“Does the record show Microsoft as a friend of innovation or its
worst enemy? From competitors to the company itself, everyone’s got
an opinion….”
“Gassee said he’s known Gates personally for nine years,
considers him smart — and innovative — but only when it comes to
legal matters and drafting intimidating contracts with PC
manufacturers. As a technology developer, Microsoft has never
had the company culture that has fostered innovation at competitors
like Gassee’s former employer, Apple. Innovation simply hasn’t been
part of Microsoft’s progress as a company, Gassee said.”
“The result is obvious: less successful breakthroughs in the PC
software marketplace. “It’s pretty clear that if for the last five
years customers had real operating systems and real application
choices, everything would be better, faster, cleaner, more
reliable, and cheaper,” Gassee said.”