[Am-info] AOL in Negotiations to Buy Red Hat

[Mitch Stone]

--- From a message sent by Hans Reiser on 1/21/02 3:28 AM ---

>>Probably the only person I trust less than Bill Gates is Steve Case. But 
>>I don't necessarily trust McNealy, Jobs or Ellison to any greater extent. 
>>I think the best we can hope for is that these guys will neutralize each 
>>other. So in this scenario I am rooting tentatively for Case.
>>
>Bill Gates has the virtue of being in it only for the money, whereas I 
>suspect Steve Case will try to control content for non-monetary reasons, 
>so I agree with you.

I've always interpreted Gates' strategy for Microsoft as being more about 
control than money. As a former AOL customer, long before the merger, I 
can report that their policies are all about the money. Once they get 
their hands on your credit card, you're in for the ride of your life.

>McNealy I trust.  Sun has historically been more open than its 
>competition.  As for Jobs or Ellison, I think that they will add zest 
>and pizazz to any competition, and competition is what we want.

Not to belabor this point, but I think we make a mistake by trusting any 
of these scions of capitalism too far. They did not get where they are 
today by being nice guys. We've made a kind of Faustian bargain with 
them, which is okay, but only insofar as they have to continually look 
out for each other, and not get a clear shot at us. Given a hand full of 
aces, I doubt that any one of these tech moguls would behave much 
differently then Bill Gates has over the years.

 Mitch Stone  
 mitch@accidentalexpert.com