The real story behind Steve Ballmer's "Developers!" chant — a concoction of Microsoft's flawed "just a platform company" culture and a dire need to collaborate with third-party developers

After decades of mystery, former Microsoft CEO reveals the story behind his viral "Developers!" chant at company events.

Earlier this year, during Microsoft's 50th birthday celebration, we seemingly got a front-row seat to Copilot AI's evolution into a companion and real friend, fully equipped with memory and a virtual body as part of Microsoft's AI CEO, Mustafa Suleyman's, future plans for the AI-powered chatbot.

But perhaps more interestingly, we also got a free nostalgic trip down memory lane, courtesy of former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who took the stage at the special Copilot event for his Developers! Developers! Developers! chant.

The viral chant can be traced back to a Microsoft developer conference in the early 2000s, which was often associated with Ballmer. Around the same time, the executive had just assumed his new role as Microsoft CEO, after Bill Gates stepped down from the helm.

During an episode of the Acquired podcast, Ballmer recently revealed that there's much more to the chant than just hype. He indicated that he used the viral chant as a call to action for Microsoft (via Business Insider). At the time, the company had doubled down on developing Windows, Windows Server, and ActiveX.

However, the tech giant wasn't as enthusiastic and proactive in getting third-party developers to build on top of these platforms. Ballmer saw this as a threat, facing fierce competition from the likes of Linux.

Steve Ballmer also revealed that he was frustrated with Microsoft's culture in the early 2000s, predominantly viewing it as "just a platform company."

As such, Ballmer's infamous chant was a call to action for Microsoft to take a proactive approach in encouraging developers to build on its platforms. "You have to be able to communicate that you really care about developers who are not your own," Ballmer added. "We just had to tell people, 'We want you, we want you, we want you.'"