“Yes, the story is true. At least according to Lucovsky.
Microsoft calls it a “gross exaggeration,” but Lucovsky says that
when he walked into Ballmer’s office and told the Microsoft CEO he
was leaving the company for Google, Ballmer picked up his chair and
chucked it across the room. “Why does that surprise anyone?”
Lucovsky tells Wired.com, seven years later. “If you play golf with
Steve and he loses a five-cent bet, he’s pissy for the next week.
Should it surprise you that when I tell Steve I’m quitting and
going to work for Google, he would get animated?”