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Bill Gates Reveals Secret of Microsoft's Success

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the polishing-the-legacy dept.

Hugh Pickens writes "Bill Gates, in a interview with the BBC, revealed the secret of Microsoft's success: 'Most of our competitors were very poorly run. They did not understand how to bring in people with business experience and people with engineering experience and put them together,' said Gates. 'They did not think about software in this broad way. They did not think about tools or efficiency. They would therefore do one product, but would not renew it to get it to the next generation.' Mitch Kapor, founder of the Lotus Corporation, has a different view: 'Claims by Microsoft that people were buying the software because it was good are pretty self-serving. I'd like to smoke what he's smoking.' Gates also said that he took a 'conservative balance sheet approach' to running Microsoft explaining that he wanted 'great financial strength so we would have the flexibility to do software in the new way, or whatever we wanted to do.'"

13 of 584 comments (clear)

  1. So it's not... by Illbay · · Score: 3, Funny

    ..."Jolt" Cola after all.

    --
    Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
    1. Re:So it's not... by Gewalt · · Score: 3, Funny

      No, it was whiskey

      --
      Modding Trolls +1 inciteful since 1999
    2. Re:So it's not... by dotancohen · · Score: 4, Funny

      ..."Jolt" Cola after all. No, it was a trash can.

      In TFA (sorry, yeah, I know) Bill mentions how he and Paul Allen pulled the source code of an operating system out of a trash can. Of course, this has long been suspected of Vista.

      --
      It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
  2. Notes user here... by Otter · · Score: 4, Funny
    Mitch Kapor, founder of the Lotus Corporation, has a different view: 'Claims by Microsoft that people were buying the software because it was good are pretty self-serving. I'd like to smoke what he's smoking.

    I'd be afraid to smoke what they apparently put in the crack pipes at Lotus, at least in the Notes division.

    --
    What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
  3. do????? by sking · · Score: 2, Funny

    How do you "do" software?

    --
    The AntiJoey
  4. Re:Bill was handed a monopoly ... and he learned. by Spy+der+Mann · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yes, their competitors made mistakes. So did Microsoft.

    Microsoft Bob.
    Microsoft Blackbird.
    Etc.

    And by Etc., you must mean Vista :)

  5. By that measure... by GameboyRMH · · Score: 2, Funny

    The heads of record companies are geniuses.

    --
    "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
  6. *yawn* by Tom · · Score: 4, Funny

    Rich CEO says success of his company is due to his own smarts and foresight. News at 11:15 (we need the other 15 minutes for the dupe).

    --
    Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
  7. Re:Here's your history lesson. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    If Edison bought the rights to the lightbulb, then yes, he would have been a genius for purchasing a lightbulb.

    Bill Gates saw the future, and realized that he could buy an (excellent) OS faster than it would take to write (an inferior) one.

    Just because Bill Gates bought DOS doesn't mean he didn't see that the OS did not have to be sold with the machine.

  8. Re:Supplying the OS for PC's probably helped ... by Shotgun · · Score: 3, Funny

    they have a lot of satisfied customers you don't hear from, who got stuck on their stuff, and swore by it.

    they have a lot of satisfied customers you don't hear from, who got stuck with their stuff, and swore at it.

    There. Fixed that for you.
    Truthfully, though, once they had the market locked down, and because of network effects there really wasn't much else to choose from.

    --
    Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
    Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
  9. Re:Thus the "handed" portion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yes, and CP/M and p-system were more expensive, and thus DOS became the dominant system.

    Offering a product people want to buy, at a cheaper price than their competitors. Those bastards.

  10. Re:Bill was handed a monopoly ... and he learned. by DougReed · · Score: 3, Funny

    Wait a minute guys, We are missing a key point here! What kind of a pervert gets his kicks calling Portugal while standing in his underwear in the woods? It all sounds a bit dodgy to me!

  11. Re:Thus the "handed" portion by ymail.com · · Score: 2, Funny

    The IBM PC was available with 3 OS choices

    ABORT, RETRY, FAIL.

    Four out of the first 10 businesses I helped set up brand new IBM PC's had a couple of 5.25" drives in front, and made loud clunking spinup noises due to NO operating system floppy disk purchased with the machines.