Bill Gates on his last visit with Steve Jobs

http://www.geekwire.com/2012/video-bill-gates-visit-steve-jobs

by krishnasun • 14 years ago

142 112 14 years ago

bgentry• 14 years ago

Seeing him speak so candidly like this makes me think of how unfairly Bill Gates was vilified during Microsoft's peak in the 90s.

redthrowaway6• 14 years ago

Oh, it was entirely fair. Microsoft only stopped being evil once Gates left. Its predatory and monopolistic behaviour was driven primarily by him, personally.

Bill Gates is, I suspect, a much better person now than he was in the 90s, and the world is a better place because of it. His current laudable campaigns do nothing to detract from his past misdeeds, however. He was evil, now he's good. I'm glad that he's devoting the same energy and passion to stamping out Malaria and AIDS as he did stamping out Netscape and Linux. Hopefully he'll be more successful, as well.

oldstrangers4• 14 years ago

This is some of the most ridiculously biased shit I've ever read on HN. Please explain his past misdeeds that are so unforgivable that his $30 odd billion in charitable donations can't even erase.

tfb• 14 years ago

Maybe Bill Gates was never truly "evil". Maybe he just did what he had to do to amass the wealth that is required to do truly great things like stamping out Malaria and AIDS. Who is to say he wasn't planning his philanthropy all along? I certainly am. It's one of the main driving factors behind the business goals I work towards every day. I think Bill Gates has always been kind of misunderstood.

jeswin• 14 years ago

Evil will be passing your personal information to governments which want to put your life in danger. Or destroying the environment. Or willfully having inadequate safeguards for profit.

And bundling a web browser with the OS.

bad_user• 14 years ago

     Microsoft only stopped being evil once Gates left.

Since Gates left, Microsoft stopped winning or creating products people want, turning slowly into a patents troll instead.

Also, Microsoft's "evilness" during Gates pales in comparison to what Apple, Facebook, Google and Amazon are doing right now.

slackerIII• 14 years ago

"Microsoft only stopped being evil once Gates left"

Having worked there and talked to the employees, I'd blame the consent decree more than Gates leaving. But I'm curious what your sources are.

jonhendry4• 14 years ago

There's still evil at Microsoft, but it reportedly has turned inward, emanating from HR.

kenny_r• 14 years ago

I get a "Sorry but this video is no longer available." message.

My internet is routed through a proxy in Germany right now, is it still available in other countries?

dangrossman• 14 years ago

I'm watching it now in USA.

paul9290• 14 years ago

Now that is another reason Hollywood needs to be killed!

These restrictions are ridiculous; it's 2012.

redthrowaway6• 14 years ago

Fine for me in Canada.

navs3• 14 years ago

Available here in New Zealand and we're usually the last people to get access.

VMG• 14 years ago

I'm in Germany and it works for me. Weird.

Maro• 14 years ago

It's on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvKwCbYG3JQ

willthefirst• 14 years ago

Steve Jobs was a big role model of mine, yet Bill Gates never came close. I'm starting to realize that is due to the dramatic nature of Job's life, which is very different from what we know about Bill Gates.

Yet, when things like this comes out, and stories about Jobs emerge, I start to question whether my choice of a role model was really all that well placed. Do you admire the guy with the entrancing personality, or the one that is about to cure polio?

melvinram2• 14 years ago

You don't have to pick between Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. Take the best about each and apply to your life as they are appropriate to your goals and strategy.

With that said, if I had to choose, I'd choose Gates... and I do wish there was more about Bill Gates's approach available to learn from.

yogrish• 14 years ago

very well said. No one is Perfect in everything. From those kind of poeple, we need to pick good things that really stand out in them and for which they became iCons now.

jc1232• 14 years ago

One shouldn't let the notion of Jobs and Gates being "competitors" from being able to admire both of them. I admire each for different reasons. I think that has to be the case since they are pretty different characters: a closer analogy could be between a great batter and a great pitcher.

For some info, Gates wrote this yesterday http://www.gatesfoundation.org/annual-letter

(Was posted on HN but the crowd here seems to prefer something more controversial when it comes to Gates.)

acabal• 14 years ago

One guy made an easy to use computer, some cool movies, and then some expensive first-world gadgets while hanging on to his massive fortune and reputation as a jerk. The other made "PC" a household word, now runs the largest charity in history, and is working to eradicate malaria, among other things. Both were around the same age at the time of Jobs' death. I don't understand why people look up to Jobs so much when Gates seems to be the better human being by far.

microtonal• 14 years ago

What's wrong with admiring one for taste, and the other for (post-Microsoft) ethics? Why should we compare people to pick the 'best human'?

artursapek3• 14 years ago

I think it's just that Jobs was much more interesting. I'm in the middle of the biography, and I hope to someday read one on Gates as well, but from what I've seen and read to date there was just more to talk about with Steve. He was charismatic and intense, yet somewhat tortured and insane. When people consider Bill Gates they definitely respect him and look up to him, but he's so laid back and humble that there's not much to talk about. He has a ton of money, he's sane, and he's pumping his cash into philanthropic goals that we won't see the effects of for years. I think people just prefer to talk about Steve because he was so vibrant (as Gates put it) and so you hear more about him, which you convert to people "looking up to him."

However this video bothered me, why was the interviewer picking at Jobs' time left to live?

philwelch4• 14 years ago

Jobs sold a much better product in most cases; Gates used unfair and monopolistic business tactics to extract wealth and power above and beyond the actual value of his contribution.

beatle• 14 years ago

One guy inspired MILLIONS to make a difference.

Another guy is making a difference to MILLIONS.

I admire both of them, but I think in the long run (20+ years) the first guy will have a bigger impact.

commieneko8• 14 years ago

Great people are not necessarily nice people. I understand that Leonardo Da Vinci was a jerk. Often doing something really difficult either requires you to be a jerk, or it could just be a jerk is more likely to have the insensitivity to do the job.

I'm old enough to remember Bill Gates was like while he was running Microsoft, and I know people whose businesses Microsoft seriously, and unethically IMO, damaged.

If Gates has mellowed, then cool. Once you've accomplished your goals and squashed your opponents, then you've got time to play the nice guy and work on your place in history. (Mr. Carnegie built a lot of libraries that did a lot of good; after a career in industry and development that makes anything Gates might have done pale in comparison.) Personally I think Gates got pissed when he realized he had lost the browser wars and he couldn't own that internet thingie.

Jobs's goals were a bit more ambitious than simply making "all the money." To describe Jobs's work as "an easy to use computer, some cool movies, and ... some expensive first-world gadgets." strikes me as glib and disingenuous. Anyone who seriously thinks that needs to spend some time with normal people and watch how they interact with technology.

And the movies are better than just cool...

Even had Jobs lived a normal life span it's unlikely that he would have accomplished all the universe denting he had in mind. If Jobs was a jerk, and having met him once I can say from personal observation that he was a bit of one, he was a jerk in a hurry.

jc1232• 14 years ago

If you look at the cards that Jobs was dealt with in life (upbringing, fired from his company, cancer...) and what he was able to accomplish, it is admirable and inspiring.

I think Jobs and Gates both exemplify to whom much is given, much more is required.

vellum• 14 years ago

Back in the day, Bill was kind of a dick, too. From Gates by Stephen Manes: “The Gates motivational method: You yell, you holler, you point out how stupid something is, the chastened subject goes back and redoubles his efforts to do a better job.” Actually, I’m not sure if he’s mellowed out over time. You’d have to ask someone at his foundation.

MrScruff2• 14 years ago

People look up to Jobs because he managed to achieve the ambitions of many here without giving up his principals. I personally have no burning ambition to cure malaria, does that make me a bad person also?

rahoulb• 14 years ago

Microsoft during the late 80s and 90s was famous for its ruthlessness and the way it exploited and crushed its competition. I wouldn't say "Jobs is the nasty one and Gates is the nice one"

jonhendry4• 14 years ago

Gates has had far more wealth than Jobs, more liquidly, for a long time, which I'm sure makes a big difference on outlook.

tjogin• 14 years ago

I think Bill Gates was every bit as ruthless as Jobs was. But Bill had his enormous success earlier in life, stepped down from his company earlier, and was thus ahead. Despite being the same age, they were in very different stages of life, career, and success.

Who's to say that Jobs wouldn't have gone into philanthropy once he had stepped down from Apple, had he not been a (relatively) late bloomer and died at a (relatively) young age? Then again, maybe he wouldn't have. But I think it's unfair to lambast Jobs for not living long enough to reach that stage of his life.

fpgeek2• 14 years ago

There is one possible signal that Jobs wouldn't have chosen to go into philanthropy: He never reinstated Apple's charitable gift-matching program after terminating it during Apple's darkest days. Instead, that turned out to be one of the first things Tim Cook did.

Obviously this is a very limited data point. We know very little about the context around those decisions (e.g. were there external factors that took some time to sort out? did they decide to do it and then deliberately hold back until Tim Cook took over?, etc.). Nevertheless, it is one of the few data points we have on this question.

dave_sullivan• 14 years ago

Most people seem to go for the charismatic figure. It's interesting how much of a backlash there is when it turns out that they were just human after all, people feel betrayed and manipulated for having placed that figure on a pedestal.

The stories about Steve jobs were always there (the most telling of which I thought was when he ripped off Wozniak with the Atari situation, but Lisa said a lot too), and gates was a dick in his time too.

Interesting people tend to have a few sides, and some of those sides can be pretty ugly.

vijayr• 14 years ago

Is it necessary to just pick one role model? or admire just one guy? Instead of admiring people as a whole, can't we just admire (and pick, emulate etc) habits/principles from many people (and ignore the 'jerk' behavior etc)? For example, Jobs had excellent taste, believed in creating simple/beautiful products etc. Gates is doing amazing work with his enormous wealth and so on.

zmonkeyz• 14 years ago

He probably didn't want to go down as a monopolist that enjoyed crushing others companies. Humans are flawed and neither is better than the other.

oldstrangers4• 14 years ago

Is it just me, or does the interviewer seem like he just stepped off the set of CSI: Miami?

Regardless, I love hearing Gates speak candidly.

tomclancy• 14 years ago

Horrible interviewer

colonel_panic• 14 years ago

He's there to make Bill sound more authentic by comparison.

biot• 14 years ago

He seems like a caricature of a cheesy used car salesman.

navs3• 14 years ago

Gates also mentions working with Wozniak. I'd like to hear some Wozniak stories.

GuiA• 14 years ago

As an engineer, the "Wozniak" stories are my favorites. He's an extremely interesting guy, and has very interesting views on many thing (including education). He's probably the "tech" personality I most wish I could meet.

redthrowaway6• 14 years ago

Have you read the ones on folklore.org?

http://www.folklore.org/ProjectView.py?project=Macintosh&...

navs3• 14 years ago

Oh yes but we can never have too many Woz stories.

lyime• 14 years ago

It's a treat to hear them talk about each other.

peterkchen• 14 years ago

I agree. Especially since Bill has always been quite modest as well about his interactions with Steve.

swombat• 14 years ago

This Telegraph article covers the same topic but better than the text in this article (I haven't watched the video): http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/9041726/Bill-Ga...

tedsuo• 14 years ago

I'm so happy to see what he's doing with his money. They way he earned it was problematic to say the least (see the ECIS paper for a succinct history, if you are interested: http://www.ecis.eu/documents/Finalversion_Consumerchoicepape...). But I have to say, he's making up for it with how he's choosing to spend it. I definitely did not see that coming.

ZeroGravitas• 14 years ago

Every time I heard about his "charitable" works, he seems to be flying into developing nations and taking a stance against more open intellectual property rights (in medicine as well as software) or, coincidentally, giving them lots of cash when they're talking about adopting open computing systems.

Admittedly, I've kind of lost interest so I've not paid any attention recently but I assume he's stopped that nonsense. Because it's tacky enough to actually lower my already poor opinion of him as a human being. (I'd also heard the foundation was mostly his wife and father's doing and he wasn't particularly interested in it, but again that's going back a few years, maybe that's changed too.)

smackfu• 14 years ago

Rarely will people admit to having such strong opinions about things they know so little about.

melvinram2• 14 years ago

This interview might be interesting to others interested in Bill's foundation work:

http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/11456

Bill Gates on his last visit with Steve Jobs

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