Ken Tingey

A member of the Philip Greenspun's Homepage community since July 30, 1999

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July 30, 1999, on Why Bill Gates is Richer than You:
This is the decade of the "two Bills". They are very much alike. There is some evidence that they are friends. Both have achieved fame and fortune in similar ways. Simply stated, they were both very lucky. Both behaved outrageously in semi-obscurity. Both received the benefit of the doubt (Clinton by the press and Gates by the market) even when it was clear that they were misrepresenting themselves. Both have taken extraordinary lengths to rewrite their histories. Personally, I think that the climb of Gates was somewhat less distasteful than that of Clinton--largely because the damage was possibly less pervasive.

The real question in both cases relates to the relatively near future. Gates succeeded by achieving a clear, focused goal that was carried out over many years--a machine with his stuff on every table in the world. Microsoft recently changed that objective to a really murky, unfocused "mantra" that is a clear sign that the company has lost its edge. Other new entrepren...