Unexpected Pleasures in Gates/Ballmer interview at D Conference(D会议上Gates/Ballmer访谈中意想不到的欢乐)

In the joint interview with Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer at D last week, I loved some of the stories about the early Microsoft, especially Ballmer talking about how Gates wouldn't let him hire anyone unless he could prove that they would pay for themselves. Gates was incredibly conservative, and always wanted to have enough cash on hand to keep people employed for a year even if sales fell off a cliff. Everyone thinks about Microsoft as the gorilla of the industry, but it was great to see that view of them as an early, scrappy startup. And that kind of financial conservatism is great advice for startups.

I also liked the description of how they worked together. It's great to have a partner in running a business, and they did a great job of complementing each other's strengths. A CEO/COO partnership can be really great. (We have that now at O'Reilly, and it's been fabulous.)

It was also great to see how relaxed Gates was. He was happy to let Steve take point, had a slightly bemused smile on his face a lot of the time. It was definitely the face and body language of a man who had let go and was ready to move on. It's nice to see, in an era of aging, driven corporate titans, someone who can step aside. As Lao Tzu said, "To retire when the task is accomplished is the way of heaven." Microsoft may still need to reinvent itself, but Bill is done.

I wanted to add a comment by  Linda Stone that I overheard in the hallways, namely, that it seemed like a real missed opportunity on the part of Walt and Kara that there wasn't some kind of effort to honor Bill Gates for his enormous contributions to the industry. They acted like this was just a panel like any other. Despite my many criticisms of Microsoft, I truly respect the company and what they have achieved. They played a huge role in the commodification of computing, and made so much possible (even the rise of open source and the internet), and a huge part of that was the vision and talent of Bill Gates. I'm glad he's now focused on a new " big hairy audacious goal" beyond Microsoft (eliminating diseases like Malaraia.) Even if I think that Microsoft has had trouble finding a new BHAG, it's clear that Bill himself still thinks big.

P.S. Despite what I said about "aging, driven corporate titans" above, I have to admit to being very impressed with both Rupert Murdoch and Barry Diller. Both are brilliant, forceful, and surprisingly candid. You could have knocked me over with a feather when Murdoch came out and all-but endorsed Barack Obama. I love it when people don't fit your preconceptions. (I was twittering this live, but twitter managed to have an outage so all my notes were lost. Glad there's video -- even better, though you don't get to see my amazement and delight.)

It was also fabulous to hear Barry Diller talk about Carl Icahn and Yahoo! and the responsibility of management to maximize shareholder value. I loved the way Barry said that he feels a deep responsibility to do well for his long-term shareholders, but that he feels absolutely no obligation to make money for short-term speculators (and presumably that Jerry shouldn't feel any responsibility to folks like Carl Icahn either.) All shareholders are not created equal.

These guys are blunt and insightful, afraid of no one, and still having fun. Great role models for any entrepreneur.

翻译: joylite
在上周D会议上Gates和Ballmer的联合访谈中，我非常喜欢微软早期创建时的一些故事，尤其当Ballmer谈及Gates是怎样不允许他雇任何人，除非他能证明能够先为自己付工资。Gates是难以置信地保守，即便产品销售已经进入困境，他仍希望能够在手上留出给员工发一年工资的现金。所有人都认为Microsoft是工业界的“金刚”，但是这仍然是非常好的一面：过去他们也曾经是一个初创的、生气勃勃的创业公司。并且这种财务保守对创业公司仍然是非常好的建议。


我同样欣赏对他们如何一起工作的介绍。有一个合作者一起开创事业，并且能够相互互补，的确是非常好的事情。CEO和COO的合作同样非常有价值（在O’Reilly我们已经有了这样的合作者，的确非常好）。

能看到Gates非常地轻松同样非常美好。他愉快地让Steve承担了重任，经常脸上带着有些微困惑的微笑。这的确是一个已经放开了手并且准备离开的人所应有的表情和身体语言。同样很高兴看到，在一个逝去的时代，领导业界的巨人的人能放手离开。诚如Lao Tzu所言，“当任务完成的时候退休，就和在天堂一样”。Microsoft也许仍然需要革新自己，但是Bill已经做完了。



我希望加上无意间在走道中听到Linda Stone的评论，也就是：在Walt和Kara的访谈环节，没有某种形式的荣誉来表彰Bill Gates对业界的巨大贡献，委实遗憾。他们的表现就如面对其他专家一样。抛开我对Microsoft的颇多微词不谈，我的确尊敬这个公司和他们所做到的。他们在推动计算商品化扮演了巨大的角色，制造了如此之多的可能（即使在Internet和Open Source在不断增长），以及成为了Bill Gates的愿景和才能表现的一部分。我非常高兴看到他现在致力于一个除微软之外的“新的、惊险和刺激的目标”（例如克服类似Malaraia的疾病）。即便我觉得Microsoft在寻找一个新的大胆而充满风险的目标上有些麻烦，但Bill自己的想法始终宏大这点依然清晰。


又及： 除了我前面所提及的“时代，领到业界的巨人”，我必须承认Rupert Murdoch和Barry Diller给我留下了深刻的印象。他们都杰出、坚强和令人吃惊的正值。你也许会用这样的论据轻易地打倒我，Murdoch出现并且几乎接近Barack Obama。当大众均不看好时，我仍喜欢。（我用twitter在实时播报，但是twitter已经因维护而宕机，因此我的很多记录都丢失了。幸好还有视频—这更好，然而你不会分享到我的惊愕和喜悦。）


当听到Barry Diller谈及Carl Icahn、Yahoo!以及管理层应该有维护利益干系人最大利益的责任时，同样难以令人置信。我欣赏Barry的表达方式，对于长期利益干系人，他责无旁贷地、有极大的责任应该做好，但是，对于短期的投机者，他完全没有责任为他们赚钱。（推测Jerry对想Carl Icahn的人同样没有责任。）所有的利益干系人天生就不是平等的。

这些人爽直并富有洞察力，不惧怕任何人，并且始终过得快乐。所有企业家的伟大典范。