Bill Gates answers Steve Jobs’ criticisms
The war of words between Bill Gates and Steve Jobs is continuing, even though Jobs has passed on. Thankfully Gates isn’t the type to speak ill of the dead.
Just a couple of days ago we noted some of what Steve Jobs had said about Microsoft, Bill Gates, and Steve Ballmer in the interviews with Walter Isaacson which make up the bulk of the new biography on the founder of Apple and Pixar. It turns out there was more to be revealed, with Jobs also saying of Gates:
Bill is basically unimaginative and has never invented anything, which is why I think he’s more comfortable now in philanthropy than technology. He just shamelessly ripped off other people’s ideas.
Wow, that’s quite a claim, and one that Jobs obviously isn’t here to back up. But Gates is still around, and recently gave an interview to Christiane Amanpour for ABC’s This Week. When asked about the criticism that Jobs reserved for him in the book, Gates reacted well, maintaining the stolid, mild-mannered way he has always had about him. He responded:
Well, Steve and I worked together, creating the Mac. We [Microsoft] had more people on it, did the key software for it.
When you think about why is the world better today, the Internet, the personal computer, the phone, the way you can deal with information is just so phenomenal. So, over the course of the 30 years we worked together, you know, he said a lot of very nice things about me and he said a lot of tough things. I mean, he faced several times at Apple the fact that their products were so premium priced 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.
At various times, he felt beleaguered. He felt like he was the good guy and we were the bad guys. You know, very understandable. I respect Steve, we got to work together. We spurred each other on, even as competitors. None of that bothers me at all.
That first line will take many by surprise, with Gates claiming some kind of responsibility for the Mac. He then goes on to suggest that Apple’s pricing strategy was for years the thing which held the company back and almost led to it going under. Gates comes through at the end though, stating that none of it matters and that the rivalry was a friendly one.
The fact is both Microsoft and Apple ended up being highly successful companies, mostly because of the vision and beliefs held by these two extraordinary men. You may love one and hate the other, but they both deserve their place in history as technology pioneers that have shaped the world we live in today. Enough said.
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