Product groups do not have to spend time studying the future of the Internet, or researching this phenomenon. We want to, and will, invest resources to be a leader Internet support. –BillG, April 1994
“We want to, and will, invest resources to be a leader Internet support. “ –BillG, April 1994
I remember holding a company wide meeting and explaining that the internet / world wide web would be like the movie industry making the transition from silent movies to movies with sound. And that many famous actors at the time did not make the transition to movies with sound. I had to use an analogy that all the employees would understand. I think the idea for the analogy came from Andy Grove. All our windows software tools had to change. I made it clear that if we didn't we would be out of business (like the silent movie actors that did not transition).
Steven I’m interested in two aspects you haven’t fully touched on in your TA role with Bill Gates. The first is, I would imagine the role would have been highly sought after - did this have implications for you at Microsoft (position not earned on merit, people trying to make you look bad etc)? The second point is, during the TA, did you develop a friendship with Bill Gates or was it very much the TA role just happened to be for Bill Gates and as such it was always work (even say at ThinkWeek)? I get thoughts ranging from ‘high level IT and admin support’ to ‘someone good with technical details’, but wondered if the human side was there too - you became good friends or at least working colleagues despite the power imbalance etc?
“We want to, and will, invest resources to be a leader Internet support. “ –BillG, April 1994
I remember holding a company wide meeting and explaining that the internet / world wide web would be like the movie industry making the transition from silent movies to movies with sound. And that many famous actors at the time did not make the transition to movies with sound. I had to use an analogy that all the employees would understand. I think the idea for the analogy came from Andy Grove. All our windows software tools had to change. I made it clear that if we didn't we would be out of business (like the silent movie actors that did not transition).
I can only presume you ran out of time long before the last entry in the demo worksheet, my own beloved Word 6.0 for DOS.
For anybody interested, I found this YouTube video about TeleScript from 1992: https://youtu.be/wtrs3jtY96k
Steven I’m interested in two aspects you haven’t fully touched on in your TA role with Bill Gates. The first is, I would imagine the role would have been highly sought after - did this have implications for you at Microsoft (position not earned on merit, people trying to make you look bad etc)? The second point is, during the TA, did you develop a friendship with Bill Gates or was it very much the TA role just happened to be for Bill Gates and as such it was always work (even say at ThinkWeek)? I get thoughts ranging from ‘high level IT and admin support’ to ‘someone good with technical details’, but wondered if the human side was there too - you became good friends or at least working colleagues despite the power imbalance etc?