Ballmer: Software industry has unlimited potential

Text/Ballmer software itself is a perpetual youth industry, have to constantly innovate, it will not stop halfway. In this sense, for all enterprises, including those start-ups, the opportunities for innovation and demand to maintain a strong momentum for the start-up enterprises, the first need is talent, followed by sufficient patience. There may be entrepreneurs who see development as a quick and easy thing, that success is 90% innovation plus 10% effort. That is not the case.　　Success really needs a great idea, but it takes a lot of energy and time, maybe a year or two or 10 years. Many things usually take 10 years before they are truly recognized. You may not believe it, but it is a true truth. This is how Windows is developed, as is the case with SQL databases. Google's success, too, is only achieved after a few years of hard work.　　In the process, there may be a little anticipation, but more is running-in, this is Microsoft's early development process. I had a "collision" with Bill Gates and I met at Harvard, and when I was a sophomore, we became good friends. Then there was Bill's high school classmate who started a company in high school to develop software that could analyze road traffic data. In the past, when you drive through one of the rubber tubes, it will be placed in a box on the horse's side of the tape to punch a hole.　　Bill and Paul noticed the device, known as Intel 4004, and began to develop the software for Washington. Bill entered Harvard, but they were still keen on microprocessors. Paul wants to start a computer company that specializes in microprocessors, but Bill doesn't agree. He said to Paul, "Paul, I know exactly what we're really good at, and that's the software, so don't get that idea right." "Sophomore year, the cover of the Popular Electronics magazine published a picture, showing the first name of the Altair microprocessor computer." At that time, Bill and Paul decided to develop all the software that could be used for the machine. Apparently, they failed to do so, only to develop several key software programs. Then they set up their own company and began to operate formally.　　By the time I joined in 1980, the company had 30 employees, all programmers, and no one was commercial, and I was the one in charge of the business, even though I didn't know what it meant. To be honest, I really did nothing more than recruit interviews, marketing and the like, and I really don't qualify as a qualified employee. At that time, the company has little money, so the financial statements are not much. After that, the company constantly in the running-in forward development, it can be said that a point of innovation costs nine of painstaking effort. At the beginning of our business, we didn't have any more excellent employees (except Bill and four or five good people). After joining the company for about one months, I came to Bill's officeOffice, tell him we need to recruit another 18 people. "Steve, you should know that our existing people are not very good, why do we have to recruit another 18 people?" Do you want us to go bankrupt? Unless you can do better than now, go back to your Stanford school or do something else. "Bill said.　　Since then, we have begun to work hard at recruiting, trying to find really good and smart people. There's always a chance. We made some products, but it is still a small business. When I decided to drop out of Stanford Business School and join the small company that developed the software, my parents thought I must be crazy. Then I said to them, "Dad, Mom, all we did was develop software for the personal computer, so we decided to leave Stanford." "Father is not very understanding of this, he questioned me," software is what kind of ghost thing? My mother also said, "Why do people have to have a computer?" "We are talking about what happened in the 80 's, when life was obviously quite different from what it is now."　　However, my parents raised these questions, also just reflect that the external environment was not very optimistic about this thing, there are many difficulties and obstacles before us. Now, you may wonder if the good old days of technological development have passed? This is one of the questions that people who start startups often ask me.　　In their view, in the past 5 years, 10, 15, or even 20 years, the field of science and technology has undergone great changes, does it mean that the industry has been saturated, and no one else to meddle? My answer is: No! And never! In fact, as long as we look at the current technology industry, it is not difficult to find that there are many companies of all sizes, including several giant enterprises, but also some medium-sized companies and a large number of small businesses. And the industry itself is full of dynamic characteristics, but also determines the strength of each enterprise has been taking place in the change of the long. At the same time, new things are constantly emerging. As we speak, the way the chip works may already be changing dramatically.　　Therefore, each of us has the opportunity to grow and develop. Today, you learn computer languages, and if you want to write programs, you have to learn to write in computer language. To run the program, find the file, open, copy, paste, the current computer instructions, can not prepare for my Stanford trip, and my secretary can take care of all this.　　I believe that directives like this can be achieved in the next few years. You don't even have to cultivate your interest in the field of science and technology, the development of software will bring about a wave of changes in many industries. It will change its tentacles into areas including energy and environmental science.　　I have great enthusiasm and expectation that the influence of the software will be more and more widely revealed. In an era of rapid Internet development, I believe that everything is changing dramatically. People will say that the internet has been born 15, all kinds ofAll kinds of things are constantly created, and in the immediate past, the entire technological world is undergoing a transformation. Innovation has never been the only basic paradigm for writing software has changed a number of times since I joined Microsoft. There are also client servers, PCs, the Internet, and the Web2.0 and Web3.0 we are currently working on.　　The current emerging smart phones, smart computers, smart television and so on, but also for this business area of change and development has created unlimited opportunities. Many people ask the question: Will the market continue to demand smartphones, smart computers, etc.? The answer is yes. Indeed, everyone wants the best, and these things are so cheap.　　As Bill said at the beginning of Microsoft's creation, hardware represents only the form of free intelligence, and we need software to make it work. We are working to develop a new intelligent application platform for the internet called Windowsazure. This year, Microsoft will invest 9 billion of dollars in RD research. I can't imagine how this huge sum of money will work, but I have to do it every day. This means that we have 45,000 people for software development, and more importantly, we are likely to invest the same amount of money in the next 12 months, and the current economic situation does not allow us to do so for the time being.　　However, this also reflects our confidence in the results of this research. At the moment, Microsoft's position is subtle and interesting. We already have these large share of business, but we have to continue to improve. For example, a product like windows, in a sense, the current version may be the same as the previous version, but there is a difference.　　In other words, we have to continue to improve anyway. To venture capitalists, I would say that this year's venture capital opportunities may be less than last year, but in my view, the whole market actually has a big demand gap.　　So whether you're going to join a start-up, start a company, or join a big business like Microsoft, I think there's a huge opportunity. I've already talked about the definition of innovation, and I'm still willing to talk about it again. You are in a better age than you are, thanks to the power of information technology, which has brought more possibilities for innovation, not only in technology itself, but also in science, medicine and even education.　　With only one computer, you can change the world now, and in the past, all this is not conceivable. Some people are asking: "We are currently facing energy problems, where are the solutions?" The answer is that we need to develop better software. Whether you think the best solution is to find new alternatives to energy, or to create assistive tools to control new energy sources, I believe that software is indispensable because the latter will undoubtedly accelerate the process. The effectiveness of the software will also be played in the promotion of medicalThe process of healing research. In addition, there are areas of education.　　Speaking of education, this is always an area of insufficient investment. I personally think that a variety of enterprises will be springing up, and is still at the preliminary stage. Also, on the basis of software development, I believe that Microsoft and the industry will create more opportunities and possibilities.　　Even though we are in a period of severe economic situation, there are more opportunities for development. (This is an excerpt from Ballmer's speech at Stanford University, Plymouth compiled)