Steve Ballmer, long-time Microsoft employee and successor to Bill Gates as CEO, announced his retirement on Friday. While Ballmer's legacy at Microsoft will be analyzed and debated for years to come, his legacy as a GIF superstar is unquestionable: The man is single-handedly responsible for some of the best technology GIFs of the past decade.
In honor of Ballmer's years of service supplying us with GIF-worthy moments, we're throwing Steve a retirement party, featuring some of our favorite animated moments from the CEO's tenure. Enjoy, and thank you, Steve, for the ebullient, enthusiastic, sweaty and active memories.
STEVE BALLMER GIF RETIREMENT PARTY: BEGIN
Steve Ballmer, who announced his retirement as Microsoft CEO on Friday, has served in the position for thirteen years. Let's give him a round of applause!
Get up out of your seats and dance for him!
Ballmer took over from Microsoft co-founder and CEO Bill Gates in 2000. Look at them go!
He quickly became known for his fiery persona. This is what his press conferences and events are actually like.
Perhaps most notable was this classic moment, when he tried to enlist developers to build apps and programs for Windows by shouting "DEVELOPERS" over and over again.
Reuters notes that Ballmer's reign at Microsoft has been filled with controversy and criticism from investors, especially over his slowness to adapt to the mobile evolution: "The PC-centric pioneer was overtaken by Apple Inc and Google Inc in the shift toward mobile computing" during Ballmer's years, is how the news service sums up his years at the helm.
Toward the end of Ballmer's tenure, Microsoft introduced Windows Phone and Windows 8, two similar, touch-based operating systems designed and optimized to work on smartphones and tablets. Though there are dozens of devices running Windows Phone and Windows 8, none has really caught on in a significant way, despite critical acclaim for the design of the "Metro" interface.
It's not all doom and gloom for Microsoft. It still rakes in gobs of money for its services, and the Xbox, launched under Ballmer, is still incredible popular. The Xbox 360 has been the number one gaming console for over two years now; the Kinect motion-sensing device is the fastest-selling consumer device of all time, as verified by the Guinness Book of World Records. That's a reason to party!
Despite these successes, most analysts view Microsoft as a substantially weaker company than it was when Ballmer took power. That's not all his fault: First, it would have been difficult for any CEO to maintain Microsoft's 1990s-era level of dominance over a decade; and second, no matter how quickly a different CEO had acted on the mobile revolution, it's not clear that Microsoft would have been able to produce something quick enough or meaningful enough to combat Android and iOS. Every iteration of Windows Phone thus far has tanked, a fact that cannot wholly be blamed on its lateness.
The more you debate Ballmer's performance, the more you drown in hypotheticals -- what's clear is, Microsoft is in a substantially weaker position now than it was at the start of Ballmer's tenure. His successor will have serious work to do to return it to its glory days.
One more GIF for Steve!
BONUS: Here are some more Steve Ballmer GIFs, along with some smart analysis surrounding his departure.
Photo Illustration by Kelly Caminero / The Daily Beast / GettyAt the risk of awarding the title prematurely, we think we’ve found the weirdest study published in 2022. Scientists strapped GoPro cameras to the bodies of six dolphins trained by the U.S. Navy, and recorded them hunting for food and consuming their prey in grisly detail. According to the study, there was a purpose behind this potential invasion of dolphin privacy; namely, to learn more about how the mammals hunted and ate.Scientists
The woman had been testifying for more than four hours Thursday about her clandestine sexual relationship with R&B superstar R. Kelly as an impressionable young teenager when she was asked about one of the central mysteries in the case. Why, after two decades of silence, did she finally decide to come forward and speak out? There was a lengthy, silent pause in the Chicago federal courtroom. ...
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis held a presser in a courthouse to announce that the state’s new Office of Election Crimes and Security, which began on July 1, has discovered 20 instance of voter fraud. DeSantis says the 20 individuals will be charged and arrested for their crimes. The state of Florida will continue to monitor voter fraud in the upcoming election as well as review the 2020 election results.
A San Jose fire captain is grappling with an unthinkable tragedy after all three of his children were killed in a car crash Sunday evening. The children's mother and ex-wife of the firefighter also died in the crash.
When someone fully and completely embraces a public life, there really are no personal issues. That dynamic is becoming abundantly clear with Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady. Brady, who has fully embraced and cultivated a platform that has resulted in the aggressive pursuit of multiple business interests, has had his football career plunge into mystery with [more]
Fox News host Steve Doocey took Senator Rand Paul to task over his accusations that the FBI search was illegitimate, pointing out that the attacks on the agency are putting agents there at risk. DOOCEY: Well, and Senator absolutely Congress has oversight over the FBI and the Department of Justice and everything else. The problem is over the last week or so there's been so much violent rhetoric directed at the FBI and I heard somebody printed FBI stands for Fascist Bureauof Investigation or something like that.