Ballmer Analyzes Microsoft's 'One Big' Vista Mistake

This <a href="http://www.crn.com/sections/breakingnews/dailyarchives.jhtml;jsessionid=ZEQ0I0LMYJC1MQSNDLPCKHSCJUNN2JVN?articleId=191600739"CRN article covers a recent meeting Steve Ballmer had with industry financial analysts. From the article we get such Ballmer quotes as:

We made an upfront decision that was, I'll say, incredibly strategic and brilliant and wise — and was not implementable,” Ballmer said.
We've been fortunate. There is nothing that we have undertaken — with a couple of exceptions like Microsoft Bob that I'll cop to in advance — where we have decided that we have not succeeded and let's stop,” Ballmer said. “We've either succeeded, or we're still telling you we're going to succeed.”
I don't understand either quote either. I'd not call any decision that is “not implementable” by admission of the company CEO as strategic, brilliant or wise. If I were a Microsoft employee, I'd be a little worried by that comment. In the end, it seems they may have finally learned a lesson that Joel posted about way back in 2000. It's easy to say hindsight is 20/20, but I guess sometimes foresight can be also. The second quote is equally as odd. Multiple things Microsoft has tried have failed miserably, and in fact he points out one of the most egregious examples himself..in the middle of saying nothing hasn't succeeded. I guess one shouldn't be surprised that Microsoft's stock has stagnated during much of Ballmer's tenure. Still no news on whether he'll follow Bill and step down.
–jeremy
Microsoft, MSFT, Ballmer, Vista, Windows