@WD40: I think it's more likely that if you were in his shoes you would either give them back immediately and apologize for wearing his shoes, or you would find yourself cuffed and spread eagle against the side of a Redmond P.D. cruiser.

I'm pretty sure it would be one of those two thingss.

92BuickLeSabre

Damn... to think what people wore back then. It's a good thing b-movie super-hero outfits went out of style.

Rabid Penguin

Can't blame the guy for having a business model that went horribly right and made him incredible amounts of money. I'm sure I would have done the same if I was in his shoes

WD40

@Git Em SteveDave: Urban Legend.

92BuickLeSabre

I read somewhere he can stand in a garbage can, and jump out.

Git Em SteveDave has a crush on the Swedes

This is when he stole DOS, Umm I mean Invented Windows. "Ta Da I'm a super hero"

B

his level of nerdiness continues to amaze me

MrBlahBlah

@Git Em SteveDave: I heard it from Walt Mossberg.

92BuickLeSabre

Don't say anything about someone until you've walked a mile in their shoes. Then say anything you want 'cause you're a mile away and you've got their shoes.

Bzzzy

@92BuickLeSabre: Wasn't on Snopes

Git Em SteveDave has a crush on the Swedes

@Git Em SteveDave: Oh, then I stand corrected.

92BuickLeSabre

@92BuickLeSabre: I read it in a book. I think it was One Infinite Loop.

Git Em SteveDave has a crush on the Swedes

You are da man, Bill. We hate your software, true, but, we love you - and really, that is all that matters.

Monty

@Monty:

i hate both...

smokeonit

He created an industry.

Thanks for giving billions of people jobs.

iatacs19

@smokeonit: Oh really? Because you personally know Bill Gates? Or you hate him because he seems like a genuinely nice guy that gives millions to charity and always smiles? Quite honestly, he's a likable guy. Yes, Windows Vista is largely inadequate, but it's not like he programmed it himself or even had that much to do with it. He ran the company, he didn't write the software anymore. When will people learn?

Substance_D

@iatacs19: Yeah, there is an upside to some of his ventures... for instance his donations and etc.

I wonder how much Jobs has REALLY donated, as far as I know he has only donated to Democrats or something.

Metkis

@Substance_D: Bet he didn't even used it when it was still in development. I know I wouldn't keep myself updated on the development of my company's main product.

lmjabreu

What a fuckin' dork, I've seen turds with more street cred!

And he didn't create an industry, he stole and strong-armed one!

MINI Driver

@MINI Driver: Your insightful comments would have more credibility if you'd move out of your parent's basement.

downboy

@MINI Driver: Unless you're speaking about the idea for a mouse-operated system, which he supposedly "stole" from Jobs, which is ironic since most would say Jobs stole it from Xerox.

Metkis

@MINI Driver: What do you think he really stole himself?

Seattle Computer Products is the one that probably stole from CP/M. Tim Patterson should be getting the bad rep.

If anything Gates was a terrific businessman. Far from the inventor of OS's, but certainly an innovative entrepreneur.

Metkis

As much as I hate to, I concur completely with MINI Driver. Gates sold someone else's turd. He didn't even try to polish it first. And, that one act almost single handedly set computing back 20 years.

soggy_cheerio

@soggy_cheerio: The only thing that Bill Gates is taxed with stealing is the mouse-based GUI element, which, like I said, he got from Jobs, who originally stole it from Xerox. Therefore both Jobs and Gates are responsible for putting a bust on computing. This wouldn't make much sense besides that, in the frame that CP/M was noted for its lack of updates, specifically for hard media support. It simply had more software developed for it at the time.

He did not STEAL DOS, he bought it as QDOS, and rewrote it as DOS. He did not create DOS from the inventor of CP/M, Tim Patterson supposedly did as part of SCP. Tim is the one that supposedly stole the core source of CP/M and IBM ended up using his DOS on their computers because the creator of CP/M wouldn't sell it to Dell for a flat fee.

Metkis

@soggy_cheerio: Of course newer versions of DR-DOS did offer significant changes, but nevertheless it's doubtful that it would push computers back like that. In retrospect what I'm really getting at is the unfounded lack of proof that Bill actually stole anything besides hearsay and assumptions, all though I full on believe that he stole the mouse driven interface. Gary Kildall ended up working on GEM a graphical interface that he got sued over by Apple because of its similarities to Machintosh.

He basically sto Machintosh's design. The same guy that claims Tim stole his design.

Ironic?

Metkis

@Metkis:

Get you facts straight:

'Jobs and several other Apple employees including Jef Raskin visited Xerox PARC in December 1979 to see the Alto computer. Xerox granted Apple engineers three days of access to the PARC facilities in return for selling them US$1 million in pre-IPO Apple stock (approximately US$18 million net)'

How is that Apple stealing from Xerox exactly?

MINI Driver

You people trying to defend Gates are missing the main and obvious fact. He's very rich, and that makes him evil and dishonest. He obviously cheated his way to the top, and all that money he and his cronies stole is rightfully ours. If he gets more of the pie, we get less. It's a zero sum game.

gadgetplay

I hope he plans to use those superpowers to fight the blue screen of death

HawkSkater0

The quintessential geek...love ya bill.

Thanks for helping kickstart the PC biz...we've all benefitted.

You helped make it possible for me to leave high school 25+ years ago and make more $$ than friends with degrees (school of hard knocks here).

mikeklein

The longer rumors go on the more solidified they become. People still think Al Gore said he invented the internet. They are turned into blind rallying cries and--oh, I left something in the microwave. bbl...

Subterfuge

@MINI Driver:

Xerox never sold them the rights to use anything they developed, they just allowed them to look at what they had developed. Xerox wasn't too quick and didn't see much use in anything that wasn't a copier, and basically allowed Apple to come in and take notes on what they made and go remake it themselves.

Apple didn't purchase any of the Xerox developed software, they basically just got to walk in and copy their ideas. Now how exactly is that different from how Microsoft did it to Apple? Actually, it is a little different because Microsoft was originally on board to create software for Macs.

jbiller

@jbiller:

Are you just plain stupid?

'Xerox granted Apple engineers three days of access to the PARC facilities in return for selling them US$1 million in pre-IPO Apple stock'

I must have missed the bit where MS handed over cash or stock for the GUI......

MINI Driver

@MINI Driver: Xerox invented the concept of a mouse. While Apple was looking at Xerox's computer, they saw the concept of a mouse and stole that idea to build the first Apple. I don't know if you've seen the movie Pirates of Silicon Valley or not, but you should check it out if you haven't seen it.

Joseph

@Joseph:

Sorry, how is US$1 million in pre-IPO Apple stock stealing?

MINI Driver

@MINI Driver:
Microsoft bought QDOS (later renamed to MS-DOS) for $50,000.
Microsoft created MS-BASIC.
Microsoft is the largest creator of software for Apple.
Microsoft bailed Apple out of bankruptcy.
Microsoft Office is, by far, the best Office application suite out there.

People say bad things about Microsoft, or bad things about Apple, but really they both have been invaluable in shaping technology, and how we use it. Honestly I think Bill Gates is a smarter man than Steve Jobs, but that's neither here nor there.

Microsoft and Apple are really more of a partnership than they are competition.

Rabid Penguin

@gadgetplay: If it was a zero sum game the stock market would have started at 100 dollars years ago and would stay 100 dollars. The parts of that 100 would be gained and lost between companies.

The stock market grows as wealth grows. It is not a zero sum game.

rudolphdude

@Rabid Penguin:

It's amazing that a company with so many apparently 'huge' achievements can still produce such cr@p!

And Apple is the largest creator of software for Apple FWIW

MINI Driver

Apple Computer Info:

1977 Apple II Launched - The Apple II was chosen by programmers Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston to be the desktop platform for the first "killer app" of the business world-the VisiCalc spreadsheet program

1983, Apple introduced the Lisa, the first commercial personal computer to employ a graphical user interface

Lisa was also the first personal computer to have the mouse.

Apple LaserWriter, the first laser printer to be offered at a consumer price point

1989, Apple introduced the PowerBook in 1991, which established the modern form and ergonomic layout of the laptop computer

1993 - Newton, termed a "Personal digital assistant" or "PDA" by Sculley. It defined and launched a new category of computing and was a forerunner of devices such as Palm Pilot, PocketPC, and eventually the iPhone.

According to surveys by J. D. Power, Apple has the highest brand and repurchase loyalty of any computer manufacturer.

Again just FWIW.

MINI Driver

@rudolphdude: That whole thing was meant to be sarcastic, and reflective of the political leanings of many Gizmodians. Glad you know better. I had no idea whether I would get praise or criticism first, but I know there are people that read that and said "Yeah!" Scary, but true.

gadgetplay

@Rabid Penguin, get your facts straight: Microsoft bought QDOS (Quick and Dirty Operating System) from Seattle Computer Products for $75,000 in 1980. To say that Microsoft "created" MS-BASIC is generous; it's like saying that Volkswagen "created" the VW Beetle: strictly true, but the fundamentals had already been laid down long before (BASIC was "created" at Dartmouth by Kemeny and Kurtz in 1964). Apple is the largest creator of software for Apple. Apple has never filed for bankruptcy.

SuvarnarekhaPotts

He didn't get the memo RE: Required Harley Garb.
Maybe the hadn't invented Outlook yet.

BiZarRroBALlmeR

@SuvarnarekhaPotts:
QDOS: [en.wikipedia.org]
Microsoft did spend a total of $75,000 on QDOS, but it was $25,000 for a non-exclusive license in Dec of 1980, and then $50,000 in July of '81 for all rights.

MS-BASIC: [en.wikipedia.org]
Microsoft was also the creator of Applesoft BASIC. Woz originally created AppleBASIC (later renamed Integer BASIC) for the Apple II's, but Microsoft's floating-point BASIC became "the platform for far more programs."

Bankruptcy: I never said that Apple actually filed for bankruptcy. In 1997 the company was failing, and Microsoft stepped in and invested $150 million in Apple as well as making other commitments to Apple (such as IE and Office). Microsoft's investment and commitment to Apple pulled them out of a sure bankruptcy.

Largest software developer: You are correct that Apple is the largest software developer for Apple, but I thought that was a given... but outside of Apple, Microsoft is the largest developer of software for the Macintosh.

Rabid Penguin

@Rabid Penguin:

MS investment in Apple also ensured that their was valid competition in the PC market place, avoiding some potentially expensive litigation and govt control over MS in the following years.

It also allowed Gates to pay back Jobs for stealing the WIMP GUI, and getting away with it for all that time...

Balance was restored, and the universe continued on it's way.

Clearly plenty of room for both companies - and if Apple continue their expansion in both computing, and consumer electronics, they could see their revenues top MS by 2010.

[www.appleinsider.com]

Of course that's Ballmer's problem now - not Bill's.

MINI Driver