Steve Ballmer Enters High-Brow Nerd Trash Talk over Google

Authored by Scott Goldberg on October 18, 2007 - 9:52am.

Score one for Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer at the Web 2.0 Summit today in San Francisco. He trashed Google like the Cowboy’s Terrell Owens dismissing Randy Moss, comparing the company to an eager-beaver toddler: "You're just 3 years old, and we've got you in there playing basketball with a 12-year-old. You're growing up quick and getting better every day, and you've got all the potential in world, and it may take you 'til you're 7, 8, 9 or 10, but you're gonna dunk and you're gonna dunk on the other guy some day, Johnny."

You’re forgiven if Ballmer reminds you of “Old Man” LeBron James in the Nike commercials, playing with a bad hip and bragging about the old days. He’s doing what he can, people!

But John Battelle, an organizer of the conference and moderator of the panel, took the opportunity to jab back: “Wait, I think we were talking about the Zune.”

Earlier in the year Ballmer called Google a “one-trick pony,” a comment he was asked to elaborate on at Thursday’s conference. "They started in one area, they get really good in that area and then fill out around core."

As for Microsoft?

"Microsoft is unique in that we've already got two areas. We started out as a desktop computing company and now we've got a huge enterprise business. We're trying to do devices and entertainment, and advertising and the Web. We're trying to be a three- or four-trick pony."