Ballmer talks software and blueberry muffins
WinInfo | at | by Mike
In an sometimes bizarre open letter posted to the Microsoft Web site this morning, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer discusses how his company needs to do more to better serve its customers. The bizarre part comes early in the letter, with Ballmer discussing his only other job outside of Microsoft, where he marketed brownie mix and blueberry muffin mix for Proctor & Gamble (which goes unnamed in the letter for some reason) early in his career. Software, Ballmer says, is just like "cake mix, soft drinks, shampoo, and so on," products that need to be marketed in ways that satisfy customers. And if they're done right, he concludes, the same products will go on satisfying consumers for decades.