An Interview with Al Shugart

Wolfson :   But doesn't success sometimes not go hand-in-hand with being a nice person?
Shugart :   Depends on your definition of success. From what I've seen, it very frequently does not. Nice guys finish last.

Wolfson: You're not finishing last. Are you not a nice guy?

Shugart: I am a nice guy. I'm sure there are others that have reached the same success level that are nice people too. But from what I've seen in the world of business, that's a little unusual.

Wolfson :   What can you tell kids who are thinking of going into business about maintaining their niceness as a human being and still being successful?
Shugart :   Your priority has to be on being nice, not on being successful. If you're a nice person and you're talented, then success will follow. If you're a nice person and you're not talented, success won't follow, but at least you're a nice person and you'll enjoy life. Being honest and fair and ethical will put you in a good stead for all your life.
Phebus :   Where is Seagate headed technology-wise? What does the future hold?
Shugart :   I don't think it's really too cataclysmic. We've got several businesses we're in.

Our main business is in data storage. From a technology standpoint, I don't see anything replacing it. It's going to continue to advance about 60% a year in recording density. And the future of computing five years from now will require more and more and more storage devices, whether it be disk drives, tape drives, or whatever. We will participate in that growth of the need for storage devices.

And there are technology components in those storage devices which we are very good at because of our strategy to be vertically integrated.

If you find somebody who spends four hours a day surfing the web, they're really not a very balanced person.

And thirdly, I call it data management software, when the client server architecture for computers completely replaces all the mainframes, and there's a huge amount of file servers and networks that need to be managed, storage that needs to be managed, information that needs to be managed. It's a great opportunity in software, and that's what we're building now.

Phebus :   Do you ever think that the industry's technology will ceiling out? It just won't be able to get any better?
Shugart :   I don't see it. I don't see anything changing from the 60 percent growth. You'd think eventually it would have to, but that'll be the year 3000 or something..
Wolfson :   Do you have thoughts on the direction of the web and the internet, where you see that going and changing the industry?
Shugart :   Yeah, but you may not want to hear them. I think that the web is a big hype job. I think that the use of the internet is fairly limited to people in the media. It's very useful for people in the media and media-associated kinds of professions. It's very useful in education. And it's great for games and having fun.

But beyond that, I don't see a big use for it. If you find somebody who spends four hours a day surfing the web, they're really not a very balanced person. (laughs).

Wolfson: You're not one of those people? Do you spend any time on the web?

Shugart: No. I don't have time to do that.

Wolfson :   So what direction do you see computers and technology going if it's not going to be the web?
Shugart :   I don't think the web has anything to do with it at all. I think that computers will continue to progress as they have in the last 20 years. Smaller, faster, better, cheaper.

Networking is fundamentally important. I'm separating networking from the World Wide Web. All companies have to have networking.

We've got to get rid of the Republicans and the Democrats and the lawyers and elect only independents.

I think you'll see a little bit more of a merger with communications than you have in the past because it's going to take that to have a home market. It's going to take a merger with communications to provide the home market.