Steve Jobs dismissive of Microsoft, Bill Gates, and Steve Ballmer in biography
In a roundabout way Microsoft was the making of Steve Jobs. So you’d think he’d have had kinder words to say about the company before he sadly shuffled off this mortal coil.
The late Steve Jobs really wasn’t a fan of Microsoft, its founder and chairman Bill Gates, or its CEO Steve Ballmer. As passages from the new biography written by Walter Isaacson attest. This may seem rather obvious given the obvious, and often bitter, rivalry between Apple and its biggest competitor but I always thought the undercurrent of hatred was purely for show. Now I’m not so sure.
In writing this biography of Jobs, Isaacson conducted multiple interviews with the man over the course of two years, as well as interviews with family, friends, and work colleagues. When talking about Microsoft and key people at the company Jobs used dismissive and almost mocking language, and a tone which suggests he had nothing but contempt for his nemesis.
I haven’t yet read the biography, simply titled Steve Jobs, but luckily many others have. Which has led to numerous quotes and passages turning up on the Web. Microsoft Watch highlighted the segments devoted to Jobs’ views on Microsoft, Bill Gates, and Steve Ballmer.
On Microsoft:
They’ve clearly fallen from their dominance. They’ve become mostly irrelevant. And yet I appreciate what they did and how hard it was. They were very good at the business side of things. They were never as ambitious product-wise as they should have been.
On Bill Gates:
He ended up the wealthiest guy around, and if that was his goal, then he achieved it. But it’s never been my goal, and I wonder, in the end, if it was his goal.
On Steve Ballmer:
When the sales guys run the company, the product guys don’t matter so much, and a lot of them just turn off. It happened at Apple when Sculley came in, which was my fault, and it happened when Ballmer took over at Microsoft. I don’t think anything will change at Microsoft as long as Ballmer is running it.
I’d like to answer all these statements in as swift a fashion as possible. Microsoft may not be as dominant in some fields as they formerly were but they’re far from irrelevant. At least Bill Gates is spreading his wealth around as a committed philanthropist. Steve Ballmer IS a sales guy, and err, yeah. Well, two out of three isn’t bad.
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October 29th, 2011
“Microsoft [is] far from irrelevant.”
If Microsoft is relevant, then how is it that they are clearly in decline?
Obviously your powers of logic and reasoning are not particularly well-developed.
October 31st, 2011
Ugh! MIKROSUCK!
October 31st, 2011
Go get your shitty macs.