Tough, young Microsoft exec could go to top
Seattle PI | at | by Mike
The path to the top at Microsoft is not for the timid. Anyone hoping to make the ascent must be able to match wits and arguments with two of the most formidable and combative intellects in corporate America: Bill Gates, Microsoft's co-founder, and Steven Ballmer, its chief executive.
Eric Rudder, a senior vice president, demonstrated that skill not long after he arrived at Microsoft. In 1992, Rudder, then 25, had a confrontation with Gates, recalled Brad Silverberg, a former senior Microsoft executive. The dispute centered on some now-forgotten technical matter in a version of the Windows desktop operating system.