现在，鲍尔默准备退休了，不过他留下了许多尚未解决的问题。他对微软拳头产品Windows和Office的保护时间是不是太长了，结果付出的代价错过了追求云计算和移动设备等技术带来的新商机？尽管他表示希望微软从软件巨头转变为设备和服务公司，但是他带领公司转型的速度是不是太缓慢了？

    菲茨杰拉德说：“我认为我们将来回顾的时候会得出结论，微软最大的挑战在于公司的规模。”他曾公开表示他认为微软应该分为三个更加“苗条”的公司，而不是一个单独的巨型公司。

    鲍尔默坐在办公室的椅子上，翘着腿，他拒绝承认微软规模太大，也不承认微软需要进行任何形式的分割换取成功。

    鲍尔默说：“我确实认为比我接手时，公司变得更加专注了。其中部分原因是时代变了。我们已经从绝对领袖变为了相对的领先者，同时我们还是挑战者。身为挑战者时，你就需要有所选择，变得比之前更为专注。”

    鲍尔默说，微软的员工曾经认为：“我们只要做出东西，研发出一些部件，然后就能赚钱。”他说，现在，“我已经不这么认为了。”很快，我们就能知道他的继任者是否同样抱有这样的观点。（财富中文网）

    译者：严匡正  

    As Ballmer prepares for his exit, he leaves many questions unanswered. Did he protect Microsoft's crown jewels, Windows and Office, for too long at the expense of pursuing new businesses enabled by technologies such as cloud computing and mobile devices? Has he been too slow in overseeing Microsoft's transition from being the Samson of software to the devices and services company he claims he wants it to be?

    "I think we will look back and conclude that for Microsoft, the biggest challenge was the sheer scope of the company," says Fitzgerald, who has publicly opined that he thinks Microsoft ought to be three "svelte" companies rather than one single mega-corporation.

    Sitting cross-legged in his office chair, Ballmer refuses to concede that Microsoft is too big or in need of any kind of divestiture to succeed.

    "I do think we're far more focused than we were when I took over," Ballmer says. "And that's partly a function of the time. We've gone from being a complete leader to a leader and a challenger, both in the same body. And when you're a challenger, you do have to pick and choose and be more focused."

    Microsoft employees used to believe "that we could just make things, just develop part of something and it would take off," Ballmer says. These days, "I don't believe that," he says. We'll soon see if that view is one that his successor holds, too.