Jobs & Gates : Buddies For Life?
Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. Those two names are icons in our industry and have been referred to as anything from nearly symbiotic to oil and water. So what happens when the two of them sit down in the same room for a conference? A mutual admiration society is formed:
"Both opened their portion of the event by praising each other's work.
Jobs quickly centered on Gates' central role in the early computer
industry as the first to build a company solely around software, rather
than depending on customized hardware. "That was huge," Jobs said.
"Bill was really focused on software."
Gates returned the favor by centering on Apple's achievements instead of his own, centering on the company's populist approach.
"Apple really pursued the dream of building products that we want to use ourselves," he said. "[Jobs] always seems to figure out where the next industry movement will be. The industry has benefited tremendously from his work."
In fact, the Microsoft chair recounted that his company's shift away from the Mac was spurred more by the ripple effect of Jobs' departure from Apple."
Gates returned the favor by centering on Apple's achievements instead of his own, centering on the company's populist approach.
"Apple really pursued the dream of building products that we want to use ourselves," he said. "[Jobs] always seems to figure out where the next industry movement will be. The industry has benefited tremendously from his work."
In fact, the Microsoft chair recounted that his company's shift away from the Mac was spurred more by the ripple effect of Jobs' departure from Apple."
As nice as it is to see these two guys getting along, it's even better
when they start talking about their visions of the future. Jobs
predicts an "explosion of post-PC" hardware where users will carry a
wide variety of different computing devices, each suited to certain
tasks. The future according to Gates is with fewer but more flexible
computing devices, such as tablet computing and presumably something
along the lines of UMPCs.
The story has a few jokes about the "Get A Mac" campaign, which it seems is no longer getting under Bill Gate's skin.
Having these two men together in the same room, much less being so friendly towards each other despite their history together, just proves the old saying: "Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery."
The story has a few jokes about the "Get A Mac" campaign, which it seems is no longer getting under Bill Gate's skin.
Having these two men together in the same room, much less being so friendly towards each other despite their history together, just proves the old saying: "Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery."
