Keep an eye on Symantec in the future. I just saw this post on the Business 2.0 blog and found the quote from Symantec CEO John Thompson very interesting:
I don’t plan to go to the Justice Department and whine about Microsoft’s monopoly. I’d rather fight Microsoft in the marketplace, because I’m sure we’ll whip them.
Now, this type of talk is pretty common in business. This is interesting because of who it’s coming from. I hadn’t even heard of John Thompson before today. He doesn’t appear to be a celebrity CEO who puts himself before the company. The Business 2.0 blog puts it very well:
He’s low-key, no glory hound, and he knows how to execute. Journalists find that boring, so they write about the blowhards with no track record. But unlike other companies that Microsoft has gone up against, John Thompson’s company knows how to win because he knows how to run a company.
If I were Microsoft, I would take this threat seriously. I think that the fact Mr. Thompson is saying this means it can be done. In fact, he kind of reminds of a Level 5 Leader…