Bill Gates

I mean, Bill was super right that touch computing was going to be a thing. He referred to this idea of a natural user interface very often. Bill was super right that interactive TV was going to be a thing. I mean, think about how I watch Netflix. I will watch Netflix tonight after we record on my Apple TV upstairs.

Bill was right on mobile that that was going to be a huge part of the computing landscape. And yet, all of these started at Microsoft five to 20 years before the tech was actually ready, and they would often bet on the wrong standard or paradigm. I mean, touch computing ended up being capacitive, not resistive with a stylus.

Bill was right on mobile that that was going to be a huge part of the computing landscape. And yet, all of these started at Microsoft five to 20 years before the tech was actually ready, and they would often bet on the wrong standard or paradigm. I mean, touch computing ended up being capacitive, not resistive with a stylus.

Tablets have proven to be a cousin of phones scaled up, not PCs scaled down. Interactive TV came after the internet, not before, and only once there was a tremendous amount of bandwidth.

Tablets have proven to be a cousin of phones scaled up, not PCs scaled down. Interactive TV came after the internet, not before, and only once there was a tremendous amount of bandwidth.

I mean, think about how much more bandwidth it consumes for all of us to ad hoc start Netflix streams versus there's one broadcast happening and we all just tune in when we tune in and we just catch whatever part of the broadcast is over anyway.

I mean, think about how much more bandwidth it consumes for all of us to ad hoc start Netflix streams versus there's one broadcast happening and we all just tune in when we tune in and we just catch whatever part of the broadcast is over anyway.

Totally. Mobile was five years early and it was more akin to embedded devices than it was to scaled down PCOS. So something was off in Microsoft's ability to leverage their future predicting into creating the right products. Right. Which is weird because historically they have been good at it.

Totally. Mobile was five years early and it was more akin to embedded devices than it was to scaled down PCOS. So something was off in Microsoft's ability to leverage their future predicting into creating the right products. Right. Which is weird because historically they have been good at it.

Well, they at least employed the one Microsoft employee referred to it as bracketing. You basically develop two products concurrently, one aimed below what the current technical capabilities are and one aimed above.

Well, they at least employed the one Microsoft employee referred to it as bracketing. You basically develop two products concurrently, one aimed below what the current technical capabilities are and one aimed above.

And as you get closer to shipping or as you get closer to like letting the market play out, you kind of pick whether you're going to make the low end one better or you're going to sort of start reducing functionality of the high end one. And so in the IBM days, you know, you had Windows and OS2. And in the internet era, you had, like, the web browser versus all the interactive TV stuff.

And as you get closer to shipping or as you get closer to like letting the market play out, you kind of pick whether you're going to make the low end one better or you're going to sort of start reducing functionality of the high end one. And so in the IBM days, you know, you had Windows and OS2. And in the internet era, you had, like, the web browser versus all the interactive TV stuff.

Or Longhorn, which was supposed to be little and iterative, versus Blackcomb, which was so ambitious it actually got canceled.

Or Longhorn, which was supposed to be little and iterative, versus Blackcomb, which was so ambitious it actually got canceled.

Yeah. Or like the bets somehow couldn't continue to flourish internally. I don't really know why, but it seems like for some reason bracketing worked well for a while. And then eventually their ability to take a good idea and implement it at the right time, the right way fell apart.

Yeah. Or like the bets somehow couldn't continue to flourish internally. I don't really know why, but it seems like for some reason bracketing worked well for a while. And then eventually their ability to take a good idea and implement it at the right time, the right way fell apart.

My next one is the idea of positive sum leadership. This one's a little bit more personal than our playbook themes typically are, but I think it's an important takeaway. Bill Gates plus Steve Ballmer in the right roles, with the right level of respect for each other and who made which decisions, when that was all humming, that was way more valuable than Bill alone or Steve alone.

My next one is the idea of positive sum leadership. This one's a little bit more personal than our playbook themes typically are, but I think it's an important takeaway. Bill Gates plus Steve Ballmer in the right roles, with the right level of respect for each other and who made which decisions, when that was all humming, that was way more valuable than Bill alone or Steve alone.

It was like one plus one equals five, right?