Comparing Microsoft’s ruthless execs to Google’s cold engineers

Todd Bishop at TechFlash just posted an insightful interview with Ken Auletta, the author of both World War 3.0 (about Microsoft during the halcyon antitrust days) and Googled (an insider’s account of the Googlies).

“Microsoft, I came to think, were cold businessmen. They really wanted to harm Netscape,” Auletta said. “Google, they’re not cold businessmen, they’re cold engineers. No, it’s true. They’re not trying to kill the opposition, but they will kill opposition, but it’s inadvertent. … They’re not consumed by the thought of destroying their opposition. Bill Gates was consumed — and Microsoft was consumed — by the thought of destroying Netscape.”

Good stuff.