Links for Thursday September 8th, 2011
Microsoft lines up its big swing at tablets: More empirical evidence that Microsoft is behind the curve:
The shift to a Apple-based culture is noticeable among innovators and entrepreneurs, said Matt McIlwain, managing director at Seattle-based venture capital firm Madrona Venture Group.
"Five years ago I would have said 80 percent of the startups or ventures who came to pitch us pulled out their laptop and started showing us their PowerPoint presentation," said McIlwain. "Now 80 percent pull out their Mac. If I were Steve Ballmer, that would be concerning to me."
When I was looking to join my first startup in '06, it was still fairly common for me to reject companies because they used Windows. Now, I just assume that a company that I'm talking to uses Macs — and I'm almost always right.
The Failure of Yahoo's Board: Maxwell Wessel makes the case that Yahoo's board is at fault, not Carol Bartz:
"Unfortunately for Yahoo, during her tenure at Autodesk, Bartz dealt with issues surrounding scaling a core business. Her success was a function of being good at increasing earnings (in the face of rapid market expansion) and managing investors. She never had to find novel products and revenue sources. Bartz's experience at Autodesk did not prepare her for problems facing the CEO of Yahoo, a company that needed new avenues for growth."
Interesting food for thought.Hyper-Realistic Black and White Oil Paintings: Cool stuff from artist Matteo Mezzetta. (via @mymodernmet, by way of @sabrinabot)
Steve: Jesper on Steve Jobs.
The decline and fall of TiVo and Media Center: Things aren't looking so hot over at TiVo, but for their sake, I really hope that they don't go the patent troll route. (via Ed Bott)