Month: December 2001

“The only mistake that I would say that I regret is that we got pulled into the whole dot-com frenzy.”

Geraldine Laybourne, on how sorry she is for raising hundreds of millions of dollars by promising TV-Web convergence, only to turn around and pour it into an also-ran cable channel, San Francisco Chronicle, 24 December 2001

“When I look back on it, I wonder did we need to make important strategic decisions at 10 p.m. on Sunday night after another 80-hour week.”

Former Excite@Home CEO George Bell, on rethinking his company’s rush to oblivion, The New York Times, 27 December 2001

“When it comes to decisions, we get whatever data is available and go.”

A pre-crash Bell, on his company’s need for speed, Wired, September 1998

“You often hear that the Internet is all freaks and weirdos. That’s wrong. Everybody is online.”

Dwight Caines, Columbia Pictures’ VP of Internet marketing, on the emerging online demographic, CNN.com, 26 December 2001

“Our rejection of a specific merger proposal does not in any way imply our opposition to change itself.”

Hewlett-Packard scion David Packard, on resisting plans to merge his daddy’s company with Compaq, San Francisco Chronicle, 21 December 2001

“The utility model of computing — computing resources delivered over the network in much the same way that electricity or telephone service reaches our homes and offices today — makes more sense than ever.”

Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy, on a tech monopoly he can get behind, CBS MarketWatch, 20 December 2001