Steve Ballmer vs. Spider-Woman
Stephen Shankland Former Principal Writer
Stephen Shankland worked at CNET from 1998 to 2024 and wrote about processors, digital photography, AI, quantum computing, computer science, materials science, supercomputers, drones, browsers, 3D printing, USB, and new computing technology in general. He has a soft spot in his heart for standards groups and I/O interfaces. His first big scoop was about radioactive cat poop.
Expertise Processors, semiconductors, web browsers, quantum computing, supercomputers, AI, 3D printing, drones, computer science, physics, programming, materials science, USB, UWB, Android, digital photography, science. Credentials
- Shankland covered the tech industry for more than 25 years and was a science writer for five years before that. He has deep expertise in microprocessors, digital photography, computer hardware and software, internet standards, web technology, and more.
Plenty of people in the computing industry accuse Microsoft of evil behavior. And they could be right, if a 1980 Spider-Woman comic book from Marvel Comics is anything to judge by.
The cover of the comic book shows Spider-Woman imperiled by a large rotating saw blade. But more deadly than the blade, we are warned, is a man who looks remarkably like Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer. Not only that, but 1980 is the year Ballmer joined Microsoft.
Microsoft defenders can take heart that while the Ballmer-like character might be deadly, there's no indication that he is as malevolent as Mephisto or Shuma-gorath.