Month: December 1997

“You cannot look at software code in the same way you look at a car or tank of gas.”

Microsoft überflack Mark Murray, The New York Times, 21 December 1997

“If you ask the average consumer what Java is, they’ll take a stab at it, they have a rough idea — which is good.”

George Paolini, director of corporate marketing for Sun Microsystems’ JavaSoft Division, on putting Java into the hearts and minds of people who really shouldn’t give a damn about it, ZDNet/ZDNN, 18 December 1997

“Indeed, significant segments of the United States economy may be affected by doubt surrounding the release of Windows 98.”

Redmond’s army of lawyers, responding to the Department of Justice’s latest charges of intransigence in a “Motion for Expedited consideration and for an Expedited Briefing Schedule,” Microsoft’s Web site, 16 December 1997

“We think about giving it away from time to time.”

Netscape CEO Jim Barksdale, showing that decisive touch with the product that made his company’s name, News.com, 16 December 1997

“I don’t know how much we even thought of the idea of becoming entrepreneurs.There was a bit of a learning curve but it is really intellectually stimulating. The model hasn’t been proven yet. There is this feeling that we’re treading new turf.”

Feed magazine cofounder and reluctant entrepreneur Steven Johnson, on pulling off a quarter-million round of financing, @NY, 12 December 1997