Scott McNealy Quotes

Get the best people and train them well.

You already have zero privacy - get over it.

The best decision is the right decision. The next best decision is the wrong decision. The worst decision is no decision.

We believe we're moving out of the Ice Age, the Iron Age, the Industrial Age, the Information Age, to the participation age. You get on the Net and you do stuff. You IM (instant message), you blog, you take pictures, you publish, you podcast, you transact, you distance learn, you telemedicine. You are participating on the Internet, not just viewing stuff. We build the infrastructure that goes in the data center that facilitates the participation age. We build that big friggin' Webtone switch. It has security, directory, identity, privacy, storage, compute, the whole Web services stack.

The utility model of computing - computing resources delivered over the network in much the same way that electricity or telephone service reaches our homes and offices today - makes more sense than ever.

Technology has the shelf life of a banana.

Microsoft is now talking about the digital nervous system... I guess I would be nervous if my system was built on their technology too.

If everyone thinks you're doing the right thing, then everyone would be doing it. Have a controversial strategy.

Yes, we have a dress code. You have to dress.

Every time you turn on your new car, you're turning on 20 microprocessors. Every time you use an ATM, you're using a computer. Every time I use a settop box or game machine, I'm using a computer. The only computer you don't know how to work is your Microsoft computer, right?

Do I have a problem with Larry Ellison buying Sun? No, that's part of the capitalist system. As soon as we go public we're for sale, that's part of the deal. And do I have a problem with him exercising his intellectual property rights? No, I don't have a problem with that. Would it be how we necessarily ran and operated? Obviously not.

Only a monopolist could study a business and ruin it by giving away products.

Without choice, you have no innovation. Without innovation, you have nothing.

The only thing I'd rather own than Windows is English. Then I'd be able to charge you an upgrade fee every time I add new letters like N and T.

Putting Windows [3.11] on top of DOS is like putting whipped cream on a road apple [horse poop].

Computers shouldn't be unusable. You don't need to know how to work a telephone switch to make a phone call, or how to use the Hoover Dam to take a shower, or how to work a nuclear-power plant to turn on the lights.

We think computing ought to be like a telephone or a water tap or a light switch.

When computers (people) are networked, their power multiplies geometrically. Not only can people share all that information inside their machines, but they can reach out and instantly tap the power of other machines (people), essentially making the entire network their computer.

In a world without fences, who needs Gates?

We have an opportunity to improve productivity and cut costs while growing our way to a better and a more comfortable operating environment. I don't think anyone feels comfortable about bumping around where we are today.

This Windows 95 hairball has become so big, so unmanageable, so hard to use, so hard to configure, so hard to keep up and running, so hard to keep secure. Windows 95 is a great gift to give your kid this Christmas because it will keep your kid fascinated for months trying to get it up and running and trying to figure out how to use it.

Who cares who's captain after the wings have fallen off.

This is a big deal. It's a fairly natural partnership; it shouldn't surprise people, ... We're working on bringing this network-is-the-computer, Net services environment.

If I could embed a locator chip in my child right now, I know I would do that. Some people call that Big Brother; I call it being a father.

I can't figure the stock market out. I think it's wacky. I have done well with a long-term strategy and will continue being a long-term investor.

When Steve Ballmer calls me wacko, I consider that a compliment.