Posted 10/02/09 at 08:30:48 AM by Paul Lilly

Not to worry, Bill and Melinda didn't shave their heads, and to the best of our knowledge, neither one of them had a mental breakdown. And we're not going to post a viral video, though we do sympathize with Bill Gates being the tech industry's biggest loser on Forbe's annual list of the 400 wealthiest Americans.

According to Forbes, Gates will have to get by with a net worth now valued at just $50 billion. Sure, he's still the wealthiest American on the list for the 16th year in a row, but he's also down $7 billion from last year. No other tech mogul lost as much, and the thought of Gates and Co. dining on lobster thermidor with gold plated silverware instead of platinum is just too much.

All tallied, the 400 wealthiest Americans fell by $300 billion since last year. Paul Allen (No. 17) and Steve Ballmer (No. 14) lost $4.5 billion and $1.7 billion, respectively, while Michael Dell (N9. 13) is down $2.8 billion

Grab a box of tissues and view the full list here.

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Posted 06/24/09 at 09:12:38 AM by Pulkit Chandna

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen may not be as popularly synonymous with wealth as is his more illustrious peer Bill Gates, but he has been among the richest people of the world for many years on the trot. Now he has decided to use a modicum of his immense wealth for a fresh business venture.

He has launched Xiant, a software company, which will be developing “tools that make your time at the computer as productive as possible.” Its inaugural product called Xiant Filer is an email organizing software. The tool is compatible with Outlook Express and currently in beta.

Xiant Filer can automatically organize incoming mail messages by choosing the correct subfolder for depositing each message. According to Allen’s new company, the software becomes smarter the more you use it.

It appears to be meant for really popular people with mailboxes inundated with messages. However, anyone can try it for free as the beta version can be downloaded from Xiant’s website. 

No, Steve Ballmer's legendary tongue-dangling pic is not the most repugnant in tech history.

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Posted 02/04/09 at 07:44:25 PM by Norman Chan

Bill Gates (the philanthropist, not the technologist) capped off the “reboot” segment of today’s TED speeches with a presentation about two of the important global problems the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have been addressing since Gates retired from day-to-day operations at Microsoft: eradicating malaria and boosting education. 

With regard to the Malaria issue, Gates noted that though the disease claims the lives of one million victims each year, this is a greatly reduced number from when Malaria was a global epidemic a hundred years ago. Now, the epidemic is centralized in poorer countries, whereas first-world nations have largely dismissed the problem. In fact, Gates noted more money was spent on developing baldness medication than on curing malaria – Malaria simply isn’t the rich man’s problem.

Gates then proceeded to release a handful of mosquitoes into the air, joking that there was no reason that only poor people should get malaria. These mosquitoes obviously didn’t carry the disease, though the surprise move drew more than a few nervous laughs from the 1,300 in attendance.

How did TED curator Chris Anderson react?

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Posted 11/12/08 at 03:40:15 PM by Andy Salisbury

Nearly a quarter century ago, a young, pinup version Bill Gates released Microsoft’s first operating system, Windows. While the announcement was made in 1983, and the boxes wouldn’t see store shelves until 1985, Gates’ debut at New York’s Helmsley Palace Hotel was a notably ambitious one.

Gates stated that his fledgling operating system would be powering 90% of IBM’s computers by 1984. This didn’t come true initially (read: missed release date by a year), but it has managed to come to fruition as a number that’s near Windows’ market share today.

While Windows 1 was a short-lived ride, being made obsolete only two years later by Windows 2, it was a great start for Microsoft. Using a brand new graphical interface, it certainly made an impact on computing, as we know it today.

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Posted 10/24/08 at 05:35:09 PM by Andy Salisbury

That Bill Gates sure is one busy guy! Between working on the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation and putting in a day a week on Microsoft, he’s starting up a brand new venture named bgC3.

bgC3 has been labeled a “think tank” by public documents, and is not planned to be Gates’ next big business. Rather, it’s going to be a means of coordinating his work on his business and philanthropic endeavors. According to federal trademark filings they fall under generic classifications of “scientific and technological services,” “industrial analysis and research,” and “design and development of computer hardware and software.”

The offices (located in Kirkland, WA) are packed to the brim with all the latest goodies that Microsoft offers, according to visitors. Including a Surface tabletop computer and a virtual guestbook application.

The name, as I’m sure some of you might be curious about, has a fun meaning. The “bg” stands for (obviously) Bill Gates, and the “C” stands for “catalyst.” The 3? Well, that’s where things get a bit creative. The number 3 in the name reflects the notion of it being in a third place, separate from Microsoft and the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. Clever, right?

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Posted 09/20/08 at 03:02:32 PM by Justin Kerr

The marketing drum at Microsoft beats on and new advertisements have finally surfaced for your viewing pleasure. The new direction in the campaign features a noticeable lack of Seinfeld and churros, but it finally takes on the damaging Mac vs PC ads which Apple first debuted several years ago. For many PC enthusiasts this is the real kick start of the Vista ad campaign, and in many ways is long overdue. For years Apple has stereotyped Windows user’s as pie chart obsessed corporate stooges who resist the very notion that computing can be fun. The Microsoft ads hope to demonstrate the diversity of the over one billion users across the world who use Windows everyday and are proud proponents of the platform. The campaign also features a new face to represent the PC, which ironically turns out to be an internal Microsoft employee named Sean Siler. Sean claims he was one of many who auditioned for the role of the PC and his duties at Microsoft otherwise involve work on IPv6. His email address (provided at the bottom of the ad) sends back an automated out of office response directed toward curious observers. Try it yourself by sending an email to sean@windows.com or hit the jump to read the transcript and see the ads for yourself.

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Posted 09/19/08 at 11:14:27 AM by Paul Lilly

You may not have been aware, but the universe had been out of whack for a short period. But now order is fully restored with Bill Gates regaining his position as the world's wealthiest man according to Forbes, a designation he lost briefly to Warren Buffet. And with an estimated fortune worth around $57 billion, Gates now enjoys a comfortable lead over No. 2 Buffet, who after a 15 percent decrease since February of this year now sits at $50 billion.

But Gates isn't the only Microsoft elite doing superbly well. Co-founder Paul Allen is ranked 12th with a net worth of $16 billion, while Ballmer claims the 16th spot with $15 billion. Between the three, that comes to $88 billion, enough to buy more than 317 million retail boxed copies of Windows Vista Ultimate.

Don't feel bad if you didn't make the list. Forbes says you "only" need $1.3 billion to qualify, so if you weren't among the 32 new entrants, it just means you're not trying hard enough.

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Posted 09/12/08 at 01:08:21 PM by Paul Lilly

If you enjoyed the first commercial starring Bill Gates and new OS pitchman Jerry Seinfeld (and judging by the comments in the accompanying news post, many of you did), then you're likely to be tickled by the latest installment, all agonizing 4 minutes of it (that's right, my PC brethren, I'm still not amused). Gates doesn't shake his tush in the latest Vista ad, but he does do the robot, or at least a 52-year-old semi-retired billionaire's version of the robot (admittedly not bad, all things considered).

The newest ad still stays mainly focused on trying to connect with current culture rather than outright attempting to whip Apple at its own game, which is to fight a battle of the OSes. But here's my beef - it's just not amusing, to me anyway. There are subtle (and some not so subtle) messages to be picked up on in both commercials, but just as I didn't find myself chuckling at the whole Shoe Circus setting, I'm equally unimpressed watching a couple of rich guys trying to coexist with the common folk (props to the spunky grandma, the sole shining star so far in this ad campaign). Taken to the extreme, as Gizmodo alludes to, the commercials' failure to live up to expectations ironically mimic the same characteristic that described Vista when it first debuted.

There's a particular line that stands out in this new commercial. After Gates and Seinfeld are caught stealing a leather giraffe, the man of the home tells the unlikely duo "I'm disappointed in the both of you." Me too.

Am I just being a hater, or are you guys and gals still digging these introductory commercials? Maybe I'm just bitter that Will Ferrell didn't end up with the role.

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