{"id":158,"date":"2009-01-09T19:02:00","date_gmt":"2009-01-09T19:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.sostevinobile.com\/?p=158"},"modified":"2009-01-09T19:02:00","modified_gmt":"2009-01-09T19:02:00","slug":"who-wants-to-be-a-billionaire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.sostevinobile.com\/?p=158","title":{"rendered":"Who wants to be a billionaire?"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Apparently, I am nearly the last person to learn that Microsoft<\/span> intimated at Wednesday\u2019s CES<\/span> kickoff that it is scrapping Vista. Not sure what that really means\u2014I never use their derivative operating system nor any of the execrable software they publish. Besides, I was immersed in Macworld<\/span> this week.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Still, back in 2000, I actually met Microsoft\u2019s Big Kahuna. And I don\u2019t mean the guy with the perennial $8 haircut.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
We had just finished dinner at Viognier<\/span>, a noted San Mateo restaurant and wine destination (how could it not be with a name like that?).<\/span>\u00a0Manned by Gary Danko at the helm of the kitchen, Viognier sat perched atop the 4th Avenue branch of Draeger\u2019s<\/span>, an upscale grocer with a rather impressive wine department in its own right, and had recently been voted the #2 restaurant in the entire Bay Area. As we exited the elevator to the sidewalk, whom should I see standing on the corner but current Microsoft CEO and America\u2019s ninth-richest person, Steve Ballmer! Of course, recognizing Steve in public is a rather simple feat\u2014<\/span>one would not tend to describe him as a poster boy for 24 Hour Fitness<\/span><\/span><\/span>. Nonetheless, I\u2019m sure Danko\u2019s gastronomic wonders managed to augment\u00a0his ample girth\u00a0by an inch or two.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Corpulent cracks aside, I decided to introduce myself (we actually have a number of acquaintances in common)<\/span>. Knowing he was deeply immersed in battling the Justice Department\u2019s efforts to split his company into two or three separate entities, I extended my right hand in a semi-conciliatory manner and proffered, \u201cDon\u2019t worry, Steve.\u00a0No matter what happens, they\u00a0can never take away Microsoft\u2019s ability to innovate.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
I\u2019m not sure he ever caught my gist\u2026<\/span>
<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Apparently, I am nearly the last person to learn that Microsoft intimated at Wednesday\u2019s CES kickoff that it is scrapping Vista. Not sure what that really means\u2014I never use their derivative operating system nor any of the execrable software they publish. Besides, I was immersed in Macworld this week. Still, back in 2000, I actually […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-viognier"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.sostevinobile.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.sostevinobile.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.sostevinobile.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.sostevinobile.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.sostevinobile.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.sostevinobile.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.sostevinobile.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.sostevinobile.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.sostevinobile.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}