That first piece is gobbledygook. I waded through all his pomposity about historical and structural factors being so much more important than Eichenwald's naive emphasis on personality, waiting for his actual explanation, which finally appears on page 3:
As the Internet emerged, creating a sort of supercritical soup of technological mixing and matching (not to mention viruses from a newly anarchic Russian sphere — the world is a big place), the relatively open PC platform became increasingly unstable and confusing. It was too open, too vulnerable to the natural chaos that hides in openness. At the same time, as consumer markets and graphical capabilities became increasingly important, and vertical integration began to offer serious advantages.
Huh? That's a just-so story made of MBA word salad. You could just as easily concoct the opposite narrative, which ironically is his complaint about Eichenwald.
But it's Eichenwald who has the stronger prima facie case. We're supposed to believe that Gates-to-Ballmer didn't have a major effect? I don't buy that. And that Amelio-to-Jobs didn't have a massive effect? I mega don't buy that.
Besides which, Eichenwald spent a lot of time talking to current and former MS employees, so what he wrote is at least based in real reporting.
As the Internet emerged, creating a sort of supercritical soup of technological mixing and matching (not to mention viruses from a newly anarchic Russian sphere — the world is a big place), the relatively open PC platform became increasingly unstable and confusing. It was too open, too vulnerable to the natural chaos that hides in openness. At the same time, as consumer markets and graphical capabilities became increasingly important, and vertical integration began to offer serious advantages.
Huh? That's a just-so story made of MBA word salad. You could just as easily concoct the opposite narrative, which ironically is his complaint about Eichenwald.
But it's Eichenwald who has the stronger prima facie case. We're supposed to believe that Gates-to-Ballmer didn't have a major effect? I don't buy that. And that Amelio-to-Jobs didn't have a massive effect? I mega don't buy that.
Besides which, Eichenwald spent a lot of time talking to current and former MS employees, so what he wrote is at least based in real reporting.