The Year in Quotes

[Mitch Stone <mstone@vc.net>]

The Year in Quotes  

The computer industry had some interesting times in 1998--remember these 
great moments? 

by Clare Haney, IDG News Service  
December 18, 1998, 4:00 a.m. PT  

As another year draws to a close, it's fun to trawl back through the IDG 
news archives of the last 12 months, finding quotes from the movers and 
shakers in the computer industry. 

There are the usual suspects like Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, and Scott 
McNealy in their full outspoken glory, along with other familiar faces 
from the past year, pontificating on a variety of topics and making 
statements ranging from the erudite to the potentially libelous. Enjoy! 

Go on, Take Your Best Shot! 

"We really need it because Microsoft keeps releasing sloppier and 
sloppier software that needs a faster and faster machine. The speed is 
crazy." --Digital Equipment's founder and former chief executive officer 
Ken Olsen, in response to being asked if he believes that the world truly 
needs ever-faster microprocessor. Olsen now heads Modular Solutions. 
(June 24, 1998) 

"Microsoft is now talking about the digital nervous system. I guess I 
would be nervous if my system was built on their technology too."  --Sun 
Microsystems Chair, President, and Chief Executive Officer Scott McNealy 
(November 4, 1998) 

Actually, It's My Fault, Honest! 

"Right now, we have a terrible Web site." --Unisys Chief Executive 
Officer Lawrence Weinbach (March 11, 1998) 

"I made a stupid mistake."  --Oracle Chair and Chief Executive Officer 
Larry Ellison in a rare moment of candor, regarding Oracle's aborted 
Sedona development project (April 16, 1998) 

"We get accused of being good marketers. I think we are a bad marketing 
company. We've managed through our bad execution to make everyone think 
we are going into their business. There's a very real fear and loathing." 
 --Anthony Bay, general manager of Microsoft's Internet Services Business 
Unit, on Microsoft's move into e-commerce (June 25, 1998) 

"Yeah, I'm already a pain in the butt. But these guys [Motorola] are 
really good. They like controversy."  --Philippe Kahn, founder of Borland 
International, speaking of Motorola's acquisition of Starfish Software, 
the company he established after leaving Borland (July 14, 1998) 

Microsoft vs. Sun--Fear and Unpleasantness? 

"If we don't go to the courts, you don't have the compatibility, you 
don't have 100-percent Java. And that's why we're doing it." --Sun's 
McNealy, on why Sun took Microsoft to court over Java (March 25, 1998) 

"That was not one of the most pleasant experiences I've ever been 
through." --Alan Baratz, president of Sun's Java software group, leaving 
the courtroom after being grilled by Microsoft lawyers about Sun's 
Java-licensing contract with Microsoft (September 10, 1998) 

"This scares the hell out of me." --Microsoft Chair and Chief Executive 
Officer Bill Gates on Java, from documents filed by Sun in the legal case 
between the two companies (reported October 22, 1998) 

A Peek Into the Mind of Bill Gates 

"The mentality of Microsoft is to always look for what we should be 
worried about. ... We all have to earn our success a month at a time. 
Even though there is no financial crisis, we are very good at creating a 
crisis atmosphere." -- Gates (February , 1993) 

"Scott McNealy is always talking about Microsoft. Sometimes when you 
listen to him, you forget what company he comes from. ... Hey, he is 
spreading the word that he is worried about Microsoft." --Gates (February 
3, 1998) 

"The higher you get, the farther there is to fall. ... Just because 
something is in a Windows box doesn't mean it will be successful." 
--Gates (September 9, 1998) 

"I worshipped Digital when I was a kid." --Gates (September 9, 1998) 

"We [Microsoft] don't want to live through that." --Gates on Digital 
Equipment after it was eclipsed by other industry players (September 9, 
1998) 

The Apple of Steve's Eye 

"At the end of 10 years [at Apple], I have to admit that I failed. In 
hindsight, we should have done things differently ... and it is a 
tremendous disappointment."  --former Apple Computer Chief Executive 
Officer and current technology investor John Sculley (January 12, 1998) 

"Apple is a cult and the person who created that cult is Steve. ... It 
was always [Steve Jobs's] company. The best chance Apple has is having 
Steve Jobs back running the company." --Sculley (January 12, 1998) 

"We tried begging, bribing, everything. This is not subtle, we have 
gotten on our knees collectively on this."  --Apple board member Larry 
Ellison on trying to persuade Jobs to remain Apple's chief executive 
officer (January 15, 1998) 

"Nobody's tried to swallow us since I've been here--I think they're 
afraid of how we'd taste." --Steve Jobs, Apple's cofounder and interim 
chief executive officer, brushing off suggestions that his company may be 
a merger target (April 22, 1998) 

"I go to computer shops and hang around and listen to people. I find it 
fascinating. I know it sounds corny, but the biggest kick I get is to see 
people smiling when they see the iMac. You don't usually see a lot of 
people smiling in computer stores." --Jonathan Ives, vice president of 
Apple's Industrial Design Group and head of the iMac design team 
(September 17, 1998) 

In the Market for a New Job? 

"I would tender my resignation. We'd make him an offer in a flash." 
--Oracle's Ellison on what Mitchell Kertzman, then co-chief executive 
officer and chair of Sybase should do to turn around Sybase's fortune 
(October 13, 1998). Less than a month later, Kertzman joined Oracle 
spin-off Network Computer Incorporated as chief executive officer, a job 
he insisted he wouldn't have taken if he weren't convinced that NCI is an 
entity separate from Oracle. 

"Many people in Microsoft say that Ellison is the single best salesman 
for [Microsoft's] SQL Server. If users are thinking Oracle, and then 
Microsoft at number two, I'm a happy person." --Rich Tong, Microsoft vice 
president of applications product management, applications and tools 
group (December 15, 1998) 

Failed Dreams 

"The PC has become a junk truck of technology. We just keep adding things 
to it." --Pat Gelsinger, vice president and general manager of Intel's 
desktop products group (September 17, 1998) 

Y2K: Don't Panic ... Yet 

"We don't have a set of formal recommendations. What U.S. Senator Bennett 
has been saying publicly is that it wouldn't hurt to have a few days of 
food on hand, a little bit of cash." --Don Meyer, spokesperson for the 
U.S. Senate Special Committee on the Year 2000 Problem, headed by Senator 
Bob Bennett (R-Utah) (December 14, 1998) 

"Let me put to rest the rumor that missiles are going to be flying 
everywhere by accident." --John Koskinen, President Clinton's Year 2000 
czar, who has pledged to be on an airplane as the millennium rolls in 
(December 14, 1998) 

"He won't be heading for the hills. But on the other hand, he won't be 
doing what John Koskinen said he's going to do. ... He won't be in the 
seat next to him." --Senator Meyer regarding Bennett's Y2K plans 
(December 14, 1998) 

Crystal Ball Gazing 

"We can remove the constraints of distance and time by using the 
electronic networking of people. ... You can't 'beam me up,' but you can 
be there electronically." --Bay Networks Chair, Chief Executive Officer, 
and President Dave House, on his concept for a "network holodeck of the 
future" (June 8, 1998) 

"The cost of PCs is getting so low, we will probably give you a PC so you 
will use our browser." --Marc Andreessen, executive vice president and 
co-founder of Netscape Communications (June 25, 1998) 

"The time has come to think beyond the Earth." --Vinton Cerf, one of the 
inventors of the Internet and senior vice president at MCI 
Communications, on the creation of an "Internet that is out of this 
world" (July 22, 1998) 

"We'll get machines that are a million times faster over the next 10 
years. ... The key message here is that we are just at the beginning of 
the revolution; today's machines are Model Ts."  --Gates (September 7, 
1998) 

"I think Sun and Microsoft will be totally changed in the future. You can 
take half the people at Microsoft and half the people at Sun and write 
them off." --John Gage, chief scientist at Sun (September 9, 1998) 

"We are on the cusp of this time where I can say, 'I speak as a citizen 
of the world' without others saying, 'God, what a nut.'" --Lawrence 
Lessig, cyberspace law authority (October 10, 1998) 

"Everyone will have an average of five IP [Internet Protocol] objects on 
their body by 2000. There will even be digital eye glasses with voice 
control eventually that would offer all sorts of information to the 
wearer. ... Sony is working on the technology, so it'll happen. It'll 
cost $20." --John Sidgmore, vice chairman and chief operating officer of 
MCI WorldCom on a future world awash with what he terms "silicon 
cockroaches," wireless devices that can communicate with each other and 
the Internet (November 18, 1998) 

What Conclusion to Draw From It All? 

"The whole world's gone crazy because all of the software and all of the 
marketing are run by people who've never operated a business. ... The 
first problem is to try to get people to organize [businesses] with 
wisdom, with common sense."  --Digital's Olsen (June 24, 1998) 

--Kristi Essick, James Niccolai, Jana Sanchez-Klein, and Nancy Weil 
contributed to this story.  

Mitch Stone
mstone@vc.net