Charlie Rose - An hour with Bill Gates

http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/9875

by yef • 18 years ago

31 23 18 years ago

charlierose.com

alexandros• 18 years ago

Anyone else notice it's hosted on Google Video? :)

rokhayakebe• 18 years ago

As I am listening:

1- I agree there is still room for search and we definitely Microsoft in the game hoping that some of the smart guys there will come up with a better search experience than we have right now.

2- Bill Gates had a dream several years ago. Because most people hate Microsoft, they fail to recognize the magnitude of the impact Billy has had in their life.

3- I agree. We need different input/ouput. A mouse, screen, keyboard, is nice but we need more.

cabalamat3• 18 years ago

> Because most people hate Microsoft, they fail to recognize the magnitude of the impact Billy has had in their life.

What impact? If Bill Gates had never been born, Moore's law would still have been in effect and computers would still have got ever cheaper. The Apple Mac would still have been built; the IBM PC would still have been built -- but probably running CP/M-86, DR-DOS and (later) GEM. The Atari ST and Commodore Amiga would still have happened. Unix and C would still have been invented, and their intrinsic wourth would have let to them becoming popular. HTML and http (or something very like them) would still have been invented.

The only difference is that their would have been no baleful, anti-competitive Microsoft watching over all and limiting progress. (How many startups weren't started in the 1990s because their putative founders thought Microsoft would strangle them if they showed signs of success?). So, minus Gates, if anything today's technology would have arrived quicker.

yef2• 18 years ago

Well, you don't really know that, do you? Perhaps another monopolist would have come along. Perhaps he would have been in the style of Steve Jobs, who is not at all known for philanthropy.

Leave your biases at the door, please.

villageidiot• 18 years ago

Although I wouldn't go so far, I think you have a point. If we are to believe the arguments in The Selfish Gene about evolutionary principles applying to ideas and culture, then it is likely that without Bill Gates in the world, someone like him would have appeared and played a similar role to promote the personal computer in business.

brandonkm• 18 years ago

He's pretty forthcoming on how unsuccessful they have been in the search space. I don't think he is too worried though, he has his people working day and night trying to compete with google and during that hour interview he probably made $750,000.

auston• 18 years ago

I wish he wouldn't have dodged the question on Web Applications.

puzzle-out• 18 years ago

Gates' never refers to 'them' as Google - which in a funny way dramatises Google as a sinister force - I've noticed Steve Balmer avoids saying Google in interviews too, as if they feel just saying the name is giving Google extra promotion.

breck• 18 years ago

This is worth watching if you have an hour to kill. Not only is the first 30 minutes relevant to HN, but the second 30 minutes about foundation stuff is pretty inspirational. In 20-30 years there will be countless people living full lives who would be dead if it weren't for BG. Pretty amazing guy.

dmix• 18 years ago

Anyone notice the "BETA" on the Bill & Melinda Gates site?

http://www.gatesfoundation.org/

bayareaguy• 18 years ago

Yes.

As much as I hate to agree with Gates on anything, I too think it is a shame that neither the governments nor the markets have found it worthwhile to eliminate preventable causes of suffering such as Malaria. As much as I hate the Windows tax, it is a little consoling to think that some of it is being put to good use.

gyeh2• 18 years ago

I just cringe every time he says "magically" in reference to software.

ntufar• 18 years ago

Bah, innovation in search. Who could have thought. Microsoft looks like a looser. So pathetic.

jonas_b• 18 years ago

Isn't calling Microsoft an underdog in the mobile space a bit of a euphemism? Rather like describing GM as an underdog in the automobile space.

tlrobinson• 18 years ago

As much as I dislike Microsoft, I respect Bill Gates. This interview reinforces that respect. Some of his answers to questions about Microsoft were lame, but the rest of it was pretty good.

But I don't understand this statement: "you get that death rate down, the population growth goes down because less kids are dying"

jderick• 18 years ago

I'm guessing it means that women would have fewer children if they didn't expect most of them to die.

knuton2• 18 years ago

Does anyone know where this course ‘Big History’ that he is talking about is being held? Is it on iTunes U? I can’t find it.

kenshi• 18 years ago

I think it is one of teach12.com courses (sounds like Gates mentions teach12 but its not very clear in the video):

http://www.teach12.com/ttcx/CourseDescLong2.aspx?cid=8050

knuton2• 18 years ago

Yes, I think that could be it. Thank you! But man, this is expensive material. Crazy expensive.

gyeh2• 18 years ago

I honestly love this show, especially when Charlie has an opportunity to interview for an hour straight, uninterrupted.

It is very difficult to spit out crafted sound bites and PR scripts, when you're under the camera for a hour. And even if that happens, it certainly reveals something about the guest's ability to BS.

Charlie Rose - An hour with Bill Gates

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