patrick.net

It's the Medieval Wheel of Fortune.

It raises you up to the pinnacle, then drops you and ass fucks you with a broken spoke.

John Bailo says

Bill Gates was supposedly the greatest technologist that ever lived. But during the 00s, given a chance to re-invent the PC operating system, his forte, with Longhorn, he punted with the ill received Vista, and fled into retirement!

Aside from the media, who in the technology sector respected a man, whose greatest achievement was in selling IBM's DOS to the masses and perhaps, cloning a Mac GUI, Windows 3.1?

Seriously, Gates is little more than a shrewd monopolist, who had enough book smarts to get accepted into Harvard undergrad.

I hadn't met one person, who'd enjoyed working at Microsoft. Everyone there was Ballmer's b*tch and the man drove the place like a white collar sweatshop, not this fountain of innovation and creativity. It's one thing to work a 12-14 hour day on something you like vs doing it because otherwise, Ballmer would descend upon you like the hammer of the gods.

Comparing a Warren Buffett to Facebook is the most idiotic thing I've heard all week. Let's see where Facebook is in 30, 40, 50 years. It ain't no google, and may follow the footsteps of MySpace...

Rin says

I hadn't met one person, who'd enjoyed working at Microsoft. Everyone there was Ballmer's b*tch and the man drove the place like a white collar sweatshop, not this fountain of innovation and creativity.

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I'm no Microsoft fan-boy, but of all the MS folks you supposedly know, well, nobody put a gun to each one's head to stay and work there.... And, although i don't personally know anyone that's been invested in MS since the 80s-90s, but I'm sure those longs are pretty content on what MS did for them as an investment. I wish I were one of them. I think they are catching a 2nd wind in transitioning into the cloud aspect of the business. Oh, and MS is VERY shareholder friendly. Again, not a fan-boy of MS, just a realist....

AverageBear says

h, and MS is VERY shareholder friendly. Again, not a fan-boy of MS, just a realist....

Yes, when it was a startup, early 80s up until early 90s, ppl worked 7x16 because the company made 'em rich. In addition, many during that time period were single men ages 21 to 30, so the culture fit the profile of workers.

Afterwards, when the place went into this long term Ballmer quagmire, it became a sweatshop without the setup of a startup company, long hours plus creative input from workers. That's when many of my acquaintances joined and in the end, none of them liked it nor thought it was a good place to be, for more than a couple of years because it was all about Ballmer.

Rin says

Afterwards, when the place went into this long term Ballmer quagmire, it became a sweatshop without the setup of a startup company, long hours plus creative input from workers. That's when many of my acquaintances joined and in the end, none of them liked it nor thought it was a good place to be, for more than a couple of years because it was all about Ballmer.

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Rin,

Here's the deal. You sound a little emotional and have a moral opinion or problem with MS and Ballmer. And that's OK. I have no problem with that. It sounds like you (or, your friends) were inside the MS shitstorm than I'd ever see, and know a helluva lot more of what went down.......I try not to get emotional when investing. (imagine Jack Nicholson's voice in "A Few Good Men")... "Within a successful shareholder-friendly company, you want a person like Ballmer on the line. You NEED a person like Ballmer on the line. Either way, i don't care. I'm going to keep my shareholder's happy".....

MS turned from a high-growth startup company, and transformed into a reliable Dividend Growth (blue-chip) company. Over 30 years, and still successful in an insanely changing tech industry.

I'm sorry Ballmer treated your friends like shit, but that's your friend's problem, not yours, mine, or the shareholders of Microsoft. Ballmer didn't turn Microsoft into a 'quagmire'. He did his job, and he did it REALLY well. Not many people can guide/transform a high-growth "startup" into a solid, reliable money-making machine; especially during some really transformative years in the tech industry no less.

It sucks that these developers were Ballmer's bitches, but they allowed it to happen, and tolerated it to make a good buck.

It sounds like Ballmer was a true asshole. But guess what? If you had a serious skin in the game (say a 6-7 figure investment in MS), you'd sure as shit want Ballmer running the game to make you money. Did MS fuck up some serious opportunities to continue the dominance (it has lost)? Sure. Coulda-Shoulda-Woulda-Whatever.... If you were, or are a long-term shareholder of MS, you can't hate Ballmer for growing your $$. If you do/did hate him for not making you enough $$, then you can't blame anyone else but yourself for not realzing a better opportunity cost for your dollars to work harder for you somewhere else.

I'm positive you'll find managers like Ballmer at Apple cracking the whip both in the US, and in China to design and put those iPads and iPhones together. But if you are an Apple shareholder, don't kid yourself that it's all unicorns and rainbows for all employees of Apple, cause it's not. Same can be said for Intel, etc....

I want to be an owner of these blue-chip, money-minting companies, and not work for one.... I'm hoping I can put in 10 more years of work, quit, and live off the dividends in my early 50s. Then I can spend time drinking beer w/ my sons, get a front row seat, and enjoy watching these clowns enjoy their 20's and 30's like I enjoyed mine.