In 50 years Steve Jobs will be forgotten, Gates legacy will live on

http://blogs.computerworld.com/windows/20487/malcolm-gladwell-history-will-exalt-bill-gates-forget-steve-jobs

by sparknlaunch • 14 years ago

8 6 14 years ago

blogs.computerworld.com

twog• 14 years ago

Realistically, anyone who studies business will remember both Gates & Jobs. Not for 50 years, but for much longer than that. I think everyone agrees that what Gates has done with his fortune is extremely commendable, but to discredit Jobs business tact & revolutionary thinking in just 50 years would be foolish. This is link bait at its finest.

fennecfoxen• 14 years ago

Well, let's see. What industrialists of the boom years gone by do we remember today? Carnegie has Carnegie Hall and Carnegie-Mellon University, and his charities routinely sponsor shows on PBS. Jay Gould, his notorious oft-villainized railroad-operating contemporary, is largely forgotten to the general public. But then, Carnegie had more money, too, and lived longer.

R. J. Reynolds also bought out a university, but didn't name it after himself - he did leave the business named after himself behind, and that's lasted quite a while and been in the public eye (the Nabisco purchase helped, though the notorious tobacco-related lawsuits hurt). Alfred Nobel came up with a snazzy prize.

Eh. There might be something to it. Any other useful data points? Like someone who didn't do something big and charitable and has still retained renown?

r00fus• 14 years ago

They'll both be remembered. Gates more like Carnegie/Rockefeller, and Jobs more like Edison.

I really doubt history will forget these figures in 10 or 100 years. Computing is becoming as important to the current economy as steel, petroleum or electricity, and both of these figures are economic "winners".

The only downside are that we forget about the not-so-winning entrepreneurs and inventors who really pioneered things but got in the way of the winners - like Rudolf Diesel, Nikolai Tesla or Konrad Zuse.

dansingerman• 14 years ago

As long as both Gates and Jobs get remembered longer than Malcolm Gladwell, there'll be some justice in the world.

hasker• 14 years ago

In all seriousness, I am not sure Steve cares. He had a obsessive dedication to the product and the game. Bill Gates used technology to get to the point where he had enough wealth to be the world's best philanthropist, even if he made a lot of "mistakes" with his first "investments." In fact, he is so good that Warren Buffet, having a fortune that rivals Bill Gates, he has left nearly all his money to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

rsanchez1• 14 years ago

Yes, this story has already been posted many times, thanks.

In 50 years Steve Jobs will be forgotten, Gates legacy will live on

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