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Atmrix

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Atmrix

About

SB

Steve Ballmer

06/02/25

@ Acquired

We negotiated a non-exclusive deal with IBM for the operating system, allowing us to license it to others, which was crucial for our growth.

Video

A

The Steve Ballmer Interview

@ Acquired

06/02/25

Related Takeaways

DG

Diane Greene

10/26/13

@ Y Combinator

An IBM representative approached us about our desktop product, suggesting it could enhance their server sales, leading to a partnership.

DG

Diane Greene

10/26/13

@ Y Combinator

Our partnership with IBM allowed us to present at their worldwide conference, significantly boosting our server market presence.

DG

Diane Greene

10/26/13

@ Y Combinator

We engaged with hardware vendors like IBM and HP, trying to convince them to partner with us, despite initial resistance.

SB

Steve Ballmer

06/02/25

@ Acquired

After IBM divorced us in 1990, we realized we needed to figure out how to build our own enterprise sales strategy, which was not Bill Gates' passion area.

SB

Steve Ballmer

06/02/25

@ Acquired

The licensing of Microsoft DOS to IBM was the single greatest business deal in history, kickstarting Microsoft's journey to a $3.5 trillion market cap.

SB

Steve Ballmer

06/02/25

@ Acquired

At the time of my 'developers' speech, we were facing competition from Linux and needed to reinforce our platform with third-party support.

DG

Diane Greene

10/26/13

@ Y Combinator

We created the VMware Preferred Hardware Vendor program, which helped us gain traction in the market as other vendors signed up to meet our requirements.

VM

Varun Mohan

04/20/25

@ Lenny's Podcast

We provided our product entirely for free across all IDEs, which allowed us to optimize workloads significantly and attract a large user base.

SB

Steve Ballmer

06/02/25

@ Acquired

By the mid to late 80s, we still felt overshadowed by IBM, which was the dominant force in the computing industry at that time.