Bill Gates

Yes. That's a great point.

Yes. That's a great point.

Well, yeah, I think that's correct. There's a lot to talk about in their consumer technology offerings. I also think this is the death of Microsoft as an interesting platform for developers. Who is writing Vista apps? The Win32 API as a potential target for my new, interesting, innovative application, it's just not a thing anymore.

Well, yeah, I think that's correct. There's a lot to talk about in their consumer technology offerings. I also think this is the death of Microsoft as an interesting platform for developers. Who is writing Vista apps? The Win32 API as a potential target for my new, interesting, innovative application, it's just not a thing anymore.

You have to write a Windows desktop app at this point in history because it's where a bunch of the users are. If you need a desktop app for real, for real, but probably you're just writing a web app. You've lost developer hearts and minds, which is the path to losing relevance.

You have to write a Windows desktop app at this point in history because it's where a bunch of the users are. If you need a desktop app for real, for real, but probably you're just writing a web app. You've lost developer hearts and minds, which is the path to losing relevance.

Yeah, that's a great point. That is the exception. And of course, anyone that had big legacy applications for Mac and Windows. So Adobe is a great example of they're going to keep that up forever forever. But where these new disruptive software players are coming from, they're just not going to have Windows apps.

Yeah, that's a great point. That is the exception. And of course, anyone that had big legacy applications for Mac and Windows. So Adobe is a great example of they're going to keep that up forever forever. But where these new disruptive software players are coming from, they're just not going to have Windows apps.

Correct. So the biggest things to hurt Microsoft coming out of Vista are what we just talked about losing developers, what we just talked about losing users. I mean, consumers who are excited to buy a computer, they're just not excited to buy a Windows Vista PC. But the biggest thing is they lost... years of their very best talent. I mean, Vista was a black hole.

Correct. So the biggest things to hurt Microsoft coming out of Vista are what we just talked about losing developers, what we just talked about losing users. I mean, consumers who are excited to buy a computer, they're just not excited to buy a Windows Vista PC. But the biggest thing is they lost... years of their very best talent. I mean, Vista was a black hole.

As it just kept growing and growing and growing, it would suck in more teams. And as it sucked in more teams, you would get the talent that it would suck in. But then it also would suck in executive and distinguished engineer talent from elsewhere to come fix it.

As it just kept growing and growing and growing, it would suck in more teams. And as it sucked in more teams, you would get the talent that it would suck in. But then it also would suck in executive and distinguished engineer talent from elsewhere to come fix it.

And so Microsoft is about to be in a place where they need to compete and understand a changing landscape in social, in mobile, in search. They still have to fight the browser war. I mean, IE is peaking and about to start falling off a cliff and are completely consumed by Vista. So I think a lot of the consumer stuff can be answered by Steve Ballmer wasn't really a consumer-oriented technologist.

And so Microsoft is about to be in a place where they need to compete and understand a changing landscape in social, in mobile, in search. They still have to fight the browser war. I mean, IE is peaking and about to start falling off a cliff and are completely consumed by Vista. So I think a lot of the consumer stuff can be answered by Steve Ballmer wasn't really a consumer-oriented technologist.

That seems fair.

That seems fair.

Vista consumed a bunch of the smartest people, even if they had the right vision to be chasing. And the DOJ had just crippled the culture, among many other things. And they were still recovering from that.

Vista consumed a bunch of the smartest people, even if they had the right vision to be chasing. And the DOJ had just crippled the culture, among many other things. And they were still recovering from that.

Right. Money's not a scarce resource. So bad acquisitions, whatever. Who cares? It's just money. But consuming a huge percentage of Microsoft's most talented engineers, that's company killing.

Right. Money's not a scarce resource. So bad acquisitions, whatever. Who cares? It's just money. But consuming a huge percentage of Microsoft's most talented engineers, that's company killing.