There is an entire cast of people who hate Microsoft. While I don’t hate the company, I certainly can’t understand how its braintrust operates anymore.
Microsoft’s Don Quixotic attempt to purchase Yahoo! is a great example. Initially Bill Gate’s old company was willing to pay about $47.5 billion for Yahoo! That deal fell through, but today Microsoft again expressed interest in snapping up Yahoo!
Why?
Couldn’t Steve Ballmer simply take the $47.5 billion dollars he is willing to spend on Yahoo! and hire a few hundred thousand engineers and build a better search engine and advertising platform?
I would think throwing $47.5 billion at any problem is likely to fix it and do so without the need to publicly wrangle with Yahoo’s board of directors.
Why not take the money and diversify the company by developing a better car battery. After all presidential hopeful John McCain thinks $300 million is enough to not only accomplish this task, but give the inventor a little bit on the side.
The X Prize Foundation offers all kinds of prizes, one of which only resulted in the first privately funded sub-orbital space flight.
I think it’s time for Ballmer to trust in his own company to figure out this problem.
