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Negotiating an Interview with a Rock...   Bummer of a Birthmark, Phil
Mar 3 2008 7:28PM EST

Steve Ballmer is Perfect

Steve Ballmer prompted some appropriate parsing, as both Reuters' Kenneth Li and SAI's Henry Blodget showed savvy by picking at the Microsoft CEO's words at the CeBIT opening. Commenting on the status of his company's march on Yahoo, Ballmer said:

"There's been a range of dialogue and there's a range of alternatives being considered. I think it's best for me not to get into the detail."

Li rightly then pondered:

"Is that a real past tense, or could that dialogue still be taking place?"

At great risk of leaning way out over the tips of his grammatical skis, Jack Flack suggests the follow-up question should have actually been this:

"Steve, in which tense were you speaking, past perfect or present perfect continuous?"

Blodget's sources say Ballmer was likely speaking about internal dialogue (which Blodget questions).

The revelatory power of parsing should never be underestimated, as most CEOs and flacks choose their words carefully, often with the oversight of disclosure-minded lawyers.

Blodget provided a good example a couple of days ago in update:

An SAI source close to the situation says "there are no formal talks." This leaves room for informal talks, however, which would still represent a thawing of the ice.

That may seem like nit-picking. But four out of five times, it actually reveals what's happening, particularly if the nit serves as an escape hatch from what would otherwise function as an air-tight denial.

Jack Flack makes the following assumptions:

1. Conversations between Microsoft and Yahoo are probably indeed going on, mainly because it's far more likely that Microsoft international boss Jean-Philippe Courtois is merely careless, not mendacious.

2. Given the scrutiny, Ballmer likely did indeed choose his words carefully, at least if he read the briefing book the flacks put in his hands when he boarded the G-IV for Hanover.

3. Given the stunning lack of leaks, the "dialogue" is likely going on at a very high level, and CNET's Dawn Kawamoto points out just how many different natural routes are available.

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