The board turned Sun down and then went out and paid $400 million to buy NeXT. For all intents and purposes, they paidf $400 million to buy an operating system, hire an OS team headed by Avie Trevanian, and oh yes, provide a nice signing bonus for their new part-time CEO, some guy named Steve.
Lots of shareholders grumbled.
Of course, that was Apple and this is Yahoo. I don't personally think Jerry has Steve's touch, but I sincerely hope he makes me look like the wrong end of an Equine.
The board turned Sun down and then went out and paid $400 million to buy NeXT. For all intents and purposes, they paidf $400 million to buy an operating system, hire an OS team headed by Avie Trevanian, and oh yes, provide a nice signing bonus for their new part-time CEO, some guy named Steve.
Lots of shareholders grumbled.
Of course, that was Apple and this is Yahoo. I don't personally think Jerry has Steve's touch, but I sincerely hope he makes me look like the wrong end of an Equine.
Who's to say someone at Yahoo doesn't have the capability of coming up with the "next big thing?" Maybe the junior developer they hired last week will have a great idea tomorrow - you never know.
Steve Jobs came back in 1996 - it took 5 years for them to launch the iPod. It's anyone's guess where Yahoo will be in 5 years - maybe Jerry Yang will be looked at as a hero, maybe not. Predicting Yahoo's position five years from now is impossible.
Maybe the junior developer does have a great idea tomorrow - the question is, will anyone listen to him? Or will his small voice not be heard in a big company? It's not that they lack people who have the potential to do great things, it's the size/culture, the organization itself, which in (most) large corporations stifles new ideas and creativity.
Maybe radical changes can only start within a certain distance from the top, and as the company gets bigger, the bottom moves further away from the top and can no longer initiate those sorts of things. Just a thought.
http://www.sunworld.com/swol-01-1996/swol-01-apple.html
The board turned Sun down and then went out and paid $400 million to buy NeXT. For all intents and purposes, they paidf $400 million to buy an operating system, hire an OS team headed by Avie Trevanian, and oh yes, provide a nice signing bonus for their new part-time CEO, some guy named Steve.
Lots of shareholders grumbled.
Of course, that was Apple and this is Yahoo. I don't personally think Jerry has Steve's touch, but I sincerely hope he makes me look like the wrong end of an Equine.