[gnosis]

"How can we build the next Microsoft without true ownership?"

The next Microsoft? That sounds like a nightmare.

No, thanks!

[harrytuttle]

We've got the next Microsoft already. It's just squarer, flatter, listens even less to its users and throws slightly fewer chairs.

[mathattack]

The thought process came to me many years ago when Microsoft was an example of a startup that built itself from scratch and was very current.

I've come around to broader thinking since then. And Microsoft has changed some too. But it has gotten harder to create companies from scratch due to restrictions on developer freedom. (Patents) There are other reasons that have made it easier, but those are tangential to RMS's topics.