Larry King asks Bill Gates: Are you jealous of Apple's success?

http://www.techflash.com/seattle/2010/06/larry_king_asks_bill_gates_are_you_jealous_of_apples_success.html

by cwan • 16 years ago

18 23 16 years ago

fr0man• 16 years ago

I think Gates is a little more concerned with eradicating disease and hunger in third world countries at this point in his life. I'm sure he would prefer M$ weren't so far behind in the mobile phone and tablet computing arenas, but I just can't see it bothering him too much at this point in his life.

awa• 16 years ago

I agree with you, but it would be interesting to see what he truly feels about Apple success because of his history with Steve Jobs

rbanffy9• 16 years ago

I think he is more concerned with being remembered as the one who eradicated disease and hunger instead as the ruthless monopoly abuser heading Microsoft into a DoJ investigation, mercilessly driving his competition out of business by whatever means necessary.

But that's just my impression.

And may I remind you that, in order to be remembered for eradicating disease and hunger, he has, actually, to do so.

delano• 16 years ago

When it comes to humanitarian work, I don't care what someone's motivation is.

By the way, if you get in the habit of editing messages after they're posted, you can add a publishing delay in your profile settings.

thaumaturgy• 16 years ago

Andrew Carnegie was regarded as a ruthless businessman by his contemporaries, competitors, and employees. However, he is also almost solely responsible for the free public libraries which have contributed so much to American education (and which, sadly, are now falling into neglect everywhere).

Sometimes you have to regard a person as, y'know, a person -- someone who can do both good things and bad things, things you're grateful for and things you disagree with.

jsz0• 16 years ago

A bit cynical eh? My personal opinion is after the full ramifications of the US DOJ/EU anti-trust actions set in years later Gates realized he couldn't run Microsoft the way he always had and the game was basically fixed against him going forward. If he stayed involved with Microsoft's day-to-day operations it's likely he would been overseeing a long slow decline in relevance. No fun for someone who likes challenges. I think he just lost interest and realized how much good he could do elsewhere.

philwelch2• 16 years ago

You know, asking one of the top three richest men in the world whether he's jealous of someone else's business success is a really weird question.

rbanffy9• 16 years ago

I think that, given his reaction, the question was right on the money.

dinde• 16 years ago

Why do you think that? Jealousy is a human emotion and has no limits, and no level of success or achievement is a guarantee to be free of desire for more.

philwelch2• 16 years ago

You're right, of course, but that's pretty weird to me too.

rbanffy9• 16 years ago

There is at least one slight factual error in his answer. He did not write the first BASIC interpreter for the Apple II. That would be Wozniak's Integer BASIC. What Microsoft (not sure if Gates) did was the AppleSoft BASIC, that came with the Apple II+.

Distorting facts to make himself look better is the kind of thing I expect from Gates. After all these billions, he still has something to prove.

10ren4• 16 years ago

He said, "I wrote a BASIC for the very first Apple II computer".

rbanffy9• 16 years ago

He (or someone in his company) wrote a BASIC for the second Apple II computer. The original II could be made to run it through a language card.

Larry King asks Bill Gates: Are you jealous of Apple's success?

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