Businessman Quotes

I think we're proving ourselves as we go along. The past several months our strategy has been evolutionary - making maximum advantage of our client browser, as well as our enterprise software for people who want to build Web sites.

I think they should separate Microsoft's application group from its operating system group.

I think the touchstone is to give consumers a full, fair choice without the power of a monopoly operating system pushing them in a direction that free competition might or might not achieve.

I don't believe in government regulation of the software industry.

I can't deny that some customers and prospects think it's the key to our future. But it's not. We're certainly supportive of the Dept. of Justice and the 20 states that have brought this action.

Of course, nothing happens until somebody sells something.

After all, it's the future of business communication that we're looking toward.

Your successful past will block your visions of the future.

The ultimate function of prophecy is not to tell the future, but to make it. Your successful past will block your visions of the future.

A leader is a person you will follow to a place you wouldn't go by yourself.

Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision with action can change the world.

We don't have a monopoly. We have market share. There's a difference.

We can believe that we know where the world should go. But unless we're in touch with our customers, our model of the world can diverge from reality. There's no substitute for innovation, of course, but innovation is no substitute for being in touch, either.

So, I think the output of our innovation is great. We have a culture of self-improvement. I know we can continue to improve. There is no issue. But at the same time, our absolute level of output is fantastic.

Our people, our shareholders, me, Bill Gates, we expect to change the world in every way, to succeed wildly at everything we touch, to have the broadest impact of any company in the world.

Our mail product, Hotmail, is the market leader globally.

Our company has to be a company that enables its people.

Look at the product pipeline, look at the fantastic financial results we've had for the last five years. You only get that kind of performance on the innovation side, on the financial side, if you're really listening and reacting to the best ideas of the people we have.

I'm very, very bullish about our prospects, and as I tell our board, as I tell our employees, this is the time to invest. There's so much opportunity. Let's just invest in that opportunity, and really get after it.

I'm not sure blogs are necessarily the best place to get a pulse on anything. People want to blog for a variety of reasons, and that may or may not be representative.

I think our leadership team is a highly accountable leadership team.

I have never, honestly, thrown a chair in my life.

I have lots of sources of information about what's going on at the company. I think I have a pretty good pulse on where we are and what people are thinking.

I come back to the same thing: We've got the greatest pipeline in the company's history in the next 12 months, and we've had the most amazing financial results possible over the last five years, and we're predicting being back at double-digit revenue growth in fiscal year '06.

Great companies have high cultures of accountability, it comes with this culture of criticism I was talking about before, and I think our culture is strong on that.

Google's not a real company. It's a house of cards.

Certainly, we continue to bring in new people. We'll hire, net new, over 4,000 people this year, and attract great people into the company. I'm very bullish about the employee base and what it can accomplish.

And then you take a look at Spaces, there is this great innovation that came out of nowhere. We have the number one blogging site in the world because of the innovation that's there.

All companies of any size have to continue to push to make sure you get the right leaders, the right team, the right people to be fast acting, and fast moving in the marketplace. We've got great leaders, and we continue to attract and promote great new leaders.

Accessible design is good design.