Quotations

«We have to collect more information and let a little more time pass.»

«To many employees, Vista, the Windows update, exemplifies the company's struggles. When the project was conceived half a decade ago, it was envisioned as a breakthrough: an operating system that would transform the way users store and retrieve information. But the more revolutionary features have been dropped, and Vista will arrive three years after researcher Gartner Inc. originally predicted that it would ship. Worse yet, they say, nobody has been held accountable. 'People look around and say: 'What are those clowns doing?'' says Adam Barr, a program manager in the Windows group.»

«With revenue growth slowing, Ballmer has tried to squeeze more down to the bottom line to make the company more appealing to investors, ... Even the cuts that seem trivial have dampened morale. Just whisper the word 'towels' to any Microsoft employee, and eyes roll. Last year, Microsoft stopped providing a towel service for workers who used company locker rooms after bike rides or workouts. Employees who helped the company build its huge cash stockpile were furious. And don't even mention stock options. Employees long counted on them to bolster their salaries. Microsoft minted thousands of employee millionaires as the stock climbed 61,000% from its 1986 public offering to its peak in 2001. Now shares are trading exactly were they were seven years ago. Microsoft has doubled its payroll in that time, adding more than 30,000 new employees, not including attrition. That means more than half of Microsoft's employees have received virtually no benefit from their stock holdings.»

«It does give us a perspective that we didn't have, which is the perspective of the student who drops out.»

«It is a mistake to treat the dropout problem as a fundamentally different kind of problem than other problems in our schools - it's a different symptom of the same disease.»

«It's a fairly large difference, particularly when you consider that unlike differences across racial and ethnic groups, boys and girls are raised in the same households, so it's not so easy to explain the differences by their community, or their income level.»

«Several of San Antonio area districts fare better than many other urban districts.»

«They have a reasonably accurate picture of their own circumstance.»

«Virtually all evidence produces controversy. If it matters, it produces controversy.»

«It's pretty bad. Large districts in general are doing less well and Los Angeles is toward the bottom of that list.»