Steve Ballmer, chief executive of Microsoft Corp, has long been known for his abundant energy, but a video that began making the rounds of the Web last week, provides fodder for those who say his ardor can, in fact, be a little startling.
In the video, which appears to have been taped at an internal corporate pep rally, Ballmer bounds onstage to the song Get on your feet by Gloria Estefan then stalks around the stage and frantically jumps about for almost a full minute, screaming things like, "C'mon! Give it up for me"! Once he catches his breath, Ballmer bellows, "I have four words for you: I love this company! Yeah!"
"Too many Starbucks lattes cannot account for this mess," wrote one user on Kuro5shin, a community Web site popular with programmers. "I guess they don't randomly screen for drugs," wrote another.
Devotees of the Apple-oriented Mac Observer Web site were even less gracious. "Brings a whole new meaning to the phrase `800-pound gorilla,'" remarked one member.
"I think the video shows the real Ballmer," said Thomas C. Greene, who first pointed out the video in The Register, a British technology news service. "In observing his public appearances, I've often detected a volcanic, unthinking ego which he struggles to contain." Greene's article was headlined "Ballmer's Screen Test for `Planet of the Apes."
Digitally edited parodies of the performance have already begun to circulate around the Web. One, titled Pep Rally of the Apes, is set to the sounds of screeching monkeys. The British satire site NTKnow has posted several links to the clip, www.ntk.net/ballmer/mirrors.html
Some are actually wearing their mockery. Electric Escape, a maker of computer-themed clothing, is selling "Microsoft Monkeyboy 1.0" T-shirts on its Web site.
So what does the Microsoft make of the video?
While it would not comment on the actions in the video, or even say when the event took place, a spokeswoman did say, "Microsoft employees love how excited Steve is about the company and the software industry."
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