Executive Emails

Bill Gates and Steve Jobs both issued public statements last week.

• Jobs: Thoughts on Music
• Gates: Enabling Security Anywhere

But here's the curious thing. According to del.icio.us, the Jobs letter has been saved by over 1300 people, while the Gates email has been saved by 6 people.

In searching for an explanation for this difference, we need to consider a combination of content and context. Jobs is making a dramatic intervention into a controversial topic. Whereas Gates doesn't seem to be saying anything particularly remarkable.

But why is that? Has Gates lost the power to startle the industry? What is really going on?