Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Re: A World Without Microsoft

Author:Dave Winer
Posted:6/8/2000; 3:36:26 PM
Topic:A World Without Microsoft
Msg #:17663 (In response to 17662)
Prev/Next:17662 / 17664

Shit like that happens all the time Frank. I said this to Gates and every other Microsoftie I could find a few years back when they were struggling with Java. What makes them so special? I had to pick up my whole operation and move to Windows because the Mac was so dead. That wasn't my choice, or my fault, but I had to wait and wait, and pay and pay, for the ineptitude of someone else. You're damned right I didn't like it, but I did it anyway.

Gates doesn't even have to admit to himself or others that he did anything wrong. Parse it like this. You reached a limit. Can't go any higher than that without getting stopped by the government. They won't tolerate the level of power that Gates has without any fettering. (Is that a word?)

I meant it when I said that life is about accepting limits to your power. That's part of growing up. It takes maturity to get that, but Gates isn't a kid anymore, I know, I'm only a few months older than him. Right about now his eyes are starting to seriously weaken, reading which he loves so much is getting harder. It's one thing to know you're going to die when you're in your 20s and a whole other thing in your 40s. It isn't so remote any more, and if you want to deny it, there's your body reaffirming it every day, in every way.

I think even Gates would admit that he's pretty damned lucky. And it's not that the luck or power is gone, quite the opposite. When you acknowledge your own limits that's when the power really starts. Kids struggle to be all-powerful, they want to believe that somehow the world revolves around them. The Young Gates has had an incredible run. Now it's time to join the six billion Rest of Us, and then get to work doing a lot of good with the wealth he's accumulated.

My own opinion, of course, ymmv.

There are responses to this message:

This page was archived on 6/13/2001; 4:55:20 PM.

© Copyright 1998-2001 UserLand Software, Inc.