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The 2005 IT Year In Quotes

PCM2 writes "InfoWorld is carrying a news story that sums up the year in quotes from IT executives. Lots of fun stuff to be had here, including former WorldCom CEO Bernie Ebbers: 'I know what I don't know, and to this day I don't know technology and I don't know accounting and finance.' Also: 'We have so many rivals it's frightening. The week after next I will meet Bill Gates and Steve Jobs and I will [shake hands and]look down and see if I still have a hand.' - Sony's Stringer"

142 comments

  1. Rare to get such honesty these days. by otavo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "In our flash business, we had an awful quarter. ... It makes me puke to lose US$39 million." -- Hector Ruiz, chairman, president and CEO of Advanced Micro Devices Inc., clearly not a happy man. is my fav.

    It is rare to get such honesty these days.


    --------
    Intentional Web Initiative

    1. Re:Rare to get such honesty these days. by ZachPruckowski · · Score: 2, Funny

      It makes me puke

      To tell the truth, I don't want that much honesty.

    2. Re:Rare to get such honesty these days. by rampant+mac · · Score: 3, Insightful
      "In our flash business, we had an awful quarter. ... It makes me puke to lose US$39 million." -- Hector Ruiz, chairman, president and CEO of Advanced Micro Devices Inc., clearly not a happy man. is my fav.

      It is rare to get such honesty these days."

      That's not honesty. That's a CEO kissing ass, hoping the board won't fire him. An honest CEO would explain in detail why that division lost so much money, why it was his fault, and how he would rectify the issue.

      --
      I like big butts and I cannot lie.
    3. Re:Rare to get such honesty these days. by drewzhrodague · · Score: 1

      Makes you wonder about the responses from our current political administration, and wheter or not it would be best to start using things like fire, or actually showing up en masse to explain all at once.

      --
      Zhrodague.net - I do projects and stuff too.
    4. Re:Rare to get such honesty these days. by Shky · · Score: 0, Troll

      Honesty? Then clearly the corporate life has stripped him of any tiny shred of humanity, his viscera replaced with dollar bills and stock market ticker tape, leaving a husk of what used to be a man, now nothing but a symbol of capitalism and consumerism, a terrifying monument to our day and age, and only a message of life and loss (and praying for gains), devoid of what we used to call love. Now affection is measured in dollars and cents, leaving those with any heart left completely incensed at this disgusting display of apathy, complacency, and pure-and-simple greed.

      Puke? You make me sick.

      --
      CC Licensed Serialized Story and Podcast: Ingenioustries
    5. Re:Rare to get such honesty these days. by CyricZ · · Score: 1

      He puked because he was laughing so hard at the fact that he could lose AMD $39 million, yet still take home his millions anyways.

      --
      Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
    6. Re:Rare to get such honesty these days. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      An honest CEO would explain in detail why that division lost so much money, why it was his fault, and how he would rectify the issue...and feel like puking at the same time.

    7. Re:Rare to get such honesty these days. by IconBasedIdea · · Score: 1

      That's not honesty. That's a CEO kissing ass, hoping the board won't fire him. An honest CEO would explain in detail why that division lost so much money, why it was his fault, and how he would rectify the issue.
      Yes, but that woundn't make for a very good quote, would it?

    8. Re:Rare to get such honesty these days. by chris_eineke · · Score: 2, Funny
      An honest CEO
      Good joke. :P
      --
      "All you have to do is be fragile and grateful. So stay the underdog." Chuck Palahniuk, Choke
    9. Re:Rare to get such honesty these days. by mpupu · · Score: 2

      That's not honesty. That's a CEO kissing ass, hoping the board won't fire him. An honest CEO would explain in detail why that division lost so much money, why it was his fault, and how he would rectify the issue.

      And all that in a single quote.

    10. Re:Rare to get such honesty these days. by NDPTAL85 · · Score: 1

      Whats it like being the last hippie in America?

      --
      Mac OS X and Windows XP working side by side to fight back the night.
    11. Re:Rare to get such honesty these days. by Skater · · Score: 3, Informative

      How do you know he didn't? This could be, and likely is, a quote to a journalist, not to the board.

    12. Re:Rare to get such honesty these days. by Shky · · Score: 1

      Canadian and it was meant in jest, so, I really wouldn't know. Judging by the troll mod it got, I've a feeling that it didn't play as well as I would have liked. Upon reading after a night's sleep, I think I see why...

      --
      CC Licensed Serialized Story and Podcast: Ingenioustries
    13. Re:Rare to get such honesty these days. by typicallyterrific · · Score: 1

      Which is different how, exactly?

    14. Re:Rare to get such honesty these days. by Skater · · Score: 1

      Journalists don't hire or fire the guy, nor do we (the general public). That power is reserved for the board. The guy doesn't have to answer to me; he has to answer to his employer - the board of directors.

      That's how. Why on earth would you think that he should explain it to the general public?

    15. Re:Rare to get such honesty these days. by typicallyterrific · · Score: 1

      I know, but I'm sure their board probably do read everything their CEO says in the press, at all times.

      A statement made to a journalist would inevitably make it back to a board member, sooner or later -- which is what I meant :P.

  2. They forgot a few by Psionicist · · Score: 1, Informative

    They forgot a few important ones:

    "I'm going to f***ing bury that guy, I have done it before, and I will do it again. I'm going to f***ing kill Google." -- Steve Jobs

    "Most people, I think, don't even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?" -- Thomas Hesse, Sony

    1. Re:They forgot a few by kberg108 · · Score: 0

      That wasn't Steve Jobs it was Steve Ballmer.

      --
      I like things that are sweet and not things that are lame. --
    2. Re:They forgot a few by ZachPruckowski · · Score: 4, Informative

      "I'm going to f***ing bury that guy, I have done it before, and I will do it again. I'm going to f***ing kill Google." -- Steve Jobs

      Um, wasn't that Steve Ballmer? I mean, there's a bit of a difference.

    3. Re:They forgot a few by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Shouldn't the above be attributed Steve Ballmer not Steve Jobs?

    4. Re:They forgot a few by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      "Even my cancer has a low market share" - Steve Jobs (maybe not)

    5. Re:They forgot a few by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or maybe his psionic powers kicked in there and revealed to us what Jobs is thinking!

    6. Re:They forgot a few by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny
      Um, wasn't that Steve Ballmer? I mean, there's a bit of a difference.

      not really

    7. Re:They forgot a few by skeptictank · · Score: 1
      "Um, wasn't that Steve Ballmer? I mean, there's a bit of a difference."

      Yeah there is. Like Ballmer could kill Jobs and his whole family just by sitting on them.

  3. "2005" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    "The 2005 IT Year".

    I don't get it.

    1. Re:"2005" by wombert · · Score: 1, Funny

      Try it with finger quotes.

      --
      Did I say overlords? I meant protectors.
  4. Sorry, Steve Ballmer by Psionicist · · Score: 1

    Oops, of course I mean Steve Ballmer, not Jobs.

    1. Re:Sorry, Steve Ballmer by otavo · · Score: 2, Funny

      Steve Jobs is known to have a temper I was starting to wonder if Google introduced a gPod or something. :)

  5. Here's one from drewzhrodague by drewzhrodague · · Score: 4, Funny

    Here's one from me, I came-up with this pretty much on the fly, but I guess it was in response to someone's question in a conversation: Vacation is the distance between jobs.

    --
    Zhrodague.net - I do projects and stuff too.
  6. My 2005 IT Quote of the Year by rampant+mac · · Score: 5, Funny
    Secretary sitting outside Balmer's Office...

    *sound of chair hitting the wall*

    "What the FUCK was that?"

    --
    I like big butts and I cannot lie.
    1. Re:My 2005 IT Quote of the Year by sammy+baby · · Score: 3, Funny

      Hee. If the stories about Ballmer are true, it was more likely, "Here we go again."

    2. Re:My 2005 IT Quote of the Year by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or: didn't hear anything, because she went out and bought a Nano and some noise-cancelling headphones.

  7. "Screw the nano." by plover · · Score: 5, Funny
    "Screw the nano. What the hell does the nano do? Who listens to 1,000 songs?" -- Motorola's Zander letting his real feelings show about Apple Computer (Profile, Products, Articles) Inc.'s music player, which overshadowed Motorola's new Rokr phone during a product launch. (Sept. 23.)

    He's right! 640 songs ought to be enough for anyone!

    --
    John
    1. Re:"Screw the nano." by Seumas · · Score: 1

      Who listens to 1,000 songs?

      Sounds like someone who is a radio listener.

      Seriously though - what the fuck? I don't even listen to music much and my collection (just in MP3s) is about 24,000. The nano would cary ONE or TWO discographies of my favorite bands.

    2. Re:"Screw the nano." by IvanTheViking · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Ditto.

      I have an 80GB Neuros for a reason : Discographies on the go.

      Pick a band, aim the car and drive off.


      640 songs? My archaic laptop has more than that on it, and I use it once a month.

  8. ESR such a dolt by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    OK, mod this down... Eric Raymond is the biggest f*cking prick I've ever met. Microsoft's worst nightmare? I doubt Bill Gates is sitting at home having nightmares about the arrogant gasbag that is ESR. I met him a couple times so far. Each time he was condescending and rude. Against my better judgment I asked him to autograph a program guide. The fucker actually sneered at me and huffed. Contrast this to maddog hall or Wozniak or Linus (all of whom were absolutely pleasant and smiling). Shoot, even Richard Stallman who I'd thought would be an ass from all the stories I've heard was a nice guy, though really weird (and driven, and someone I'm glad fights for what he believes). But ESR, put a cork in him please.

    1. Re:ESR such a dolt by rampant+mac · · Score: 2, Funny
      "OK, mod this down... Eric Raymond is the biggest f*cking prick I've ever met. Microsoft's worst nightmare? I doubt Bill Gates is sitting at home having nightmares about the arrogant gasbag that is ESR. I met him a couple times so far. Each time he was condescending and rude."

      Yes, but did he pass the geek smell test? That's my litmus for nerdery. If he has that 3-day-old smell of farted burritos and stale Cheetos, he get my nod of approval. Otherwise, pfft, you're completely right.

      --
      I like big butts and I cannot lie.
    2. Re:ESR such a dolt by kfg · · Score: 4, Funny

      But ESR, put a cork in him please.

      Careful dude, or he might get to feeling like putting a lead cork in you.

      You probably just shouldn't pay much attention to those "three letter" people anyway.

      KFG

    3. Re:ESR such a dolt by killjoe · · Score: 1

      I have never met him so ESR may indeed be a prick but I think he was talking metaphorically there. I think he was talking about the open source community in general.

      --
      evil is as evil does
    4. Re:ESR such a dolt by Dr.+Photo · · Score: 4, Funny

      "You probably just shouldn't pay much attention to those "three letter" people anyway.

      KFG"


      Heh, heh, heh.

      Slightly OT, but... Every time I see the nick "kfg", I think it must mean "Kentucky Fried Goat". And that makes me smile. :)

    5. Re:ESR such a dolt by kfg · · Score: 4, Funny

      Every time I see the nick "kfg", I think it must mean "Kentucky Fried Goat".

      One of these days I'm really going to have to have a talk with my mother about that one.

      KFG

    6. Re:ESR such a dolt by Dr.+Photo · · Score: 1

      Whoops! Sorry...

      And all this time I thought it was just a very clever nick.... :P

    7. Re:ESR such a dolt by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Please mod parent up. ESR needs to be forgotten about. The sooner, the better.

    8. Re:ESR such a dolt by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Who?

    9. Re:ESR such a dolt by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What?

    10. Re:ESR such a dolt by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      "I have never met him so ESR may indeed be a prick but I think he was talking metaphorically there. I think he was talking about the open source community in general."

      He thinks he is the open source community in general.

    11. Re:ESR such a dolt by 10Ghz · · Score: 1

      So, why is he then painting himself as some sort of "open source leader"? What exactly has he done? Yes, he wrote The Essay. Woohoo! Can I lick your dingleberries now, ESR? He also wrote dozen or so crappy apps, and he still calls himself ubercoder. He also called himself "core Linux-kernel hacker", yet his efforts there are miniscule and/or failures (the new config-system he proposed? Crashed an burned).

      There are LOTS of other people I would give the title of "Open Source leader" to. Hell, there could be several of those at once! ESR is not one of them. He's just riding on his past glory. And yes, he IS a useless windbag. The less he says, the better off the open source-movement is.

      --
      Lesbian Nazi Hookers Abducted by UFOs and Forced Into Weight Loss Programs - -all next week on Town Talk.
    12. Re:ESR such a dolt by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thank you! I can't believe anyone would ever quote that guy. He makes open source look bad

    13. Re:ESR such a dolt by killjoe · · Score: 1

      mmmm. He wrote a book that sold well and was influential. He wrote fetchmail which is in every linux distro so I think you have give the man some credit.

      He may be a gasbag but at least he is not a lying peice of shit gasbag like Ballmer or Gates are. I think you have to keep things in perpective here. Corporate america is full of gasbags who have done nothing useful in their whole lives. These people not only speak marketdroit gibberish but they would not know the truth if it bit them on the ass. Have you ever read an interview with Gates which did not include at least one lie? How about Ballmer? How about the nitwits who run Sun? These fucktards don't even know what they want to say let alone how to say it. One day they hate open source the next day they love it. One day Ms is evil, next day they are buddy buddy. You wonder how they walk around with all that bullshit coming out of every orifice in their body.

      If the disgusting duo of Ballmer and Gates isn't bad for MS then how can ESR be bad for open source. Sometimes you need gasbags and as far as gasbags go ESR is not too bad. Sure he puts his foot in his mouth once in a while but at least every word out of his mouth is not a lie.

      I'll take ESR over the CEOs of Sony, Ms, Intel, Sun any day.

      --
      evil is as evil does
    14. Re:ESR such a dolt by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm sure he's a pretty technically intelligent guy, and has some software development chops. But he seems to be somewhat socially clumsy,.. and also doesn't realize his clumsiness (as most folks in that boat are wont to do).

    15. Re:ESR such a dolt by ccp · · Score: 1

      You probably just shouldn't pay much attention to those "three letter" people anyway.

      Ditto.

    16. Re:ESR such a dolt by 10Ghz · · Score: 1
      mmmm. He wrote a book that sold well and was influential.


      Yes he did. And that's just about only worthwhile thing he has done.

      He wrote fetchmail which is in every linux distro so I think you have give the man some credit.


      So he wrote some small application, big fucking deal. Do you see developers of Frozen Bubble proclaiming themselves as "Uberhackers"? How about developers of Kate, XMMS, NetHack, Kdevelop, Metacity, Procmail, X.org or Amarok? Each of those apps is a lot more impressive and complicated that Fetchmail is. Yet ESR marches around shouting "Bow before me, for I wrote Fetchmail!" (originally it was written by Carl Harris, so ESR can't even take full credit for his most important piece of code). And even Fetchmail is eclipsed by Getmail.

      He may be a gasbag but at least he is not a lying peice of shit gasbag like Ballmer or Gates are.


      It says quite a bit about ESR that we have to compare him to Gates and Ballmer, in order to find some redeeming qualities in him....
      --
      Lesbian Nazi Hookers Abducted by UFOs and Forced Into Weight Loss Programs - -all next week on Town Talk.
    17. Re:ESR such a dolt by aichpvee · · Score: 1

      You know, ESR. The company that made D&D before they got bought by Wizards of the Coast.

      --
      The Farewell Tour II
  9. Linus logic... by dazza101 · · Score: 0, Troll

    I'm an egotistical bastard, so I name all my projects after myself. First Linux, now git - Linus Torvalds

    Using this logic, I wonder what the next Windoze should really be called?

    Bill? Nah, thats just boring. Gates? Nah, same deal. BillGates? Doesn't work. Maybe compress it into a funky sounding B-Gates? Perhaps a slight tweak and we have Bates. Of course Bill would be pondering this as he is being worshipped by the admiring VP's - yes Master, of course Master, whatever you wish Master...

    So maybe Master Bates would be appropriate?

    1. Re:Linus logic... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      Gates was following Linus' logic when he named his company Microsoft.

      I'll be here all week, folks.

    2. Re:Linus logic... by Alex+P+Keaton+in+da · · Score: 1

      Um- MasterGates?

      --
      And All I Ask is a Tall Ship And a Star to Steer Her By
    3. Re:Linus logic... by ikejam · · Score: 1

      Master Bator ?

    4. Re:Linus logic... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I guess you missed the point -- "MasterGates" is nowhere close to "Master Bates". Try saying it aloud.

      Oh what the heck, I guess you still won't get it -- "Master Bates" ~ "masturbates".
      Maybe it's not funny, but that's what the GP had in mind.

      (AC to avoid all the "Thank you, Captain Obvious" mod-downs).

    5. Re:Linus logic... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And I this time I thought it was a reference to Arcanum...

    6. Re:Linus logic... by zoloto · · Score: 1

      reminds me of that movie "The Toy" with Richard Pryor (sp?) who was hired by "US" Bates (Jackie Gleason) to play with his kid Eric Bates.

      IMDB goodness: here

  10. A contender from Sony by From+A+Far+Away+Land · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Mr. THOMAS HESSE (President, Sony BMG Global Digital Business): Most people, I think, don't even know what a Rootkit is, so why should they care about it?

    1. Re:A contender from Sony by pilkul · · Score: 1

      That's a pearl. Also, most people, I think, don't even know what multiple sclerosis is, so why should they care if they have it?

    2. Re:A contender from Sony by keithmo · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The first time I read that quote, I thought "most people don't know what malignant melanoma is, so why should they care about it?"

    3. Re:A contender from Sony by Atario · · Score: 1
      Mr. THOMAS HESSE (President, Sony BMG Global Digital Business): Most people, I think, don't even know what a Rootkit is, so why should they care about it?
      Don't you mean "Sony BMG Global Digital Business (Profile, Products, Articles)"?

      Yeeesh. Stop that, InfoWorld.
      --
      "A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy." --Theodore Roosevelt
  11. The Real Jem; by DNAspark99 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    "What were you going to do with the rest of your afternoon, offer jobs to Richard Stallman and Linus Torvalds? Or were you going to stick to something easier, like talking Pope Benedict into presiding at a Satanist orgy?"
      -- Eric Raymond, one of the prime movers in the open-source movement, who also describes himself as "Microsoft's worst nightmare" after he received an e-mail pitch from Microsoft asking if he was interested in a job. (Sept. 9.)

    --

    --
    Society has traditionally always tried to find scapegoats for its problems. Well, here I am.
    1. Re:The Real Jem; by el+americano · · Score: 2

      I don't know about Microsoft, but he's *my* worst nightmare. I hope he prime-moves from irrelevant to forgotten real soon.

      (Microsoft HR: Sir, just forget about it. We weren't offering you a job.)

      --
      Those are my principles. If you don't like them I have others. -Groucho Marx
    2. Re:The Real Jem; by danheretic · · Score: 1

      No, this is the real Jem.

  12. And in other quotes: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    'The week after next we will meet Sony's Stringer and we will [shake hands and] look down and see if he surreptitiously sticks something up our asses.' - Bill Gates and Steve Jobs

  13. Missing quotes... by Tellarin · · Score: 0, Redundant


    Hmmm, no quote about someone "going to fu*&%^$& kill" someone else?
    How sad.

  14. Developer comment... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 4, Funny

    A developer once said: "I have no idea what the probelm is, but whatever it was is now fixed."

    Which kinda reminds of the line from the remake of The Thing: "I don't know what that was, but it's weird and it's pissed off."

    1. Re:Developer comment... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There's another line from The Thing that's appropriate for coders. Remember the scene when the dog spontaneously transforms into some kind of grotesque tentacled monster? 'You've got to be fucking kidding me!' works just as well with monstrous spaghetti code.

    2. Re:Developer comment... by bladesjester · · Score: 1

      I always liked the one bit from Little Monsters.

      "You know what happens when I get upset! That's it. I'm upset!"
      *thing pops out of his head and makes a noise before poping back in*
      "What the hell was that?"
      "I don't know. That's what happens when I get upset..."

      --
      Everything I need to know I learned by killing smart people and eating their brains.
  15. How about this one.... by 8127972 · · Score: 4, Funny

    "I have never, honestly, thrown a chair in my life." - Steve Ballmer at Gartner's Symposium/ITxpo, 10/20/05

    I guess he means that he's dishonestly thown a chair.

    --
    This is my opinion. To make sure you don't steal it, it's covered by the DMCA.
    1. Re:How about this one.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "I have never, honestly, thrown a chair in my life." - Steve Ballmer, president of Washington State's Recliner Tossing Club

    2. Re:How about this one.... by StarkRG · · Score: 4, Funny

      "Alright, I won't toss this chair at you, I was just faking you out. No, really, I don't throw chairs, it's just a roumor. You can come out from behind that wet bar, seriously, I'm not going to hurt you..." *crash* "Ha! Gotcha!"

  16. Popups?? by The+Amazing+Fish+Boy · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    WTF?

    I just submitted a comment (as AC) and got a popup. (Well, I would have were it not for Firefox's popup blocker.)

    For shame, Slashdot.

    1. Re:Popups?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      test?

    2. Re:Popups?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't think it happens every time.

    3. Re:Popups?? by HTL2001 · · Score: 1

      no it doesn't, but I got a random popup once also. Not frequent (thank god) but still, a popup??

      --
      By reading this, you have given me brief control of your mind.
  17. The real Jem... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...is walking Scout home.

  18. Oh John... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "...but sometimes you could get them to beat themselves. And they did on a fairly regular basis." ... sounds like most people in IT.

  19. Long Memories by kmactane · · Score: 5, Insightful
    "One of the most frustrating things that happens occasionally is you go into a client and they'll regale you with tales of atrocities and you say, 'When did this happen?' and they say 'Oh, 1993 or 94, I forget when' -- there's such a long tail to the memories of some of our clients." -- [CA CEO John] Swainson laying out the challenges he and his team face in trying to rebuild shattered customer confidence in the company formerly known as Computer Associates, now rebranded just plain CA. (Oct. 12.)

    Swainson's not kidding, there. Especially when a company does something really boneheaded, people don't forget, and they don't even forgive. (I think maybe people feel like forgiveness is for other humans, not for corporations.)

    I was on the phone with a recruiter earlier today, and mention of Claria (formerly Gator) came up. He said that it was really difficult to place people there. There were the occasional ones who just didn't recognize the name, but at least half his potential hires went "Claria? They're the people who used to be Gator! I'm not working there! Don't even send them my résumé."

    Note that these are people who are out of work, too. Some missteps are just so bad, you can never recover from them. Associating yourself with sleazy and excruciatingly annoying marketing methods is one of them. (Only time will tell if putting rootkits on your customers' computers is another.)

    1. Re:Long Memories by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names."
      - John F. Kennedy

    2. Re:Long Memories by sammy+baby · · Score: 1
      I was on the phone with a recruiter earlier today, and mention of Claria (formerly Gator) came up. He said that it was really difficult to place people there. There were the occasional ones who just didn't recognize the name, but at least half his potential hires went "Claria? They're the people who used to be Gator! I'm not working there! Don't even send them my résumé."

      This story, believe it or not, gives me hope. Thanks for sharing it. :)
    3. Re:Long Memories by IvanTheViking · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I think rootkits from the Music Industry are going to probably become the touchiest subject so far when it comes to "bundled" malacious software. Granted, as you pointed out time will only tell on these products, but one must also recall why people will still purchase the product even if the name is slandered in their minds:Monopoly on access to the music they desire.

      Sure, an average ./ 'er will say "F'em , I'll just P2P my way to aural pleasure", but if you think about Joe Consumer, he/she will probably still purchase the legal CD as they are now be trained into avoiding downloading music at all costs. ClearChannel will still do its part too in pumping RIAA music and only RIAA music onto the airwaves ensuring the average person will be addicted to it like crack, keeping the sales going, even if the entire industry is tarnished.


      How this turns out should be an amusing tale to tell the kids, either in "The day artists went indie/label free" or "The day we lost our freedoms and live in a censored, scrutinized world" (food for thought)

    4. Re:Long Memories by ackthpt · · Score: 1
      Swainson's not kidding, there. Especially when a company does something really boneheaded, people don't forget, and they don't even forgive. (I think maybe people feel like forgiveness is for other humans, not for corporations.)

      My favorite (or actually least favorite) is when something goes wrong, you get it sorted and the damage was minor, yet the end users remember it forever, while overlooking everything that's gone right, or actually outstanding.

      Then, based upon these selective memories they elect to dump the package, re-equip, re-engineer, retrain and the cost of some errors is nearly incalculable and inevitable in any transition. But they'll gladly do it to get away from that one sour memory.

      The irony was when a senior administrator set a highly accelerated time-line, which resulted in many, many long nights of work without break, then when the inevitable happened, and it was a grand cock-up, they shrugged it off.

      Happened about 9 years ago and still gets me steamed. Stupid twit.

      --

      A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
    5. Re:Long Memories by hdparm · · Score: 1

      I hope this doesn't mean you're going send CV to Claria now :o)

    6. Re:Long Memories by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Actually I was in a Royal Bank the other day and it was suggested that I open an account. I told the teller that I had once had an account with them and that they lost my business 20 years ago. A bank gets one shot per lifetime: there are many more banks than I will ever have bank accounts. Large companies with long term relationships like Royal Bank and CA need to keep this in mind: once you've lost a customer, they are not coming back--ever. For consumer products companies, the effect is less severe. I can't, for example, say that I will never buy a Sony product again only that I would never buy a Sony product where the cost is such that the decision is non-trivial (for example, I might buy their low-end headphones but never a TV).

  20. What do you know? by ezratrumpet · · Score: 5, Funny
    "I know what I don't know, and to this day I don't know technology and I don't know accounting and finance." -- Bernie Ebbers, former WorldCom Inc. CEO, speaking in his defense, yes, you've got that right, in his defense during the WorldCom fraud trial.

    So, to become a CEO of a major communications company, you need not know technology, accounting, or finance. Did the board of directors just need a really good shortstop for the annual softball game against the engineers?

    1. Re:What do you know? by Kihaji · · Score: 2, Interesting

      There is a reason companies hire smart people to do engineering, accounting, and finance. It's because they know what they are doing.

      CEO's are there to manage people, not tell Joe Beancounter that he forgot to carry a 1.

    2. Re:What do you know? by AuMatar · · Score: 2, Insightful

      CEOs set the strategy for the company. If they don't know technology, how can they decide where they should move their products? If they don't know finance, how can they know wether to lay off, hire more, buy or not buy this or that company, etc? They don't need to have phds in MechE, EE, CS, etc, but they need a working knowledge of the filds the company works in.

      --
      I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
    3. Re:What do you know? by firellama · · Score: 1

      Bernie is something like 6'4, so more likely needed a center on the football team or someone to dust the crystal chandeliers.

    4. Re:What do you know? by firellama · · Score: 1

      Obviously I meant basketball team; I was distracted plugging in my picks for the week.

    5. Re:What do you know? by killjoe · · Score: 2, Funny

      I actually saw this exchange on CSPAN between kenneth Lay and a congressman (not verbatim).

      "Did you know you had to report these earning in this way?"
      "No I did not"
      "Why not? That's just basic accounting"
      "I didn't know that's all"
      "When you went to school didn't they teach you that?"
      "I guess not".
      "What did you major in?"
      "I have an MBA".
      "YOu have an MBA and you didn't know a basic accounting principle? Where did you get you degree from?"
      "Harward business school".

      Man I fell down laughing. It wasn't a great advertisement for Harvard or capitlaism for that matter.

      --
      evil is as evil does
    6. Re:What do you know? by timeOday · · Score: 1
      CEO's are there to manage people, not tell Joe Beancounter that he forgot to carry a 1.
      Is that what Bernie thought too? Didn't work out too good, what with the biggest chapter 11 in US history. And by the way it wasn't "1" they forgot to carry, it was $12e9.
    7. Re:What do you know? by geekoid · · Score: 1

      well, a CEO is also hired to make contacts at the top of the corporate food chain. Set up mergers, get government contracts, the ability to raise stock proces. Accounting, Finanace and technology could be handle by there respective Chiefs.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    8. Re:What do you know? by hdparm · · Score: 1
      CEO's are there to manage people, not tell Joe Beancounter that he forgot to carry a 1.

      In this case few zeros, too apparently.

    9. Re:What do you know? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This particular guy sounds pretty bad, but in general a CEO needs to know what she doesn't know, and find people who do know it. How does she know if they know it? That's what a CEO should be good at. She should be a good judge of charachter, have strong skills in communication and organization, and should know how to separate the good from the bad, provide the good with the support they need and how to get rid of the bad in the least disruptive way possible.

      The CEO, President or other head-honcho is the ultimate manager, and a manager's job is to give all the credit and take all the blame. Managers are the bones to their team's muscles. They don't DO anything themselves, but they provide the structures their teams use to get things done. Of course, this analogy is a gross over-simplification, but nevermind that. :)

    10. Re:What do you know? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Whoa, the *engineers* play softball? Then who are these basement dwellers you speak of?

  21. What the hell is this? by Psionicist · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    Modded down because of a typo? This is Slashdot for crying out loud, it's not like you have never been exposed to typos before. And you certainly know WHO actually said that famous bury-quote.

    Oh well, now when I've been modded down, I can see someone else here posted that Sony quote 10 minutes later and was modded insightful. Sigh.

    1. Re:What the hell is this? by NeutronCowboy · · Score: 1

      Kind of a key typo there. Jobs =! Ballmer. Completely different companies, completely different people.... completely different expectations. Some typos ARE deadly.

      --
      Those who can, do. Those who can't, sue.
    2. Re:What the hell is this? by Turn-X+Alphonse · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's Slashdot man, try to calm down a touch. I've had comments so insightful they could see the future modded troll and comments I wrote when pissed off at people modded +5 insightful. It depends who has mod points on the given day(after all if we're all getting them some days idiots must get them too).

      Look on the bright side at least you didn't have a topic go from +5 insightful to -1 insightful (damn over rated), like I have several times. I'm starting to wonder if I have made a few enemies modding me down when I get a high rated comment.

      Just remember idiots go for the easy mods and if they don't have anyone to lead them (notice it's always +5 -1 or just the default 1/2 when things are modded), they'll mod up the first thing they think is even remotely correct/funny (waste of mod points alert)/they agree with.

      Welcome to Slashdot, where the ???? always stands for get minions/followers

      --
      I like muppets.
    3. Re:What the hell is this? by Trigun · · Score: 1

      Let's get the branding irons out. Oh you mean Slashdot deadly, not Steve Ballmer fucking burying you deadly.

      Hope the OP can take a good slapping.

    4. Re:What the hell is this? by evilviper · · Score: 1
      Look on the bright side at least you didn't have a topic go from +5 insightful to -1 insightful (damn over rated), like I have several times. I'm starting to wonder if I have made a few enemies modding me down when I get a high rated comment.

      I see a handful of bad mods here and there, but never 5 on a single comment.

      I don't know about your exact comments, but often wrong/ pointless comments are modded way up by idiots, then get read by a lot of non-idiots with mod points, and down they go.
      --
      Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
    5. Re:What the hell is this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You did not commit a "typo"

      From Wikipedia:

      A typographical error or typo is a mistake made during the typing process. The term includes errors due to slips of the hand or finger and also mechanical failure, but excludes errors of ignorance.

      Brain-Fart, on the other hand, might adequately describe what you just did.

    6. Re:What the hell is this? by quantaman · · Score: 3, Funny

      Look on the bright side at least you didn't have a topic go from +5 insightful to -1 insightful (damn over rated), like I have several times. I'm starting to wonder if I have made a few enemies modding me down when I get a high rated comment.

      Hey guys are you asleep or something?!? He's at like +5!!

      I thought we went over this last meeting, when you see a post by Turn-X Alphonse you mod it down! Now, considering there's eight of you on shift WITH mod points I should not be seeing a +5 here!

      Bloody n00bs, don't even know how to run a simple conspiracy...

      --
      I stole this Sig
    7. Re:What the hell is this? by saskboy · · Score: 1

      The moderators happened to suck last night. My offering of one of the biggest tech related quotes of 2005, got moderated down as flamebait because this is Slashdot, and it no longer produces geek pop culture like it once did. When was the last time you saw Natalie Portman naked and petrified, or heard that Steven King had died?

      Do you Digg it?
      http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=170771&cid= 14226613

      --
      Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
    8. Re:What the hell is this? by Turn-X+Alphonse · · Score: 2, Funny

      Back to +3 now. It's fine.. :P

      --
      I like muppets.
  22. Jem is glamour and glitter, fashion and fame by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Jem is truly outrageous!
    Truly, truly, truly outrageous!

    1. Re:Jem is glamour and glitter, fashion and fame by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You owe me a keyboard.

  23. gotta be the rootkit quote by YesIAmAScript · · Score: 2, Interesting

    "Most people, I think, don't even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?" - Thomas Hesse, President of Sony BMG's global digital business division.

    This is the quote of my year in my book.

    --
    http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95
  24. Yeah that would make me puke too. by skeptictank · · Score: 1

    How can you lose 39 big in the flash business these days?

    1. Re:Yeah that would make me puke too. by wed128 · · Score: 1

      Carefully.

  25. This one has it all - sony, the queen, arrows, jam by skeptictank · · Score: 3, Interesting
    "A company as big as this one ... has to organize its priorities. In the U.K. we call it the law of raspberry jam: the wider the culture is spread, the thinner it is spread." -- Howard Stringer, as he became Sony (Profile, Products, Articles) CEO. He also talked about having tea with the queen and her complaint that Sony remote controls have "too many arrows." (June 23.)

    A female monarch older than most of the countries on the planet complaining about the remotes made by the first company to deploy rootkits in commercial products - that pretty much sums up the current state of humanity.

  26. Re:This one has it all - sony, the queen, arrows, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    A female monarch older than most of the countries on the planet...

    Oh please. I know Elizabeth II's not exactly in her prime anymore, but that's just low.

  27. It's good to be underestimated -- BillG by heytal · · Score: 2, Informative

    This one is from Bill's India Visit, which he concluded yesterday:

    Do you see any threat to Microsoft from companies like Yahoo! and Google which have entered the software market?

    The software space always has new companies coming into the domain and for the first time people seem to underestimate Microsoft. It is healthy competition and it is good to be underestimated once in a while.

    Full Interview Here

    1. Re:It's good to be underestimated -- BillG by ggvaidya · · Score: 1

      I'm still waiting for it, though: after listening for a year or so to people bitching about how much Microsoft sucks - and having the sort of mind which can't help but be impressed by an evil move of Machiavellian proportions - I want to see what happens when Microsoft re-sets its sights, grunts in anger, and hurls its 40b$ mass at the competition. It's bound to happen someday.

      I've actually been waiting for about three years now, I think. In which I figured that shifting to Linux was easier for my three year old laptop to bear than the wonky performance caused by antispyware and antiviral tools. In which I drooled over Tiger, impressed not so much by the actual tools themselves (me, I still loves my WindowMaker) but just by the fact that here was something which was trying, in a real direct and impressive way, to try something new in the world of operating systems, something I hadn't really seen from an OS maker since Windows 95 (while Longhorn betas looked like skinned versions of Windows XP). In which I watched in awe as a website became first a simple but powerful e-mail client, then a draggable, moveable map-of-the-world. Again, not tools I actually use very often, but there's something - different. Innovative. Being experimented with more to answer the question of "what-if" than to try and compete with somebody else.

      Just now I had a screw up with unmounting a USB drive. In Windows, I'd go looking around to see which programs were using the drive (like it or not, it'd be the sidepanel in Explorer which is telling me drive size while I'm trying to eject it). Here? 'lsof | grep mnt' and I had a list of processes to kill. 'kill 92013'. Done. Just like that.

      I'm sure Microsoft had miracles up its sleeve yet. But a lack of miracles - never Microsoft's strong point, they were always the start-from-crap-and-improve-slowly types - makes me less interested every day ...

  28. Re:This one has it all - sony, the queen, arrows, by erikharrison · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I may also be true.

    Queen Elizabeth the II is 79 years old. There are, what, 203 countries in the world, roughly, depending on how you count? Considering the revolutions in Africa, and the disolving of Soviet Russia, and the aftermath of World War II (which brought many colonized states into revolution and eventually nationhood) it's not hard to imagine that 102 countries have emerged in the last 80 years, depending on how one counts the age of a country.

  29. How's this... by 20th+Century+Boy · · Score: 2, Funny

    "The 2005 IT Year"

    1. Re:How's this... by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 1

      That pretty much sums it up, 20th Century Boy. Now, back to Chet, up in the Sky9 chopper.

      --
      It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
  30. Correction. by Foerstner · · Score: 1

    'The week after next we will meet Sony's Stringer and we will [shake hands and] look down and see if he surreptitiously sticks something up our asses.' - Bill Gates

    Not me, Bill. Just you.- Steve Jobs

    --
    The US free market: two halves of a government-granted duopoly are free to set the market price.
  31. O' what honour, sire! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    But ESR, put a cork in him please.

    Careful dude, or he might get to feeling like putting a lead cork in you.

    You probably just shouldn't pay much attention to those "three letter" people anyway.

    KFG


    Where is that Lead cork being inserted? Certain geeks await your reply, with *baited breasts$%0 err breath, I mean breath. SAY NO TO BOOK-CAKEY! Sulu to the landing party--Sulu to the landing party: I'm picking-up asstronomical readings on the gaydar of a tremendous queef of nebula causing tremors in the southern region above twelve in the rector scale!
  32. Re:The 3 words that Slashdot dreads: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wait... what? Someone care to first explain why Slashdot would fear "I digg it" and secondly why a mod point would be used to modd this as flamebait?

  33. The 2005 IT Year In Quotes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I would've thought that this is The 2005 IT Year In Quotes:

    "The 2005 IT Year"

  34. Re:The 3 words that Slashdot dreads: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Google: digg

  35. Desktop Linux, anyone? by Mathiasdm · · Score: 1

    This shall be the year of desktop Linux!

    --
    Join the anonymous, help develop the network: http://www.i2p2.de
  36. Geeks these days... by Hakubi_Washu · · Score: 1

    ...always getting out and having funky, social roleplaying fun! Back in my day we would sit home alone, on a wooden chair, in front of computers so slow, you could greet every single instruction before it went to execution and we certainly knew how to masturbate!

  37. My humble sumbission by IchBinEinPenguin · · Score: 1

    "Software without source is like Russian Roulette without empty chambers"

    Sort of popped into my head (pun intended) after I heard about the SONY rootkit.

  38. Barrett's quote by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    From:
    http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051209/tc_nm/technolo gy_intel_dc

    "It turns out what people are looking for is something is something that has the full functionality of a PC. Reprogrammable to run all the applications of a grown up PC... not dependent on servers in the sky to deliver content and capability to them."

    Sure, this has to be read in context (ie the $100 PC) , but Barrett seems to be talking about people's 'generic' preferences anyway.

  39. Re:This one has it all - sony, the queen, arrows, by Profound · · Score: 2, Informative

    I ran a perl script over the CIA world factbook, looking for Independence > 1926 and got:

    total: 273, younger than queen: 132 = 48.3%

    So yeah, you're probably pretty close (depending on how one counts countries, and ages etc)

  40. Re:The 3 words that Slashdot dreads: by CrazyTalk · · Score: 1

    Slashdot has nothing to fear from digg. I registered a week ago, and am still waiting for my confirmation email to allow me to log on.

  41. Mod parent up, please... by Deslack · · Score: 0

    That was good.

    --
    .sigs are useless; it doesn't protect you from imposters.
  42. What I want to know is by BillX · · Score: 1

    why Intel has anthropologists.

    --
    Caveat Emptor is not a business model.
  43. Re:This one has it all - sony, the queen, arrows, by elmurado · · Score: 1

    "made by the first company to deploy rootkits in commercial products"? Are you sure--I have found a rootkit on my Win 98 system here--it's called Media Player...