"I don't think anybody sees a new Microsoft out there," says Jeffrey Rodek, CEO of software maker Hyperion Solutions.
Inside Microsoft, though, the .Net technology shift is lifting spirits. "I liken it to the transition from before Windows 3.0," says 12-year Microsoft veteran Kathleen Hebert, VP of business applications. "It feels like it's all ahead."
In the current economic climate, résumés are again flowing into Redmond. Many of them come from wannabe returnees who have taken enough lumps at failed dot-coms. "It's been a tough time in the market. Lots of people were asking themselves questions: 'Shall I stay at Microsoft? Is this a cool place to be?'" says Senior VP Flessner. "We're getting these questions answered now."
In this most bearish of markets, the combination of decimated competition, legal optimism and real traction for their technology strategy is turning Microsoft execs into rampant bulls. "With the emerging products and services out there," says Alan Yates, a VP in the TV platform division, "there are plenty of opportunities to double or triple the size of Microsoft."
Tremble, people of Earth.
