[jimbokun]

"His job was to advocate the right technologies at the right time. Yet MS rarely makes the right choices in this area. Technology decisions are made by political GMs who want to hold on to their empires."

So he had much responsibility and little authority, always a combination that guarantees failure.

[slantyyz]

Agreed, I never really saw him as much more than a figurehead.

In many ways, Microsoft is such an immovable beast, you can't expect many people outside of a Bill Gates to have the gravitas to make things happen.

[allwein]

>always a combination that guarantees failure.

Well, not always. I'm actually reading a book on the subject right now called "Results Without Authority"

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0814473431?ie=UTF8&tag=...