This article has all kinds of refreshingly honest quotes from the head of one of the older high tech companies.
And for the uninitiated, pr0n is the net nanny safe spelling of that word.
A candid interview with Seagate’s CEO
Sitting at the arm of a tech CEO during a corporate dinner is rarely as interesting as you might imagine. Usually, the CEO stays on message throughout the meal as a PR flak hovers, smiles, nods and prods the conversation along. Just keep the drinks coming, guys.
Not so with Bill Watkins, the mercurial, salty-mouthed Texan who runs the $15 billion hard-drive king Seagate Technology. At a San Francisco dinner on Tuesday evening, he was candid about his company’s ultimate mission: “Let’s face it, we’re not changing the world. We’re building a product that helps people buy more crap – and watch porn.”
Now this is promising, although I bet the MPAA and RIAA will have something to say about it:
The company plans to introduce a number of consumer-oriented storage products at the tech trade show CES – think high-capacity drives that will be plug-and-play with any computer, so you don’t have to carry a laptop
Having been on a board of directors I can really appreciate this one:
The secret to managing a board of directors: “You never ask board members what they think. You tell them what you’re going to do.”
It’s nice to see someone who doesn’t seem delusional from sticking to the PR rap. Hard drives aren’t innovative or glamorous, and this guy doesn’t try to be either of those. It’s also quite refreshing to see an interview where neither party felt compelled to use the phrase ‘Web 2.0’.
“think high-capacity drives that will be plug-and-play with any computer, so you don’t have to carry a laptop”
What?
My guess as to what they mean is that the drive would contain a bootable OS which would turn whatever computer you are hooking it up to, into “your computer”. It’s probably possible using one those bootable linux distros, but I can’t see it working with Windows (unless Vista is built differently) . And I would imagine plugging your company’s database into a hotel rooms generic computer would not be the most popular thing for a CSO (security officer), nor would “hey use my computer here at work to attach your big hard drive to”.
On second thought, a ‘generic’ computer (no storage) that boots up USB flash and hard drives would be a great idea for hotels, internet cafes and the like, assuming the hardware can be certified in some way to make sure it wasn’t modified.
So whats new with Seagate anyway? He has no vision for the future, he expects everyone to follow what he says, his products are perfect for generic stuff.
Like Dell.
Seagates get quieter, faster, larger and cooler every other quarter. I’ll give you three guesses which manufacturer was an early adopter of the transition to perpendicular recording. Geez, a CEO doesn’t pump it like a chimpanzee and suddenly he’s irrelevant.
That man is most assuredly…. Keeping it real.
Since my co. provides the hw ammo to these HD mfg’s I can also bask in the glow of being able to be a pr0n enabler.
Hey John,
Big fan… can I puuuulllleeeaaaseeee do some graphics for you? Free of the charge. I just can’t handle that header. Email me. It would take me two seconds to do some thing much more readable and pleasing to look at.
Ben
lol #7
I’m glad someone who is th head of a large/powerful company has finally fingure it out – woot Seagate!!
PS – I prefer wd myself – but its all basically the same thing.