,340 >> [LAUGHTER] 547 00:30:28,340 --> 00:30:30,300 >> [APPLAUSE] 548 00:30:30,300 --> 00:30:32,750 549 00:30:32,750 --> 00:30:36,020 >> DAVID J. MALAN: Another question from Ian at the mic here. 550 00:30:36,020 --> 00:30:39,270 >> AUDIENCE: So you've made a series of comments about net neutrality, 551 00:30:39,270 --> 00:30:42,880 particularly speaking against it, most recently in a tweet. 552 00:30:42,880 --> 00:30:45,040 And that's a particularly unpopular opinion 553 00:30:45,040 --> 00:30:48,284 amongst a lot of young people and tech people, 554 00:30:48,284 --> 00:30:50,200 so I was wondering if you could elaborate that 555 00:30:50,200 --> 00:30:52,690 in maybe more than 180 characters. 556 00:30:52,690 --> 00:30:53,680 >> STEVE BALLMER: Yeah. 557 00:30:53,680 --> 00:30:56,180 Well, first, I haven't made a lot of comments. 558 00:30:56,180 --> 00:30:58,360 I made one little tweet yesterday, because I 559 00:30:58,360 --> 00:31:01,550 was kind of annoying on the plane and had nothing to do. 560 00:31:01,550 --> 00:31:04,645 So I tweeted. 561 00:31:04,645 --> 00:31:07,940 And boy, did that tweet get more attention than I ever expected. 562 00:31:07,940 --> 00:31:11,510 >> But look, I can explain. 563 00:31:11,510 --> 00:31:13,880 What is net neutrality about? 564 00:31:13,880 --> 00:31:15,700 I'm not quite sure. 565 00:31:15,700 --> 00:31:21,810 But it's not necessarily about keeping down the price of internet access. 566 00:31:21,810 --> 00:31:26,160 Competition keeps down the price of internet access. 567 00:31:26,160 --> 00:31:31,580 Net neutrality is merely deciding who's going to pay. 568 00:31:31,580 --> 00:31:35,080 If the providers who are making money on the internet-- the Googles, 569 00:31:35,080 --> 00:31:37,880 the Netflixes-- the Clippers, for example, 570 00:31:37,880 --> 00:31:41,220 if we were to go over the top with the Clippers broadcast, 571 00:31:41,220 --> 00:31:43,880 we too would be a broadband content provider. 572 00:31:43,880 --> 00:31:46,250 We're looking at that at the Clippers. 573 00:31:46,250 --> 00:31:52,350 >> But by saying you can't differentially charge for the traffic, what it says 574 00:31:52,350 --> 00:31:55,960 is all consumers should pay a higher price 575 00:31:55,960 --> 00:32:01,830 for the people who need the services that actually cost more. 576 00:32:01,830 --> 00:32:04,910 So if you watch Netflix, there's two approaches. 577 00:32:04,910 --> 00:32:09,330 You can tell your neighbor who doesn't watch Netflix, ha, ha, ha, ha. 578 00:32:09,330 --> 00:32:13,160 You pay more, even though you don't watch Netflix, than I do. 579 00:32:13,160 --> 00:32:18,490 Or you can let the market compete in differentially priced. 580 00:32:18,490 --> 00:32:21,340 >> I think we're going to get better service, more pricing 581 00:32:21,340 --> 00:32:25,810 options, and a better overall deal by having competition 582 00:32:25,810 --> 00:32:29,800 between broadband providers than by regulating the price. 583 00:32:29,800 --> 00:32:34,210 So this, to me, is not about low prices versus high prices. 584 00:32:34,210 --> 00:32:38,760 It's about letting free enterprise solve the problem versus thinking 585 00:32:38,760 --> 00:32:44,250 a few thinkers in DC can invent complicated pricing and tariffing 586 00:32:44,250 --> 00:32:50,150 schemes that are superior in creating opportunity than the market. 587 00:32:50,150 --> 00:32:55,050 >> Ultimately, what we really want is more investment in broadband infrastructure 588 00:32:55,050 --> 00:32:58,310 that leads to better service at lower prices. 589 00:32:58,310 --> 00:32:59,390 I'm with you on that. 590 00:32:59,390 --> 00:33:01,470 I'm 100% in on that. 591 00:33:01,470 --> 00:33:06,090 I'm making a statement in terms of how I think the world will best achieve that. 592 00:33:06,090 --> 00:33:11,669 And I feel clear in my thinking about that. 593 00:33:11,669 --> 00:33:13,710 DAVID J. MALAN: Up next, our microphone by Anton. 594 00:33:13,710 --> 00:33:16,770 STEVE BALLMER: And I'll say that even though I know we probably 595 00:33:16,770 --> 00:33:20,700 will wind up-- if we go over the top with our Clippers TV broadcast, 596 00:33:20,700 --> 00:33:23,170 we will wind up paying more and our customers will pay more 597 00:33:23,170 --> 00:33:25,810 and we will make a little less profit, but everybody else 598 00:33:25,810 --> 00:33:28,380 will get lower prices for fundamental broadband access. 599 00:33:28,380 --> 00:33:31,679 600 00:33:31,679 --> 00:33:32,970 AUDIENCE: Thanks for your time. 601 00:33:32,970 --> 00:33:34,969 What do you love most about owning the Clippers? 602 00:33:34,969 --> 00:33:36,250 Who's-- wave your hand so-- 603 00:33:36,250 --> 00:33:37,374 >> AUDIENCE: Up here. 604 00:33:37,374 --> 00:33:38,290 STEVE BALLMER: Oh, hi. 605 00:33:38,290 --> 00:33:39,415 AUDIENCE: What's up, Steve? 606 00:33:39,415 --> 00:33:42,161 STEVE BALLMER: It seemed like God. 607 00:33:42,161 --> 00:33:42,660 Go ahead. 608 00:33:42,660 --> 00:33:43,120 >> AUDIENCE: Voice of a deity. 609 00:33:43,120 --> 00:33:45,350 >> STEVE BALLMER: What do I like best about owning the Clippers? 610 00:33:45,350 --> 00:33:46,030 >> AUDIENCE: Yeah, exactly. 611 00:33:46,030 --> 00:33:47,196 >> STEVE BALLMER: I don't know. 612 00:33:47,196 --> 00:33:51,120 Three months in, I can find the bathrooms now in the stadium. 613 00:33:51,120 --> 00:33:54,110 That's my level of sophistication. 614 00:33:54,110 --> 00:33:57,870 There's a lot of things that have been fun. 615 00:33:57,870 --> 00:34:01,740 It turns out it's even more fun to think about the team dynamics 616 00:34:01,740 --> 00:34:05,000 and hear about those from the coach than I thought. 617 00:34:05,000 --> 00:34:07,930 >> Worrying about the fan experience in the arena-- 618 00:34:07,930 --> 00:34:11,212 I didn't-- the song you were playing before this started, 619 00:34:11,212 --> 00:34:13,670 I don't know the name, but I need to get the name from you. 620 00:34:13,670 --> 00:34:15,489 I was thinking, that's a great song. 621 00:34:15,489 --> 00:34:19,940 We could really use that song for pump ups coming out at time outs. 622 00:34:19,940 --> 00:34:21,250 >> [LAUGHTER] 623 00:34:21,250 --> 00:34:23,389 >> No, seriously. 624 00:34:23,389 --> 00:34:26,989 You could say it's my-- I still am I a "We Will Rock You" kind of guy. 625 00:34:26,989 --> 00:34:32,260 But we have 150 possessions in a basketball game. 626 00:34:32,260 --> 00:34:34,780 And let's say at least on half of them, we 627 00:34:34,780 --> 00:34:36,860 want to do something to keep the crowd engaged. 628 00:34:36,860 --> 00:34:38,090 How do you do that? 629 00:34:38,090 --> 00:34:41,070 How do you orchestrate that kind of busy environment? 630 00:34:41,070 --> 00:34:43,060 What do you want to do on the Jumbotron? 631 00:34:43,060 --> 00:34:46,820 >> The technology in basketball-- unbelievable. 632 00:34:46,820 --> 00:34:50,340 Every MBA arena now has six cameras in the ceiling 633 00:34:50,340 --> 00:34:52,340 that are taking pictures of the action. 634 00:34:52,340 --> 00:34:55,870 And there actually are start ups that have machine learning technology that 635 00:34:55,870 --> 00:34:59,700 looks at the video and characterizes the action 636 00:34:59,700 --> 00:35:03,870 so it uses computers to decide that was a pick and roll versus a pick 637 00:35:03,870 --> 00:35:07,160 and pop with Chris Paul and Blake Griffin. 638 00:35:07,160 --> 00:35:10,320 That was a blitz by Jamal Crawford. 639 00:35:10,320 --> 00:35:13,330 And every arena is equipped with this technology. 640 00:35:13,330 --> 00:35:17,530 >> And literally-- it's a company called Second Spectrum. 641 00:35:17,530 --> 00:35:23,200 And one of the key guys is a 6'9" hooper out of MIT who never played basketball 642 00:35:23,200 --> 00:35:28,050 after college, but he's doing machine learning algorithms across vision 643 00:35:28,050 --> 00:35:30,200 recognition on basketball stuff. 644 00:35:30,200 --> 00:35:31,530 That's been kind of fun. 645 00:35:31,530 --> 00:35:36,080 The in arena, thinking about going over the top and what 646 00:35:36,080 --> 00:35:38,810 do the economics look like-- it turns out 647 00:35:38,810 --> 00:35:41,970 there's a lot of pretty cool things. 648 00:35:41,970 --> 00:35:45,730 >> It's much more complicated business than it is large. 649 00:35:45,730 --> 00:35:47,390 Microsoft, we have 100,000 people. 650 00:35:47,390 --> 00:35:49,830 We got about 130 at the Clippers. 651 00:35:49,830 --> 00:35:55,900 And yet, the breadth of problems we get to think about is actually-- well, 652 00:35:55,900 --> 00:35:59,020 it's not 1,000 times less complicated. 653 00:35:59,020 --> 00:36:03,970 It's probably 500 times less complicated than Microsoft. 654 00:36:03,970 --> 00:36:06,962 >> DAVID J. MALAN: Next question from Gabe's mic here. 655 00:36:06,962 --> 00:36:07,670 AUDIENCE: Oh, hi. 656 00:36:07,670 --> 00:36:08,671 My name is Larson Ishii. 657 00:36:08,671 --> 00:36:11,586 I write for Clips Nation, so I was going to continue with the Clippers 658 00:36:11,586 --> 00:36:12,210 questions. 659 00:36:12,210 --> 00:36:17,200 But I was going to ask about how you're incorporating the rest of technology. 660 00:36:17,200 --> 00:36:21,600 I've seen that you guys have an increased proportion of statistics 661 00:36:21,600 --> 00:36:24,240 within games, such as showing the four factors that 662 00:36:24,240 --> 00:36:27,245 produce the probability of victory within the game, which I don't think 663 00:36:27,245 --> 00:36:30,020 any other teams are doing in the league currently, which is really awesome. 664 00:36:30,020 --> 00:36:32,450 >> So I just want to know how, from your math background, 665 00:36:32,450 --> 00:36:36,420 you're incorporating more of the technology and statistical side 666 00:36:36,420 --> 00:36:40,760 into the game of basketball in what is scene as more than emerging field, 667 00:36:40,760 --> 00:36:46,015 and if that can help solve the Clippers' small forward problem right now. 668 00:36:46,015 --> 00:36:48,640 STEVE BALLMER: With a little edge in the end of that question-- 669 00:36:48,640 --> 00:36:52,480 [LAUGHTER] 670 00:36:52,480 --> 00:36:55,310 What we're doing right noq-- and the tech is just not quite 671 00:36:55,310 --> 00:37:00,110 there-- is for every game, we produce a couple 672 00:37:00,110 --> 00:37:04,670 of plays that actually take some key play from last time we played 673 00:37:04,670 --> 00:37:08,360 an opponent, and it shows statistically what the probability was 674 00:37:08,360 --> 00:37:11,130 of success and the expected points, depending 675 00:37:11,130 --> 00:37:13,276 upon the decisions the player makes. 676 00:37:13,276 --> 00:37:14,650 So you see the guys on the court. 677 00:37:14,650 --> 00:37:15,650 Chris is with the ball. 678 00:37:15,650 --> 00:37:19,850 If he throws it to Blake Griffin, 30% chance. 679 00:37:19,850 --> 00:37:24,420 On this one, he'd have a 40% chance of making a basket with an expected two 680 00:37:24,420 --> 00:37:26,310 point or three shot point shot. 681 00:37:26,310 --> 00:37:27,890 And we're using that to demonstrate. 682 00:37:27,890 --> 00:37:31,060 >> What you want to do, of course, is get it so comes back real time. 683 00:37:31,060 --> 00:37:34,790 So we can take a play that just happened and have the visualization 684 00:37:34,790 --> 00:37:38,760 based upon the data that's coming out of the sensors happen in real time 685 00:37:38,760 --> 00:37:43,570 so fans can really track just how amazing the speed and the decision 686 00:37:43,570 --> 00:37:46,350 making at that speed is. 687 00:37:46,350 --> 00:37:48,092 >> But we're working our way up to that. 688 00:37:48,092 --> 00:37:50,550 The thing that we've done that actually gets a lot interest 689 00:37:50,550 --> 00:37:53,720 is the thing we call our Clipper Tron application. 690 00:37:53,720 --> 00:37:57,940 You just go to www.clippertron.com while you're sitting in the arena, 691 00:37:57,940 --> 00:38:00,740 and you can pick your favorite player. 692 00:38:00,740 --> 00:38:04,465 You can pick a kind of a play-- a pick and roll, a blitz, a this and this. 693 00:38:04,465 --> 00:38:08,214 And we'll go throw the highlight up on the Jumbotron. 694 00:38:08,214 --> 00:38:10,380 We're adding, now, Twitter and Facebook integration. 695 00:38:10,380 --> 00:38:11,245 So we put your name. 696 00:38:11,245 --> 00:38:12,610 We'll put your picture. 697 00:38:12,610 --> 00:38:15,090 And we'll put the plays that you picked and we can-- 698 00:38:15,090 --> 00:38:19,470 people love seeing themselves on the Jumbo-- kiss 699 00:38:19,470 --> 00:38:21,570 cam, all that kind of stuff. 700 00:38:21,570 --> 00:38:24,510 >> At least, now, we're letting people throw up basketball action. 701 00:38:24,510 --> 00:38:26,885 Eventually, I want to be able to do it in people's homes. 702 00:38:26,885 --> 00:38:28,740 So with your phone, you go to Clipper Tron, 703 00:38:28,740 --> 00:38:30,890 and we'll throw it up live in the broadcast to you 704 00:38:30,890 --> 00:38:34,620 on TV-- so some of the stuff we're playing with. 705 00:38:34,620 --> 00:38:38,020 >> DAVID J. MALAN: Another mic up by Dan Bradley. 706 00:38:38,020 --> 00:38:40,550 >> AUDIENCE: Steve, after his contract with the Lakers is up, 707 00:38:40,550 --> 00:38:45,420 would you consider signing Jeremy Lin as a backup for Chris Paul? 708 00:38:45,420 --> 00:38:49,910 >> STEVE BALLMER: I support Doc Rivers 100% in his decision 709 00:38:49,910 --> 00:38:51,770 making about our basketball team. 710 00:38:51,770 --> 00:38:56,320 My job is to support, ask a lot of questions, and support. 711 00:38:56,320 --> 00:38:59,220 How's that for not answering your question? 712 00:38:59,220 --> 00:39:00,705 >> [LAUGHTER] 713 00:39:00,705 --> 00:39:02,685 >> [APPLAUSE] 714 00:39:02,685 --> 00:39:05,160 715 00:39:05,160 --> 00:39:10,620 >> I did go to the Laker-Clipper game in LA last week, week before last. 716 00:39:10,620 --> 00:39:12,440 I'm pleased to report two things. 717 00:39:12,440 --> 00:39:14,010 One, Jeremy Lin played well. 718 00:39:14,010 --> 00:39:15,920 And two, we kicked them. 719 00:39:15,920 --> 00:39:24,542 720 00:39:24,542 --> 00:39:25,561 >> AUDIENCE: So I'm Bobby. 721 00:39:25,561 --> 00:39:28,060 I'm from LA, just in case you guys need interns this summer. 722 00:39:28,060 --> 00:39:28,935 No, I'm just kidding. 723 00:39:28,935 --> 00:39:29,700 [LAUGHTER] 724 00:39:29,700 --> 00:39:30,330 >> But seriously-- 725 00:39:30,330 --> 00:39:33,160 >> STEVE BALLMER: Bobby, sballmer@clippers.com, 726 00:39:33,160 --> 00:39:35,080 in case you need an internship this summer. 727 00:39:35,080 --> 00:39:37,660 >> [LAUGHTER] 728 00:39:37,660 --> 00:39:40,510 >> Luck, opportunity, take advantage of it. 729 00:39:40,510 --> 00:39:43,050 You got to feed the aggressive instinct. 730 00:39:43,050 --> 00:39:43,720 Go ahead, Bobby. 731 00:39:43,720 --> 00:39:44,940 Run with it, though, babe. 732 00:39:44,940 --> 00:39:48,110 >> AUDIENCE: So you mentioned your 33 on your first exam or whatever. 733 00:39:48,110 --> 00:39:51,790 But can you tell us more about other examples of failure in your career 734 00:39:51,790 --> 00:39:54,540 at Microsoft or in your life and what you've learned from it 735 00:39:54,540 --> 00:39:56,037 and how you responded, et cetera? 736 00:39:56,037 --> 00:39:56,870 STEVE BALLMER: Yeah. 737 00:39:56,870 --> 00:39:58,900 I'm funny. 738 00:39:58,900 --> 00:40:05,290 I don't actually-- it turns out, I got a B plus on the test with the 33, 739 00:40:05,290 --> 00:40:09,980 because it was the fifth highest grade in the class. 740 00:40:09,980 --> 00:40:14,090 Although I do to play golf with a guy in LA who reminds me he got 50 on the test 741 00:40:14,090 --> 00:40:15,185 and beat me. 742 00:40:15,185 --> 00:40:17,280 He remembers that to this day. 743 00:40:17,280 --> 00:40:20,030 >> So everything's relative. 744 00:40:20,030 --> 00:40:26,270 I'm a guy who's so optimistic, in a way, I never think I fail. 745 00:40:26,270 --> 00:40:29,440 I just haven't succeeded yet. 746 00:40:29,440 --> 00:40:32,700 I say be first, but commit to be last. 747 00:40:32,700 --> 00:40:33,200 OK. 748 00:40:33,200 --> 00:40:34,910 Well, that's not going well. 749 00:40:34,910 --> 00:40:38,640 And you can see it in Microsoft behavior. 750 00:40:38,640 --> 00:40:41,870 People used to say we don't get things right till version three. 751 00:40:41,870 --> 00:40:45,110 I don't know whether to take that as a criticism or praise. 752 00:40:45,110 --> 00:40:49,170 Get it right early is good, but commit to getting things right. 753 00:40:49,170 --> 00:40:54,680 >> So I've certainly had setbacks, whether it was at school. 754 00:40:54,680 --> 00:40:57,680 Certainly, when we and IBM split ways, I thought 755 00:40:57,680 --> 00:40:59,840 our company would probably go out of business. 756 00:40:59,840 --> 00:41:01,990 That was about 1990. 757 00:41:01,990 --> 00:41:05,280 Certainly, I've been told many times that we'd never 758 00:41:05,280 --> 00:41:07,560 succeed in the enterprise business. 759 00:41:07,560 --> 00:41:11,100 I was told that you can't do a start up video game. 760 00:41:11,100 --> 00:41:14,960 >> I was told no search engine will ever succeed versus Google. 761 00:41:14,960 --> 00:41:18,457 There's still more of an element of truth to that one than I'd like. 762 00:41:18,457 --> 00:41:19,650 >> [LAUGHTER] 763 00:41:19,650 --> 00:41:24,600 >> I was told that the mobile device market is locked up, which I don't believe. 764 00:41:24,600 --> 00:41:27,990 It's partly because I believe in the power of innovation and the power 765 00:41:27,990 --> 00:41:30,960 not only for people to change and improve themselves, 766 00:41:30,960 --> 00:41:33,790 but that things do change over time. 767 00:41:33,790 --> 00:41:37,175 And as long as you're prepared, as I said in my talk-- 768 00:41:37,175 --> 00:41:39,800 if you've been in the weight room and you have the capabilities 769 00:41:39,800 --> 00:41:43,920 and skills to do something and you stay in the game, 770 00:41:43,920 --> 00:41:48,010 then you're prepared to take and seize on the next idea. 771 00:41:48,010 --> 00:41:51,293 >> It's kind of like saying, hey, look, we don't know how to beat the-- I 772 00:41:51,293 --> 00:41:52,209 won't take basketball. 773 00:41:52,209 --> 00:41:53,490 I'll take football. 774 00:41:53,490 --> 00:41:56,490 People don't know how to beat the Patriots or the Seahawks. 775 00:41:56,490 --> 00:42:01,060 But that doesn't mean you don't stop training, working out, building skills. 776 00:42:01,060 --> 00:42:03,510 You keep working on your game plan, but you're always 777 00:42:03,510 --> 00:42:05,440 building your skills and capabilities. 778 00:42:05,440 --> 00:42:09,996 Then you can be optimistic that failure will lead to success the next time. 779 00:42:09,996 --> 00:42:12,370 DAVID J. MALAN: Why don't we take a couple more questions 780 00:42:12,370 --> 00:42:14,120 and leave some time for hellos at the end? 781 00:42:14,120 --> 00:42:15,872 Belinda? 782 00:42:15,872 --> 00:42:17,580 AUDIENCE: Hey, thanks so much for coming. 783 00:42:17,580 --> 00:42:20,120 So I really appreciated a lot of the things you said, 784 00:42:20,120 --> 00:42:22,940 and I think three things in specific really resonated with me. 785 00:42:22,940 --> 00:42:24,450 One, treasure your time. 786 00:42:24,450 --> 00:42:25,650 Two, see the field. 787 00:42:25,650 --> 00:42:29,010 And three, also explore your passions. 788 00:42:29,010 --> 00:42:33,040 >> So the way I see it, the problem is that time is so finite 789 00:42:33,040 --> 00:42:35,190 and that we have such limited time. 790 00:42:35,190 --> 00:42:39,650 And explore your passions seems to me more depth-based, 791 00:42:39,650 --> 00:42:41,630 whereas seeing the field is very breadth-based. 792 00:42:41,630 --> 00:42:44,967 So taken in the context of also acquiring new skills, 793 00:42:44,967 --> 00:42:46,300 how do you prioritize your time? 794 00:42:46,300 --> 00:42:49,540 And specifically for you, when you said you created a budget for your time, 795 00:42:49,540 --> 00:42:52,710 how did you decide what was important and what would be worth your time, 796 00:42:52,710 --> 00:42:53,740 basically? 797 00:42:53,740 --> 00:42:54,520 >> STEVE BALLMER: OK. 798 00:42:54,520 --> 00:42:59,070 Let Two stories-- let me start as an undergraduate at Harvard. 799 00:42:59,070 --> 00:43:04,880 I beg every senior I know do what I did, because I thought it really worked out. 800 00:43:04,880 --> 00:43:10,670 When I was a senior, I interviewed with 35 different companies on campus. 801 00:43:10,670 --> 00:43:12,480 >> I'm trying to get my son to do that. 802 00:43:12,480 --> 00:43:13,470 He's a senior. 803 00:43:13,470 --> 00:43:15,700 I've tried to get friends of mine whose kids went 804 00:43:15,700 --> 00:43:17,490 to Harvard-- people don't do that. 805 00:43:17,490 --> 00:43:19,470 But why was that good? 806 00:43:19,470 --> 00:43:24,570 And then I got a chance to sniff 35 different companies, 35 807 00:43:24,570 --> 00:43:26,050 different cultures. 808 00:43:26,050 --> 00:43:27,430 I went back and visited. 809 00:43:27,430 --> 00:43:31,419 I can tell you what it felt like to run a check processing room at Mellon Bank. 810 00:43:31,419 --> 00:43:33,210 I can tell you what it would have felt like 811 00:43:33,210 --> 00:43:36,369 to go to Minot, North Dakota and trade grain for Cargill. 812 00:43:36,369 --> 00:43:38,160 I can tell you what it would have felt like 813 00:43:38,160 --> 00:43:40,600 to run a small start up insurance company 814 00:43:40,600 --> 00:43:43,260 in Cleveland-- Progressive Insurance, which is now, 815 00:43:43,260 --> 00:43:45,230 of course, a major player. 816 00:43:45,230 --> 00:43:47,760 I remember all these visits. 817 00:43:47,760 --> 00:43:52,110 And I just think if you want to see the field, 818 00:43:52,110 --> 00:43:55,360 you have opportunities to get what I would 819 00:43:55,360 --> 00:44:00,220 call rapid little experiences that are really helpful before you get down 820 00:44:00,220 --> 00:44:01,990 to your passions. 821 00:44:01,990 --> 00:44:06,940 >> What I would say as a CEO I did is I blocked two kinds of time. 822 00:44:06,940 --> 00:44:11,570 One was time that I would do whatever our people in a given country 823 00:44:11,570 --> 00:44:16,980 wanted me to do or our engineers in a given product group wanted me to do. 824 00:44:16,980 --> 00:44:18,730 That means they're telling me about things 825 00:44:18,730 --> 00:44:20,740 I'm not necessarily interested in. 826 00:44:20,740 --> 00:44:23,020 But I can always help the sales rep with a sale. 827 00:44:23,020 --> 00:44:24,880 Hey, the boss is here, blah blah blah. 828 00:44:24,880 --> 00:44:27,120 But I'm learning, learning, learning, learning. 829 00:44:27,120 --> 00:44:33,610 >> And then I also blocked explicitly about call it a total of 20% of my time 830 00:44:33,610 --> 00:44:36,730 where people couldn't schedule it. 831 00:44:36,730 --> 00:44:40,130 And then I could use it for reading, exploring. 832 00:44:40,130 --> 00:44:43,550 But even time to explore needs to be blocked. 833 00:44:43,550 --> 00:44:47,790 And time to let others educate you needs to be blocked. 834 00:44:47,790 --> 00:44:51,310 >> And I think that's part of how you can continue to see the field 835 00:44:51,310 --> 00:44:56,900 and then develop the kind of passion-- so just a few thoughts. 836 00:44:56,900 --> 00:44:59,790 >> DAVID J. MALAN: Last question from Davin's mic. 837 00:44:59,790 --> 00:45:01,460 >> AUDIENCE: Hi, I'm J. Paul Meyer. 838 00:45:01,460 --> 00:45:06,104 Over your years at Microsoft, what product or hire 839 00:45:06,104 --> 00:45:09,020 or whatever it is have you been most excited about or you most excited 840 00:45:09,020 --> 00:45:11,390 about? 841 00:45:11,390 --> 00:45:14,810 >> STEVE BALLMER: It's kind of like asking which of your kids you like the best. 842 00:45:14,810 --> 00:45:19,260 And it's kind of situational, timewise. 843 00:45:19,260 --> 00:45:25,650 You look at Windows 1.0 when it came out-- I can't write a line of code, 844 00:45:25,650 --> 00:45:29,080 but I was the development manager for Windows 1.0. 845 00:45:29,080 --> 00:45:31,910 Of course that's my favorite product, and at the end of the day, 846 00:45:31,910 --> 00:45:34,040 it's the backbone of Microsoft. 847 00:45:34,040 --> 00:45:37,250 >> On the other hand, when you say slick and interesting, 848 00:45:37,250 --> 00:45:39,740 I'd probably point to Excel. 849 00:45:39,740 --> 00:45:43,510 Life changing for me, I'd probably point to Surface Pro 850 00:45:43,510 --> 00:45:45,550 3 and the pen and One Note. 851 00:45:45,550 --> 00:45:50,090 I finally have the thing I really want to get my work done. 852 00:45:50,090 --> 00:45:51,670 I really can be paperless. 853 00:45:51,670 --> 00:45:54,330 I really have my life in the cloud. 854 00:45:54,330 --> 00:45:56,550 >> For me, inking is very important, because if you're 855 00:45:56,550 --> 00:46:00,100 the guy somebody's presenting to, you can't sit there and type. 856 00:46:00,100 --> 00:46:03,470 If you want to draw and annotate, markup, you can't type. 857 00:46:03,470 --> 00:46:05,790 So I might say Surface Pro 3. 858 00:46:05,790 --> 00:46:10,660 If I was home with my family, because I have three boys of about the right age, 859 00:46:10,660 --> 00:46:15,620 I'd say, well, of course, it was Xbox 360 and the Halo game. 860 00:46:15,620 --> 00:46:20,010 My 15-year-old still believes that's the only worthwhile piece of work 861 00:46:20,010 --> 00:46:21,600 I did in my working career. 862 00:46:21,600 --> 00:46:24,924 >> [LAUGHTER] 863 00:46:24,924 --> 00:46:27,340 Three weeks ago, he says to me, Dad, I'm very disappointed 864 00:46:27,340 --> 00:46:30,070 in you leaving Microsoft. 865 00:46:30,070 --> 00:46:32,070 I was worried about this. 866 00:46:32,070 --> 00:46:33,050 Aaron. 867 00:46:33,050 --> 00:46:36,650 I don't know whether you can still get me the new Halos when they come out. 868 00:46:36,650 --> 00:46:37,810 >> [LAUGHTER] 869 00:46:37,810 --> 00:46:40,630 >> So beauty's a little in the eye of the beholder, 870 00:46:40,630 --> 00:46:43,740 but I'd probably point to the Surface Pro 3 in modern days 871 00:46:43,740 --> 00:46:46,641 and Windows 1.0 in historic days. 872 00:46:46,641 --> 00:46:49,140 DAVID J. MALAN: Well, let me wrap up with a little something 873 00:46:49,140 --> 00:46:50,540 we've never done before. 874 00:46:50,540 --> 00:46:53,940 But we, on behalf of CS50 TFs and TAs would 875 00:46:53,940 --> 00:46:57,810 like to make you an honorary member of CS50's staff if you'll have us. 876 00:46:57,810 --> 00:46:59,766 >> STEVE BALLMER: OK, absolutely. 877 00:46:59,766 --> 00:47:01,722 >> [CHEERING AND APPLAUSE] 878 00:47:01,722 --> 00:47:04,645 879 00:47:04,645 --> 00:47:05,145 Nice! 880 00:47:05,145 --> 00:47:10,035 881 00:47:10,035 --> 00:47:13,440 >> DAVID J. MALAN: And for everyone here, you are all cordially 882 00:47:13,440 --> 00:47:16,300 invited to a special event that President Drew Faust, Dean Cherry 883 00:47:16,300 --> 00:47:18,590 Murray, and Steve Ballmer will be hosting tomorrow 884 00:47:18,590 --> 00:47:21,944 at the I-Lab at 12:00 PM, for which there will be a puzzle hunt which 885 00:47:21,944 --> 00:47:24,360 is inside of this packet which you'll be handed on the way 886 00:47:24,360 --> 00:47:27,550 out, for which there's fabulous prizes, including several Xboxes 887 00:47:27,550 --> 00:47:30,035 and also a pair of Clipper tickets. 888 00:47:30,035 --> 00:47:35,600 >> STEVE BALLMER: Clipper/Celtic tickets for the game here on March 29, 889 00:47:35,600 --> 00:47:37,590 visiting owners seats. 890 00:47:37,590 --> 00:47:39,366 Do compete. 891 00:47:39,366 --> 00:47:39,866 [CHEERING] 892 00:47:39,866 --> 00:47:41,794 STEVE BALLMER: Thanks, everybody. 893 00:47:41,794 --> 00:47:44,204 DAVID J. MALAN: CS50, this was Steve Ballmer. 894 00:47:44,204 --> 00:47:51,180 895 00:47:51,180 --> 00:47:55,310 >> STEVE BALLMER: This is CS50! 896 00:47:55,310 --> 00:47:57,504