Best Bill Gates quotes on ZDNet

"If something's expensive to develop, and somebody's not going to get paid, it won't get developed. So you decide: Do you want software to be written, or not?"

Of course Linux has proven this wrong.

But at what consequence? We, who develop software for a living, are now faced with the devaluation of our livelihood because of 'open source' software and freeware.

Not everyone can live in the basement of their parents house and write software for free.

But, so far (for me anyway) I have been able to manage. However it was only this year that I was able to nudge my income back up to the level it was prior to 9/11/2001. But I have two friends who did the same kind of work that I did that have not been so lucky. Both of them have been unemployed (at least in the tech sector) since 2001. Even my best apprentice is no longer employed in the tech sector. My eldest son has done OK, but went through a business failure. But my youngest son has not been able to break into the tech sector (both my sons pursue jobs in tech).

I have to wonder just how much longer the 'open source' movement will go. I have to think that sooner or later those who write software 'for free' would have to run out of relatives to live with.

I heard this on the news this morning. Here is a link:

http://www.betanews.com/article/Gates_Ballmer_to_Employees_All_is_Well/1150441717

apparantly he'll still be majority share owner (cha-ching), but "Bill Gates would be leaving his role as chief software architect in two years to focus on his Foundation, both Gates and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer sent company-wide e-mails to employees. The memos provide a look into what the future will bring when the software era of Bill Gates comes to an end... effective July 2008 ? Bill will transition to a part-time role at the company. While this is significant news, it's important to note that for the next two years Bill will continue full-time as Chairman, and that even after July 2008 he will continue as Chairman and an advisor on key development and business issues."

Thanks for the link.

The one(s) I like the best is:

"Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can't lose." (The Road Ahead)

and

"There are no significant bugs in our released software that any significant number of users want fixed." (Focus Magazine, Oct. 23, 1995)