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Ballmer's last Ballmeresque video moment? Perhaps. Soak it in

Soon-to-be-former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer -- never one to hide his feelings for the firm he's worked at for decades -- once again gives us a video moment to remember.

Edward Moyer Senior Editor
Edward Moyer is a senior editor at CNET and a many-year veteran of the writing and editing world. He enjoys taking sentences apart and putting them back together. He also likes making them from scratch. ¶ For nearly a quarter of a century, he's edited and written stories about various aspects of the technology world, from the US National Security Agency's controversial spying techniques to historic NASA space missions to 3D-printed works of fine art. Before that, he wrote about movies, musicians, artists and subcultures.
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  • Ed was a member of the CNET crew that won a National Magazine Award from the American Society of Magazine Editors for general excellence online. He's also edited pieces that've nabbed prizes from the Society of Professional Journalists and others.
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Edward Moyer
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The initial reaction to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's imminent exit from the company may have been one of relief (at least as far as Wall Street and various critics were concerned). But where on Earth, some may've fretted, are we gonna find another chief executive who can deliver memorable video moments like Ballmer could?

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There have been more than one of those over the years, and now Ballmer has provided another.

Our friends over at The Verge got their hands on footage from Ballmer's final go at leading an employee meeting as CEO, an event that happened Thursday.

The clip doesn't disappoint: the ever-emotional tech-world giant is tearful through much of it, before an orgy of high-fives and hand-slapping erupts as Ballmer hops toward the exit in a way that makes the phrase "developers, developers, developers, developers" rise up in one's head.

Say what you will about Ballmer, but the man seems never to have been shy about expressing his enthusiasm for the company that's employed him for the last 30-plus years -- regardless of whatever gibes may've come his way as a result. As CNET's Charles Cooper put it, "In an era of stuffed-shirt chief executives who don't scratch their noses without first getting instructed by their public relations departments, Microsoft's CEO let it all hang out."

Indeed. So then, get out your Bic lighter -- er, fire up your smartphone screen -- wave it slowly above your head, and (to quote the man himself), as Ballmer once again lets it all hang out, "soak it in."