????再現(xiàn)傳奇并非易事，尤其是當傳奇還扔下了一堆爛攤子的時候。問問史蒂夫?鮑爾默就知道了。自從1980年加入微軟（Microsoft ）以來，他一直都在比爾?蓋茨的陰影下埋頭苦干。蓋茨就是人們心目中的傳奇人物。在位時，他將微軟變成了強盛的軟件巨頭；退休后，他用積累的財富讓世界變得更加美好。蓋茨退休后，鮑爾默繼任管理者。此時的微軟一度在軟件上的壟斷地位已經(jīng)風光不再，與監(jiān)管者多年來斗爭不止，對互聯(lián)網(wǎng)的認識也不夠成熟，甚至不時被誤導。這一切，都留給了鮑爾默來處理。

????我們來看看一組有趣的數(shù)據(jù)。蘋果公司（Apple）在市值上可能已經(jīng)超越了微軟，但是在過去25年中，股市表現(xiàn)最好的依然還是微軟。自1987年以來，蘋果的股票上漲了4300%，而微軟則令人驚訝地上漲了5700%。當然，微軟大多數(shù)的增長都是在蓋茨任期內(nèi)實現(xiàn)的。2000年鮑爾默擔任CEO以來，蘋果的股票漲幅達到了2500%。微軟呢？鮑爾默繼任至今，微軟的股價增幅僅有之前的一半。

????對此，鮑爾默要負很大的責任，但也不能全怪他。鮑爾默上任兩個月后，互聯(lián)網(wǎng)泡沫破裂，那時候許多股票的估值都虛高得出乎尋常。鮑爾默當年接手經(jīng)營這個操作系統(tǒng)軟件巨頭不得不面對比爾的壟斷統(tǒng)治遺留下來的這堆混亂不堪的爛攤子。如今回過頭來看，這些問題似乎都是不可避免的。網(wǎng)絡的興起導致PC機在科技產(chǎn)業(yè)的地位不再那么至關重要。而因為微軟的重心都放在PC機的操作系統(tǒng)軟件上，因此無法再控制網(wǎng)絡行業(yè)。微軟所有想將網(wǎng)絡產(chǎn)業(yè)收入囊中的嘗試都遭到了監(jiān)管者的回絕。而經(jīng)營MSN搜索和Hotmail這類的網(wǎng)絡服務又連年虧損。

????與此同時，在沿著海岸線往南幾百英里的硅谷，谷歌（Google）等一些新的公司開始迅速崛起。他們似乎形成了某種聯(lián)合，試圖削弱微軟的統(tǒng)治地位。自從云計算橫空出世，PC機在個人和商務應用程序中的地位就注定將被邊緣化。

????鮑爾默推動了微軟在其他領域的發(fā)展，比如服務器軟件和Xbox游戲機。它們彌補了Windows系統(tǒng)和Office軟件業(yè)務緩慢增長的遺憾。2009年，微軟更加大膽地開始研發(fā)Windows 8系統(tǒng)。除去常規(guī)的Windows升級之外，Windows 8不僅可以兼容PC機和使用ARM芯片的平板電腦，還能同Windows Phone 8共享許多組件。

????Windows 8并不僅僅是一次系統(tǒng)的重制，以體現(xiàn)出與蓋茨創(chuàng)立的Windows系統(tǒng)截然不同——實際上，它徹底跳出了蓋茨創(chuàng)立的微軟模式。鮑爾默甚至出人意料地推出了Surface，帶領微軟進入了一個全新的領域。Surface是平板電腦和PC機的結合體，向世人展示了Windows 8所具有的功能。這意味著微軟完全可以在云計算領域大顯身手。

????更重要的是，它意味著比爾?蓋茨創(chuàng)立的微軟公司現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)真正屬于史蒂夫?鮑爾默了。

????可以更清楚地說明這一點的是，鮑爾默上月在寫給微軟股東的信中提到，公司正在進行“根本性的轉變”。微軟目前把自身定位為“提供設備和服務業(yè)務的公司”。這份聲明被普遍視為微軟承認自己越來越向蘋果靠攏，不僅設計運用于設備上的OS系統(tǒng)，還提供與系統(tǒng)相配套的設施和服務。此外，微軟正在開設零售店和應用商店這一事實也證明了這一點。

????Legends are tough acts to follow, especially when they leave a mess behind. Just ask Steve Ballmer. Ever since joining Microsoft in 1980, Ballmer has toiled in the shadow of Bill Gates. Gates is the one remembered as the legend who turned Microsoft into a formidable software colossus and who retired to spend his fortune on making the world a better place. When he retired, it was Ballmer who was left to manage Microsoft, its aging software monopoly, its years of battles with regulators and its early, sometimes misguided responses to the Internet.

????Here's an interesting statistic. Apple (AAPL) may exceed Microsoft (MSFT) in market value, but the better performing stock over the past quarter century is still Microsoft. Since 1987, Apple's stock has risen 4,300% while Microsoft's has risen a staggering 5,700%. Most of Microsoft's gains, of course, came during Gates' tenure. Since 2000, after Ballmer took over as CEO, Apple's stock has risen 2,500%. Microsoft's? It's still half of what it was after Ballmer took over.

????Much of that is Ballmer's fault. But not all. Ballmer became Microsoft's CEO two months before the dot-com bubble burst, when many stocks had irrationally high valuations. And Ballmer was left facing the messy fallout of the monopolistic reign of King Bill. Ballmer was left to manage an operating-software colossus whose demise, in retrospect, seemed all but assured. The rise of the web made PCs less central to the tech industry, and Microsoft couldn't control the web as it had PC operating software. Any attempt to extend its iron grip to the Internet was met with regulatory pushback. And web initiatives like MSN Search and Hotmail showed operating losses year after year.

????Meanwhile, several hundred miles down the coast in Silicon Valley, a new crowd of fast-growing startups like Google (GOOG) seemed united in trying to weaken Microsoft. And as cloud computing took off, PC's were destined to become less central to computer programs used by consumers and businesses.

????Ballmer pushed into other areas of growth, such as server software and the Xbox, offsetting the slower growth rate of Windows and Office software. More boldly, in 2009, Microsoft began developing Windows 8, but instead of the usual Windows upgrade, Windows 8 would work with PCs, tablets using ARM chips and share many components with Windows Phone 8.

????Windows 8 isn't a reboot as much as a clear break from the Windows that Gates created -- which is to say, a break from the Microsoft that Gates built. Ballmer even steered Microsoft into new waters by unexpectedly stepping into the device business with the Surface. A tablet-PC hybrid, the Surface showed what Windows 8 was capable of. It showed that Microsoft could be a player in the era of cloud computing.

????Above all, it showed that the company founded by Bill Gates now belongs to Steve Ballmer.

????To drive the point home, Ballmer said in a letter to Microsoft shareholders last month that the company is making a "fundamental shift:" It now sees itself as a "devices and services company." That declaration was widely seen as an admission that Microsoft is becoming more like Apple, making not just the OS that powers devices, but the devices and services that go on them. That is also evident in the retail stores Microsoft is setting up and the app stores it's creating as well.