Bill Gates

Yeah. Security, privacy, legal, compliance.

Yeah. Security, privacy, legal, compliance.

Yes. But now, David, you're starting to expose a couple features of enterprise adoption which have trade-offs if you're Microsoft.

Yes. But now, David, you're starting to expose a couple features of enterprise adoption which have trade-offs if you're Microsoft.

First of all, if you are a user, you want the latest and greatest software with all the most innovative features. Your IT administrator has a lot of incentive to say, I don't really want to go train everyone on anything new. So if the software never confused anyone, that's a win, even if it means we never get any new features.

First of all, if you are a user, you want the latest and greatest software with all the most innovative features. Your IT administrator has a lot of incentive to say, I don't really want to go train everyone on anything new. So if the software never confused anyone, that's a win, even if it means we never get any new features.

And so suddenly, and I have a direct quote from someone who is an executive in office, told me, when I was in office, I always thought we could stop bundling new features for 10 years and it would be fine. No one would notice.

And so suddenly, and I have a direct quote from someone who is an executive in office, told me, when I was in office, I always thought we could stop bundling new features for 10 years and it would be fine. No one would notice.

Office got to this point where, and I think Steven Sanofsky even writes about this in Hardcore Software in his book and on his Substack, that at some point they were trying to ship features that the PMs thought were great and users would love. They would do this user research. They would hear that people want them. And then the sales force would run back to them and say, no, no, no, no.

Office got to this point where, and I think Steven Sanofsky even writes about this in Hardcore Software in his book and on his Substack, that at some point they were trying to ship features that the PMs thought were great and users would love. They would do this user research. They would hear that people want them. And then the sales force would run back to them and say, no, no, no, no.

Do not include that. Are you kidding me? I'm going to have all these objections in my sale if you make me take this new feature or take this ribbon or take this, you know, any big UI change. Everything has to be small and iterative and not add any training or confusion.

Do not include that. Are you kidding me? I'm going to have all these objections in my sale if you make me take this new feature or take this ribbon or take this, you know, any big UI change. Everything has to be small and iterative and not add any training or confusion.

In 2007, you were using XP.

In 2007, you were using XP.

The other big thing that you are talking about, which you were hinting at with VBA macros, the key to enterprise is backward compatibility. Saying, look, we don't necessarily need to promise you anything too groundbreaking. We need to meet your needs today and be the most cost efficient.

The other big thing that you are talking about, which you were hinting at with VBA macros, the key to enterprise is backward compatibility. Saying, look, we don't necessarily need to promise you anything too groundbreaking. We need to meet your needs today and be the most cost efficient.

efficient, you know, total cost of ownership driven system that meets your needs and your employees are fine with. And from here on out, everything's going to stay compatible. Any modifications you make enterprise or software you use and rely on, we won't break no matter what.

efficient, you know, total cost of ownership driven system that meets your needs and your employees are fine with. And from here on out, everything's going to stay compatible. Any modifications you make enterprise or software you use and rely on, we won't break no matter what.

Yes. And enterprises love that. And we're going to put a pin in this right now, and we're going to bring it back toward the end of this episode in a really illustrative way that it can deeply, deeply hold you back if you are Microsoft and you have built an entire brand and reputation around your backwards compatibility.

Yes. And enterprises love that. And we're going to put a pin in this right now, and we're going to bring it back toward the end of this episode in a really illustrative way that it can deeply, deeply hold you back if you are Microsoft and you have built an entire brand and reputation around your backwards compatibility.