«So whats Microsofts single greatest innovation? Take your time. —Its a trick question. There arent any. All that money Microsoft spends on research; what have they got to show for it? Nothing! Compare that to IBMs research results. IBM invented the disk drive, they invented core memory, they invented the scanning tunneling microscope, they invented fractal geometry. The list of IBM inventions goes on and on. IBM researchers have won Nobel Prizes. IBM, at the height of their greatness, was a national treasure, an institution that anyone would be proud to be a part of. They dont do software very well anymore, but their old mainframe stuff was great. I make fun of a lot of other databases—all other databases, in fact, except the mainframe version of DB2. Its a first-rate piece of technology. Microsoft may have more money than IBM ever did, but they dont have more ideas. Its the difference between a great fashion designer in Paris and someone who just does knockoffs in Brooklyn. Except that Microsoft would bundle the dresses with Windows and give them away for free.»