@cmarsh: Haha, that is so true with the zune thing. They just try to work him in there and say "we're so proud" Honestly zune has a long was to go, I know my experience with my zune 30 hasn't always been positive.

Bill Gates is interesting to watch in interviews, he doesn't really hide anything. It's not like watching a normal CEO sit there and answer questions. Bill is interactive and just does it, not reading off a script to you.

Truly a most influential nerd.

bobide

It's fun watching such a brilliant guy on auto-pilot. A few interesting things were:

when his personal bodyguard's radio chattered and he looked over like- 'oh- another sniper? wait- back to Zune'...

and when he name dropped Zune which is alot like Archie Manning talking about Eli at a party- 'We're all very proud of him....he does really really ok. We love Eli and there's nothing wrong with that'.

All in all- I personally have nothing but respect for Bill Gates. In a very big way most of us owe him our livelihood due to his vision and all the flack he takes for it.

Not to mention the unbelievable work he and Melinda do for the greater good.

Hey Bill- I'm for hire. I won't kiss your ass, but I'll fix the whole 'Vista' thing.

Think about now,

Chris

cmarsh

Never seen him so animated in an interview.

He must have really felt comfortable

SEARCH ENGINES

he's such a goober in a good way

AznSmith

@DLoney: Thanks! Oh, you mean Bill Gates.

Wilson Rothman

the man is a genius.

DLoney

What ever you like to say Microsoft has done well.

At the moment Microsoft and America seem to be very similar bed fellows.

Both large, both dominant, both doing some good, both doing some evil...
Actually Microsoft aren't as bad....
(just relised i'm totally going nowhere here)

Maybe comparing Microsoft and McDonalds.
hmmm haha

Compact

@SEARCH ENGINES: Agreed! he seems mellow, willing to admit, putting not much spin on things.. admitting the negativity about Microsoft but promoting the cool. Good show.

Mongoose

Gates is a paranoid megalomaniac who has created Microsoft in his own image. He has single handedly sent personal computing down an evolutionary dead-end that we are just realizing we are in and that will take two generations to get us out of.

NeoPoliticus

I could watch this guy talk all day. Meanwhile watching even 10 minutes of that infomercial known as a Apple Keynote makes me want to turn off my monitor.

SumGuy

I always got the impression there was some disconnect with Gates but not anymore.

He seems very sharp.

yoshi

I actually have the same outlook on Google as Bill does. "Honeymoon period" seems to be very accurate.

Beware of companies that get too big and have too many hands in the cookie jar.

radikaled

I have to give the guy props.

I've been using his operating systems since I could do anything meaningful on a computer.

strider_mt2k

@NeoPoliticus: do tell.

its amazing how someone opens up like bill's been once i steps down full time. someday i hope to meet him, the king of the nerds.

jbhitter24

Microsoft compared to America. Can I choose between George W and Bill Gates? Can I? Please?
Microsoft compared to McDonalds? Have you heard of the McLibel 2? McJobs?
IMV Bill Gates is the only acceptable face of Market Capitalism that America has got.
As to whether BG has sent the PC down an evolutionary dead end, sitting here hammering away at my keyboard on this system doesn't seem too dead endish to me.

drg40

So this is what Bill Gates is like after finishing the last of the holiday egg nog eh?

kevjohn

He's such a good interview subject, but his presentation in a keynote always seems to fall flatter. To me it's that he's a sharper guy than some of the others, just not good at translating his genius into words in a comfortable speaking way.

Still not a Windows fan. Though when Surface hit I'll admit it was the first time I was excited about something from Microsoft in maybe a decade.

trekkie

@Noobs-R-Us: TUAW is calling.

DomZ

Wow, the emperor has no clothes. What a revisionist of history. The fact of the matter is that no one EVER liked MSFT. Perhaps only in the days of DOS. Starting with Win 3.0 they were the butt of Apple's jokes. They've ALWAYS played second fiddle. People forget that Gates has NEVER innovated. He stole or bought EVREYTHING he's ever produced, starting with DOS.

It's completely disingenuous for him to say that from 87 to 95, they were liked.

Noobs-R-Us

I was hoping when he said, "Should someone have so much money?" that he would whip out his Jesus chain.

TheRunningboard7

He Has lice !

tripdragon

@Noobs-R-Us: Nah. From what I can tell, he has gigantic hands, if he can hold an entire violin AND it's bow in just the PALM of his hands.

Reilaos, Putting the 'Fun' in Dysfunction!

@evilsnowman: Wow! You must have small hands! You know what they say about men with small hands...

Noobs-R-Us

@DomZ: The truth hurts huh? As Blake said, "a truth that's told with bad intent, beats all the lies you can invent."

Noobs-R-Us

@Noobs-R-Us:

[moblog.co.uk]

I am playing it for you

evilsnowman

@Noobs-R-Us: Oh, stealing? You mean like the way Apple stole the GUI interface and desktop platform from Xerox? Is that what you mean?

GumbyJump

@NOOBS-R-US: what, small gloves?

seriously, some of you guys are being dicks about this whole thing. you dont have to hate on somebody just because you personally prefer another company's products. this man has had an enormous impact on how the world works today, show at least a little respect. bill seems like a really genuine guy, and at least he's honest and open about successes and failures microsoft has had over the years.

peterlarson233

I don't know how you could control that much of the personal computer market and not be popular for a stretch of time. I mean, I can't even make a Bush metaphor since the pc/mac camps are an extreme loyalty instead of a "lesser of the two evil's" situation. Is it because Macs were so expensive? Is it like, "I hate my Festiva, I want a Viper!" Does that mean only poor people want Macs? Crap, I'm poor, and I want a Mac... dammit.

TheRunningboard7

@Noobs-R-Us: men with small hands wear small gloves?

Luuey

@Noobs-R-Us: Speaking more personally: I couldn't afford a Mac when I was a kid. My first computer was a hand-me-down Packard Bell that my equally-classed uncle gave to me. If it weren't for Bill Gates and Co., then I wouldn't have had that opportunity - especially at such a young age.

When I say "popularized", I am speaking less to the fact that many people *wanted* a home computer and more to the fact that they could eventually afford one - largely due to the lowered prices helped along by Microsoft's business model.

So, yes, due to his business model that allowed computers to reach the hands of the average middle-classed people of the world, Bill Gates definitely popularized computers. It doesn't matter whether he took those ideas from elsewhere or not. What he did was take those ideas and put them in the hands of the everyday person. He deserves a ton of credit for that, in my opinion.

DW

Oh I hate to agree with Bill Gates but... Boston Red Sox = Podunk... hehe.

Klaw

@Noobs-R-Us: "Wait!??! Bill Gates popularized computers?!.."
Do we really need to run a poll whether the computer we are using now is a Windows-based PC or Other? Seriously?

And so what if Microsoft "assimilated" other ideas into their own product. Boohoo. Too bad. That's called business strategy. If small businesses didn't want to be bought out, they shouldn't have gone public.

And who says we're stuck with a PC? We have other choices like Linux or Mac, and I use both at home (file server and Macbook).

ripfire4

@DW: Wait!??! Bill Gates popularized computers?! Bill Gates?!?! Dude, stop drinking the cool-aid. Computers would have done just fine without Bill! If you'd bothered to think more deeply, you would know that everything in MSFT's product line was taken DIRECTLY from elsewhere. Sometimes he didn't even bother to change it. If you don't believe me please name one major product that is original.

BTW, I'm no Mac user either. I've been using MSFT since Win 3.0 and hating every moment of it's buggieness. I wish at the time there was an alternative. But alas, you were stuck if you wanted to use a PC.

Noobs-R-Us

I don't understand how us Mac-users could have such little respect for Bill Gates. Forget the "This Person Stole From That Person" argument. In the end, Gates and Co. *popularized* computers; and made it so that a lower-middle-class dweeb like me could own one in his home at a young age and learn. By that definition, no matter what platform I personally decide to use now or in the future, I largely owe Gates my livelihood.

Yep, I'd ask him out for a beer, if I could. :P

DW

@TheRunningboard7: Yea, it's called, a monopoly. He had it pretty much from the get go from DOS. If you want a PC, you're stuck with it.

Noobs-R-Us

@peterlarson233: Tell that to all the companies he raped and the employees that lost their jobs due to his theft. Surely you don't need me to tell you where to start?

Noobs-R-Us

Boy, now I've heard it all! To think that Bill Gates single handedly made PCs where it is today. WOW! You guys are so damn smart!

Yes, I was so down with my vacuum tube calculator until Bill showed up.

Noobs-R-Us

@DW:

Well said. It is reasonable to assume that without the monopoly Microsoft enjoyed early on the computer would still be in its early stages of total public integration.

hooked-on-tronics

@Klaw: yeah i couldn't believe he said that!

from boston with love: fuck you bill! :)

Paradise

A different shampoo would probably do wonders for that scalp itch...

eCurmudgeon

i have to agree that bill gates and windows have made personal computing easier and somewhat affordable to most people but, i don't know about anyone else, the first computer i used was that old ass box Macintosh playing Oregon Trail. apple put computers in schools. so, now, who help our generation use computers?

akira_santiago

@Klaw: That was my favorite part too. Boston = Podunk. Boston = Podunk. So much fun to say.

92BuickLeSabre

i can't believe people are still replying to noobs-r-us. i shall await the banhammer for the flamebaiter. he also sucks very much at lying.

willyolio

FYI IBM gave, GAVE Microsoft the keys to the kingdom. Bill was smart enough to take full advantage of it.

james-42

i wanna see the part that was edited out mid-way. :D

cky80

I'd like him to tell us why he insists on loosening visa restrictions, and says there are not enough software developers in the U.S., at a time when the software development market in the U.S. completely dried up for computer science majors forcing them to work in warehouses and Taco Bell drive throughs.

djohnson60618

The honeymoon ends when your partner finds out that you are not who they thought you were. The same will happen to every company who cannot sustain, and since all things are meant not to last...

whiskey

@djohnson60618: What Bill really wants to say is that he prefers CHEAP south Asian laborers to you. How do you think wealthy people get that way? Certainly NOT to help YOU get higher wages!

Noobs-R-Us

Actually, I was asking Mr. Gates, not you. My personal guess is that his plan is more nefarious, to send the message that U.S. programmers are not good enough in order to compel them to go out and get MS Certified education.

djohnson60618