Once upon a time I thought I wanted to run a software company. But if my window of opportunity was ever open, it’s since been closed, latched, and caulked with Liquid Nails. Not because the market has changed that much, but because I just don’t get the way it works anymore. A few weeks ago, Microsoft and Sun announced an interoperability pact that sent earth tremors up and down the west coast. How can two computer giants that have historically gotten along about as well as Kobe and Shaq be suddenly joining hands as technology partners? Seriously. One day they’re going at it in court, the next day they’re picking out furniture.
Word has it that the two company presidents, Ballmer and McNealy, realized that it was no longer fun living in separate worlds. The fight was going too long, the body blows were taking their toll, and, worst of all, customers were growing impatient with cries of “play well together or else!” So the two billionaires met up on the golf course one day and worked things out.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m in favor of people getting along with each other. I know that that’s how life works. But as a self-respecting capitalist, I just didn’t think that was how business worked. Having been in this industry for more than half my life, and having served on an entrepreneurial board for seven years, I’ve seen some rather nasty battles being played out in both public and private forums. It doesn’t seem to matter if the companies are small, garage-dwelling startups or filthy-rich megalomaniacs, if they hate each other, the gloves are coming off and one of them is going down. Of course, the richer the companies are, the longer the battle can last. Most small companies are big on ideas, small on cash, and have a shorter life expectancy than Celebrity Poker. In fact, instead of suing each other, they’d do well just to wait a few months and watch their bitter rival become a statistic. For every success story you hear about—the Suns, the Microsofts, the Ciscos—there are a thousand small-business failures. How do you make a small fortune in the computer business? Start off with a large fortune.
The simple fact that two companies like Microsoft and Sun can find common ground is heartening. Sure, Microsoft agreed to pay Sun $2 billion over the next ten years. Sure, Microsoft is famous for investing in other rivals like Corel and Apple. (Although, when I was with Novell, I kept waiting for Bill Gates to spoon some cash our way. Never happened.) But let not the cynics among us spring to conclusions. Microsoft’s latest display of largesse may just be a shift toward a policy of glasnost in the interest of customer satisfaction. Scoff if you must, but I can tell you first-hand that, at the present, in the halls of Microsoft, there is no more influential buzzword than “delighting the customer.” Work it into your meeting agenda, your whiteboard notes, your annual review. Plaster it on the public newsgroups and figure out how customer feedback can improve Microsoft products. Apparently, Ballmer and McNealy are figuring all this out at the executive level. Interesting concept: working together. It just never came up in any of my economics courses.
Glasnost. I like the idea — I’m just not getting it from a business point of view. But, thankfully, I’m not at the helm.
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