Old Wounds Fester at Confab
DéTENTE WAS IN THE AIR in Carlsbad, Calif., but that didn't stop the titans of tech from their habitual sniping once the klieg lights went on last week at D: All Things Digital, a conference sponsored by Dow Jones, publisher of The Wall Street Journal and Barron's.
In the wake of recent legal settlements between warring factions, the idea that the bratty industrialists of the information age were actually growing up and moving on seemed remotely possible. But it takes more than billion-dollar payouts and photo-op handshakes to heal old wounds.
On the "make love, not war" front, it was refreshing to see longtime rivals Bill Gates and Steve Jobs breaking bread at the same table at the conference's inaugural dinner. These two have been viciously sparring for decades. But with the passage of time and the accumulation of great wealth and incomparable influence, the former wunderkinds of the personal-computer revolution have dropped their laser-sabers long enough to have a polite chat.
Microsoft Chairman Gates was the first to sit in the red-leather hot seat of the mostly one-on-one interview format. As has been his style in recent years, Gates took the high road for most of his interrogation by Walt Mossberg, the Journal's feared gadget reviewer and tech columnist. Asked why mean-spirited feuds with the likes of Sun Microsystems and Oracle happen in the first place, Gates simply replied: "They sued us first."
Breaking News
The following day, Microsoft, departing from policy, issued a press release saying it had engaged in failed merger talks with German software giant SAP. Microsoft knew that Oracle's antitrust attorneys had uncovered this news in the discovery phase of its court battle with the Department of Justice, which opposes Oracle's proposed hostile takeover of PeopleSoft, and that they planned to reveal it in the trial's opening arguments later that day in San Francisco. So the Microsoft marketing machine evidently opted to take control of the message by pushing out a rare press release on merger discussions. Needless to say, while not broken at the conference, the news gave D an adrenaline rush that would be the envy of any event planner.
The first of the super-CEOs -- but not the last -- to draw a long knife was Hewlett-Packard's Carly Fiorina. She jabbed Dell, her biggest foe in PCs and low-end servers. Her primary criticism? Dell doesn't innovate and H-P does. We've heard it before, but most CEOs tend to repeatedly pound home their best punches.
It was a swipe that Dell's future CEO, Kevin Rollins, dismissed the following day. "The key to the whole game here is to innovate and make a profit," said Rollins, referring to his company's fatter margins in PCs and other goods. Dell spends $600 million a year on research and development, compared with H-P's about $4 billion. But Dell may actually get a better return on its R&D investment, noted venture capitalist Stewart Alsop of New Enterprise Associates after the conference.
Steve Jobs knows a thing or two about the importance of R&D from both places where he hangs his CEO hat: Apple Computer and Pixar. Always animated and usually entertaining, Jobs didn't disappoint as he riffed on topics ranging from online music to animated film to politics. He even managed to launch a nifty gadget, the AirPort Express, which lets a user listen to digital music transmitted wirelessly from a PC to a stereo in another room.
Prodded about verbal assaults he had made against Microsoft over the years, his spirit of détente with Camp Redmond waned. Jobs couldn't help but point out that the number of virus-security breaches in the Macintosh operating system paled in comparison to those for Microsoft's Windows. He also reiterated his disenchantment with Microsoft's Tablet PC -- a portable computer the size of a clipboard that the company continues to push despite lackluster consumer buzz. What is Gates' timetable for Tablet PC gaining acceptance? "Ma?ana," according to Jobs.
When it comes to online music, where Apple's iTunes Music Store and iPod digital players have proven to be smash hits ("We're making iPods as fast as we can"), Jobs acknowledged Microsoft's expected entrance into online music, predicting that it will wreak havoc with Apple's competitors but not with iTunes. "If you are Roxio [owner of Napster] or Musicmaker, you are going to get destroyed," asserted Jobs. "Microsoft is going to eat their young. It is going to be painful to watch."
As for iTunes, "we think we have a pretty good position versus Microsoft," Jobs said, before unloading a broadside: "We just hope they really innovate rather than just copy us." He pledged to keep his download price at 99 cents a song.
So the more things change, the more they stay the same.
On the presidential campaign front, Jobs confirmed that he had offered to help presumed Democratic nominee Sen. John Kerry with his advertising strategy. "We'll see if he takes me up on that," said Jobs, adding that the two recently had played a classical guitar duet together.
Musical Chairs
Speaking of stringed instruments, Dell's President and Chief Operating Officer Rollins will soon no longer play second fiddle to founder and current CEO Michael Dell. Rollins is expected to take the reins in July. And to ease into the transition, the company produced a hilarious short video, which was shown at D, illuminating the many tasks that Rollins will be expected to master as chief executive of the famously lean and mean computer maker.
The video shows Rollins flipping burgers in the cafeteria, emptying the trash, cutting the office campus' grass and, of course, wearing a headset taking direct phone orders for PCs. But one of the funniest scenes had Rollins writing paychecks by hand in a binder when Michael, wearing a Hawaiian print shirt, pops his head in the door to tell Rollins that he used to cut the checks at home the night before so he would make more efficient use of his time at the office the next day.
It was pretty funny stuff, but Rollins' ascendance is no joke. While he's no technologist, he is a proven operator who has won Wall Street's confidence, not unlike Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.
For all of the flak Dell has taken for merely taking advantage of inefficiencies in the PC industry, critics tend to forget that the company has made a major contribution to technological innovation. It's a business model called direct distribution via the Internet.
Fiorina may poke fun at Dell, but Rollins showed why the H-P CEO might not want to stir the hornets' nest. If anyone in the audience had doubts about Dell's foray into printers and ink, they should have been laid to rest by the time Rollins left the stage. He explained that Dell goes after profit pools. And in his mind, ink subsidizes most of H-P's computer businesses.
Dell is going after ink profits with a vengeance. "We have to attack it," Rollins calculated. "Not only do we think we could stop -- over time -- this subsidization thing, we think we could make some money at it."
For all of the brilliant invention born by Silicon Valley, much of it never made a dime. At Dell, profit isn't a dirty word.
MUM'S THE WORD: On stage as a contestant in a mock computer quiz show, Google's chief executive, Eric Schmidt, displayed a T-shirt that said it all: "Quiet Period."
新仇旧恨何时了？
加利福尼亚州卡尔斯贝德一派祥和，但这并不能让科技界巨头们在上周拉开帷幕的名为“一切数字化”(D: All Things Digital)的会议上戒除互相攻击的积习。这个会议是由《华尔街日报》(Wall Street Journal)及《巴伦周刊》(Barron's Online)的出版商道琼斯公司(Dow Jones & Co. Inc., DJ)主办的。
近期，在硝烟四起之间，科技界的一起起官司也通过和解最终尘埃落定，看起来，信息技术时代桀骜不驯的企业家们终于有可能成熟一点了。不过，要治愈伤口，仅靠数亿美元的和解费用和照片上面握手的友好镜头是远远不够的。
说到握手言和，你可以欣喜地看到比尔?盖茨(Bill Gates)和斯蒂夫?乔布斯(Steve Jobs)在开幕式宴会上共进晚餐。这两位过去几十年来一直争吵不休。但是，随著时间的流逝、双方拥有了巨额财富和无可比拟的影响力，因此这两位个人电脑业昔日的奇才终于放下武器，彬彬有礼地聊起天来。
微软(Microsoft Corp., MSFT)的董事长盖茨是第一个接受一对一采访的。当《华尔街日报》令人敬畏的科技业专栏作家沃尔特?莫斯博格(Walt Mossberg)采访盖茨时，后者保持了近年来一贯的直率作风。当问及为什么会与Sun电子计算机公司(Sun Microsystems Inc., SUNW, 又名：升阳微电脑)和甲骨文公司(Oracle Corp., ORCL)等同行纠缠不清时，盖茨很干脆地答道：“是他们先起诉的。“
微软的惊人之举
第二天，微软偏离了会议主题，发布了一条新闻稿，声称它曾与德国软件巨擘SAP就合并进行过谈判，但最终未能成功。微软知道，与美国司法部(Department of Justice)打官司的甲骨文公司曾在取证阶段发现了这一情况，并打算于当日下午在旧金山的法庭首轮辩论中揭露此事。美国司法部对甲骨文对仁科(PeopleSoft Inc., PSFT)的敌意收购一直表示反对。微软的宣传机器显然希望获得主动权，抢先发布有关并购的消息，这对它可是罕见之举。不消说，虽然上述消息不是在会上发布的，但它仍彷佛给大会注入了兴奋剂，这足以让任何策划者眼红不已。
接下来，第一个发起攻击的大人物是惠普的首席执行长卡丽?费奥瑞娜(Carly Fiorina)。她毫不留情地抨击戴尔公司(Dell Inc., DELL)这个个人电脑业以及低端伺服器市场上的最大对手。她的主要内容是什么？戴尔没有积极创新，而惠普却做到了。人们以前也曾听到惠普这么说，但大多数CEO们惯于一再展现自己最拿手的武器。
但次日，戴尔公司未来的CEO凯文?罗林斯(Kevin Rollins)就发起了强有力的反攻。他指出，戴尔在个人电脑等业务领域的利润率非常高，并表示，实现这一点的关键就在于积极创新，赢得利润。戴尔每年用于研究和开发的经费高达6亿美元，而惠普只有4亿美元左右。风险投资公司New Enterprise Associates的专家斯图尔特?艾尔索普(Stewart Alsop)在会后指出，相比之下，实际上戴尔研发投资的回报或许更高些。
作为苹果电脑公司(Apple Computer Inc., AAPL)和Pixar的首席执行长，乔布斯深知研发的重要性。精力充沛而生性幽默的他果然没有令人失望，他一路从网上音乐谈到动画片再转到政治。他甚至还展示了一种新颖时髦的叫作AirPort Express的产品，这种新玩艺可让使用者从音响设备上收听到从另一个房间的个人电脑“传送”过来的数字音乐，而电脑和音响设备之间并没有连线。（参见莫斯博格对乔伯斯的专访）
但当提起多年来他对微软的攻击，乔布斯就大度不起来了。他忍不住指出，（苹果电脑的）Macintosh操作系统里的安全漏洞与Windows操作系统比起来简直是“小巫见大巫”。他还重申了对微软的Tablet PC的认识。Tablet PC是一种写字板大小的笔记本电脑，尽管市场反应平平，微软还是继续大力推广。乔布斯说，盖茨对Tablet PC何时能获得市场的认可恐怕也心中没底。
谈到网上音乐（苹果电脑的iTunes Music Store和iPod数字播放器在该领域就曾风靡一时），乔布斯承认微软计划进入网上音乐领域，他还预计，微软的进入将给苹果电脑的竞争对手带来一场浩劫，但不会对苹果的iTunes造成严重伤害。他表示，像Roxio（Napster的母公司）或Musicmaker那样的公司也许将会被摧毁。微软会吃掉弱小的公司，这些小公司的前途将惨不忍睹。
至于iTunes，乔布斯认为苹果电脑足以与微软抗衡。他说，“我们只希望他们能有所创新，而不是模仿我们。“他还保证，下载一首歌曲的价格维持在99美分。
虽然世事变迁，苹果电脑将依然本色不改。
至于总统大选，乔布斯证实他已主动提出以他的广告策略帮助民主党参议员克里(John Kerry)。他表示，将观望克里是否会接受他的建议。乔布斯还说，两人最近还一同演奏了一曲古典吉他二重奏。
抢座游戏
说起弦乐器，戴尔现任总裁兼首席营运长罗林斯很快将走上前台，不再充当公司创始人、现任首席执行长的迈克尔?戴尔(Michael Dell)的“第二小提琴手”了。预计罗林斯很将在今年7月将执掌大权。为了轻松度过权力过渡期，戴尔公司制作了一个欢快的录像短片，对罗林斯在这家以精简高效而闻名的电脑公司中将担当的诸多角色进行了描述。这次会上播放了这部短片。
在录像片中，罗林斯在自助餐里厅轻快地摆弄汉堡、倒垃圾、修剪办公区域的草坪，当然还有头戴耳机接听订购个人电脑的电话的镜头。而最有趣的场景莫过于当罗林斯在用缠著绷带的手签署工资支票时，身著印有夏威夷风景图案的T恤的迈克尔从门外探出脑来说，自己过去总是头天晚上在家里先裁好支票，以节省第二天的工作时间。
这盘录像的确很有趣，但罗林斯继任一事可不是玩笑。虽然他不是技术专家，但他的经营能力是公认的，华尔街对他也很有信心，相比之下，微软首席执行长史蒂夫?巴勒(Steve Ballmer)就没有这么好的“人缘”了。
许多人纷纷指责戴尔只是钻了个人电脑业普遍效率低下的空子而已，但这些评论家们似乎忘记了戴尔在技术创新方面对电脑行业的重大贡献，也就是所谓的网上直销模式。
费奥瑞娜本来可以取笑戴尔，但罗林斯的话解释了为什么这位惠普的首席执行长不想捅马蜂窝。如果有人对戴尔进军打印机及油墨领域表示疑虑，那么，到罗林斯下台时，这些人也许早就销声匿迹了。罗林斯表示，戴尔是以追逐利润为宗旨的。在他看来，惠普正是靠打印机业务弥补了电脑业务的大部分亏空。
而戴尔也将以牙还牙，不放过打印机业务的利润。罗林斯说，戴尔必须给予回击。随著时间的流逝，戴尔不仅能遏制惠普的打印机业务，而且还能获取利润。
矽谷的确不乏伟大的发明创造，但其中不少东西从没赚过一分钱。而在戴尔，利润并不是什么粗俗的字眼。
嘘，别说话：在台上参加模拟电脑智力竞赛的Google首席执行长埃立克?施密特(Eric Schmidt)身上的T恤写著“静默期“，有点意思吧（Google目前正在筹备上市）。
