Todd asks “why no hard questions for BillG?”

December 14, 2006 By

Over at Geek News Central Todd Cochrane asks an interesting question about yesterday’s Bill Gates Blogger Meetup. “It pisses me off that none of them could ask a hard question” he says, while asking what hard questions would you ask?

Truth is that getting access to tech industry leaders is so rare that most people, if they do get access, turn into softies. Why?

Well, let’s assume I paid your round-trip airfare, hotel, bought you nice meals, and gave you some nice swag. Wouldn’t you be feeling just a little more generous toward me? But, now, let’s say I set it up so that every year I’d do the same thing but I’d put little hints out there that you wouldn’t get to come to next year’s shindig if you made any trouble.

Or, even better, let’s say I just don’t invite any trouble makers at all.

I remember many times when troublemakers got washed out of many of these kinds of events. Not necessarily because they’d piss off Microsofties either. Often times they’d piss off other attendees. I know of one event that I am no longer invited to simply because I turned on my video camera, which made another attendee uncomfortable. The host, instead of just telling me to knock it off, stayed quiet, but didn’t invite me to his next shindig.

It’s also really hard to just keep your bearings when you meet someone “important.” Remember when I ran into Steve Jobs on a street corner in San Francisco? I became a blubbering idiot. Couldn’t think of a good question, or a good comeback to his insults. I’ve been thinking of them ever since.

Another part of it is simple respect. Bill Gates is at the top of the industry, is probably going to be known as the greatest philanthropist we’ve ever known, and is simply bigger than life to most of us who’ve never gotten to know him personally. It takes a lot of confidence to ask a tough question, particularly when you know that 14 other people are going to be making judgments on you in the public square.

And don’t think it’s a blogger thing, either. I’ve been in attendance at press conferences with Bill and most of the pros don’t ask all that hard a question.

Bill is a professional question answerer. He’s done it probably 10s of thousands of times. If you ask a really hard or biting question that he doesn’t want to answer he’s going to pretty adeptly spin it around on you anyway and answer a question he would rather answer.

The real interesting thing isn’t that hard questions weren’t asked. It was that Google is shipping a ton of little tiny things (you’ll see some in the interviews I did this week that I’ll have up within a few days) that are going unanswered by Microsoft.

See, some bloggers are excited that they get to go see Bill Gates. Done that, have that T-shirt. It’s a fun trip to make (hope you get invited back in April when they do Mix07).

But Google is delivering the Web goods and is taking over more and more of my life. More on that soon.

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http://ryantate.com/ Ryan

Robert, thanks for this really interesting post.

First of all, please do a post on your run in with Jobs. Or maybe you have already and I missed it? It sounds really really interesting. Did he really insult you? Even if it was in a friendly joshing way I’d be curious what he said.

Second, you are very correct about people turning into softies. I saw Bill Gates speak at Zellerbach autitorium at Berkeley a year or to ago. He was trying to recruit students. I lived across the street and Microsoft’s PR firm invited me to attend (couldn’t ask questions, was in audience), and didn’t seem to care when I told them I didn’t cover the company any more.

Any way, after Gates wrapped up a pretty soft “discussion” with a campus administrator on stage, they did take questions from students. At the time Gates was trying to recruit people into CS because he was worried about running out of programmers. No one wanted the major because it was the deepest nadir of the tech burst.

The second student at the Mic actually had some serious stones, I was so proud. Guy asks something, and this is close to verbatim, “Why would a student want to come work for a company convicted of antitrust violations and heavily implicated in other misdeeds?”

It was actually a legit question, not just a swipe at the guy. Microsoft had an image problem.

What surprised me, though, and saddened me, was the audience reaction. Lots of hisses and boos. Not nearly the whole audience, or a majority, a lot of the students were just buzzing with chatter amongst themselves. But enough people hissed to make some serious noise, and there was no clapping to counter that.

Gates, by the way, answered the question terribly, very snide and rude and not at all smooth, and seemed to me did not make MSFT seem very appealing in that moment. Even if he wanted to dodge the question (which by the way sucks but set that aside), he could have done it in much smooother way, “thanks for the question, there are some perceptions that ignore the strong sense of ethics and values at Microsoft and what a great place it is to work blah blah blah ecosystem thousands of developers blah blah blah billions in indirect benefits to the economy blah blah blah billions to charity blah blah blah helping old ladies see their grandkids blah blah blah.”
http://ryantate.com Ryan

Robert, thanks for this really interesting post.

First of all, please do a post on your run in with Jobs. Or maybe you have already and I missed it? It sounds really really interesting. Did he really insult you? Even if it was in a friendly joshing way I’d be curious what he said.

Second, you are very correct about people turning into softies. I saw Bill Gates speak at Zellerbach autitorium at Berkeley a year or to ago. He was trying to recruit students. I lived across the street and Microsoft’s PR firm invited me to attend (couldn’t ask questions, was in audience), and didn’t seem to care when I told them I didn’t cover the company any more.

Any way, after Gates wrapped up a pretty soft “discussion” with a campus administrator on stage, they did take questions from students. At the time Gates was trying to recruit people into CS because he was worried about running out of programmers. No one wanted the major because it was the deepest nadir of the tech burst.

The second student at the Mic actually had some serious stones, I was so proud. Guy asks something, and this is close to verbatim, “Why would a student want to come work for a company convicted of antitrust violations and heavily implicated in other misdeeds?”

It was actually a legit question, not just a swipe at the guy. Microsoft had an image problem.

What surprised me, though, and saddened me, was the audience reaction. Lots of hisses and boos. Not nearly the whole audience, or a majority, a lot of the students were just buzzing with chatter amongst themselves. But enough people hissed to make some serious noise, and there was no clapping to counter that.

Gates, by the way, answered the question terribly, very snide and rude and not at all smooth, and seemed to me did not make MSFT seem very appealing in that moment. Even if he wanted to dodge the question (which by the way sucks but set that aside), he could have done it in much smooother way, “thanks for the question, there are some perceptions that ignore the strong sense of ethics and values at Microsoft and what a great place it is to work blah blah blah ecosystem thousands of developers blah blah blah billions in indirect benefits to the economy blah blah blah billions to charity blah blah blah helping old ladies see their grandkids blah blah blah.”
Uma Geller

actually this blogger did ask tough questions

“Talking Linux IP with Bill Gates”
http://www.niallkennedy.com/blog/archives/2006/12/microsoft-linux-patents.html

SCO, Baystar and Linux, it can’t get tougher than that,

worth reading.
Uma Geller

actually this blogger did ask tough questions

“Talking Linux IP with Bill Gates”
http://www.niallkennedy.com/blog/archives/2006/12/microsoft-linux-patents.html

SCO, Baystar and Linux, it can’t get tougher than that,

worth reading.
Bob Phelps

I’m not at all sure what a “hard question for Bill” would be, but am quite interested in what some of the folks posting here would consider reasonable candidates. Suggest that Robert Scoble create and link to a blog “Hard questions for Bill” and see what develops.
Bob Phelps

I’m not at all sure what a “hard question for Bill” would be, but am quite interested in what some of the folks posting here would consider reasonable candidates. Suggest that Robert Scoble create and link to a blog “Hard questions for Bill” and see what develops.
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http://www.duncanriley.com/ Duncan

Extremely well said Robert, and my thoughts exactly. You missed one point though: he’s also the worlds richest man. How many of these people criticizing the lack of “hard” questions would really ask hard questions if they had an audience with Gates? None of them would, getting up close and personal with Bill Gates is literally being in the company of greatness, that the 14 got off any questions at all is a credit to them all. Like you were with Steve Jobs, I’d be a blubbering mess, in between trying to lift my jaw off the ground.
http://www.duncanriley.com Duncan

Extremely well said Robert, and my thoughts exactly. You missed one point though: he’s also the worlds richest man. How many of these people criticizing the lack of “hard” questions would really ask hard questions if they had an audience with Gates? None of them would, getting up close and personal with Bill Gates is literally being in the company of greatness, that the 14 got off any questions at all is a credit to them all. Like you were with Steve Jobs, I’d be a blubbering mess, in between trying to lift my jaw off the ground.
Stanley

Decent blog entry until the nonsequitor “Google is shipping a ton of little tiny things that are going unanswered by Microsoft.” I rolled my eyes when I read that (“Good God, not more Google worship…”). Ruined the blog entry, IMO.

First, it came out of nowhere.
Second it’s not relevant to the topic.
Third, it’s yet more Google worship (which is lessening the value of this blog, in general).

Lastly, Google is shipping a ton of tiny things going unanswered by Microsoft? WHO CARES? Microsoft does NOT have to answer every tiny thing that Google does. Hell, Google released a frikkin credit card charging service. Should Microsoft do the same? I hope they don’t. That’s PayPal’s thing, not Micrsoft’s.

Google releases things that Micrsoft doesn’t answer, and vice-versa. (For example, I’ve not seen Google’s anwer to XNA. I’ve not seen their answer to MS Robotics Studio. And I don’t expect answers; those aren’t Google’s things.)

Robert, you alread made 4 blog entries worshipping Google this week. That’s fine (because I can see the title and just skip over them, or at least know what I’m in for if I do read them), but why drag that into this blog regarding bloggers choking when questioning Bill Gates? Leave the Google worship to the Google-specific topics.
Stanley

Decent blog entry until the nonsequitor “Google is shipping a ton of little tiny things that are going unanswered by Microsoft.” I rolled my eyes when I read that (“Good God, not more Google worship…”). Ruined the blog entry, IMO.

First, it came out of nowhere.
Second it’s not relevant to the topic.
Third, it’s yet more Google worship (which is lessening the value of this blog, in general).

Lastly, Google is shipping a ton of tiny things going unanswered by Microsoft? WHO CARES? Microsoft does NOT have to answer every tiny thing that Google does. Hell, Google released a frikkin credit card charging service. Should Microsoft do the same? I hope they don’t. That’s PayPal’s thing, not Micrsoft’s.

Google releases things that Micrsoft doesn’t answer, and vice-versa. (For example, I’ve not seen Google’s anwer to XNA. I’ve not seen their answer to MS Robotics Studio. And I don’t expect answers; those aren’t Google’s things.)

Robert, you alread made 4 blog entries worshipping Google this week. That’s fine (because I can see the title and just skip over them, or at least know what I’m in for if I do read them), but why drag that into this blog regarding bloggers choking when questioning Bill Gates? Leave the Google worship to the Google-specific topics.
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http://timthefoolman.wordpress.com/ Tim

I think one of the relevant questions to ask yourself is, “Why do I want to ask BillG a hard question?” Are you wanting to embarrass/humiliate him? Are you wanting to push your own agenda? Are you wanting to prove how smart you are?

Generally, the people who want to ask hard questions of any public figure don’t really want answers, they want to push their point of view out into the public view. Granted, I find the way MS has behaved in the marketplace to be completely unexcused by BillG’s philathropy, but unless there’s something I really wanted to know that I thought BillG or SteveJ or GeorgeW could answer, I wouldn’t waste their time.

Here’s a question that I would love to know the answer to from BillG or SteveJ:

“How do you spend time with your families? Is it geek-filled and tech-centric activities, or does it resemble the things done by “normal” upper-class families?”

Those are things that only those men can answer, though they are somewhat personal in nature. The answers would give me far more insight into who these men really are than the answers they’re likely to give to business-related questions.

Tim
http://timthefoolman.wordpress.com/ Tim

I think one of the relevant questions to ask yourself is, “Why do I want to ask BillG a hard question?” Are you wanting to embarrass/humiliate him? Are you wanting to push your own agenda? Are you wanting to prove how smart you are?

Generally, the people who want to ask hard questions of any public figure don’t really want answers, they want to push their point of view out into the public view. Granted, I find the way MS has behaved in the marketplace to be completely unexcused by BillG’s philathropy, but unless there’s something I really wanted to know that I thought BillG or SteveJ or GeorgeW could answer, I wouldn’t waste their time.

Here’s a question that I would love to know the answer to from BillG or SteveJ:

“How do you spend time with your families? Is it geek-filled and tech-centric activities, or does it resemble the things done by “normal” upper-class families?”

Those are things that only those men can answer, though they are somewhat personal in nature. The answers would give me far more insight into who these men really are than the answers they’re likely to give to business-related questions.

Tim
http://www.dahowlett.com dahowlett

Hacks don’t ask hard questions in open forums. They have a different agenda- the scoop – which they reserve for nailing at 1-2-1 meetings. Bloggers are different.

This industry is packed full of smart people. If you ask a tough question in a respectful manner that references hard facts and demonstrates you’ve done enough research to have a good idea about the person in front of you, then they usually respond in kind. Not all. But usually.

This isn’t about tough/soft but about getting something new from the conversation. We can all hammer BillG or whomever on a range of issues. Come up with something different. Something fresh. Something that will make them thinkk. The greatest compliment somone can pay you is to preface their ansewr with: ‘That’s a great question.’

Above all remember that whomever you’re interviewing, they’re human too. No better, no worse, just different. And they bleed when cut.
http://www.accmanpro.com Dennis Howlett

Hacks don’t ask hard questions in open forums. They have a different agenda- the scoop – which they reserve for nailing at 1-2-1 meetings. Bloggers are different.

This industry is packed full of smart people. If you ask a tough question in a respectful manner that references hard facts and demonstrates you’ve done enough research to have a good idea about the person in front of you, then they usually respond in kind. Not all. But usually.

This isn’t about tough/soft but about getting something new from the conversation. We can all hammer BillG or whomever on a range of issues. Come up with something different. Something fresh. Something that will make them thinkk. The greatest compliment somone can pay you is to preface their ansewr with: ‘That’s a great question.’

Above all remember that whomever you’re interviewing, they’re human too. No better, no worse, just different. And they bleed when cut.
http://shelbycockrell.wordpress.com/ shelbycockrell

Microsofties.. haha. Steve Jobs was rude to you? I think it’s okay to not be rude to Bill Gates. He’s earned that type of respect. Google is on the rise, I agree!
http://shelbycockrell.wordpress.com/ shelbycockrell

Microsofties.. haha. Steve Jobs was rude to you? I think it’s okay to not be rude to Bill Gates. He’s earned that type of respect. Google is on the rise, I agree!
http://shawnoster.com/blog Shawn Oster

I’ll be curious what little things google is doing that you love since, except for gmail, there really isn’t much google I use.

I’m interested in XNA, in the Zune, in distributed computing of which Amazon is the leader as far as API, in better codecs to compress media, in DVR-applicatins. I’m interested in music, where is the great google tagging application? The google streaming music page so I can stream all my local music anywhere? Where is my google music metabase so I can find covers of all my albums instantly?

Frankly Ruby on Rails has done far more for “Web 2.0″ than google. Sure, google used some of Microsoft’s own XMLHTTPRequest tech and made it more public but I just don’t see anything all that “Wow!” about anything google is doing.

Online office suites are an inside joke, google’s calendar software is nice but there are better ones out there that are also free. GMail is great but I’m *still* seeing issues that have been around for a year but obviously fixing them doesn’t make some dev happy so it’ll never happen. For every great feature that Google releases I could point to a bug or poorly-designed feature that should have gotten the attention instead.

“Hey, look at this super cool GPS navigation that can auto-park while sensing your mood and playing the right music!”

“Yeah, great, but does it still only get 20 miles to the gallon?”

“Yeah, but look what it can do…”

“Sorry, call me when you’ve solved a real problem.”
http://a-simian-mind.blogspot.com Shawn Oster

I’ll be curious what little things google is doing that you love since, except for gmail, there really isn’t much google I use.

I’m interested in XNA, in the Zune, in distributed computing of which Amazon is the leader as far as API, in better codecs to compress media, in DVR-applicatins. I’m interested in music, where is the great google tagging application? The google streaming music page so I can stream all my local music anywhere? Where is my google music metabase so I can find covers of all my albums instantly?

Frankly Ruby on Rails has done far more for “Web 2.0″ than google. Sure, google used some of Microsoft’s own XMLHTTPRequest tech and made it more public but I just don’t see anything all that “Wow!” about anything google is doing.

Online office suites are an inside joke, google’s calendar software is nice but there are better ones out there that are also free. GMail is great but I’m *still* seeing issues that have been around for a year but obviously fixing them doesn’t make some dev happy so it’ll never happen. For every great feature that Google releases I could point to a bug or poorly-designed feature that should have gotten the attention instead.

“Hey, look at this super cool GPS navigation that can auto-park while sensing your mood and playing the right music!”

“Yeah, great, but does it still only get 20 miles to the gallon?”

“Yeah, but look what it can do…”

“Sorry, call me when you’ve solved a real problem.”
http://pimm.wordpress.com/ attilachordash

I started to cry for cynic, sharp-minded journalists reading texts like this, from Micro Persuasion:
http://www.micropersuasion.com/2006/12/our_sixty_minut.html#comments
“This has been on my calendar for over a month now and I had plenty of time to process it mentally before Gates arrived. Still, it’s a rush once the world’s richest man and one of the most influential people in business and world affairs sits right down across a table from you. A bunch of us were overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the moment. I have never met a President of the United States but this sure felt like it for me. (Also note that Microsoft is one of our firm’s key clients but I was invited as a blogger.)”

If that is what personal bloggin’ means…
http://pimm.wordpress.com/ attilachordash

I started to cry for cynic, sharp-minded journalists reading texts like this, from Micro Persuasion:
http://www.micropersuasion.com/2006/12/our_sixty_minut.html#comments
“This has been on my calendar for over a month now and I had plenty of time to process it mentally before Gates arrived. Still, it’s a rush once the world’s richest man and one of the most influential people in business and world affairs sits right down across a table from you. A bunch of us were overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the moment. I have never met a President of the United States but this sure felt like it for me. (Also note that Microsoft is one of our firm’s key clients but I was invited as a blogger.)”

If that is what personal bloggin’ means…
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http://morsch.wordpress.com/ morsch

Sorry, don’t know why you got two pingbacks from my post.
Anyway I wanted just to share this old interview of Bill Gates by the BBC inquisitor Jeremy Paxman, who did a really bad job then. Here is a transcript by TheRegister from 1999: http://www.theregister.co.uk/1999/10/18/gates_knocks_stuffing_out/

Confirms your point: even biggies have knees that can buckle when faced with a bigger biggy
http://morsch.wordpress.com/ morsch

Sorry, don’t know why you got two pingbacks from my post.
Anyway I wanted just to share this old interview of Bill Gates by the BBC inquisitor Jeremy Paxman, who did a really bad job then. Here is a transcript by TheRegister from 1999: http://www.theregister.co.uk/1999/10/18/gates_knocks_stuffing_out/

Confirms your point: even biggies have knees that can buckle when faced with a bigger biggy
Uma Geller

Another one.

A blogger who asked above average questions and managed to provoke some discomfort touching the sore point of open standards.
would Gates react like that if that weren’t a valid question ?

http://www.molly.com/2006/12/14/who-questions-bill-gates-commitment-to-web-standards/

Robert, maybe you should have waited until bloggers returned home to do their job ?
Uma Geller

Another one.

A blogger who asked above average questions and managed to provoke some discomfort touching the sore point of open standards.
would Gates react like that if that weren’t a valid question ?

http://www.molly.com/2006/12/14/who-questions-bill-gates-commitment-to-web-standards/

Robert, maybe you should have waited until bloggers returned home to do their job ?
http://scobleizer.wordpress.com/ Robert Scoble

Uma: maybe so. But many of the questions I saw asked were pretty lightweight fare that weren’t going to bring us any real new knowledge of what Microsoft is doing so I thought it was important to talk up.
http://scobleizer.wordpress.com/ Robert Scoble

Uma: maybe so. But many of the questions I saw asked were pretty lightweight fare that weren’t going to bring us any real new knowledge of what Microsoft is doing so I thought it was important to talk up.
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