The best insights, observations, comments, tweets and random zingers we heard this week.
“A friend, on the choice to quit Microsoft and join Google: ‘I don’t think of it as jumping ship, more like switching Death Stars.’ ” — Scott Hanselman, on Twitter.
“Every six weeks is a lot of cupcakes.” — a spokesperson for Microsoft’s Internet Explorer team, explaining how Firefox’s new rapid release schedule ended the tradition of sending congratulatory baked goods for every new version.
“Building a business, being an entrepreneur, is a little bit like standing in line for Space Mountain. It’s getting exciting because you’re getting closer to the ride. And all the warning signs say Don’t Get on This Ride, but you still go, because you know it’s going to be exciting. You get on the ride and it’s exciting for a moment, it’s terrifying for some, you get off, you throw up, and then you get back in line and do it all over again. That’s what entrepreneurs do everyday.” — DEMO producer Chris Shipley, in the Microsoft startup documentary, Ctrl+Alt+Compete.
“Smart guy. But, NOT a person of the year. While many a villain have graced the cover and earned such notoriety…it was due to their global impact that year. Humanitarians leaders have also earned the title. Jobs was neither villain nor humanitarian.” — GeekWire reader, on whether Steve Jobs should be named Time magazine’s Person of the Year.
“I’ve gotta say, if you’re up against Watson, you’ve got to look for your chances, because it’s going to be merciless.”– Jeopardy champ Ken Jennings on the GeekWire podcast giving advice on competing against IBM’s Watson, a version of which will be in Seattle this week taking on contestants at the SC11 Supercomputer Conference.
“In general, in startups in particular, and as a leader of a startup most specifically, your job is to create serendipity. It is to give it every opportunity for the right thing to happen, magically and by sheer dumb luck.”– Ontela and Sparkbuy co-founder Dan Shapiro during a presentation at the Lean Startup Seattle meetup.
