10 contenders (and one real long shot) for Obama's CTO

http://www.thestandard.com/news/2008/11/17/10-contenders-and-one-real-long-shot-obamas-cto

by erickhill • 18 years ago

15 10 18 years ago

thestandard.com

bprater• 18 years ago

Where is Cringely?!

henning• 18 years ago

Where's RMS?

Where's Fake Steve Jobs?!

jeremyw• 18 years ago

More interestingly, where is John Doerr's other recommendation: Danny Hillis -- another broad thinker about society and technology.

fourlittlebees• 18 years ago

Hopefully nowhere near any kind of shortlist for any position that would drive tech in this country.

tptacek• 18 years ago

I would be shocked if they hired a celebrity for this post. That said, because it's fun, I'll handicap:

* Lessig and Felten are dead in the water; while I mostly agree with them, they're ideologues on topics that will make them Senate-unconfirmable (is this position Senate-confirmable?). Also, neither of them have applicable management experience.

* Schmidt isn't leaving Google.

* Bill Joy doesn't have any management experience, although he's clearly campaigning for the spot.

* Ballmer and Bezos seems plausible; Ballmer might take it as life raft from Microsoft, and Bezos seems open to random ventures. By the way, I'd be thrilled to see it be Bezos.

* The three non-celebs (Genachowski, Shah, Gips) seem like they're shortlisted.

I think we're probably paying a lot more attention to this CTO title than the transition team is, given our biases.

ilamont3• 18 years ago

I wrote the article, and I found your comment about the three non-celebs to be quite interesting. Do you think their government/Washington experience be seen as an asset, or a hindrance in an Obama administration?

I also wonder how sharp billionaire tech entrepreneurs would fare running a federal bureaucracy and dealing with Congress.

Anyone?

gaius• 18 years ago

Why did you not consider Burt Rutan? He is a genuine pioneer (i.e. he doesn't just do stuff with computers, he's out there risking his life) and he has plenty of experience of working with government.

nickb• 18 years ago

What a horrible list.

10 contenders (and one real long shot) for Obama's CTO

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