2005 - The IT year in quotes

The words from the IT industry aren't as colorful or as profuse as they once were. High-profile chief executive officers (CEOs) aren't as quick to savage competitors publicly these days given that everyone partners with all of their peers, even bitter rivals, in one way or another. What's that adage about keeping your friends close, but your enemies closer?

Still, the IT great and good did let slip a fair number of quote-worthy nuggets over the past 12 months. Let's tune in.

D'oh: The joys of hindsight

"I probably wasn't the right guy to be a chairman of a company with 90,000 employees and the team didn't quite gel." -- Steve Case, former chairman of AOL Time Warner, stating the obvious about the mess that resulted after the merger of America Online Inc. and Time Warner Inc. (Jan. 13.)

"We weren't paying attention, we got distracted by all these people with pierced body parts and blue hair." -- Larry Singer, vice president, global information systems strategy at Sun Microsystems Inc., citing the real reason the company lost its edge during the dot-com era. (Sept. 12.)

Getting in touch with emotions

"I cried," Ed Zander, jokingly answering a question about the first thing he did on taking over as chairman and CEO at Motorola Inc. (Sept. 23.)

Don't lose your lunch. Oops, too late!

"In our flash business, we had an awful quarter. ... It makes me puke to lose US$39 million." -- Hector Ruiz, chairman, president and CEO of Advanced Micro Devices Inc., clearly not a happy man. (Jan. 18.)

"A company as big as this one ... has to organize its priorities. In the U.K. we call it the law of raspberry jam: the wider the culture is spread, the thinner it is spread." -- Howard Stringer, as he became Sony CEO. He also talked about having tea with the queen and her complaint that Sony remote controls have "too many arrows." (June 23.)

Letting those frustrations out

"Screw the nano. What the hell does the nano do? Who listens to 1,000 songs?" -- Motorola's Zander letting his real feelings show about Apple Computer Inc.'s music player, which overshadowed Motorola's new Rokr phone during a product launch. (Sept. 23.)

Drubbing Google

"We didn't see another option. No one wants to sue a two-ton gorilla. I wish we didn't have to do it." -- Pat Schroeder, president of the Association of American Publishers after her organization filed suit against Google Inc. over the search company's controversial Google Print Library Project. (Oct. 19.)

"We see plenty of opportunities in things that Google might or might not do. If you read the newspapers today, other than curing cancer, Google will do everything." -- Steve Ballmer, Microsoft Corp. CEO, trying to pretend that Redmond isn't constantly watching its rival over in Mountain View like a hawk 24/7. (Oct. 19.)

Just like elephants, customers never forget