14 DAY TRIAL // During the annual World Economic Forum held in Davos, Switzerland between January 28 and February 1, Russia’s former president and current Prime Minister Vladimir Putin answered a question addressed by Michael Dell, CEO of Round Rock, Texas-based PC vendor Dell. The response was somewhat to be expected, given that the Russian PM is known for his snappy answers. Unfortunately, it appears that Dell's CEO had to acknowledge this firsthand at yesterday's meeting of the World Economic Forum.
During a 40-minute speech at the opening show of the event taking place in Davos, Switzerland, Vladimir Putin touched a number of issues, most of which were related to the financial turmoil, the effects of which have been felt by the entire IT industry. After the PM's speech a question session was held, at which point Michael Dell had his chance of addressing the Russian PM, but not before praising Russia's technical and scientific advances. After that, Michael Dell asked: “How can we help” you with the development of your country's IT infrastructure.
The PM immediately responded to the founder of the world-renowned PC company by saying that, “We don't need your help. We are not invalids. We don't have limited mental capacity.” While this response was surprising to the majority of the people present at what Fortune claims to have been a “slapdown,” the really interesting part was near the ending of Putin's answer. It is then when he talked about the Russian scientists who are “respected not for their hardware, but for their software.”
This was probably not the answer that Michael Dell was hopping for and, according to reports from the event, Michael Dell's figure was something to watch, when he heard the response. However, Dell's CEO might have learned something about Russia yesterday, which will probably help the PC vendor in its future commercial relationship with the Russian PC market.