“In a place where people speak with fervor about freeing the
world from the grip of Bill Gates, where crowds erupt into applause
when a Windows system crashes at a product demo, it has not always
been easy to find a lot of good will toward Microsoft.”
“Now, there are some signs that attitudes are lightening up here
in Silicon Valley, the home base of some of Microsoft’s biggest
competitors and the breeding ground for many more.”
“There has been a very significant change over the last 12
months.” says Jim Breyer of Accel Partners, one of the local
venture capital firms that provide funding and guidance to young
start-up companies. “Microsoft has very effectively partnered with
a lot of young companies.”
“This is the place where things are happening,” said Larry
Augustin, president of VA Research Inc., a startup that makes
personal computers and workstations that run on the Linux operating
system, a free alternative to Microsoft’s Windows system.
“Microsoft is saying maybe they need to be driving more
innovation,” he said.”