Microsoft Co-Founder Paul Allen Hits Out at Gates • Hacker News Board

Re: Microsoft Co-Founder Paul Allen Hits Out at Gates

#31

Post by yannickt » Wed, Mar 30, 2011, 4:08 PM UTC

smackay wrote: post #11

winestock wrote: post #2

Cringley's account of Paul Allen's fight against Hodgkin's disease while at Microsoft may be relevant. http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2006/pulpit_20060330_0008...

Cringley's account is very critical of Gates and Balmer, particularly on the subject of getting control of Paul Allen's shares in Microsoft should the worst happen. While this seems very cold-blooded it was probably a reasonable course of action given the circumstances - look what happened to CraigsList when one of the founders sold out to eBay.

My interpretation of the article is that Allen felt betrayed because Gates and Ballmer were having these discussions behind his back.

Re: Microsoft Co-Founder Paul Allen Hits Out at Gates

#32

Post by yannickt » Wed, Mar 30, 2011, 4:10 PM UTC

kloncks wrote: post #17

Is it just me or was Bill's reaction so cordial and professional? I loved it; thought it was great. "While my recollection of many of these events may differ from Paul's, I value his friendship and the important contributions he made to the world of technology and at Microsoft," Mr. Gates said in a written statement.

It is exactly the kind of response I would expect from someone in his position. He has nothing to gain by reacting overly negatively, and his legacy is not exactly at stake.

Re: Microsoft Co-Founder Paul Allen Hits Out at Gates

#33

Post by codingthewheel » Wed, Mar 30, 2011, 4:17 PM UTC

sunchild wrote: post #19

codingthewheel wrote: post #3

Difficult to see how publicizing this stuff could be beneficial for Mr. Allen. At that level, and sitting on top of a multi-billion dollar fortune, it almost never behooves you to say anything negative about anybody -- least of all one of your former partners. I also think complaining about not getting a bigger share of MS stock, when you've got 14 billion in the bank...not exactly the stuff of which Jedi are made.

He isn't doing it to benefit himself. He probably doesn't care whether you like him or not, and he definitely doesn't need your money or respect. I guess Paul just wants the world to know that the image of Gates as our benevolent patron of philanthropy is itself revisionism, lest anyone forget that Bill Gates was one of the least loyal and trustworthy friends a person could ask for. It doesn't surprise me that HN sid…

Yeah, I completely agree. I'm sure he doesn't need my or anybody else's money or respect. But I wonder if the message he's trying to get across is the one that's actually getting across. Looking at it from a gaming standpoint, can his play here can ever have a positive expectation?

Re: Microsoft Co-Founder Paul Allen Hits Out at Gates

#34

Post by dantheman » Wed, Mar 30, 2011, 4:18 PM UTC

yannickt wrote: post #31

smackay wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cringley's account is very critical of Gates and Balmer, particularly on the subject of getting control of Paul Allen's shares in Microsoft should the worst happen. While this seems very cold-blooded it was probably a reasonable course of action given the circumstances - look what happened to CraigsList when one of the founders sold out to eBay.

My interpretation of the article is that Allen felt betrayed because Gates and Ballmer were having these discussions behind his back .

Exactly, everything should be done above board -- when an unexpected event happens and the outcome is unknown it doesn't hurt to have a contingency plan if stuff doesn't work out.

Re: Microsoft Co-Founder Paul Allen Hits Out at Gates

#35

Post by yannickmahe » Wed, Mar 30, 2011, 4:29 PM UTC

c2 wrote: post #24

hvs wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's hardly fair to look back with 30 years of hindsight and say that BASIC was more important to a company than SoftCard. Obviously, we know that now , but that doesn't speak to their specific situation.

BASIC was the foundation of the company, by 1980 SoftCard was one project of many. I don't discount the importance of SoftCard, it was actually key in the development of the relationship between IBM and Microsoft in the 80s, but even more key was the building of the relationship itself, which was largely driven by Gates. Allen's attitude at the time reminds me of software developer coworkers who over emphasis the con…

The wikipedia article on the softcard doesn't even mention Allen : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Softcard

Is that a mistake?

Re: Microsoft Co-Founder Paul Allen Hits Out at Gates

#36

Post by melling » Wed, Mar 30, 2011, 4:29 PM UTC

silvestrov wrote: post #7

codingthewheel wrote: post #3

Difficult to see how publicizing this stuff could be beneficial for Mr. Allen. At that level, and sitting on top of a multi-billion dollar fortune, it almost never behooves you to say anything negative about anybody -- least of all one of your former partners. I also think complaining about not getting a bigger share of MS stock, when you've got 14 billion in the bank...not exactly the stuff of which Jedi are made.

He wants to be acknowledged. Everybody knows Bill Gates and sees him as the smart and great computer guy, while Mr. Allan is an unknown. It's like 2 brothers where the lesser talented uses all his life to proof he's just as good and therefore never gets to create something.

Who destroyed Lotus, WordPerfect, Borland and Netscape? Who swore under oath that the browser is part of the operating system, and couldn't be removed? Why are 9 out of 10 desktop computers running Windows? I think only one man gets the credit. :-)

Hopefully, he can ruthlessly solve a few of the long-running problems in the world.

Re: Microsoft Co-Founder Paul Allen Hits Out at Gates

#37

Post by patentnerd » Wed, Mar 30, 2011, 4:37 PM UTC

sunchild wrote: post #19

codingthewheel wrote: post #3

Difficult to see how publicizing this stuff could be beneficial for Mr. Allen. At that level, and sitting on top of a multi-billion dollar fortune, it almost never behooves you to say anything negative about anybody -- least of all one of your former partners. I also think complaining about not getting a bigger share of MS stock, when you've got 14 billion in the bank...not exactly the stuff of which Jedi are made.

He isn't doing it to benefit himself. He probably doesn't care whether you like him or not, and he definitely doesn't need your money or respect. I guess Paul just wants the world to know that the image of Gates as our benevolent patron of philanthropy is itself revisionism, lest anyone forget that Bill Gates was one of the least loyal and trustworthy friends a person could ask for. It doesn't surprise me that HN sid…

I'm not sure that Paul is that great of a guy either. His company is a bit of a patent troll, for one.

Here are some his "inventions":

http://bit.ly/dXsk5P

Re: Microsoft Co-Founder Paul Allen Hits Out at Gates

#38

Post by meterplech » Wed, Mar 30, 2011, 4:43 PM UTC

It seems to me the biggest allegation here is that Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer tried to dilute his shares when he was diagnosed with cancer the first time.

I hate to seem callous here, but, that might've completely made sense. God forbid if Allen had died, the company, still pre-IPO startup whose main product was MS-DOS (pre Office or any version of Windows) would want its shares controlled by people with business interests in the company. When you are a startup you want to align incentives properly and yes, people who are unfortunately unable to contribute, even if it's through no fault of their own probably shouldn't have huge amounts of stock.

Besides that allegation I don't really know what else here is that negative on Bill Gates.

edit: MS-DOS not MS-DOC. Mistyped

Re: Microsoft Co-Founder Paul Allen Hits Out at Gates

#39

Post by stretchwithme » Wed, Mar 30, 2011, 4:44 PM UTC

"I'm not sure Bill would ever have dropped out of Harvard if it wasn't for Paul," Mr. Yoffie said, referring to Mr. Allen's role in encouraging Mr. Gates to leave college to start Microsoft. "I don't know whether Steve Jobs, without Wozniak, would have ever gotten things together."

baloney.

Re: Microsoft Co-Founder Paul Allen Hits Out at Gates

#40

Post by stretchwithme » Wed, Mar 30, 2011, 4:48 PM UTC

meterplech wrote: post #38

It seems to me the biggest allegation here is that Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer tried to dilute his shares when he was diagnosed with cancer the first time. I hate to seem callous here, but, that might've completely made sense. God forbid if Allen had died, the company, still pre-IPO startup whose main product was MS-DOS (pre Office or any version of Windows) would want its shares controlled by people with business i…

That MS-DOC program didn't sell a single copy.

That's why even founders should be on a vesting schedule.