The Good Fail by Richard Keith Latman

Author:Richard Keith Latman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2012-03-18T16:00:00+00:00

The Back Story

Handing over a big check to Microsoft was probably one of the more repulsive things I have ever had to do, and that includes eating county jail food. Not only were they anticompetitive bullies, in my opinion, but their heavy-handed tactics caused millions of kids to find the price of computers out of reach. Bill Gates and company built some amazing houses, bought jets and boats, while schools and libraries suffered through a decade without modern technology. In short, millions went without so only a few could have. Oh, how I wish the Occupy Wall Street folks could have helped me then.

I know Bill Gates is today one of the greatest charity donors of our time, but I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that it wasn’t always this way. In fact, I had approached Microsoft back in February 1999, after hearing about the defunct Adams Scholarship Fund. I wanted both to help that group of financially stranded students as well as level the economic playing field for consumers who did not yet own a computer. So, in my usual form, I drove up to Redmond to find out whom I should approach about working together. I had the door shut in my face, almost literally.

I wasn’t about to give up, however, because I was pretty sure Bill Gates would see the benefit of converting millions of Americans to new computer owners and, consequently, Windows users. Through a colleague, I received his personal e-mail address and sent him a nice note. In it I explained that we were trying to make it possible for Americans of all income and education levels to own a personal computer, but that because the cost of Windows was so high, we were hitting a roadblock. I asked for his help. I hoped that he might consider licensing to us directly, to help us reduce our costs.

I didn’t hear back from Bill Gates, but from one of his senior managers, Jeff Rankin—the same Jeff Rankin who later acquiesced and allowed us to license their products. At that point, however, Rankin tersely explained that Microsoft was not interested in licensing to Microworkz because we were too small a player. He also stated that Microsoft was not supportive of our low-cost computer model and that it was not in the company’s best interests to license to us.

While I could understand his position if we were selling only a few computers, I suspected Rankin and Gates were not aware of just how many computers we were and could be selling. I wrote back and explained that he was wrong about the volume of business we were doing—whatever they estimated, it was too low. I continued that our phones were ringing off the hook and invited him to come and visit to verify my claims. I assured him that we could take as many orders as they wanted us to—that our operation was scalable and growing. Essentially, I wanted to partner with Microsoft to bring these new economies of scale and price to an eager marketplace.

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