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Bill Gates' Wife Reveals That Her First Love Was an Apple
Posted by Addy Dugdale at 12:31 AM on January 18, 2008
The beautiful, smart and, no doubt, fragrant Melinda Gates is the subject of a mahoosive profile in Fortune. And, aside from the philanthropic angle (Bill and Melinda, it is estimated, will give away around $US100 billion from their eponymous foundation) it gives a fascinating insight into the home life of Mr. and Mrs. Gates—including the fact that the Apple II she inherited off her dad as a teenager was what got her interested in computer science. More choice nuggets below.
• "Yes, we're a couple that has fun discussing fertilizer while we walk on the beach," says Bill, who says he's looking forward to haranguing pharmaceutical companies to do more for the developing world. "Nobody gives them a hard time. That job is natural for me to do."
• Melinda's a better runner than her husband and, as well as running the Seattle Marathon, has climbed 14,000-foot Mount Rainier.
• Would Warren Buffett have given the Gates Foundation his fortune if Melinda hadn't been in charge? "I'm not sure," he replies.
• She reveals how Bill asked her out on a date after they ran into each other in the parking lot at Microsoft: "We talked a while, and then he said, 'Will you go out with me two weeks from Friday night?' I said, 'Two weeks from Friday? That's not nearly spontaneous enough for me. I don't know. Call me up closer to the day.'"
• Chez Gates, Wednesday night is family swimming night, Friday night is family movie night.
• Bono describes Melinda as playing "the straight man to his [Bill's] dark humour." Catch the full profile over at Fortune. [Fortune]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
strangepork
Posted 2:04 AM 18/1/08
An Apple II is a Mac in the same way that DOS is Windows.
The headline should have read "Jesus Diaz's Wife Reveals That Gizmodo Can't Shut Up About All Things Apple"
strangepork
digitalpoet
Posted 2:04 AM 18/1/08
When can we get back to some utterly meaningless stories that somehow revolve around Apple??
Oh wait, never mind.
digitalpoet
rudeadly
Posted 2:04 AM 18/1/08
I kind of wished the feed read: "Bill gates wife used a mac [oh snap]"
rudeadly
Twenty5
Posted 2:04 AM 18/1/08
@Type-E:
you read my mind there..... kudos for that.
Boo for giz
Twenty5
apt94jesse
Posted 2:04 AM 18/1/08
100 Billion? Isn't that what Dr. Evil asked for? Jebus.
apt94jesse
Type-E
Posted 2:04 AM 18/1/08
On another story, Steve Jobs's wife's cousin's close relative uses windows.
Type-E
RorschachUK
Posted 2:04 AM 18/1/08
The Apple ][ wasn't a Mac though despite the title - and it had Bill's Microsoft Basic on it.
RorschachUK
Escamotage
Posted 3:04 AM 18/1/08
"If Bill Gates had Oprah's money, he'd jump off a building and slit his throat on the way down." - Chris Rock
Escamotage
Xenocide
Posted 3:04 AM 18/1/08
@multipleshotsfired: You made my morning!
Xenocide
Ultraorange
Posted 3:04 AM 18/1/08
um the apple II wasn't a mac. It was an Apple II
Ultraorange
tamoko
Posted 3:04 AM 18/1/08
I always knew Bill had a dark humourous side... that's probably why I like him.
tamoko
tamoko
Posted 3:04 AM 18/1/08
@multipleshotsfired: Funny, but hardly true.
tamoko
markgm
Posted 3:04 AM 18/1/08
That was a really good article, thanks for posting it.
markgm
tamoko
Posted 3:04 AM 18/1/08
"Let the Fanboy flame wars begin!!!"
Who cares... use the platform of your choosing and stop being the frigg'in Geek Waffen SS.
Melinda & Bill have made a huge difference in the lives of tens, if not hundreds of millions around teh world. They get shit done, while all of us just bitch and moan, hunched over our keyboards...
[ End of Rant]
tamoko
vtorch
Posted 3:04 AM 18/1/08
ADDY DUGDALE's article is misleading. Especially when you tie it to the headline "Bill Gates' Wife Reveals That Her First Love Was a Mac."
Now where in her post does she reveal that Melinda loved her Mac (actually Apple computer). Melinda just said that she inherited it. VERY BIG DIFFERENCE, Addy Dugdale.
vtorch
ninjatales
Posted 3:04 AM 18/1/08
Better late than never I guess Giz.
ninjatales
Trowble
Posted 3:04 AM 18/1/08
Melinda a turncoat? No... not never!
Trowble
multipleshotsfired
Posted 3:04 AM 18/1/08
Yet another example of someone who had huge success once they got away from Apple products! Good stuff giz- we need more stories like this!
multipleshotsfired
multipleshotsfired
Posted 4:06 AM 18/1/08
Why no comments on Steve Job's foundation? You know, the one from the 17,000 SF Mansion he let fall into disrepair.
multipleshotsfired
multipleshotsfired
Posted 4:06 AM 18/1/08
@tamoko: Are you suggesting that Melinda's life has not been successful since getting away from Apple products?
multipleshotsfired
freakshow1
Posted 4:06 AM 18/1/08
@tamoko:
Big article in to the investments of the Gates foundation, found they invest in many questionable stocks, including predatory lending companies. Good for them.
Besides, a foundation is just another place for the wealthy to hide their cash. It's a tax thing.
freakshow1
Marco
Posted 1:04 PM 17/1/08
Am I the only one who actually read the article...
It was an Apple ///! 1980 - 1984 famous for the 3" drop repair technique (to reseat some chips or something).
Interesting article on Mrs. Gates. Thanks for sharing.
Marco
tamoko
Posted 12:58 PM 17/1/08
"Zealots, regardless of ideaology, are a dangerous lot."
tamoko
tamoko
Posted 12:45 PM 17/1/08
@multipleshotsfired:We are all entitled to our own opinions.
tamoko
multipleshotsfired
Posted 12:44 PM 17/1/08
@tamoko: I think 100% of her success (and much of Bill's recent success) can be directly attributed to her seperation from the entire Apple product line. Kudos to Giz for having the courage to expose it. Haters can ignore the truth!
multipleshotsfired
tamoko
Posted 12:42 PM 17/1/08
@freakshow1: Shit...Above
tamoko
tamoko
Posted 12:41 PM 17/1/08
@tamoko: Above
tamoko
tamoko
Posted 12:41 PM 17/1/08
There's alway a "dark side" the philanthropy, especially from very large corporations. My own employer is global, VERY global; and I sometimes wonder how and why we do things, though I only have direct exposure to events at my location. It does make you think... although I sometimes suspect we are always looking for the hidden motivations.
tamoko
freakshow1
Posted 12:35 PM 17/1/08
@tamoko:
@tamoko:
True, true.. Just wanted to kick over that rock...
freakshow1
tamoko
Posted 12:31 PM 17/1/08
@freakshow1: The questionable stocks and lending practices kind of bother me too. But what do you expect; it seems like these practices have become the norm in the past decade or two. I don't like it, but I also can't do jack about it.
tamoko
tamoko
Posted 12:28 PM 17/1/08
@multipleshotsfired: Of course not... No more then marrying Bill has anything to do with her career success. She worked hard amd climbed the ladder it Microsoft on her own, long before she gained Bill's attention. There's no corrolation, much less any cause and effect... your fishing.
@freakshow1: Yeah, I know it's all in some form of self interest - i.e. tax shelters and such, but if some good can come from the foundation, why criticize it on the macro scale. At least all that cash isn't sitting in Genevea, just earning interest.
tamoko
tamoko
Posted 7:04 AM 18/1/08
I'm NOT taking a swipe at Microsoft with this question. I just experienced this last night and wanted to pick some brains...
tamoko
tamoko
Posted 7:04 AM 18/1/08
On another topic: anyone here ever experience a serious problem (video feed dead)with their XBox after playing Mass Effect?
No "blinking red ring to rule them all", which makes it odd.
tamoko
tamoko
Posted 7:04 AM 18/1/08
@Marco: I did, although my thoughts may have wondered...
tamoko
lianna_g
Posted 7:04 AM 18/1/08
@Marco ... you're one of the few that read it, obviously. At Giz: thanks for the reference. It's a great article. @ the fanboys ... do you EVER read any of the referenced articles? No wonder we have Jobs bloviating over reading or the lack thereof.
lianna_g
trailingedge
Posted 7:04 AM 18/1/08
another 2mins of your life taken away from a non-story!
trailingedge
evan394
Posted 5:27 PM 17/1/08
@tamoko: 13 friggin posts dude, move on. Shit!
Melinda is a babe. I'm not going to read the article or comment on the tastes great less filling game you dudes are trying to instigate.
Just sayin. She's a babe.
evan394
MorganX
Posted 4:38 PM 17/1/08
Well, even MSDOS was superior to Apple's DOS, can't remember the name before ProDOS. Anywho, A:\ gave rise to the heirchical tree structure we still use today. At least brought it to the masses. PR#6, uh, the slot the floppy is connected too... well that just went away.
Seriously, I think everyone started on an Apple. It is all regular people could afford or get access to in those days. Besides, that's when Apple was cool. The Woz was around. Jobs is why Apple is Apple. He invented the reality distortion field.
MorganX
nagumi
Posted 4:28 PM 17/1/08
You can say a lot of stuff about Microsoft or Bill Gates, but you can't say he's not generous. 100 billion dollars....
nagumi
tamoko
Posted 6:14 PM 17/1/08
@evan394: Your right... I've got to let it go. And yes, she is a Babe...
tamoko
evan394
Posted 5:47 PM 17/1/08
The article is about Melinda Gates, Bill Gates's wife. They're Microsoft people. Why the mention of Apple, oh yeah it's becasue it's on GIZ. I said I wasn't gonna read the article but after all the flaming AGAIN today about shit that isn't even related to the actual post...
the fortune article mentions the word "Apple" only twice and it is in reference to an Apple III not an Apple II. Dammit, Addy. not to mention that it's in the intro paragraph of a long informative story about this powerful and successful philanthropist, and very intelligent and sophisticated woman (who also happens to be a total babe-- the giz pic isnt' even the best one, read the article you douchebags).
I have been reading the posts on this site for a couple years now, and I have always detected a Fox News-esqe bias towards Apple (another friggin success story) but generally you guys find a way to swing back to the middle. Personally I've never owned a Mac or apple product, but if that what you like, Great. I like tacos, some people like burritos, but you get them both at the same place. You like Mac, I like PC, guess what they're both computers. Being a PC user, I have no problem with the company Microsoft, or the company Apple. But you fucking fanatics are really pissing me off. I challenge you commenting dicks to go a week without saying somthing bad about other team to justify why you're cooler becuse you like one corporation over another. Seriously try it for one week> what you'll get as a reward is some original though instead of the same old game.
/rant
evan394
frigg
Posted 10:01 PM 17/1/08
@freakshow1: "Besides, a foundation is just another place for the wealthy to hide their cash. It's a tax thing."
.
Yeah, Bill and Melinda Gates did a great job of hiding all their money in the super secret Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to save a few bucks on their taxes. Shhhhhhh. don't tell anyone it's there.
frigg
kendra68
Posted 11:33 PM 17/1/08
I cannot cannot cannot read stories about people who give away 100 billion dollars without thinking how unfair it was that I wasn't born them.
kendra68
freakshow1
Posted 3:10 AM 18/1/08
@frigg:
Do your research, ace, do your research.
freakshow1
sebzda
Posted 4:30 PM 17/1/08
@Marco: dude, read again:
"That Apple III was actually the family's second computer; when Melinda was 14, her father brought home an Apple II, the first consumer computer on the market."
sebzda
jurassicmac
Posted 9:22 AM 17/1/08
iPod: Not a Mac
Newton: Not a Mac
Apple II: Not a Mac
Mac Pro: A Mac
Apple TV: Not a Mac
Not every Apple product is a Mac.
jurassicmac
ki.designs
Posted 9:14 AM 17/1/08
^^^ Yup. At least try to get the basic facts right Giz editors.
ki.designs
banmojo
Posted 4:20 PM 18/1/08
give a man a fish, he eats for a day (and loses his self respect). TEACH a man to fish, and he eats for a lifetime (and RETAINS his self respect). HEREIN lies the fundamental problem with our social welfare system. The Gates are to be commended for being philanthropists, and 100 BILLION is a lot of money to give away, and I have NO idea how they're giving this money away, but I would HOPE that they would have the intelligence to spend the majority of this philanthropy on projects which TEACH the recipients how to become self sufficient. We have 100s of thousands of homeless (if not millions) around the US, stinking up our cities with their alcoholism, tuberculosis laden spit on the sidewalk were MY children have to walk and YOUR children have to walk. Why not TAKE 100 billion, build a large enclosure in the middle of the US, TRANSPORT the homeless there, provide them with education, support, etc etc and require them to 1. get clean, IMMEDIATELY 2. build up their own city, staffed by homeless, run by homeless, a kind of Australia for the homeless rather than the prisoners (although a similar concept could be done for the prisoners as well).
just a thought, and I'm sure I'll get slammed for saying so, but before slamming me, do you have a BETTER idea to address this problem???
banmojo