Gates defends Microsoft record on innovation
Seattle PI | at | by Mike
What's is like to butt heads with Bill Gates? A group of technology bloggers got a sense of it, in a friendly way, during a lively session with the Microsoft chairman last week.
A transcript of the event, held Tuesday in Redmond, shows Gates speaking in a casual and pointed manner that doesn't come out in public appearances. On one topic, for example, he promised to ask one Microsoft general manager "what the hell is going on."
But the most animated exchange came in response to a question with deeper implications -- the company's reputation for too often reacting to the innovations of others, not innovating itself. That clearly riled up Gates, and he disputed the perception.