Microsoft: Road to success
InfoWorld | at | by Mike
Once Bill Gates got out of his way, Steve Ballmer and his most loyal officers quickly set about remaking Microsoft inside and out. Internal development and review procedures were completely overhauled to keep sloppy code from leaving the shop. Ballmer's "ass on the line" policy sets up a chain of accountability that runs from worker bee developers to vice presidents for every product. That took care of new software, but Microsoft also needed to polish up its existing product line. Ballmer's team figured out that Microsoft can't fight its enemies if it's wasting energy on infighting between groups. Turf squabbles were proscribed and everyone's focus was turned outward to real threats in the enterprise: Sun, IBM, and OSS (open-source software).