I AM NOT TROLLING - was Re: Good Book?

[Robert Bushman]

On Sat, 13 Jul 2002, George Toft wrote:

> "The Road Ahead" by Bill Gates.  Seriously.

It is really quite a valueable read. Gates is
very smart, and a vicious competitor. There
is much to be learned from him.

Of course, it's also wise to know your enemies.

The thing that I didn't really notice when I
read it (mid 90's, when I was studying for the
MCSE and had a picture of Bill hanging in my
office), that now reverberates like a freight
train in a canyon, is that throughout the book
he relates to information as a packagable
commodity. He doesn't understand zero marginal
cost, and hence doesn't know how to leverage
it. He is stuck in the mode of, "how do we
put the genie back in the bottle?"

Interestingly, he refers quite frequently in
the book to companies that missed the boat
because they refused to see the hand writing
on the wall. He also refers frequently to the
fact that he beat Apple because he was backing
computing systems that enhanced the freedom of
the user. Ironic, eh?

I still have my copy, and can bring it to
Bandersnatch if anyone wants to borrow it.