Mr. Gates goes to college

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The Linux dialogue is interesting.

ZDNet:
What will Microsoft do to get them ["college students and those thinking about leaving the computer industry"]excited? Will that have the same effect as open source and Linux in generating enthusiasm?

ZDNet is very supportive of 'open source and Linux'.

BG:
Had what effect?

Bill Gates is unwilling to give away that point.

ZDNet:
Getting people interested in this technology and this movement; feeling that they are changing something and that they can have a part in developing something new.

ZDNet sees open source and Linux as a movement creating something new and changing the world. That's not the way Bill Gates thinks of it.

BG:
That is a very narrow phenomenon. Seriously. Go mingle with these computer science students, and just think of the numbers involved here. There are hundreds of people who do that, yes. But computer science has moved on from operating systems and kernels--let's not kid ourselves. You don't even learn machine language anymore. Don't think that there is some correlation between people working on that stuff and what is going on with these students here. That's more and more overseas. It has nothing to do with the United States.

Rearranging his order, open source and Linux involve hundreds of people, a small number even compared with the thousands of college students interested in computer science. Not many of them are in the United States.
And Linux and open source are working on only the most primitive aspects of software. Even the students have moved on from the kernel and [the antique definition of] the operating system. The machine language needed for that basic stuff isn't being learned.

In short, open source and Linux are an anachronistic waste of time motivating almost no one.


I think he's overlooking the simple satisfactions of independent coding, the equivalent of rigging up something in a garage. And also the threat represented by a cheap, primitive product when the leader has become very sophisticated and comparatively expensive.
But if you look at where innovation will come from, he does have a point. Small companies do niche products nowadays, or if they have a potentially huge product, they get bought out by a big company.
Way of the world.

Posted by: Anton Philidor   Posted on: 03/01/04 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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