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Steve Ballmer talks mistakes, regrets at Microsoft

Remember Windows Vista? Steve Ballmer will likely never forget it – and cites it as one of his biggest mistake during his 13-year tenure as Microsoft’s chief executive. 

Microsoft step down: CEO Steve Ballmer announces retirement 02:44
 Ballmer announced in August that he would leave Microsoft within 12 months, but is still acting as the company’s CEO until a replacement is found.

In what may be his last interview as Microsoft’s CEO, Ballmer spoke with CBSNews.com’s sister site ZDNET.com about his biggest mistakes and regrets – chief among them is the failure of Windows Vista.

"Not only because the product wasn't a great product, but remember it took us five or six years to ship it. Then we had to sort of fix it,” Ballmer told ZDNET. Ballmer adds that instead of working on new products like phones, some of Microsoft’s best people were assigned to fixing Vista.

If Ballmer considers Vista his biggest regret, what about not buying Yahoo or losing money on Xbox? Read the full interview at ZDNET.

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