5 ms·

Larry King asks Bill Gates: Are you jealous of Apple's success?

18 points by cwan 16y ago

fr0man 16y ago
I think Gates is a little more concerned with eradicating disease and hunger in third world countries at this point in his life. I'm sure he would prefer M$ weren't so far behind in the mobile phone and tablet computing arenas, but I just can't see it bothering him too much at this point in his life.
- awa 16y ago
  I agree with you, but it would be interesting to see what he truly feels about Apple success because of his history with Steve Jobs
- rbanffy 16y ago
  I think he is more concerned with being remembered as the one who eradicated disease and hunger instead as the ruthless monopoly abuser heading Microsoft into a DoJ investigation, mercilessly driving his competition out of business by whatever means necessary. But that's just my impression. And may I remind you that, in order to be remembered for eradicating disease and hunger, he has, actually, to do so.
  - thaumaturgy 16y ago
    Andrew Carnegie was regarded as a ruthless businessman by his contemporaries, competitors, and employees. However, he is also almost solely responsible for the free public libraries which have contributed so much to American education (and which, sadly, are now falling into neglect everywhere). Sometimes you have to regard a person as, y'know, a person -- someone who can do both good things and bad things, things you're grateful for and things you disagree with.
    - rbanffy 16y ago
      I'll be happy if he eradicates disease and hunger, don't get me wrong. I just don't think this is his priority.
  - delano 16y ago
    When it comes to humanitarian work, I don't care what someone's motivation is. By the way, if you get in the habit of editing messages after they're posted, you can add a publishing delay in your profile settings.
    - rbanffy 16y ago
      You know Trojans thought like that... "Nice horse, let's bring it in - it matches our decor". We always have to question motivations. Is the humanitarian work aimed towards gaining more political influence? To what end? Nobody is nice.
  - jsz0 16y ago
    A bit cynical eh? My personal opinion is after the full ramifications of the US DOJ/EU anti-trust actions set in years later Gates realized he couldn't run Microsoft the way he always had and the game was basically fixed against him going forward. If he stayed involved with Microsoft's day-to-day operations it's likely he would been overseeing a long slow decline in relevance. No fun for someone who likes challenges. I think he just lost interest and realized how much good he could do elsewhere.
philwelch 16y ago
You know, asking one of the top three richest men in the world whether he's jealous of someone else's business success is a really weird question.
- rbanffy 16y ago
  I think that, given his reaction, the question was right on the money.
- dinde 16y ago
  Why do you think that? Jealousy is a human emotion and has no limits, and no level of success or achievement is a guarantee to be free of desire for more.
  - philwelch 16y ago
    You're right, of course, but that's pretty weird to me too.
rbanffy 16y ago
There is at least one slight factual error in his answer. He did not write the first BASIC interpreter for the Apple II. That would be Wozniak's Integer BASIC. What Microsoft (not sure if Gates) did was the AppleSoft BASIC, that came with the Apple II+. Distorting facts to make himself look better is the kind of thing I expect from Gates. After all these billions, he still has something to prove.
- 10ren 16y ago
  He said, "I wrote a BASIC for the very first Apple II computer".
  - rbanffy 16y ago
    He (or someone in his company) wrote a BASIC for the second Apple II computer. The original II could be made to run it through a language card.
    - lanstein 16y ago
      You're really on a roll today.
      - rbanffy 16y ago
        Slow day here. I also have a personal dislike for Gates (nasty software, bad attitude) and some knowledge on early 8-bit personal computers (I collect, preserve and, when the technology allows, restore them). Bill won't get away with that while I watch ;-)
    - 10ren 16y ago
      Hmmm, you seem to be right: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_II_series#Apple_II_Plus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_II_series#Apple_II_Plus I guess there's not much difference between the Apple II and the Apple II Plus, except that it's not the "very first Apple II". And also, the emphasis on "very first" is a slightly odd way to talk about the "II" of anything. So maybe you're right that Bill still has something to prove (or, likes to put himself in the best possible light, a business/marketing quality?), it's just that you also misquoted him slightly inaccurately... in support of your own point... ;-) I remember reading that Wozniak didn't write a floating-point BASIC, though it's not clear why; and it's not clear who exactly at Microsoft wrote it. Undoubtedly, it wouldn't be done totally by one person in isolation, both Bill and Paul would have had a hand in it. It's odd: because it was the first floating-point BASIC for apple, I tend to think it was the first floating-point BASIC for microsoft, as if they were in competition. But they'd written several basics before then (and I'm sure some of them were floating-point). So much of that code and wisdom would be reused; hard for Wozniak to compete with that!

18 points by cwan 16y ago

I think Gates is a little more concerned with eradicating disease and hunger in third world countries at this point in his life. I'm sure he would prefer M$ weren't so far behind in the mobile phone and tablet computing arenas, but I just can't see it bothering him too much at this point in his life.

awa 16y ago
I agree with you, but it would be interesting to see what he truly feels about Apple success because of his history with Steve Jobs
rbanffy 16y ago
I think he is more concerned with being remembered as the one who eradicated disease and hunger instead as the ruthless monopoly abuser heading Microsoft into a DoJ investigation, mercilessly driving his competition out of business by whatever means necessary. But that's just my impression. And may I remind you that, in order to be remembered for eradicating disease and hunger, he has, actually, to do so.
- thaumaturgy 16y ago
  Andrew Carnegie was regarded as a ruthless businessman by his contemporaries, competitors, and employees. However, he is also almost solely responsible for the free public libraries which have contributed so much to American education (and which, sadly, are now falling into neglect everywhere). Sometimes you have to regard a person as, y'know, a person -- someone who can do both good things and bad things, things you're grateful for and things you disagree with.
  - rbanffy 16y ago
    I'll be happy if he eradicates disease and hunger, don't get me wrong. I just don't think this is his priority.
- delano 16y ago
  When it comes to humanitarian work, I don't care what someone's motivation is. By the way, if you get in the habit of editing messages after they're posted, you can add a publishing delay in your profile settings.
  - rbanffy 16y ago
    You know Trojans thought like that... "Nice horse, let's bring it in - it matches our decor". We always have to question motivations. Is the humanitarian work aimed towards gaining more political influence? To what end? Nobody is nice.
- jsz0 16y ago
  A bit cynical eh? My personal opinion is after the full ramifications of the US DOJ/EU anti-trust actions set in years later Gates realized he couldn't run Microsoft the way he always had and the game was basically fixed against him going forward. If he stayed involved with Microsoft's day-to-day operations it's likely he would been overseeing a long slow decline in relevance. No fun for someone who likes challenges. I think he just lost interest and realized how much good he could do elsewhere.

philwelch 16y ago

You know, asking one of the top three richest men in the world whether he's jealous of someone else's business success is a really weird question.

rbanffy 16y ago
I think that, given his reaction, the question was right on the money.
dinde 16y ago
Why do you think that? Jealousy is a human emotion and has no limits, and no level of success or achievement is a guarantee to be free of desire for more.
- philwelch 16y ago
  You're right, of course, but that's pretty weird to me too.

rbanffy 16y ago

There is at least one slight factual error in his answer. He did not write the first BASIC interpreter for the Apple II. That would be Wozniak's Integer BASIC. What Microsoft (not sure if Gates) did was the AppleSoft BASIC, that came with the Apple II+. Distorting facts to make himself look better is the kind of thing I expect from Gates. After all these billions, he still has something to prove.

10ren 16y ago
He said, "I wrote a BASIC for the very first Apple II computer".
- rbanffy 16y ago
  He (or someone in his company) wrote a BASIC for the second Apple II computer. The original II could be made to run it through a language card.
  - lanstein 16y ago
    You're really on a roll today.
    - rbanffy 16y ago
      Slow day here. I also have a personal dislike for Gates (nasty software, bad attitude) and some knowledge on early 8-bit personal computers (I collect, preserve and, when the technology allows, restore them). Bill won't get away with that while I watch ;-)
  - 10ren 16y ago
    Hmmm, you seem to be right: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_II_series#Apple_II_Plus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_II_series#Apple_II_Plus I guess there's not much difference between the Apple II and the Apple II Plus, except that it's not the "very first Apple II". And also, the emphasis on "very first" is a slightly odd way to talk about the "II" of anything. So maybe you're right that Bill still has something to prove (or, likes to put himself in the best possible light, a business/marketing quality?), it's just that you also misquoted him slightly inaccurately... in support of your own point... ;-) I remember reading that Wozniak didn't write a floating-point BASIC, though it's not clear why; and it's not clear who exactly at Microsoft wrote it. Undoubtedly, it wouldn't be done totally by one person in isolation, both Bill and Paul would have had a hand in it. It's odd: because it was the first floating-point BASIC for apple, I tend to think it was the first floating-point BASIC for microsoft, as if they were in competition. But they'd written several basics before then (and I'm sure some of them were floating-point). So much of that code and wisdom would be reused; hard for Wozniak to compete with that!