First we learned that Jim Allchin of Microsoft, aka the Father of Vista, had been going around saying he would buy a Mac if he didn’t work at Microsoft. Now it
comes out that back in 2003 Allchin told his colleagues he wanted to call me and beg me to make the iPod work with Windows. This because he went out and played with some of the non-iPod music players and found out how badly they sucked. But come on. Allchin was really just looking for an excuse to come down and sit in the same room at me and bat his eyelashes. Or beg me for a job. So you’re wondering, did we ever have this meeting, and what was the outcome? I’m legally prohibited from saying. But you haven’t seen any Windows support on the iPod, have you? Honestly, sometimes I almost feel bad for Microsoft. Especially Allchin. He’s actually a really nice guy. And for years he’s been putting up with Gates humiliating him in front of his peers in meetings, shouting at him and calling him stupid. Worse yet he’s had to endure Ballmer’s jokes about him being an albino — calling him Johnny Winter, that sort of thing. Ballmer can be such a cruel bastard; you have no idea. Anyhoo. If you want to see Microsofties engaging in self-flagellation over how terrible their software is, you can read their sad, sad email exchange here.