
Ballmer Calls Facebook A Fad? - transburgh
http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2007/10/02/ballmer-calls-facebook-a-fad
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mattmccor
Link to the original source next time:
[http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sect...](http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/technology/article2573297.ece)

"There can't be any more deep technology in Facebook than what dozens of
people could write in a couple of years. That's for sure," he said.

If he really thinks Facebook is about the technology, he is completely missing
the point.

~~~
mynameishere
_If you go to a VC with a new idea and ask him to invest in it, one of the
first things he'll ask is, how hard would this be for someone else to develop?
That is, how much difficult ground have you put between yourself and potential
pursuers?_

<http://www.paulgraham.com/wealth.html>

For facebook the question "how hard?" is meaningless. There are a 1000
replicons already waiting to take its place. The only thing wrong with what
Ballmer said is that it isn't "a couple years", but "right this very moment".

------
blader
I remember having this conversation at Startup School last year with some very
smart hackers over dinner. The overwhelming majority felt that Facebook was
exactly that, a fad like MySpace or Friend or whatever, that it won't be
around in 5 years, that they don't have any real technology, etc. I was the
only person who disagreed.

I argued that they have an amazing team, that they control the most accurate
and real social graph on the planet, they are cooking up something big with
it, and they will without a doubt not only be around, but be much bigger in 5
years.

6 months, 1 platform, 5000 apps, and 50 million users later, I'm feeling
pretty comfortable about my stance, I don't know about the other guys.

~~~
andreyf
_they control the most accurate and real social graph on the planet_

Hm, if Google analyzes the content of e-mail as much as people say they do,
they can probably get a much more accurate social graph.

------
blader
Marc Andreesen on Steve Ballmer on Facebook:
<http://blog.pmarca.com/2007/10/on-steve-ballme.html:>

"I think these things [social networks] are going to have some legs, and yet
there's a faddishness, a faddish nature about anything that basically appeals
to younger people," Mr. Ballmer told Times Online yesterday.

Ballmer subsequently added:

"I think these things [television shows] are going to have some legs, and yet
there's a faddishness, a faddish nature about anything that basically appeals
to younger people."

"I think these things [talking motion pictures] are going to have some legs,
and yet there's a faddishness, a faddish nature about anything that basically
appeals to younger people."

"I think these things [rock and roll music] are going to have some legs, and
yet there's a faddishness, a faddish nature about anything that basically
appeals to younger people."

"I think these things [hip hop music] are going to have some legs, and yet
there's a faddishness, a faddish nature about anything that basically appeals
to younger people."

"I think these things [fast food restaurants] are going to have some legs, and
yet there's a faddishness, a faddish nature about anything that basically
appeals to younger people."

"I think these things [video games] are going to have some legs, and yet
there's a faddishness, a faddish nature about anything that basically appeals
to younger people."

"I think these things [digital music players] are going to have some legs, and
yet there's a faddishness, a faddish nature about anything that basically
appeals to younger people."

"I think these things [search engines] are going to have some legs, and yet
there's a faddishness, a faddish nature about anything that basically appeals
to younger people."

"I think these things [the Internet] are going to have some legs, and yet
there's a faddishness, a faddish nature about anything that basically appeals
to younger people."

And finally:

"I think these things [personal computers] are going to have some legs, and
yet there's a faddishness, a faddish nature about anything that basically
appeals to younger people."

~~~
hello_moto
Marc boy seems still upset that MS crushed his darling to dust. But then again
it was Marc who had the biggest mouth back then.

------
alaskamiller
GeoCities => Friendster => MySpace => Facebook

Wake me up when there's news. I bet all those stupid Microsoft investment
stories were planted by Facebook's PR firm.

~~~
nickb
facebook and its giant hype-ridden PR push will probably backfire and they
won't be able to get an investor/buyer at these ridiculous valuations. They'll
have to go the IPO way and IPO will not do well (at least not at the
valuations they're suggesting).

------
nickb
You can accuse Ballmer of being a lot of things but stupid he ain't!

