????如果你是在微軟公司（Microsoft）稱霸IT業(yè)之后才長(zhǎng)大成人的，那你可能只會(huì)看到比爾?蓋茨的那些慈善義舉，把他當(dāng)成一個(gè)英雄。但對(duì)那些一直要和比爾?蓋茨治下、早已成為真正壟斷寡頭的微軟正面較量的人來(lái)說(shuō)，他們眼中的蓋茨就完全是另一種形象了——他就是一個(gè)吸吮軟件創(chuàng)新鮮血的吸血鬼。

????不過(guò)還是有人充滿懷念地管蓋茨叫英雄，不是因?yàn)樗F(xiàn)在的所作所為，而是因?yàn)樗?dāng)年在微軟的作為。或者說(shuō)至少還有一個(gè)人是這么想的，那就是馬克?扎克伯格。2013年9月，扎克伯格在一個(gè)會(huì)議上表示，在他成長(zhǎng)的過(guò)程中，蓋茨就是他心目中的英雄。當(dāng)他的采訪者邁克爾?阿靈頓將蓋茨比作達(dá)斯?維德（《星球大戰(zhàn)》中的黑武士——譯注）時(shí)，扎克伯格表示難以茍同。他認(rèn)為蓋茨是“我們行業(yè)有史以來(lái)最偉大的、最富有遠(yuǎn)見(jiàn)的人物之一”。

????這就引發(fā)了一個(gè)問(wèn)題：既然蓋茨已經(jīng)離開(kāi)科技業(yè)了，那么扎克伯格能像蓋茨那樣成為我們這個(gè)時(shí)代的英豪嗎？Facebook又算不算新一代的微軟呢？

????我們不妨來(lái)做個(gè)比較。他倆的公司都率先在一個(gè)新興科技行業(yè)中創(chuàng)造了大量用戶。他倆都是剛愎自用且富于遠(yuǎn)見(jiàn)的人，有時(shí)候表現(xiàn)得比較靦腆，偶爾又會(huì)喋喋不休，不過(guò)在生意上都能做到冷血無(wú)情。他倆都是著名的哈佛退學(xué)生。此外，兩人都認(rèn)為商業(yè)成功不在于產(chǎn)品或服務(wù)有多好，而在于它們能在多大范圍上推廣普及。

????正如扎克伯格九月份闡釋自己的話時(shí)所說(shuō)：“據(jù)我所知，比爾?蓋茨經(jīng)營(yíng)的這家公司是最有富使命感的企業(yè)之一。微軟擁有非常了不起的使命，也就是要在每個(gè)家庭的每張桌子上都放上電腦。”他還說(shuō)，正是微軟的這種為世界帶來(lái)實(shí)實(shí)在在變化的能力一直激勵(lì)著自己。而扎克伯格的公司即使不能說(shuō)更勝一籌，至少也讓世界發(fā)生了同樣翻天覆地的變化。

????但他倆同時(shí)也存在很大區(qū)別。Facebook和微軟統(tǒng)治各自所在行業(yè)的方式不同。微軟所統(tǒng)治的軟件行業(yè)與社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)不是一回事。用戶必須掏錢買預(yù)裝在電腦里的操作系統(tǒng)，要升級(jí)也代價(jià)不小。而Facebook的大量代碼主要都存儲(chǔ)在云端，用戶可以免費(fèi)使用。

????軟件業(yè)在微軟眼就是一種零和博弈，也就是對(duì)手如果實(shí)現(xiàn)了銷售，這就成了微軟的損失。而Facebook則一再表示，互聯(lián)網(wǎng)不是零和博弈。這兩種思路就導(dǎo)致了，微軟一直致力于控制PC軟件的分銷，而Facebook的業(yè)務(wù)重心則是緊抓住用戶的注意力以便獲得更多廣告收入。

????在如今這個(gè)互聯(lián)網(wǎng)時(shí)代，一家公司想要在科技業(yè)獲得壟斷地位已經(jīng)變得難上加難，因?yàn)殚_(kāi)源軟件和遍布全球的網(wǎng)絡(luò)使對(duì)手要實(shí)現(xiàn)偷襲變得輕而易舉。不過(guò)在某種程度上，如果微軟早些觸網(wǎng)的話，它今天的模樣應(yīng)該就是扎克伯格如今打造的Facebook。

????If you came of age after Microsoft (MSFT) dominated the technology industry, you might well look at Bill Gates' philanthropic efforts and call him a hero. Others who had to compete against the de facto monopoly that was Microsoft under Bill Gates might see things differently. To them, he was a vampiric force that fed on the lifeblood of software innovation.

????Then there are people who nostalgically call Gates a hero, not for what he's doing today, but for what he did back at Microsoft. Or at least there's one: Mark Zuckerberg.

????In September, Zuckerberg said at a conference that Gates was his hero when he was growing up. When his interviewer, Michael Arrington, compared Gates to Darth Vader, Zuckerberg disagreed, saying Gates is "one of the greatest visionaries that our industry has ever had."

????Which raises the question: Now that Gates has moved on from the tech industry, can Zuckerberg become to our era what Gates was in his? Is Facebook (FB) the new Microsoft?

????Let's compare them. Both of their companies were the first to build a large scale of users in an emerging tech industry. Both are headstrong visionaries who convey a sometimes bashful, intermittently garrulous public image yet who can be cold-blooded in business. Both, famously, are Harvard dropouts. And both see business success not in terms of how good a product or service is, but in how widely it can be disseminated.

????As Zuckerberg explained back in September: "Bill Gates ran one of the most mission-driven companies I can think of. Microsoft had a great mission. To put a computer on every desktop and in every home." Microsoft's ability to bring concrete change in the world was inspiring Zuckerberg, he said. And Zuckerberg's company has brought just as much change, if not more so.

????But there are important differences too. Facebook and Microsoft came to dominate their industries in different ways. The software industry Microsoft dominated was different from the social web. Every user had to pay for an operating software that was installed computer by computer and that was costly to upgrade. Facebook's extensive code exists largely in the cloud and is free to use.

????Microsoft viewed the software industry as a zero-sum game, where a sale to competitors was a loss to Microsoft. Facebook has repeatedly said the Internet isn't a zero-sum game. Consequently, Microsoft focused on controlling the distribution of PC software. Facebook focuses on capturing its users' attention so it can draw in more ad dollars.

????It's much harder for a company to come close to monopolizing a technology industry in the age of the Internet, where open-source software and globally distributed networks make it easy for rivals to come at you. And yet, in some ways, Zuckerberg has built Facebook to look like what Microsoft might have become if it had nailed the Internet early on.