Forbes: Only the Paranoid Resurge
The above link is a very interesting article on Forbes (beware popups, sliding animated ads, and all other sorts of crappy stuff) about Intel’s recent difficulties (losing marketshare to AMD, etc.). The title is a play on a famous Andy Grove quote, “only the paranoid survive”, which I really dislike. Paranoia and closedness are what I’m fighting against by evangelizing blogging and open conversation. But that’s neither here nor there - the article is really about what Intel says it’s going to do to overcome recent blows, and come back to dominance.
The most interesting part of the article, to me, describes how Andy Grove kept Pat Gelsinger after a meeting and “tore into him”. He “beat the tar” out of Gelsinger for not being confrontational enough, for sitting through head-nodding meetings. Grove lamented the change from the yelling, challenging, dramatic meetings of Intel past, and the article cites a “creeping mellowness” to blame for recent Intel missteps.
Later in the article, talking about what we’re going to do about it, Gelsinger says “We’re more focused and more angry”. Forbes author David Whelan says “Intel is bringing a rocket launcher to AMD’s knife fight.” Nice imagery, if nothing else. 
Sounds good to me. I’m ready to see the company make some dramatic changes, and start kicking butt and taking names, like the old days. That’s going to take some pretty big changes, and I don’t pretend to know what they need to be. I’m not an excecutive, with an executive point of view on the company and its strategy. I’m just a low level geek, trying to make some changes for good within my sphere of influence and expertise - blogging, wikis, podcasting, etc. But if Pat Gelsinger says Intel is angry, then that includes me. We’ve made some mistakes, and we can do a whole lot better. So let’s do it.
Disclaimer: I work for Intel, but these thoughts and opinions are my own. They’re not endorsed, sanctioned, or otherwise approved by Intel as a company. They might even be contrary to what some people think. But this is my blog, and I write what I think. Disagree with me? Tell the world about it on your blog! That’s the beauty of this little thing called conversation. 
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