YickertyYackety

Craig Mundie: Colin Powell or Comical Ali?

This week's Face Value column in The Economist presents Craig Mundie, Microsoft's CTO, as their Colin Powell. The analogy is interesting — and to some extent accurate — in that Mundie is a relative moderate tasked with building bridges to groups that have been disenfranchised by the subtle-as-a-brick Gates-Balmer philosophy.

But quotes like this give you pause for thought:

"[I]f you're the biggest guy on the block, people will always resent you," says Mr Mundie.

Really? Do gamsters complain about the bleak soullessness of Sony playstations? Do petrolheads decry the lack of user-frindliness in GM cars? Do mobile phone users complain that Nokia handsets keep crashing on them? Do bank account holders cry out that Citigroup's marketing tactics are trying to lock them in? Get real, Craig, before some likens you to Comical Ali. Uh oh, too late...