Notable Quotes

SandHill.com Staff Writer

“Now we’ve got battles where we’re big and strong and powerful, and we’ve got battles where other guys are moving, and it’s fun to work both from the front of the pack and from the back of the pack sometimes. They’re different kinds of competition, but they both drive you, push you. We have so many things that we are doing that are ‘Aha!’ In 2012 we will have a reset moment.”

- Steve Ballmer, CEO, Microsoft

“It’s the beginning of a fight between two giants. It’s extremely important to have the governments of Europe take care of this issue because if all the data of enterprises were going to be under the control of the US [because of the US Patriot Act], it’s not really good for the future of the European people.”

- Jean-Francois Audenard, Paris-based France Telecom’s cloud-security adviser

“Security is awash in open source projects, many of which represent the cream of the crop in terms of quality.”

- Alan Shimel, blogger

“We understand that we will not catch up to Silicon Valley overnight. … But – as with everything we have done – we are taking the long view.”

- Michael Bloomberg, mayor, New York City

“Certainly philanthropy goes on all over the country, but it doesn’t tend to come from entrepreneurs so much as established families who have inherited wealth or bankers. I do think Silicon Valley is unique in its sense of the world and how to use entrepreneurial activities to make it better.”

- Jeff Skoll, eBay’s first president and the founder of the Skoll Foundation