Calling Brits - Money Programme on BBC2

[Highmac]

Anybody watch it last night? Feature on er..... Bill Gates. I was expecting an hour-long advert for M$ but it seemed quite well balanced, featuring critics as well as fans.

Tone was probably set by Fiona Bruce's first question in his office: "That looks like a top-of-the-range computer. Does it ever crash?" "Er...... no". Anybody believe that?

And as the narrator used the phrase about getting a computer on every desk, there was an Apple laptop beautifully framed in the background

For the benefit of others, here's a link to a feature based on the programme http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7464074.stm

[krissel]

I love these quotes:

QUOTE

Mr Gates and his colleagues insist their only purpose in life is to make "great software" and that if customers don't like it, they wouldn't choose it.

QUOTE

On the other side of the argument is Mitch Kapor, founder of the Lotus Corporation.

Lotus was at one time bigger than Microsoft, thanks to the success of its 1-2-3 spreadsheet software.

Mr Kapor pulls no punches in his criticisms of Microsoft.

"Claims by Microsoft that people were buying the software because it was good are pretty self-serving," he says.

"I'd like to smoke what he was smoking."