[LINK] Microsoft is dead

[Alastair Rankine]

On 07/04/2007, at 5:44 PM, Kim Holburn wrote:

> Microsoft is dead:
> http://www.paulgraham.com/microsoft.html

And the followup:

http://www.paulgraham.com/cliffsnotes.html

> When I wrote that Microsoft was dead, I didn't mean it literally. I  
> couldn't have. Companies aren't alive, so they can't die.
>
> In fact "Microsoft is Dead" was what we in the trade call a  
> metaphor. I meant something else. Over the last couple days there  
> has been some disagreement about what I meant. Some people who were  
> scandalized by the essay convinced themselves I meant something  
> rather stupid: that Microsoft is about to go out of business. This  
> they diligently refuted.

This is what we in the trade call patronising.

I'm sorry to vent on you Linkers, but however sympathetic I am to  
some of Graham's opinions I still find his tone incredibly  
condescending. Those of us who made the huge leap from "Microsoft is  
dead" to "Microsoft will go out of business" are apparently stupid,  
or at least inclined to making stupid interpretations. Dog forbid  
that Graham didn't actually express himself clearly.