To: nommedeguerre who wrote (19986 ) 6/11/1998 8:59:00 AM From: Daniel Schuh Read Replies (1) | Respond to
Good article, Norm ( upside.com . Lots of good quotes, I can't resist one or two, relevant to past discussions. First up, another take on one of my favorite metaphors, the Windows Roach Motel California.And despite all the talk about Microsoft's deep pockets, cash--whether tossed at consumer-electronics companies or poured into development--doesn't solve all of life's problems. The huge sums Microsoft spends on R&D--$2.6 billion targeted for 1998--would seem to provide it with the technical resources required to move in any direction. But the company has never developed the kind of excellence seen at, say, Bell Labs, and its products have the technical aesthetic of a Chevrolet Suburban. No one will ever accuse Windows of being inspired or elegant. Says Paul Saffo, a director at Institute for the Future in Menlo Park, Calif.: "Microsoft is like this intellectual roach motel--big brains go in and you don't see anything come out." McNealy told of receiving a phone call on the golf course from the head of Tele-Communications Inc. "John Malone called me and said, 'I can't have Microsoft own the choke point on my settop box environment,'" McNealy recounted, shaking his head. And storm clouds have been gathering recently over the once-cozy Microsoft-Intel duopoly (a term Microsoft chose not to include in its Word dictionary). Earlier this year, a front-page Wall Street Journal story described how Intel's PC focus had proved a "gilded cage," causing it to miss the surge in chips for the burgeoning market in consumer electronics--everything from handheld computers and Internet phones to digital TVs. And who informed the world of Intel's stupidity? "So far, they haven't been willing to focus on working with us," snapped Gates, backed up by another Microsoft executive who slammed Intel. Doesn't Bill know that it's not nice to "dis" your friends?
