Paul Allen gets into some of the nitty-gritty details of the early days at Microsoft. Steve Ballmer receives a low CEO ranking. And some Seattleites recognize that they live in one of the most miserable cities in the country. Those were just some of the stories that sparked chatter on GeekWire this past week. To help summarize the news we take a look back at some of our favorite reader comments. Thanks to everyone for tuning in to GeekWire, and please keep the discussion going.


Ballmer

Steve Ballmer has his share of critics. So it was no surprise that some of them came out of the woodwork after we reported on a Glassdoor.com survey in which the Microsoft boss rated low (based on employee feedback) in terms of performance.

“In other news, rain is wet. How bad does it have to get before Microsoft’s do-nothing board actually does something?”

Full story and discussion: “Study: Microsoft’s Ballmer sees approval rating decline.”


Our story on Windermere trying to get its “mojo” back in online real estate sparked a number of comments, some who thought the Seattle company faces an uphill battle versus Redfin, Zillow and others. Reader Rob Ransom wrote:

“Interesting. Windermere has a great brand and franchise in the greater Seattle area. However, I don’t think technology is the problem nor is it the solution for traditional brokerages like Windermere. Businesses like Zillow and Trulia have largely solved the information asymmetry problem that was the historical source of value provided by agents/brokers to buyers/sellers.

The real challenge is an antiquated business model in which the few customers who actually do a home transaction are asked to subsidize – at very high rates – all the time/effort spent with the customers who don’t transact.”

Full story and discussion: Seattle’s newest online real estate upstart: Windermere?


Reader HR Mitchell was not impressed with the introduction of Google +1, a new service from the search giant which is designed to take on Facebook’s “like” button.

“More useless crap coding slowing down the browsing.”

Full story and discussion: “Google +1: Does this put the Internet search titan back in the social search game?”


(Photo via CascadeGuy)

Seattle recently ranked as the third most miserable city in the country based on change in home values, gas prices and unemployment. Some readers didn’t think it was newsworthy, but NeedVitaminD found the report interesting:

“For what it’s worth, I enjoyed the story, John, especially on a dark, rainy day like today when I question why I moved here. I also shared it with my friends who live in less miserable parts of the country. :-) Action Engine’s old CEO from Boston who was always telling me how miserable Seattle was found it particularly humorous.”

Full story and discussion: “Seattle: One miserable place”


Billionaire Paul Allen generated plenty of headlines — many unwanted — by retelling the story in his upcoming memoir of how Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer conspired to screw him out of a portion of his Microsoft equity stake. Some readers came to Allen’s defense, but Joe the Coder wasn’t one of them. He wrote:

“I have some history with the people involved in this and while Paul was definitely part of the team, Bill is the guy that made MS happen. The simple fact is that with out Bill’s drive, MS would have just been another software company. In fact, the most important move that MS made happened well after Paul left – the Windows pivot. That was all Bill – Paul was simply not involved. One thing that Bill and Paul do share is a passion for revisionist history.”

Full story and discussion: “Bill Gates and Paul Allen: The raw truth, as told by Allen.”


You can also tune in to the GeekWire podcast for our wrap-up of the latest technology news, as well as a discussion with the founders of Seattle startup Giant Thinkwell.

John Cook is co-founder of GeekWire. Follow on Twitter: @geekwirenews and Facebook.

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