Print
There are a lot of adjectives to describe Bill Gates, the Harvard dropout who co-founded Microsoft and went on to become a billionaire. Before he passed away, Steve Jobs offered some of his own. He called Gate "unimaginative" and said of his nemesis, he "has never invented anything, which is why I think he's more comfortable now in philanthropy than technology." The verbal beat down didn't stop there.
"[Bill Gates] just shamelessly ripped off other people's ideas," Jobs is quoted as saying in his authorized biography.
Those words, now emblazoned in print and read by millions of people, put Gates in the unenviable position of responding while deciding whether to simultaneously take the high road by not returning pot shots at his deceased competitor, or take the gloves off and start swinging at Steve Jobs' ghost. Actually, it was ABC's Christiane Amanpour who put Gates in the hot seat by asking him to address those statements in a televised interview.
"Well, Steve and I worked together creating the Mac. We had more people on it, did the key software for it," Gates said. "So over the course of the thirty years we worked together, he said a lot of very nice things aboiut me, said a lot of tough things."
"He faced several times at Apple the fact that their products were so premium priced that they literally might not stay in the marketplace. So the fact that we were succeeding with high volume products, including a range of prices, because of the way we worked with multiple companies, it's tough. And so the fact that at various times he felt beleaguered, he felt like he was the good guy, we were the bad guys, you know, very understandable. I respect Steve. We worked together, we spurred each other on, even as competitors. None of that bothers me at all."
High road it is. You can watch the interview here.
Image Credit: Flickr Joi
Comments are closed on this article
eday_2010
November 02, 2011 at 6:10am
Steve Jobs never invented anything either. Other people created things for him; all he did is tell them what he wanted and cried from time to time.
And he's admitted to stealing ideas from other people, so where does he get off criticizing someone else for doing the same thing? The more I read through his biography, the bigger a piece of s*** he becomes.
afatgoat
November 01, 2011 at 12:52am
Don't take this the wrong way, but...Jobs is dead and Gates is alive, i'm sure he prefers the criticism.
Gezzer
October 31, 2011 at 11:30pm
I agree with many of the other posts.
Enough about Steve F@CKING Jobs already!
Carbon
October 31, 2011 at 10:15pm
Jobs wil be forever #2 and he knew it and that is what made him such a nut job.
Short man complex going on with him basically.
kixofmyg0t
October 31, 2011 at 4:56pm
"has never invented anything"
"[Bill Gates] just shamelessly ripped off other people's ideas,"
Are you freaking KIDDING ME!?!? Pot calling the kettle black is we?
Wingzero_x
November 01, 2011 at 1:10am
I own a couple of Macs (on one now), iPhone, iPod, and iPad and I totally agree with that statement as well. Though there is no denying he was a visionarary and an innovator, and the same things could be said about Bill Gates as well.
Though when it came to personality Bill Gates wins hands down. Seriously if you did not know who he was is just comes off as your average guy. None of that smugness of the prime rib type, just that well mannered hamburger and french fry guy.
Ballmer, is probably the oldest person that needs to be on Ritalin. I swear that guy eats an Energizer Bunny for breakfast everyday.
gmvolk
October 31, 2011 at 3:46pm
Jobs was an ass while alive and so it seems he is still an ass while dead. Bill and MS should never have bailed apple out during the 90's and just have let them die then. Not saying Bill was an angel or anything, and maybe he is making up for some of it with his projects. Enough Jobs already, has anyone created a firefox add-on to block all things relating to Jobs? Kind of like that Madoff plugin from awhile ago? If not, someone needs to create the iBlock plugin!
somethingelse
October 31, 2011 at 4:32pm
+1 on the Jobs and iBlock plugin! That's a great idea. If I was a programmer I'd get on it asap :)
Engelsstaub
October 31, 2011 at 2:25pm
I don't think there's any doubt (at least amongst the rational) that Steve Jobs was not always a pleasant man. Mr. Gates and Mr. Jobs must have trampled under foot many to get where they are/were. They were fierce competitiors. You see this sort of "friendship" amongst athletes as well. Two major athletes will earnestly consider each other friends, but remain fierce competitors in word and deed.
Steve Jobs authorized this biography and his biographer. I don't think he had any qualms about people learning about his "tougher" or nastier side. Though some will always put him on a pedestal, he remains a man...a highly influential one.
I respect Steve Jobs. I also respect Bill Gates and believe that, when his turn comes to pass on, equally as many will want to read his biography. I honestly didn't know that Mr. Gates was somehow involved in the creation of the Macintosh. Maybe I need to read more.
...and yes, Mr. Gates did take the high road. I would expect as much from someone who has demonstrated the charity he has.
tomrippity
October 31, 2011 at 1:08pm
I would imagine, if Bill had decided not to offer Office for the Mac, Apple would essentially not exist right now. Steve should be thanking him for making him a billionaire many times over.
My opinion.
Danthrax66
October 31, 2011 at 12:56pm
Steve Jobs the master troll. Creates nothing and makes money then says the creator of the most successful OS has never made anything creative hahaha.
Xerloq
October 31, 2011 at 12:23pm
That's really the only way to respond. Besides, without Bill, Steve wouldn't have been able to drone on about a "post-pc" era.
Apple would have died in the 90's. Heck, it wouldn't have even gotten off the ground in the beginning. Some say Steve was mad that Bill did to him what he'd planned on doing to Xerox PARC, and that Steve never really created anything original either. Everything Apple did existed previously in some form.
Must've been hard for Steve, knowing how much he owed to Bill. Kudos to Bill for not gloating.
somethingelse
October 31, 2011 at 12:15pm
So Steve thinks that he hasn't stolen anything and actually invented something himself? K, sure, fckoff
The guy died a month ago, can people stop writing about him and let him stay dead? I was hoping since he died I'd see less of him, but instead he just keeps popping up everywhere more often, even on PC sites...wtf
