Month: July 2001

“All I can say is that I am astonished at how staggeringly incompetent [the Webvan management has] proven to be. In our wildest dreams we never imagined that they would be this bad.”

HomeGrocer.com founder Terry Drayton, on the only way in which the acquirers of his company exceeded his expectations, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 10 July 2001

“This enterprise is about self-expression. The money is an added benefit.”

Libertarian writer Virginia Postrel, on the nonfinancial perks of vanity publishing on the Web, The New York Times, 9 July 2001

“We just don’t feel comfortable with our five largest competitors providing information about our company. We felt … Orbitz was misrepresenting the true picture of Southwest Airlines.”

Southwest Airlines spokeswoman Ginger Hardage, on the company’s move to yank its fares from Orbitz.com, where it faced the risk of having its three-connection routes directly compared with three-connection routes from other airlines, News.com, 6 July 2001

“All technology devices and all components are more like mackerel than like Chateau Lafite. They do not get better with time.”

Venture capitalist Irwin Federman, on the technology industry’s planned obsolescence, The Industry Standard, 5 July 2001

“We’re not going to sit around and cry in our beer, ‘wah wah.’ Who wants to do that for three days?”

Industry Standard chairman John Battelle, on the entertainment planned for his magazine’s annual conference, The New York Times, 2 July 2001