Henry Blodget is a Dope

May 29, 2009 16:16 by author

Good God people. Is this what it’s come to? I don’t even know what to say about this.

Let me start from the beginning. Microsoft has a new search engine called Bing. Steve Ballmer, as the CEO of Microsoft, is on a little press tour trying to tout Bing as the turning point in Microsoft’s struggle to beat Google. In doing that Mr. Ballmer produced this quote which Henry Blodget based his post around…

[H]ey, we’ve had some early tries [in search], kind of like you might call Windows 1, and I think there was something called Windows 2 in there, and Windows 386 in the late ’80s, but [Bing] is far more like Windows 3. People say, aha, I see the vision. It pays off but it won’t fully pay off the vision in its first incarnation...

Blodget’s response was…

What is Steve missing here? Microsoft had a monopoly in operating systems. When you have a monopoly, everyone buys your upgrades. They buy them because they're a bit better, yes, but mostly because they don't have a choice.

Now as anyone with even a hint of historical knowledge knows Microsoft did not have a Monopoly on the Operating System in the time of Windows 1, 2 or 3. In fact, they were so desperate to hang on to their DOS business that they jumped into bed with IBM and declared OS/2 the future of computing

And no, MS-DOS was not a monopoly. They had several viable competitors at every step of the chain. From Amiga to Apple, CP/M to Desqview and all those in-between.

(Popular Myth: the Apple II used MS-DOS. Truth: It used Apple’s version of DOS called…wait for it…AppleDOS)

Now I rarely attack an actual person. I’ll attack a person’s ideas until I’m blue in the face but almost never an actual person. But my God how is this guy considered a top-tier blogger in the tech scene?

How is it that Techmeme has several other articles from supposed “tech pundits” that seem to go along with this analysis? It’s crazy to me. Do we just not care about actual expertise anymore? Is knowing what you’re talking about just irrelevant now?

I took the day off today to catch up on a bunch of stuff including this blog and I’d planned to write on the topic of Bing. But this really “hit me where it hurts.” I still want to believe blogs are a place where informed people write thoughtful analysis of the day’s events. That’s why I have a blog, to participate in that type of discussion.

Which is why this is so disheartening to me.

On the topic of Bing… Just to make the point here’s the real irony: Steve Ballmer is wrong. But for completely different reasons.

If you know the history of Windows you realize that Microsoft had all but given up hope on it. Gates was in love with the new Mac and corporations were all still buying from IBM. Which is why Microsoft pledged it’s support for OS/2. By the time Windows 2 was released the project had shrunk down to a skeleton crew.

What happened then is two Microsoft programmers got the idea of working around a DOS limitation that kept Windows from fully using extended memory. That turned it into a usable, low cost GUI for old DOS machines and that is why Windows took off (and OS/2 landed in the junk heap of history)

So what Ballmer misses is that Windows took off because a small team had the freedom to go off on their own and do something great. Microsoft’s current monolithic structure prevents such innovation and THAT is why Bing probably won’t have the same success Windows had.

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May 29. 2009 11:58

I told you you're posts are better when you get angry ;)

Sam

May 29. 2009 15:09

"Popular Myth: the Apple II used MS-DOS"

It can't be that popular, because I've been using all kinds of computers for over 20 years I've never heard of this myth, and Google isn't turning up anything like that.

Steve

May 29. 2009 15:17

@Steve - What can I say "popular myth among people I went to college with" just doesn't have the same ring to it. I've sacrificed accuracy for flash and while it probably makes me a hypocrite I sincerely doubt it's the worst example of "things that make me a hypcrite"

Tom

May 29. 2009 17:37

Pingback from inquisitr.com

Henry Blodget opens mouth and inserts foot – again

inquisitr.com

May 30. 2009 07:07

re: I still want to believe blogs are a place where informed people write thoughtful analysis of the day’s events. That’s why I have a blog, to participate in that type of discussion. Which is why this is so disheartening to me.

This is what captures my attention about your post. Why? I'm anything but a tech geek. If I'd read a post from a top tier blogger, I would likely have presumed that he knew what he was talking about. Just like I would have presumed that any other declared expert in his field .. or journalist .. knows what he's talking about either because he lives and breathes his subject or has done the kind of research that journalists are supposed to do.

In the eternal journalist vs blogger drama, journalists will jump on examples such as this as proof that they are the only credible source of information. I have the utmost respect for journalists, but I would gently point out that as opposed to print newspaper or most online media platforms, even the top tier blogger who spouts wrong information will quickly be taken to task. His blog will have a comments field where his readers will correct him. Others will speak to the issue on their own blogs (as you are) on or platforms like Twitter (like Loren Fedelman did, which is how I came to read this blog post).

But maybe I'm too idealistic. After a quick scan of the Blodget post, I can only spot one comment that raises the question of his historical inaccuracy. Most comments are congratulatory.

Critical thinking is key. And apparently, additional research is necessary. Wikipedia anyone? ;)

Michelle Sullivan

May 30. 2009 07:55

Excellent post Tom - I'm old enough to remember those early iterations of Windows, how they were put on Apricot machines, how I resisted Windows based business applications for years due to all sorts of technical problems.

What you're faced with here in discussing Techmeme and Mr Blodget is the reality that the Bay Area is a microcosm that has a louder voice than its worth. If you go to San Francisco you'd think the whole world runs on Apple. Techmeme itself only really carries a handful of stories and of course the media people play to that, whether it is Blodget, TechCrunch, RWW etc.

Outside the Valley, these 'voices' have very little resonance and that is probably more important except that the large scale mainstream media has become so emasculated in terms of knowledgeable resource that it can do little more than parse what it hears out of the Valley.

Dennis Howlett

May 30. 2009 17:10

@Michelle – It’s funny you bring Loren Feldman up because he’s a perfect example of what’s wrong with the blogging community. He became well known by the A-List bloggers and yet still people go out of their way to ignore him because deep down I think they know he’s right and they don’t want to pop the bubble of their echo chamber. I certainly don’t think mainstream journalists are any better but there’s no doubt that many bloggers choose not to be informed so they can conclude whatever they want.

(For the record, I've also started using the word "dope" a lot more after watching his videos for so long. it's really a great word)

@Dennis – Obviously you’re right it just shocks me that the Bay area crowd doesn’t have enough sense to ignore this sort of thing. I was an 19 year old in the Bay area during the last part of the first “dot com boom” and though there are a lot of similarities between then and now I have to say we had a much better sense of the industry’s history. The blogs you see now don’t seem to know anything earlier than the XP era.

Tom

May 31. 2009 00:08

Agree, Steve Ballmer was wrong.

sulumits retsambew

June 28. 2009 10:03

Thats a nice article worth reading. great post there mate. you are awesome!

r4 sdhc

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About Me

Hi, I’m Tom and I run the IT department for a non-profit agency which provides treatment to special-needs children. Though I will (like any blogger) comment on technology in general my main goal is to detail how I’m trying to use technology to help treat the children we serve and its my hope that blogging will allow me to connect with people who can help in that goal.

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