Life according to Steve Ballmer...

As if Microsoft hasn't had enough exposure in the last week or so, the company's famously ebullient chief executive, Steve Ballmer, has been giving the Sunday papers an insight into his high-powered world.

Anyone who's seen the video clip of Mr Ballmer leaping around a conference stage like an over-eager baboon, telling the crowd just how much he loves Microsoft, may wonder what makes him tick.

Well, courtesy of the Independent on Sunday, we have a few hints...

Ballmer at Home
"I normally get up at around 5am, work out, go for a jog and then get the kids ready for school. I drop the kids off at school on the way to the office," he told the paper's interviewer.

[Ballmer has three boys of nine, six and two.]

Ballmer and Email
Although Ballmer doesn't like working at home - he works five days a week in his Seattle office - he can't resist the temptation of checking his email at weekends. However, the burden isn't as great as it used to be. He's proud that he's managed to reduce his in-box quota from around 150 messages a day to 50 or 60 by "getting rid of all the spam".

Ballmer on Microsoft
Unsurprisingly, this man really does seem to eat, breathe and sleep all things Microsoft.

"The most gratifying thing about working at Microsoft is seeing people using, and enjoying using, our products," he says.

Nothing to do with making lots of money. Obviously.

Avoiding court action must help - and Ballmer is convinced that XP will not get his beloved company into any more anti-trust trouble. There's a difference between bundling and integrating, you see...

"We integrate new applications into the operating system that other people can build on top of. The US Justice Department has told us that building new functionality into the OS is OK. It's vital to innovate and to improve not just the quality and reliability, but the functionality and usability of an operating system."

Ballmer on Linux
Open source fanatics would take issue with Ballmer's view of an inherently 'weak' model of development, and point out that the very things he sees as problems are Linux's greatest strengths.

"The problem with Linux," Ballmer says, "is that they have a collaborative model: there's lots of people involved in any changes and they can't innovate as fast as we can. We can't compete on price with a free product, but if you average out the number of hours a person uses a computer, you'll find that using XP over a year would probably work out to about 50 cents a week."

Ballmer on Bill
"Bill can hold more in his head than any person I've ever met. I rely more on the team. Bill was more product oriented, which is why it works so well now. I keep an eye on creating a structure, keeping an eye on the competition."

Ballmer on the Future
Surprisingly enough, it's looking rosy...
"Around 20 per cent of US homes have more than one PC and I think wireless networking is going to be the big enabler both at home and in business. Like a lot of companies, we are moving away from cables to a wireless office environment."

For related news, see:
Windows XP: what's the word across Euro