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To: Mary Cluney who wrote (139187)	7/14/2001 12:22:01 PM
From: tcmay	Respond to of 186894

I disagree about the characterization of Jim Clark: <<Gordon Moore, for example, had a lot of (engineering) talent to begin with and with some luck he was able to parlay it into huge business success. But, beyond that, he is very gracious and always humble - never taking his accolades too seriously. I would love to have him pour his heart out and listen to what he has to say about life, business, anything. <<But, guys like Jim Clark, people without much talent to begin with, got real lucky. Wall Street suck ups and gullible investors threw money at anything he was chasing. Especially, when you aren't that bright to begin with, you start to believe in your press. Once you get a reputation, good or bad, deservedly or not, it just doesn't go away that quickly.>> I don't buy this. Clark was an innovator of graphics chips while at Stanford. Check the trends of the late 70s and early 80s to see what was influential. And Silicon Graphics was a successful company for a number of years--Clark left in '94, before its later slide. And why it later slid was related to a number of factors, and SGI was certainly not alone in sliding. If one blasts Clark for having run SGI into the ground, one must also blast Ken Olsen of DEC for doing the same thing. The truth is not so simple as saying Clark had "no talent." <<Jim Clark is one lucky person, and he probably doesn't even realize it (that it was due mostly to good luck).>> Netscape was also an innovator. Clark got out of it as well. Smart man, perhaps. (But the main reason was likely the merger with AOL..neither Clark nor Andreesen nor Barksdale would be much interested in working for AOL in some lackey role.) Gordon Moore is undeniably an innovator. So is Jim Clark. --Tim May