To many (not really me) Gates had a tech-sheen that softened the business ruthlessness. I suspect Gates left any real involvement with the coding process by the time he got the deal done with IBM to sell them DOS. He got much more tech credit than he deserved, probably because he could see some of the implications much better than (at least) those outside of the tech industry. Ballmer has none of that tech reputation as reach-back. I cannot picture him reading, much less writing, code. At least many people see him as a callous, pompous jack-ass. He is not a good spokesman and I have seen no vision or even genuine understanding of the tech world by Ballmer. He always looks to me like he just won a game show.
Thank you, Mark Snyder -----Original Message----- I am not saying Gates was highly inventive, but at least he was involved in the programming from what I understand. Balmer is strictly marketing/business. When Gates talked you saw the Geek come out in him. When Balmer talks you see the evil money grubbing marketing guy come out. Balmer always comes off harsh and a little bit like an ass when ever he gets on TV. My suggestion to him, is find a public person who likes doing interviews etc. and put them out there, and stay off the tube. ************************************************************************* ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *************************************************************************
