“Gates was merely the best businessman ever born. He was ruthless. But capitalism is ruthless. It is a system. And it is that system – not his operating systems – that made Gates so damned big. Gates was not an inventor and innovator and I’ll argue that – his prognosticating books aside – he was no visionary. He was an exploiter. His first product was another version of the Basic programming language. His master stroke was taking the essence of a now-forgotten operating system called CP/M and turning it into MS-DOS, the neurology of the personal-computer revolution. He took the tool that truly created the technology age, VisiCalc – the spreadsheet that let business people ask ‘what if?’, which is what put computers on every office desk in the world – and turned it into Excel, part of his Office suite that also included Word, which itself was really just an adaptation of WordStar. He took the art of the Apple Lisa and Mac and turned it into the clumsy painting-on-velvet, Windows. Gates took others’ innovations and turned them into products and profits. Every great invention needs a business genius to bring it to market. For software, that was Gates,” Jeff Jarvis writes for The Guardian.
“My teenage son and webmaster, Jake, a computer genius (if you’ll allow me a link of paternal pride) since the age of 3, has admired and even idolized Gates for giving him the tools he loved, tools that empowered and taught him and helped shape his way of thinking,” Jarvis writes.
MacDailyNews Note: Perusing Jarvis’ link to his son’s webpage, MacDailyNews reader “Dan” noticed that Jake dumped Gates’ Windows in July 2005 for the superior operating system: As of July 2005, I have discovered that I am a Mac addict at heart and have been from the moment I set my hands on my shiny, new eMac. Since then, I am always looking for new tricks to improve the already great OS X with everything from freeware to commonly-known keyboard shortcuts. – http://jakejarvis.com/
“But then came the internet, the great invention that by its very open essence defies productization,” Jarvis writes. “In spite of government fears in the U.S. and the EU – and try as he might – Gates couldn’t take it over and exploit it. This was not his only failure. Gates tried to become a media mogul – in a local listings service, in a news magazine, in a TV network, and in a web portal – but that eluded him. In an era when everyone can now master media, Gates could not. So perhaps this is indeed the end of the Gates era. And if anyone is smart and ruthless enough to know that, it’s probably Gates.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Tsk, tsk, nary a mention of illegal acts. Yes, capitalism is ruthless, but there actually are rules. Gates and his company broke them. Repeatedly. Gates should never be lauded as “the best businessman ever born.” That simply is not true. And should Gates really be praised for sprinkling his ill-gotten gains upon charities worldwide? Isn’t that merely his penance to be executed without praise? Where was the charity for Netscape and their employees? Or for Gary Kildall? Or for innumerable others?
We can all now look at Gates and ask, “What did he really give the world?” Bill Gates gave the world an upside-down and backwards bad simulation of the Apple Mac and a bloated, insecure Office suite. He sold it to so many because so many early on were ignorant of what a personal computer was for and they lacked the ability to imagine what it could be. They bought what their equally-ignorant friends, family, and co-workers bought. It’s that simple.
What we really want to know is: will we ever be able to measure the extent by which Bill Gates retarded the world’s progress? Any Mac user who’s seen their Windows brethren struggle so mightily trying (and often failing in frustration) to do something that is easily accomplished on a Mac understands what we mean. So, what do you think, how many years worth of progress did Bill Gates cost the world? 10 years? 20?
[UPDATE: 2:55pm EDT: Added Jake Jarvis switcher info.]
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If he is ruthless why is he so interested in donating money to the poor?
he has donated more money to poor african nations than any other company in the world.
5 years,
first!
MDN: “Any Mac user who’s seen their Windows brethren struggle so mightily trying (and often failing in frustration) to do something that is easily accomplished on a Mac understands what we mean.”
FUD and stupid, MDN.
I can do the same thing in Windows on my Mac as with OSX.
You think writing an e-mail, surfing the internet, using Word, editing a photo in Photoshop is different in Windows than in OSX?
Sheesh you guys are lame. Can you tell which OS on my Mac I am using to write this note?
very publically donating to charities (he name a foundation after himself) was one of the smartest business moves he ever did. people couldn’t despise his wealth, and with every purchase of windows, they could say, “I’m helping out a good cause in the end.”
Give Bill Gates his due reward, in business and being generous with his money he beat Steve Jobs every which way.
I think this guy is pretty dead on in describing the Gates legacy as it pertains to technology. The guy is not a visionary, but an exploiter is the best possible description. In many way, Microsoft gained their marketshare dominace without any competition. They took advantage of the one factor that holds true in many markets perticularly the US market in that people rarely are smart enough to see value beyond the initial price point, and commoditizing Windows onto every crap PC box is what made MS what it is today.
***TRY GOOGLE WORD EDITOR FOR FREE! GO TO MADETHISUP.GOOGLE.COM!***
Bet you can’t tell which word editor I am using!
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” /> *smug superior Linux look*
***USE GOOGLE FOR YOUR ONLINE SEARCHING….GO TO http://WWW.GOOG……okay, you get the point already i guess***
“Steve [Ballmer] is the best CEO I could imagine for Microsoft – he is changing the company in ways it needs to be changed. He is bringing in new leadership at all levels. And, he is focused on the long-term – making Microsoft a great company not just today but for decades to come.”
– Bill Gates
Many (all?) of Bill’s donations come with strings attached. Read an article about him donating millions of dollars and it usually turns out that he’s donating millions of dollars worth of Windows computers, not cash!
It’s also worth noting that his philanthropy didn’t start until well after he married, and his wife essentially pushed him into it.
Acknowledging Gates’ ruthless business tactics in no way diminishes his charitable works. Unless, you consider some of the money he has as ill-gotten. And there are things to question there…
Though I believe he has others’ interests at heart, there is a financial reason for him to establish a foundation. It allows him and his family to avoid many taxes while drawing a large salary from the pile of money they sit on. This is common. What else could he do with such a pile of cash– buy Cuba?
He is no saint, but he’s also no devil. Like everyone, he has many sides, so to pin him as one thing or another is ridiculous and shortsighted.
Gates was the best businessman ever born.
Business is like football (soccer). He was a scum bag on the playing field, clipping people when the ref was not looking, tugging at outfits, nimbly talking his way out of red card after red card, but he scored and the fans loved him.
fans = stock holders
Bill Gates donates his money in a very public way to maximize the public relations benefit of his donation, as is his right.
Steve Jobs donates his money in a very private way and completely avoids tooting his own horn, as is his right.
Personally, I prefer the latter approach.
Lets not get carried away with the thinking the Gates is a uber generous saint to the worlds poor… the amounts he has donated are meger at best considering his net worth. He just makes sure it gets front page coverage, thus making him look like a hero.
If a give a dollar to a homeless person is “that” worthy of a lead story on the 5 o’clock news? Should I also get a merit badge and a key to the city?
Paleeeeeeeeese!
MW: ever
as in will people “ever” get a clue?
no carpenter keeps using a hammer whose head keeps falling off every time he tries to drive a nail. I have never understood why people keep buying Windows.
Yah, and Steve Jobs is a huggable teddy bear….
To Windows on a Mac
In Windows can you easily make a song? Can you easily take red eye out of a picture with one click? Can u easily edit video and put in any type of music? Can you easily make themes for dvds and burn one? Can you easily change the type of file just by changing the type of the name (such as changing a mp3 to a wav just by changing .mp3 to .wav file formats) I could go on and on with all the stuff you can easily do in OS X over XP. Its just simple. It just works.
FSCK BILL GATES!!!
HE didn’t do SQUAT. It was all IBM aka “Big Blue” which already had a large presence in American and world businesses with typewriters and other office equipment.
When IBM wanted to get into the personal computer market, Bill Gates BOUGHT QDOS (Quick and Dirty Operating System) from a small startup and renamed it Disk Operating System, later MSDOS.
Then Apple came out with the Macintosh GUI and Bill Gates STOLE THAT.
Steve Jobs PAID XeroX in Apple Stock to borrow ideas from the PARC project.
BILL GATES STOLE. BILL GATES DIDN’T INVENT OR CREATE SQUAT!!!
Bill Gates just so happened to be in the right place at the right time.
THEN JOHN SCULLY BETRAYED STEVE JOBS and that’s what caused Apple to be where it is today.
“Widgets” Gadgets” were called “DESK ACCESSORIES” way back in the early Mac OS days, long before ANYONE HAD THEM!!!
Even I (resolute hater of Windows, not necessarily of MS) believe that B.G. is/was a genius, not because he created anything, but because he convinced an entire planet that they needed his companies load of crap.
That kind of genius combined with the creative/innovative genius of Apple, and we might see some near miracles in the computing industry. Sorry, but you have to admit that Bill did actually, verifiably do that. I don’t like him for that very reason, but he did it.
If he is ruthless why is he so interested in donating money to the poor?
Because he’s racked with guilt over his behaviors to achieve what he has gotten.
And infliting the world with the piece of shittte operating system called Windows.
he has donated more money to poor african nations than any other company in the world.
Because he see’s Africa as the only market left for his malware.
It’s only my opinion, but saving lives is probably more important than arguing over which OS is better. On balance, making Explorer the default browser is a sin that’s probably more than compensated by spending billions on trying to eradicate third world diseases.
I love Bill – but hate MS. I hate Steve – but love Apple.
If he doesnt donate so much the government will just take it.
Lauding Gates for being the best business man ever born is like lauding OJ for being the best publicist ever born.
Anyone that is the richest person in the world should be donating money to charity.
he was no visionary . . . I think he’s seen what apple is cooking and jumped ship.
I’ve often said that Microsoft IS an innovative company. The problem is, their innovation is found in the offices of their business and legal departments. They have developed innumerable ways of forcing inferior products on the people of the world, and their talent for taking money out of consumer’s wallets in return for shoddy goods is second to none. Good for Gates and Company – Bad for the World.
As for Bill Gates’ charity work. I’d pat him on the back, but just a little. The numbers look great on paper but when you look at what percentage he gives of what he actually has, I deserve the same pat on the back for dropping $20 in the Salvation Army bucket at Christmas.