Month: October 2004

“There’s no appreciable amount of Linux on client systems anywhere in the world.”

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, expressing his dislike of the open-source operating system, News.com, 20 October 2004

“These are businesses I would be looking at starting and software I would look at writing if I were so inclined. Instead, I decided to throw them out — free for all.”

Mark Cuban, on giving away the ideas he’s too lazy to implement, News.com, 18 October 2004

“They’re the gold standard in e-commerce, and for us to beat them is to beat Brazil in the World Cup.”

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, on facing competition from Amazon.com in the DVD rental market, Seattle Times, 16 October 2004

“Bill and Greg are kind of stalling, not in a negative sense, but in the sense that they want to make sure they got it all right.”

Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy, reporting on the progress his CTO and Microsoft chairman Bill Gates integrating their companies’ products, News.com, 18 October 2004

“I guess my overall message is, let’s be kind to RSS; don’t try to exploit it.”

Blogger Dave Winer, who still believes he’s the only one allowed to exploit a newsfeed format he helped popularize, Wired News, 15 October 2004