Offbeat: Steve Ballmer signs MacBook Pro - running Windows, of course
While on a visit to Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville, Tenn., this week, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer put his John Hancock on a MacBook Pro, and the event was captured on video.
While meeting with a group of students, one of them asked the multi-billionaire: "Mr. Ballmer, would you sign my laptop?" The inquiry earned laughs from the group, as well as as the Microsoft executive. "It's got Windows on it," the student said, "I promise."
"Oh yeah," Ballmer said sarcastically, before taking the MacBook Pro and signing it with a marker. The autograph came with a note: "Need a new one?"
"It's all yours," Ballmer said as he handed the Apple machine back to the student.
Ballmer was in town for the Nashville Technology Council's annual meeting. The one-day visit from the Microsoft executive was part of a multi-city tour intended to promote the company as one that can solve problems for specific industries, the university said.
During his trip, Ballmer met with students from local colleges and universities, which is where he encountered the MacBook Pro. The full video of the event is embedded below:
The student also uploaded a photo of the signature to his personal Web site.
Ballmer gained attention last September when a Microsoft employee at a private company meeting snapped a picture of him using an iPhone. Ballmer grabbed the phone and made lighthearted remarks while the onlooking audience booed. He then put the phone on the ground and pretended to stomp on it.
After the incident, one Microsoft employee said of the situation: "You just don't pick up the CEO of Chevy in a BMW."
While meeting with a group of students, one of them asked the multi-billionaire: "Mr. Ballmer, would you sign my laptop?" The inquiry earned laughs from the group, as well as as the Microsoft executive. "It's got Windows on it," the student said, "I promise."
"Oh yeah," Ballmer said sarcastically, before taking the MacBook Pro and signing it with a marker. The autograph came with a note: "Need a new one?"
"It's all yours," Ballmer said as he handed the Apple machine back to the student.
Ballmer was in town for the Nashville Technology Council's annual meeting. The one-day visit from the Microsoft executive was part of a multi-city tour intended to promote the company as one that can solve problems for specific industries, the university said.
During his trip, Ballmer met with students from local colleges and universities, which is where he encountered the MacBook Pro. The full video of the event is embedded below:
The student also uploaded a photo of the signature to his personal Web site.
Ballmer gained attention last September when a Microsoft employee at a private company meeting snapped a picture of him using an iPhone. Ballmer grabbed the phone and made lighthearted remarks while the onlooking audience booed. He then put the phone on the ground and pretended to stomp on it.
After the incident, one Microsoft employee said of the situation: "You just don't pick up the CEO of Chevy in a BMW."
Comments
Anyone up for linking this to the iPhone/Bing story!
If MS ditches the Zune, Zune Phone and Windows Mobile, then maybe there can be a deal.
If he had any class, he would have refused to sign it. There's no way Steve Jobs would sign a PC, and make a joke of it.
so then he can seem like a stuck up snob? i think its great he signed it and made a little joke about it.
people need to lighten up
I think that's great - good on Steve Ballmer.
Anyone up for linking this to the iPhone/Bing story!
Seemed authentic to me so I don't see a tie to the Bing adoption. I think this was one of the more endearing gestures i've seen by a guy whose public persona usually turns me off.
If he had any class, he would have refused to sign it. There's no way Steve Jobs would sign a PC, and make a joke of it.
But no one would ask Jobs to sign a PC, it would be pointless. Ballmer signed a Mac running Windows. Ballmer doesn't make the hardware, just the software.
If he had any class, he would have refused to sign it. There's no way Steve Jobs would sign a PC, and make a joke of it.
Why should he not sign it? It is a mac but if you choose to put Windows on it it is then a pc. A well built and unusually good looking pc but still a pc. I understand the dislike of the guy but Mac users are his customers as i.e. office, windows, silverlight et al and even he is not dumb enough to ignore us.
Oops MsNly beat me to it.
If he had any class, he would have refused to sign it. There's no way Steve Jobs would sign a PC, and make a joke of it.
Wow man, who shoved a stick up your ass?
Im not a fan of Ballmer but i think this is good, atleast he wasnt snobby about it.
"It's got Windows on it," the student said, "I promise."
He's lying...
Why use "I promise", like he's going to do it, when "I swear" is more accurate as Windows is already installed or supposed to be.
He's looking to make a buck and sell the Mac on eBay, except of course he should remove the "need a new one?" first.
Ballmer figured it out right off that the student intends to sell the signed MacBook to get a new one, and threw a curve in his signature.
If the student catches it fast enough with the right solvent, the ink won't be permanent.
Why would he not sign it, it has his product on it? I could see him not signing someones iPhone or iPod unless it was running something obscene like Windows or WinMo.
Im not a fan of Ballmer but i think this is good, atleast he wasnt snobby about it.
Agreed.
Imagine the negative PR all over the web the next day. What a mess. That's the last thing Ballmer and MS needs, especially now.