Mark Zuckerberg is NO Facebook Visionary: Aaron Greenspan on Veritas, and Free PR
Aaron Greenspan wants “veritas” in the Mark Zuckerberg Facebook story: He has reached out to me, and apparently the New York Times as well.
The NYT focuses on one chronological version of Harvard events leading to the Zuckerberg “creation” of Facebook, same as the ConnectU vs. Zuckerberg case does.
What is the REAL story of Zuckerberg’s success though? After all, as the NYT notes:
“If Mr. Zuckerberg did borrow some of Mr. Greeenspan’s concepts, he may have simply been working in a grand Harvard tradition. After all, it was a young Harvard dropout, Bill Gates, and his classmate, Paul Alllen, who almost three decades earlier copied a verison of the BASIC programming language, designed by two Dartmough college professors, to jump-start the company thta would grow into the world’s most powerful software firm.”
In defending Zuckerberg against the ConnectU team’s claims, Facebook attorneys proudly hail:
“Only one had an idea significant enough to build a great company. That one person was Mark Zuckerberg.”
Zuckerberg’s lawyer’s may be on to something; Not the “idea” part though. If “Facebook” was germinating around campus, WHY was 23-year old Zuckerberg the one Harvard guy to break out with a hit, while collaborator and classmate faces were left in the dust?
Greenspan wonders same:
Given that I thought we both looked relatively dorky with standard Jewish features, I couldn’t figure out why The Crimson liked Mark more than it liked me. Consequently, his site’s membership figures went through the roof as people listed each other as friends, while the free press lived up to its name, acting more as his personal public relations firm than an objective observer of campus events.
The media love afair with Zuckerberg continues to surprise. In unveiling F8 to the world, his seemingly inapproriate attire was publicly lauded in the press, along with a perceived Internet Godliness.
MORE: Judge Pokes Mark Zuckerberg: Facebook Love Blooms in Court, too
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