Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft Tops Corporate-Reputation Survey
Carl Bialik from WSJ writes "Microsoft beat out Johnson & Johnson for the top spot in the annual Wall Street Journal survey of the reputations of U.S. companies. Bill Gates's personal philanthropy boosted the public's opinion of Microsoft, helping to end J&J's seven-year run at No. 1. From the article: 'Mr. Gates demonstrates how much the reputation of a corporate leader can rub off on his company. Formerly chief executive officer and now chairman of Microsoft, he contributed to a marked improvement in the company's emotional appeal. Jeanie Cummins, a survey respondent and homemaker in Olive Hill, Ky., says Mr. Gates's philanthropy made her a much bigger fan of Microsoft. "He showed he cared more for people than all the money he made building Microsoft from the ground up," she says. "I wish all the other big shots could do something like this." To be sure, some respondents still complain that Microsoft bullies its competitors and unfairly monopolizes the software business. But such criticism is less biting and less pervasive than it was just a few years ago.'"
It's about time this company was recognized for all the good they bring to our world.
"And finally, please mod me up because this is my 1,000th post to Slashdot."
Will do... oh crap!
#DeleteChrome
Oh, the sweet teenage angst on here whenever someone says something nice about Microsoft.
Welcome to running a business, you want to make sure you stay on top. Addressing an earlier post, MS does not try to create MS Zombies in schools, good teachers (whom I observe weekly) leverage whatever technology they have to enable content that helps them to instruct. Then there are other teachers who tell their students that the phases of the moon are caused by the shadow of the earth on the moon. I saw this being taught on a Mac, so obviously that's Apple's fault.
Honestly about 5 years ago I would have jumped on the "obviously this is false" slashdot bandwagon, but the honest to goodness truth is that things have gotten better. I have friends who are currently dedicating two years of their lives to travel around the world to various Global Giving projects. I've been trying to look at my life and figure out how I could do something like that and make it work. That Bill Gates has the resources to do it is one thing, the fact that he does do it - no matter what people here describe as a small percentage of what he's worth - is excellent. The halo effect means that whatever the boss does reflects on the company. To most people on the planet MS is Bill Gates, and so the impression is now good. You can add that XP has been an awesome product with an excellent run (that's not over) that has elevated the company (compared to previous offerings), and you get a much better impression.
And anyways, for the haters and the teen angst-kids here, if you don't use Windows then who cares, don't whine. They're not forcing you to just like they're not forcing me to run Windows Server instead of Linux (which is running) on my server.
He's just taking a page from the Andrew Carnagie playbook...
Man, does Gates ever stop copying someone else's ideas???
Re: (PeopleThatKnowTheName + 2*GoodDeedsDone) - 2*BadDeedsDone = Rating.
You don't need those brackets. You could factor out the 2 like this:PeopleThatKnowTheName + 2*(GoodDeedsDone - BadDeedsDone) = Rating
Damn I must be bored today!
Zen tips: Pay attention. Don't take it personally. Believe nothing.
Given that
GoodDeedsDone + BadDeedsDone = AllDoneDeedsThis can be simplified further to
PeopleThatKnowTheName + 2 * AllDoneDeeds = Rating
The brackets are not required because multiplication takes precidence over addition. However, they might be added to aid readability and remove possible ambiguity.
Bored and khama to burn!
init 11 - for when you need that edge.
Well, actually, Steve Ballmer threatened to throw chairs at me if I didn't use Windows! He then said "We'll f*cking KILL Linux! Developers! Developers! Developers!" I must admit it was VERY intimidating.
I actually understand that Real is doing okay with the mobile thing. They certainly have a strong presence there, and they don't seem to be on the way to bankruptcy anytime soon.
I liked RealAudio. I was sort of sad when I had to go over my website converting all the large sound files to MP3. I've often been the last holdout of an obsolete technology when everyone else has switched.
Microsoft cheerleader, blue flag waving, you got a problem with that?