????然而,，鮑爾默并不是完全只專注于企業(yè)市場(chǎng),。就任首席執(zhí)行官后，他的首批重要決策之一,，是微軟是否應(yīng)當(dāng)借Xbox進(jìn)入游戲市場(chǎng),。蓋茨完全贊同，但鮑爾默表示他對(duì)這個(gè)產(chǎn)品的批準(zhǔn)是他作為新任總裁樹立威信的轉(zhuǎn)折點(diǎn),。

????使用Xbox進(jìn)軍顧客的客廳,？鮑爾默表示，那“是我的決定,，我的責(zé)任,。我相信責(zé)任。我已經(jīng)入戲了,，我有責(zé)任感,。我會(huì)讓它成功的——我并不是一定得這么做——但這一路確實(shí)并不平坦。而我要保持責(zé)任感,、保持耐心,、堅(jiān)信我們做出的決定，這一點(diǎn)很重要,?！?/p>

????微軟娛樂和設(shè)備部門的前主管、自2001年Xbox發(fā)布首款產(chǎn)品便擔(dān)任Xbox部門主管的羅比?巴赫回憶道，在讓整個(gè)團(tuán)隊(duì)開始行動(dòng)前,，鮑爾默花了六個(gè)月時(shí)間進(jìn)行徹底的業(yè)務(wù)回顧,，來確定該領(lǐng)域?qū)ξ④泚碚f是否真的存在商機(jī)。他花了一個(gè)月時(shí)間來學(xué)習(xí)這個(gè)新角色,。

????巴赫說：“他愿意闖進(jìn)一個(gè)微軟從未進(jìn)入過的領(lǐng)域,，看看商業(yè)模式。然后說,，我們得嘗試一下,。”

????2000年起,，微軟投入了數(shù)十億美元的資金,，打算打入消費(fèi)者的客廳，然后逐漸占領(lǐng)它,。充當(dāng)先鋒的是一臺(tái)Xbox,，使用的是全新編寫的非Windows型操作系統(tǒng)。但最后它卻成為了市場(chǎng)領(lǐng)先的產(chǎn)品,，也打開了微軟進(jìn)軍聯(lián)網(wǎng)電視生態(tài)系統(tǒng)的通道,。即便當(dāng)這款產(chǎn)品遭遇障礙——與索尼（Sony）展開價(jià)格戰(zhàn)，導(dǎo)致微軟的第一代產(chǎn)品遭遇損失,；面對(duì)“三紅死機(jī)”問題,，微軟的第二代產(chǎn)品在2008年虧損達(dá)10億美元——鮑爾默依然支持團(tuán)隊(duì)所走的每一步，巴赫說,。

????曾擔(dān)任微軟戰(zhàn)略專家的技術(shù)投資家查爾斯?菲茨杰拉德表示：“Xbox曾經(jīng)虧損了數(shù)十億美元,，固然令人惋惜。不過如果大家把它看作防止索尼或其他游戲主機(jī)廠商侵蝕微軟在Windows個(gè)人電腦上的利益的保護(hù)手段的話,，它與Windows那時(shí)獲得的數(shù)千億利潤(rùn)相比,，不過是九牛一毛?！??

????Ballmer wasn't all business-focused, however. One of his first major decisions as CEO was whether or not Microsoft should enter the gaming market with the Xbox. Gates was all-in, but Ballmer says he considered his approval of the device to be a turning point for him to establish himself as the new chief executive.

????Getting into the living room with the Xbox? That "was my decision, my accountability," Ballmer says. "I believe in accountability. I'm in. I'm accountable. I'll make this work -- not that I had to drive it -- but we had some bumps on the road. And it was important that I stay accountable, stay patient, and stay behind the decision that we made."

????Robbie Bach, the former head of Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices division and head of Xbox from the launch of the original Xbox in 2001, remembers Ballmer spending six months conducting a thorough business review to determine whether there was actually opportunity for Microsoft before giving the team the go-ahead. He made the call one month into his new role.

????"He was willing to step out into a space that Microsoft had never been in, look at a business model, and say, This is something we need to try," Bach says.

????Since 2000, Microsoft has spent billions to expand in a market that has evolved to encompass the entire living room. What began as a device that used a non-Windows operating system written almost entirely from scratch has become a dominant console and entry point in the growing connected television ecosystem. Even when the console hit speed bumps -- competing on price against Sony (SNE), Microsoft took a loss on the first generation; faced with "red ring of death" console glitches, Microsoft took a billion-dollar write-off in 2008 against the second generation -- Ballmer backed the team every step of the way, Bach says.

????"It is easy to bemoan billions spent on Xbox," says Charles Fitzgerald, a former Microsoft strategist and current tech investor, "but when you look at it as a hedge to keep Sony or any game console from undermining the Windows PC, it is chump change compared to the hundreds of billions in Windows profits banked during that time."??