(How has a ragtag bunch of idealistic hackers managed to
completely wrong foot the world’s biggest software companies?
Author Glyn Moody investigates.)
“SURE, WE’RE WORRIED.” Steve Ballmer, Bill Gates’s number two,
admitted.
“What Ballmer, Gates and the authors of leaked Microsoft memos
are all worried about is a bunch of idealistic hackers scattered
round the world, the software they’ve created and the revolutionary
method they have devised for writing it. This new software poses a
“direct” threat to Microsoft’s revenue, says one memo, leaked on 31
October.
“Their programs are already running most of the Internet.”