On Tue, 2005-02-08 at 06:57 -0500, Lars D. Noodén wrote: > Most interviews with Bill seem a waste of time since he never answers the > questions put to him nor makes any really direct statements. > > He seems to get in the limelight whenever there is something highlighting > non-MS activities in the news or when MS is getting panned.
Mr. Gates is constrained by his position as the head of a multinational public corporation. So in general his interviews end up being more pablum than intriguing insights into what he really thinks or believes. The problem Microsoft has these days for all its success is its core products are quickly becoming commodities due in no small part to OOo and Linux. Any smart investor knows the end result of a commoditized product is lower margins which mean lower profits. Is Mr. Gates going to really say that in an interview? I doubt it. It would cause a panic on Wall Street resulting in a lower stock price and possibly a shareholder revolt or even lawsuits. The intriguing part of all this to me is watching Microsoft try to flee upmarket (tighter integration e.g Longhorn) and at the same time respond to the disruptive market erosion created by Open Source software. So far we have gone from Open Source solutions are more expensive (the TCO campaign), to Open Source is less secure, to Open Source is less interoperable. None of these FUD strategies appear to be working. In fact the interoperability argument is so laughable, I suspect it will be put on the shelf very quickly. The market appears to be responding to the "good enough" nature of Open Source software and ignoring the FUD. The patent threat also appears to be losing steam with IBM and Sun opening up at least portions of their patent portfolio at least in a limited ways. There is still a lot to do, but so far nothing Microsoft is doing is sticking. They must be very frustrated in Redmond these days. -- Smoot Carl-Mitchell System/Network Architect email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] cell: +1 602 421 9005 home: +1 480 922 7313 --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
