The Friendlier Bill Gates?

from the uh.--not-really. dept

An editor at News.com seems positively amazed that Bill Gates would stoop so low as to agree to be interviewed by a blogger, and goes on to suggest that every other tech execs is somehow hiding from the press. This seems a little silly. First of all, he’s picking and choosing which execs he thinks are being quiet, and that’s misleading. You could claim that while Scott McNealy has been quieter in the press, thanks to his blog, Jonathan Schwartz has been much louder than even McNealy was at his loudest — conserving the braggadocio of Sun. Besides, Gates’ decision to be interviewed by a blogger probably has a lot more to do with Microsoft’s new blog offering than any mellowing out on Gates’ part. Access to tech execs comes and goes as necessary — and it doesn’t seem like there’s any major difference between now and in the past, other than the fact that News.com seems a bit upset that the tech execs don’t go to News.com first. If anything, it seems that, thanks to executive blogs, executives are being more open than ever. Hell, whoever would have thought that GM’s chairman would start a blog?


Rate this comment as insightful
Rate this comment as funny
You have rated this comment as insightful
You have rated this comment as funny
Flag this comment as abusive/trolling/spam
You have flagged this comment
The first word has already been claimed
The last word has already been claimed
Insightful Lightbulb icon Funny Laughing icon Abusive/trolling/spam Flag icon Insightful badge Lightbulb icon Funny badge Laughing icon Comments icon

Comments on “The Friendlier Bill Gates?”

Subscribe: RSS Leave a comment
3 Comments
nonuser says:

good interview

And don’t forget part three.

But the guy at CNET is wrong that this is unusual or out of character for either Gates or CEOs. Those guys love spinning their stories, and they’d better, cuz it’s a big part of their jobs. They’ll conference in on CNBC or do interviews with the mainstream press, the trade press and local newspapers, then address a meeting with Wall Street analysts. Then they’ll fly out to a big customer site or prospect to help close a deal. And Gates and McNealy have learned some of the old arts of salesmanship – you get credibility if you don’t bash the competition 100 percent of the time, and acknowledge a few of your own mistakes and disappointments, while of course pointing out how your new products are absolute killers.

Mike (profile) says:

Re: ?

Er… We mention Gizmodo all the time. The reason they weren’t mentioned in that post was that that particular sentence was meant to be in the “tone” of the News.com writer who seemed so dismissive of the idea that a “blogger” could interview Bill Gates.

Besides, we clearly linked to the Gizmodo piece.

We’re big fans of Gizmodo and have linked to them many times. What would we possiby be jealous about?!?

Oh well. I guess, once again, I forgot that humor tags don’t work in HTML.

Add Your Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Have a Techdirt Account? Sign in now. Want one? Register here

Comment Options:

Make this the or (get credits or sign in to see balance) what's this?

What's this?

Techdirt community members with Techdirt Credits can spotlight a comment as either the "First Word" or "Last Word" on a particular comment thread. Credits can be purchased at the Techdirt Insider Shop »

Follow Techdirt

Techdirt Daily Newsletter

Techdirt Deals
Techdirt Insider Discord
The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...
Loading...