Everyone fails at some point in their lives, some more than others, but owning up to that failure is the most difficult part of being human. On Friday, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced that he will be retiring within the next 12 months and also owned up to one of Microsoft’s biggest failures.

After working as CEO for 13 years, Ballmer oversaw many operating systems, software launches and product releases. Through all the success, he admitted that he particularly regretted the launch of Windows Vista the most. In an interview with Mary Jo Foley, Ballmer states,

“I would say probably the thing I regret most is the, what shall I call it, the loopedy-loo that we did that was sort of Longhorn to Vista. I would say that’s probably the thing I regret most. And, you know, there are side effects of that when you tie up a big team to do something that doesn’t prove out to be as valuable.”

The “loopedy-loo” Ballmer describes was the thing most heavily criticized surrounding its launch. Vista’s high system requirements meant that many people, even those with new PCs, weren’t able to access all of the OS’ features. There were also many issues surrounding compatibility with pre-Vista hardware. User Account Control was also criticized for producing too many prompts, causing many users to simply disable the feature entirely. This caused more of a problem than a benefit for users.

It was not until two years later that Microsoft came up with another operating system, Windows 7, to correct the issues Vista was having and derived a whole new look that Windows users are now at ease with. Windows 8 was the last operating system released under Ballmer’s rein. Come October we will see what Bellmer’s plans are for Windows 8.1 and new management will have in store.

Overall, Ballmer is most proud of the impact Microsoft has had on peoples’ lives over the years. Being a part of “the birth of intelligent personal computing” was a significant part of his career. The future for Ballmer is unknown but he is ready for a change and for someone new to spruce up the Microsoft name for the better.

Blackberry is set to launch their new Blackberry Q5 handset on August 13th. The new device targets a more affordable audience than the high-end Z10 and Q10, and targets the legions of BlackBerry Curve owners who are approaching the end of their respective contracts. Blackberry plans to heavily target these consumers during the all-important back-to-school season.

Despite the emphasis on hardware, Blackberry’s future does not rely solely on the success of their new devices. Blackberry’s business model is changing with the launch of the Blackberry 10 platform. They are trying to be portrayed as a software company, and not just a device manufacturer. The company is focused on expanding the BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 deployments — including support for iOS and Android devices. In addition, Blackberry plans to extend its BBM social messaging service across multiple platforms and leverage its secure BlackBerry Global Data Network. The goal is allow Blackberry to be successful in the enterprise world regardless of which device a consumer has.

As of August 6, Samsung has announced their partnership with BlackBerry Messenger, BBM and is spreading the word quickly. They announced that BBM for Android will be available in Google Play and Samsung app store free of charge.

It has been 10 years since the BlackBerry Boom from the first Smartphones. In the beginning, BlackBerry was the hot commodity that everyone wanted to get their hands on. Now, 10 years later, BlackBerry is finding itself trying to reinvent their brand image as more than just a device maker by signing Blackberry 10 deals with the other device manufacturers.

Blackberry should continue to maintain some market share in the smartphone device segment, but they have lost a large portion of their users to other major platforms. Thus, Blackberry will need to continue to evolve as a software solution to stay relevant.

Last week, BGR shared the first picture of BBM for Android running on a handset and the app has reportedly been made available to early beta testers ahead of its public release. With group chat applications such as GroupMe and WhatsApp dominating the cross-platform group chat market, Blackberry is in desperate need for a successful launch of BBM. Time will tell what the future holds for Blackberry.