In my gmail account, there was a link to this item, preceded by the question, "Is Bill Gates the greatest American?"
This question is rife with problems, not the least of which is that the "Americans" who are up for consideration are only Americans who are part of US history, which leaves aside the vast majority of Americans south and north of the US border. Nonetheless, Google, which runs Linux, is probably hinting to us that Bill Gates might be in the running to win the "Greatest [US] American" award, and implicitly asking if that is an honor that is appropriate. Michael Raynor, co-author of "Innovator's Solution" with Clayton Christensen, said in his Digital Tipping Point interview that Microsoft initially solved some hard problems concerning the coordination of vastly different technologies and players in popularizing the PC, and I would agree with him to a point. However, the lock down tactics that Microsoft has employed to achieve its monopoly raises a serious question in my mind as to whether Bill Gates deserves such an honor. For those who are interested in voting in this poll, the link is here. http://tv.channel.aol.com/greatestamerican
