Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft's Lost Decade
theodp writes "Newsweek's Daniel Lyons (that's Fake Steve to you) explains why Steve Ballmer is no Bill Gates, arguing that what most hurt Microsoft was BillG's decision to step down as CEO in January 2000: 'Gates was a software geek. He understood technology. Ballmer is a business guy.' And the problem with putting non-techies in charge of tech companies, concludes Lyons, is that they have blind spots. So while Microsoft's revenues nearly tripled from $23B to $58B on Ballmer's watch, says Lyons, the company became bureaucratic and lumbering, slowing down while the rest of the world — including Google, Apple and Amazon — sped up."
He developed an early version of BASIC.
Well, maybe. What we know is that BG and Paul Allen delivered a BASIC interpreter to MITS in the mid-1970s. Only Gates and Allen know for sure who wrote what.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
revenues nearly tripled from $23B to $58B on Ballmer's watch....
56 / 23 ~= 2.43
Unless we're in some strange universe, Ballmer increased revenue almost 2 and a half times...or over two times. 3 is out.
Unless he's doing some fun rounding I'm unaware of.
-- Political fascism requires a Fuhrer.
Jobs is basically that guy who may not be very artistically inclined himself, but is a weael who has convinced artists he has absolutely uncanny taste and runs a gallery in SOHO that turns unknowns full of questionable potential into superstars of the art world through sheer force of bullshit.
There fixed it for you. Jobs is a marketeer.
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
No, he's more an illusionist than a con-artist, a confidence trickster who can weave quite the spell on his entralled subjects using his patented Reality Distortion Field(TM) which completley masks the true nature of his overpriced overhyped locked down crippled toys, while Ballmer is just the boring vanilla '3-card Monte' sort of con artist.
No they're not sworn enemies but they should be. Woz was screwed, no doubt about it. Funny that you should choose the Peter Pan fairytale analogy because that's exactly how I'd describe it - Jobs is a master at selling people fairytales that don't match reality and having them worship him for it.
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer