Who's afraid of the big bad wolf?

Some time ago I remember reading (or hearing, I can’t quite remember which) a comment by Bill Gates about who he feared the most as a competitor. His response was interesting and probably one of the most insightful things I’d every heard attributed to him. What he said was something like (and I can’t find the actual quote so can’t cite it) the competitor he worried most about was two kids in a garage. Now he just might have been spot on in his thinking.

Let me tell you a story…

Once upon a time there were three little pigs. One day, the time came for them to leave home and seek their fortunes and make lives and families for themselves. Before they left, their mother told them “Whatever you do, do it the best that you can because that's the way to get along in the world and make mountains of cash” So the pigs set off and started to make lives of their own.

Task number one for each of the pigs was to build a solid reliable business that would secure their futures and they would never have to worry again. But building businesses is not as easy as it looks – you need the right strategy, the right product and the right skills – nothing happens by chance.

The first little pig was called Larry Lotus. Larry decided to build a house out of straw and he proudly named it Chez Lotus Development Corp. The basic building blocks were a pile of home grown and bought in Office Productivity tools (loosely glued together and called Lotus SmartSuite). Larry did this because at the time it was the smart thing to do, and no one else had such a thing. Larry’s approach looked like a sound and sensible strategy.

The second little pig built his house out of sticks. His name was Nigel Netscape. Nigel also had a unique capability and one which seemed unassailable. There were those that thought this house was a little stronger than the one made from straw but looks can be deceiving as we shall see. The other problem for Nigel was called the business model – no one had really figured out how to make money from the pile of sticks Nigel had – how could the house weather any storm?

The third little pig built his house out of bricks – we’ll come back to this little pig a bit later after we take a look at what the wolf (who went by the alias of Bill) did to the other pigs.

One night the big bad wolf, who dearly loved to eat fat little piggies, came along and saw the first little pig in his house of straw. He said "Let me in, Let me in, little pig or I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house in!" "Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin", said the little pig. But of course the wolf did blow the house in and ate the first little pig.

The wolf then came to the house of sticks. "Let me in Let me in little pig or I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house in" "Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin", said the little pig. But the wolf blew that house in too, and ate the second little pig. But there was some indigestion and the wolf was almost decapitated – but all was soon well.

The wolf then came to the house of bricks and walked right passed it. There was nothing in this house remotely interesting to him so he let it be. The pig flourished, built up some healthy ways of making money and began to plant new things in the garden – now the wolf began to take notice.

One night the wolf returned to the brick house -" Let me in , let me in" cried the wolf "Or I'll huff and I'll puff till I blow your house in" "Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin" said the pig.

Well, the wolf huffed and puffed but he could not blow down that brick house. But the wolf was a sly old wolf and he climbed up on the roof to look for a way into the brick house.

The little pig saw the wolf climb up on the roof, so he lit a roaring fire in the fireplace and placed on it a large kettle of water. When the wolf finally found the hole in the chimney he crawled down and KERSPLASH – he fell right into that kettle of water and that was the end of the pig’s troubles with the big bad wolf.

This little Pig’s name is Gary Google.

So, were did the wolf go wrong? While the Wolf was hunting around for new pigs to eat, a revolution was taking place under his very nose but he just couldn’t see it. The clouds were gathering and Gary was making some neat new stuff to take advantage of it. What stuff? Chrome, Chrome OS, App Server, the recent release of non-beta Google Apps, Secure Data link, Android, and there’s probably more that I’ve forgotten to mention. But you see the point.

So to remind a senior executive what he said about Gary’s company “that’s not a real company it’s a house of Cards”.

Well it’s starting to look very much like a house of bricks to me and the two kids in the garage have done rather well from where I sit. Sorry big bad Wolf you missed your opportunity big time!

But wait! Is that an apple I see in Gary’s mouth?