>>>>>>>We should never forget that Ballmer got his start marketing soap for P & G.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>But wasn't he also the guy who snookered IBM with the proviso in the agreement that MS could continue to market DOS to other PC makers ? ( the poison pill that almost killed Apple and IBM )
>>>>>
>>>>>Exactly. He failed with both. ::)
>>>>
>>>>Depends on what you mean by "failed" If IBM had exclusive rights to DOS there would have been no Microsoft OS dominance and Balmer would be about 100 billion zillion dollars poorer. So it wasn't a total disaster <bg>
>>>
>>>... that almost killed Apple and IBM
>>
>>Yes, but at the time his goal wasn't to kill IBM (they almost accomplished that themselves with Micro-channel Architecture) or Apple ( which didn't want to just own your OS but your monitor, printer, video card and soul ) but to just become insanely rich.
>>
>>Mission accomplished <bg>
>
>But are they happy ? When you can buy a really really really big yacht and go anywhere in the world you want you still have to face the fact when you get there you are still you. (if that makes sense)

True, but that is the case if you don't have a big yacht and are only riding the tube between one slum and another. On balance, self-loathing is probably more bearable on the deck of a 200 ft yacht surrounded by girls who are extremely tolerant of personality deficiencies as long as the coke holds out <g>