Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
> __/ [Linønut] on Thursday 15 September 2005 00:18 \__
>
>> Daeron poked his little head through the XP firewall and said:
>>
>>> So that would be the philosophical difference between Microsoft and
>>> what Google is up to at this point?
>>>
>>> Gates: Well, we don't know everything they are up to, but we do know
>>> their slogan and we disagree with that.
>>>
>>> http://news.com.com/Gates+on+Google/2008-1082_3-5863514.html
>>>
>>> Our informal corporate motto is "Don't be evil."
>>>
>>> http://investor.google.com/conduct.html
>
>
> Yes, that's that Slashdotted story. I found it very amusing, if not scary,
> when I read it this morning. Is Bill Gates going senile? Did he not realise
> what he implied when he spewed out those words. Either way, he now has
> somebody else to do the talking... or shall I say (monkey)
> screaming.
If you check the context of that quote, you'll find this right before
it.
In fact, they have this slogan that they are going to organize the
world's information. Our slogan is that we are going to give
people tools to let them organize the world's information. It's a
slightly different approach, based on the platformization of all
of our capabilities and not thinking of ourselves as the
organizer.
It's clear in context he didn't mean "Don't be evil." (A motto that
Google seems to be forgetting, in my dwindling opinion of them. I've
been souring on Google since the "Beta" Google Groups came out.)
Of course, the quote out-of-context is still pretty funny, but it
isn't quite as stupid as it appears. Ill-advised, sure, but
understandable when one is speaking off the cuff.
(Note: essentially this same comment appears in the Slashdot
discussion. It's not original with me.)
--
Jesse F. Hughes
"How lucky we are to be able to hear how miserable Willie Nelson could
imagine himself to be." -- Ken Tucker on Fresh Air
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