February 28th, 2008
Google’s Schmidt talks (about nothing you care about)
Update: Elinor Mills and Dan Farber have more on this would be Eric Schmidt interview. Also see Techmeme. Here’s my rant from before:
Life is just so tightly scripted for the technology bigwigs. Google CEO Eric Schmidt sat down with News.com and wouldn’t stray far from the Google Health script. Granted, Schmidt was talking at the HIMSS health conference, but give us a little something.
Sure, Schmidt’s Google Health thing is interesting, but not THAT interesting.
The takeaway: CEO interviews with big companies can suck and often do–and the Schmidt interview stunk. CEOs are too scripted and Schmidt wasn’t budging off of health IT. CEOs are too dependent on their flacks. And too cautious. That’s why Oracle CEO Larry Ellison is my favorite. He will actually tell you what he thinks (you may not like it but…).
Here’s what Schmidt didn’t talk about:
- Microsoft: Not even a mention of Healthvault and how Google Health is better. C’mon Eric. Oh yeah, and there’s that Microhoo thing too, but it’s obvious you wouldn’t go there.
- What’s it like to get revenge on Microsoft? Schmidt was Bill Gates’ whipping boy at Novell and Sun. It has to be fun to be top dog now.
- What about those click rates? So Eric, what exactly happened in January? Oh yeah, RegFD and all of that. Bummer.
- Are you serious about office software? Or are you just trying to distract Microsoft? Oh yeah, 5th Amendment and all. Well thanks Eric maybe next time.
Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and Editorial Director of ZDNet sister site TechRepublic. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
