Greatest Americans - Part 4 - Business Leaders
May 17, 2005
Posted by at May 17, 2005 10:59 PM
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In the closest vote yet, Jim Thorpe was voted as the greatest American athlete. He'll join Mark Twain and John Wayne in the finals.
Now it's time to pick America's greatest business leader. You'll notice that one very prominent name is missing. Criticize us if you must, but the Dummocrats editorial board felt strongly that Bill Gates did not merit a spot on this list.
Henry Ford was our winner. See the results here
Note: Here's the schedule for the rest of the categories:
1. Actors & Directors: May 9-11
2. Artists & Writers: May 12-14 (This will replace "Political Figures")
3. Athletes: May 15-17
4. Business Leaders: May 18-20
5. Champions of Causes: May 21-23
6. Heroes & Icons: May 24-26
7. Musicians: May 27-29
8. Presidents: May 30-June 1
9. Scientists (I'll include inventors): June 2-4
Posted by at May 17, 2005 10:59 PM
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Comments
| # May 18th, 2005 1:39 AM TheUnabrewer |
| Trump abuses eminent domain. A-hole. |
| # May 18th, 2005 8:28 AM gregw |
| Mike Dell and Col. Sanders, yet no Ted Jones? You just punted your last shred of credibility. |
| # May 18th, 2005 8:28 AM kris |
| I have no idea who Ted Jones is. |
| # May 18th, 2005 12:51 PM KVBB |
| How can you possibly have Donald Trump and Steve Jobs on this list and not have Bill Gates? Gates has not only created more worth (many times more), he also is a fine example of the social good that can come from wealth generation. You really got this one wrong. |
| # May 18th, 2005 3:59 PM james |
| why no bill gates? let me tell you why
1) he never invented anything, stole windows from xerox and bought dos for 50k from a local area hobbyist. gates' big thing was programming languages, not operating systems. in fact, that was the very aim of microsoft for years and years. 2) msft only got off the ground b/c bill's mom knew someone on the board of IBM who "hooked him up" with a contract to buy his programming language. IBM insisted on an OS/language package, so msft bought dos off some guy. 3) microsoft had nothing to do with the "pc revolution" or with the internet revolution. if you remember, back in 1995, msft still wasnt on the internet bandwagon. that isnt being a visionary. that isn't being an "industry leader." they came so late to the game that it was laughable. gates talks about it now and says "we basically bet the whole company on the internet." yeah you did, after the tech boom 4) microsoft didnt succeed b/c of innovation or b/c they are visionary. whenever a new company comes along and does something great, they buy them up. they only succeed b/c of sheer market power. and ALL of that is owed to a phone call that billg's mom made back in the early 80's. in short, any company that got the contract that msft got with IBM would have been just as successful. you shouldnt be included on a list of "leaders" when your success results from being in the right place at the right time, then making all the wrong decisions. lets not forget their illegal use of their monopoly power. not only the federal case, but almost every state won a case against them. for instance, every CA consumer that bought a computer from 1995-1999 (or something like that) got a $100 check as part of a settlement. cheaters hardly belong a list like this. gates stepped down as CEO of MSFT, and nothing happened. in fact, they got more profitable. Jobs was kicked out of apple and the company went belly up. they brought him back, and apple made a huge comeback by revamping their existing product line and creating whole new industries. (iTunes anyone?) they own the mp3 player market, snatched it away from a market that was already saturated. and without leveraging market power to do so. despite his market power, MS messenger, MSN, C-sharp, MSNBC, and more are all colossal failures. Steve Jobs also founded NeXt computers, which eventually "turned in to" PiXar, the most profitable movie studio in the history of hollywood. So you tell me, what has Gates done to warrant inclusion? How in the world can you possibly think that Gates is more deserving than Jobs? (and FYI, ive never liked macs, so dont even think that im a rabid apple fan) |
| # May 19th, 2005 8:13 AM kris |
| Next up is "Champions of Causes", here's who I'm thinking of off the top of my head:
Helen Keller Martin Luther King Rosa Parks Susan B. Anthony Jerry Lewis Bob Hope (USOC stuff) Jackie Robinson Oprah Winfrey (not one cause, but many) Nancy Reagan (don't laugh--can you think of a longer lasting anti-drug campaign than "Just Say No"? Eleanor Roosevelt I'm kind at a loss on this one and I need some help! |
| # May 19th, 2005 8:42 AM james |
| i dunno kris, dontcha think that it's demeaning to relegate institutionalized racism to a mere "cause?" it's just not right to compare MLK jr to oprah freaking winfrey, jerry lewis, or nancy reagan.
plus, MLK has to be on any list of greatest americans. so if he doesnt win this category, what then? |
| # May 19th, 2005 8:46 AM KVBB |
| Well James, yesterday was your lucky day. Having read your comments after a long day of work I decided it wasn't worth my energy to reply. But today is a new day.
Let me premise this response by first telling you I have working in the computer industry (specifically PC's and networks) since 1987. If you don't believe me ask Kris. So I have specific industry knowledge about most of the events you describe. 1) Gates stole Windows from Xerox? Wozniak and Jobs visited Xerox PARC and that is where they got the "inspiration" for their first GUI. I wouldn't claim they stole the user interface, more like they built a better mouse trap. However,they are clearly the most direct connection to Xerox's research. 2) Gates was only interested in programming languages? ALL operating systems are developed in a programming language. Seems like you put the cart in front of the ox. 3) Microsoft only got off the ground because of a phone call by Bill's mom? I didn't know one call from Bill's mom could bring a multi-billion dollar company like IBM to its knees. In clear a moment of brilliance, Bill Gates saw a market opportunity and since he did not have a product for that market he purchased one. The list is Greatest Business Leaders, not inventors, and the IBM contract was Gate's first exceptional business move. 4) Microsoft had nothing to do with the pc revolution? This statement only points out your complete misunderstanding of the PC market. It would be like saying Henry Ford had nothing to do with the mass popularity of automobiles in the United States. Here is where Gates and Microsoft defeated Jobs and Apple and gained dominance in the PC market. They realized that making an operating system and applications that could run on hundreds of diffeent brands of computers would provide more opportunity than bundling the hardware and OS together like Jobs and Apple did. That decsion allowed hardware manufacturers to innovate and compete without having to worry that software would not run on their machines. It allowes a young man named Michael Dell to sell computer hardware out of the trunk of his car without having to write his own operating systems or applications. (Something Dell still does not do.) 5) You are correct in pointing out Microsoft's late entry into the Internet browser market, but you also fail to ackowledge their recovery to domminate the brower market. I remember paying $50.00 a copy or Netscape Navigator. Microsoft released Internet Explorer, and by version 2.0 had a useable product. It wasn't better than Netscape so they competed on price. Just like the Asian car companies did against the US manufacturers. By version 4.0 Internet Explorer was a better product and Netscape was eventually swallowed up by Sun for a fraction of it's former value. Who provided a better value to its customers and shareholders? Microsoft. 6) Visionary blah,blah,blah... Acquisition is a very valid business growth stategy. How did Cisco Systems get 72% of the network switching market, or network security market, or IP Telephony market? They bought and integrated companies. Microsoft has purchased companies but that is not the secret to their success. Most importantly they have continually developed and improved products to the point where they provide their customers with value. Look at the email, database, network OS markets. In each of these areas Microsoft had a small market share, and now is the one of the top three players in each of these markets. They took Exchange and made it easier to use and deploy than Lotus Notes, they took SQL Server from nowhere and made it the third biggest database in the world. By consistently giving their customers better price / performance value than IBM or Oracle. Novell owned the networking market in the early '90's. Microsoft introduced a product (Windows NT) that was much easier to write applications for, and helped developers port their single user applications to a multi-user environment. Now Microsoft is the networking leader and Novell is turning to Linux in an attempt to stay relevant. But the key to all these areas was continually improving their products. 7) Illegal activies. John Rockefeller and Henry Ford were certainly no saints and without a doubt did worse things than Microsoft, but they are on the list. A few of Microsoft's business practices were regetable, but many of them were competitive in nature and where only brought up in the DOJ case because of backing by Microsoft competitors Sun, Novell, etc... And by the way Micosoft settled with the DOJ and was NOT found guilty in almost every state. 8) A great business leader makes arrangements for his eventual succession. To even imply that Gates is not heavily involved with Microsoft today would be completely wrong, but having Microsoft continue to be a great success is to his credit, not detriment. As far as Apple's great comback with Jobs, they still have less than 5% of the PC market, and that has remained pretty stagnent. Their last quarter was one of their best in many years, yet their profit was about 1/10th of the profit generated by Microsoft. You can have the dime, I'll take the dollar. 9) NeXt? Nothing less than a complete and total failure in the computer industry. 10) The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has donated almost 25 Billion dollars to chariry causes. In an era of Enron, MCI, and coutless other corporate scandals, the good work done by their foundation should not be overlooked. Capitalism is good, and so is generosity 11) I don't think you are a rabid Apple fan, I just wonder if you're rabid. 12) You stand corrected |
| # May 19th, 2005 9:06 AM kris |
| The only other place MLK could fit is under "Hero" and I think this one is more appropriate. I'm sure he'll win this category. |
| # May 19th, 2005 9:11 AM james |
| it's my lucky day that you're not replying to me, huh? i stand corrected? what an incredibly condecending and flat out ignorant comment on your part, all around.
1) most of your facts are wrong (i.e. netscape was free for all personal use) 2) your arguments don't make any sense (i.e. so what if an OS is written in a programming language) and 3) im not going to waste my time even completing this list suffice it to say that you're wrong, gates isnt on the list for good reason, and youre incredibly arrogant sounding to boot. |
| # May 19th, 2005 3:09 PM countertop |
3) Microsoft only got off the ground because of a phone call by Bill's mom? I didn't know one call from Bill's mom could bring a multi-billion dollar company like IBM to its knees. In clear a moment of brilliance, Bill Gates saw a market opportunity and since he did not have a product for that market he purchased one. The list is Greatest Business Leaders, not inventors, and the IBM contract was Gate's first exceptional business move. I think your wrong on this one. Bill Gates came from a VERY powerful family. Ever hear of Preston, Gates & Ellis? Its a massive law firm with hundreds of lawyers in 11 countries. Most of its growth occurred well, well before Microsoft. The Gates in Preston Gate? Thats William H. Gates, Bill Gates father, who developed one of the countries top technology practices in the early to mid 1960s. As a result of William H. Gates huge practice he landed his wife a spot on the Board of Directors for the United Way along with the CEO of IBM. It was through that relationship that she got Bill Gates (who was clearly a genius and pretty decent programmer too) a gig with IBM. The rest, as they say, is history. |