Copy, copy - New comment on Microsoft FY06Q4 Results

KevinB has left a new comment on your post "Microsoft FY06Q4 Results":

"Hey, any entrepreneur and VC worth his salt can tell you that getting into new markets and building big businesses like Windows and Office in those markets require smarts, hard work, chutzpah and quite a bit of luck. The early MSFT had all 4 in equal measure."

This is remarkably funny. The early MSFT had the first 3 in very small amounts (well, to be fair, I do think BillG is quite smart), and piggybacked on the entire marketing clout of another company, which is pure luck.

As many baseball players have noted, it's better to be lucky than good. And for a company whose cash cows are copies of other people's ideas (highly developed and well refined copies, to be sure, but copies nonetheless) to have the belief that it will be lucky enough to generate the "next new big thing" is hopeful at best, and more likely presumptious.

 

(Sorry KevinB but the mythology of Microsoft being nothing but an IQ Xerox machine has been let through by me way too many times, no matter how respectful in this case.)