On the morning of the launch of the Vista operating system earlier this week, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates talked with Newsweek’s Steven Levy about the new version of Windows.
He also shared his views on the Apple “Get a Mac” television campaign and more.
Steven Levy: You also talk about improved security in Vista.
Bill Gates: Yes, although security is a [complicated concept]. You’re [referring to] the fact that there have been some security updates already for Windows Vista. This is exactly the way it should work. When somebody comes to us [after discovering a vulnerability] we’ve got [a fix] before there is any exploit. So it’s totally according to plan, and that’s why we have the whole Windows Update thing. We made it way harder for guys to do exploits. The number [of violations] will be way less because we’ve done some dramatic things [to improve security] in the code base. Apple hasn’t done any of those things.
Levy: Are you bugged by the Apple commercial where John Hodgman is the PC, and he has to undergo surgery to get Vista?
Gates: I’ve never seen it. I don’t think the over 90 percent of the [population] who use Windows PCs think of themselves as dullards, or the kind of klutzes that somebody is trying to say they are.
MacDailyNews Take: We call bullshit on that one: Gates has seen the Apple ads. Every single one and multiple times at that. If not, he’s not doing his job, which seems to be to spread FUD about Apple products, lie to interviewers, and pretend that Microsoft and innovation go hand-in-hand. If you believe Gates, we’ve got a bridge in Brooklyn with your name on it. If Gates had never seen a “Get a Mac” ad, he would not be able to state his next sentence about dullards and klutzes (riiight, someone just told him about the ads, instead of simply showing them to him). Most Windows PC users don’t think of themselves as dullards, but Gates sure does.
Levy: How about the implication that you need surgery to upgrade?
Gates: Well, certainly we’ve done a better job letting you upgrade on the hardware than our competitors have done. You can choose to buy a new machine, or you can choose to do an upgrade. And I don’t know why [Apple is] acting like it’s superior. I don’t even get it. What are they trying to say? Does honesty matter in these things, or if you’re really cool, that means you get to be a lying person whenever you feel like it? There’s not even the slightest shred of truth to it.
MacDailyNews Take: Gates is in rare form. Lying through his teeth while calling everyone else a liar. This guy’s gonna die in a hotel room in Vegas with 36-inch long fingernails if he keeps up with this level of delusion. Virtually every independent review that compares the two OSes says that Apple’s Mac OS X is clearly superior to Windows Vista. This with Mac OS X Leopard coming out in a few months. No wonder Gates has lost it. Most independent reviews discourage doing an upgrade from XP to Vista; “buy a new machine for Vista” is what they recommend when they’re not saying “switch to a Mac” outright.
Levy: In many of the Vista reviews, even the positive ones, people note that some Vista features are already in the Mac operating system.
Gates: You can go through and look at who showed any of these things first, if you care about the facts. If you just want to say, “Steve Jobs invented the world, and then the rest of us came along,” that’s fine. If you’re interested, [Vista development chief] Jim Allchin will be glad to educate you feature by feature what the truth is. I mean, it’s fascinating, maybe we shouldn’t have showed so publicly the stuff we were doing, because we knew how long the new security base was going to take us to get done. Nowadays, security guys break the Mac every single day. Every single day, they come out with a total exploit, your machine can be taken over totally. I dare anybody to do that once a month on the Windows machine. So, yes, it took us longer, and they had what we were doing, user interface-wise. Let’s be realistic, who came up with [the] file, edit, view, help [menu bar]? Do you want to go back to the original Mac and think about where those interface concepts came from?
MacDailyNews Take: Bill Gates is a liar currently trying to buy his way into heaven with ill-gotten gains. He’s also a vile, weasely dweeb with a massive, yet never-so-richly-deserved, inferiority complex. Steve Jobs has masterfully pushed all of Gates’ buttons and set the stage for interviewers to do the same which has obviously driven the nasty little bastard completely, utterly, and totally out of his mind. Tell us again how you brought Parental Controls to an OS for the first time with Vista, Billy boy. By the way, Bill Atkinson came up with “the file, edit, view, help menu bar” on the Mac. More about the history of where and how the Mac’s user interface originated, from the actual people who did the work, here. Oh, and thanks for the offer, Bill, we would love to be educated by Microsoft’s (former) Windows Chief Jim Allchin:
I’m not sure how the company lost sight of what matters to our customers, both business and home, the most, but in my view we lost our way. I think our teams lost sight of what bug-free means, what resilience means, what full scenarios mean, what security means, what performance means, how important current applications are, and really understanding what the most important problems our customers face are. I see lots of random features and some great vision, but that does not translate into great products… I would buy a Mac today if I was not working at Microsoft. – Excerpt from a 2004 email from Jim Allchin to Steve Balmer and Bill Gates
Full interview here.
MacDailyNews Take: The reviews of Windows Vista speak for themselves. “Chrome-plated turd” is not ambiguous. Gates sees the end. His free ride on the back of ignorance is over. Gates sees his legacy, especially in comparison to the one Steve Jobs will leave, and it’s not pretty. Does he really think that he can buy – or lie – his way out of it? Not likely, Karma’s a bitch not easily escaped.
Related articles:
TIME Magazine: Microsoft’s Windows Vista ‘an embarassment to the good name of American innovation’ – February 02, 2007
Microsoft: Vista’s ‘speech recognition’ can be hijacked so that PC tells itself to delete files – February 01, 2007
Windows honcho Allchin retires from Microsoft on Vista launch day; now free to buy his Mac – February 01, 2007
Microsoft’s Windows Vista: Five years for a chrome-plated turd – January 30, 2007
Those unfamiliar with Apple’s Mac OS X may be impressed with Windows Vista – January 29, 2007
Digit: ‘Microsoft’s Windows Vista may be the best reason yet to buy an Apple Mac’ – January 29, 2007
Pioneer Press: Windows Vista shows ‘Apple is an innovation engine; Microsoft, not so much’ – January 29, 2007
Windows Vista disappoints, so get a Mac – January 29, 2007
Microsoft emails reveal serious Mac OS X Tiger envy – January 26, 2007
Analyst: Microsoft’s Windows Vista could be an opportunity for Apple – January 26, 2007
CNET Reviews Windows Vista: Is that all? Clunky and not very intuitive vs. Mac OS X; warmed-over XP – January 24, 2007
Security firm: 38-percent of malware already Windows Vista-compatible – January 22, 2007
Mossberg: Microsoft’s Windows Vista offers lesser imitations of Apple’s Mac OS X features – January 18, 2007
Windows Vista disappointment drives longtime ‘Microsoft apologist’ to Apple’s Mac OS X – January 17, 2007
InformationWeek Review: Apple’s Mac OS X shines in comparison with Microsoft’s Windows Vista – January 06, 2007
NY Times’ Pogue reviews Microsoft’s Windows Vista: ‘Looks, Locks, Lacks’ – December 14, 2006
Forbes: Microsoft Windows Vista boss suffers from Mac envy – December 12, 2006
Windows chief Allchin 2004 email: I’d buy a Mac if I didn’t work for Microsoft – December 11, 2006
Unlike Microsoft’s Windows Vista, Apple’s Mac OS X Leopard will create no new jobs – December 12, 2006
15-year Windows vet tries Apple Mac: ‘My God! This is amazing!’ – December 04, 2006
Microsoft’s Windows Vista: obsolete on arrival? – December 04, 2006
InformationWeek: Now that Vista is the past, let’s look at the future: Apple’s Mac OS X Leopard – December 02, 2006
Microsoft’s Windows Vista and Office 2007 releases generate yawns – December 02, 2006
Dave Winer: ‘Microsoft isn’t an innovator, and never was – they are always playing catch-up’ – December 01, 2006
Harvard Medical School CIO picks Mac OS X over Linux and Windows – November 30, 2006
Microsoft’s Windows Vista vulnerable to malware from 2004 – November 30, 2006
Microsoft Windows Vista developers used Apple Macs for inspiration – November 27, 2006
Apple Macs can run more software than Windows PCs – October 30, 2006
Microsoft’s Windows Vista is basically Microsoft’s version of Mac OS 9.3 – October 11, 2006
Top Windows developer dumps Microsoft’s ‘pile of crap’ for Apple’s Mac OS X – September 12, 2006
$399 for Windows Vista Ultimate?! (Hint: Get a Mac) – August 29, 2006
Apple’s Mac OS X Leopard is 64-bit done right, unlike Microsoft’s Windows Vista kludge – August 14, 2006
Microsoft Windows Vista: If you can’t innovate… try to impersonate Apple’s Mac OS X – August 10, 2006
Analyst: Apple’s new Mac OS X Leopard sets new bar, leaves Microsoft’s Vista in the dust – August 08, 2006
Microsoft botches another copy job: Windows Vista Flip3D vs. Apple Mac OS X Exposé – June 26, 2006
Windows Vista rips-off Mac OS X at great hardware cost (and Apple gains in the end) – June 13, 2006
Computerworld: Microsoft Windows Vista a distant second-best to Apple Mac OS X – June 02, 2006
Thurrott: Microsoft going to get eaten alive over Windows Vista’s resemblance to Apple’s Mac OS X – March 09, 2006
NY Times’ Pogue on Gates’ CES demo: Most of Vista features unadulterated ripoffs from Apple Mac OS X – January 05, 2006
Thurrott: many of Windows Vista’s upcoming features appeared first in Apple’s Mac OS X – September 26, 2005
PC World: Microsoft innovation – an oxymoron – September 14, 2005
Dude, you got a Dell? What are you, stupid? Only Apple Macs run both Mac OS X and Windows! – April 05, 2006
MPC Guy, lighten up man.
Mac is a machine built by a company of people, and those people deserve respect, and that regained respect is turning into more sales than ever, sweet.
Unless Apple screws up badly, or is sabotaged.. they have nowhere to go but up.
MDN, you let him off the hook for this gem:
“Nowadays, security guys break the Mac every single day. Every single day, they come out with a total exploit, your machine can be taken over totally.”
This is such garbage I don’t even know where to begin.
ibookfast wrote: MPC Guy, lighten up man.
I’m as light as a feather.
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What you said was pretty ridiculous just the same.
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Billy Boy should’ve watched what he said a little more carefully. Steve-O is just sitting back and waiting…probably when he announces Leopard’s availability and then he will cook Gates and company to no end. I’m sure he will be replaying a lot of those interviews we’ve all seen with a little bit of commentary for each one. The press will get a rude awakening along with the rest of the world.
Billy Boy is not wanting to be the face of MicroShaft right now…. the delay in Vista has probably been his apprehension in being in the spotlight. You know he is not comfortable with it – but he is M$!
it seems that every time bill has done an interview or publicity push over the past 2 weeks he gets asked about apple. whether it’s about the similar features which have already been done, or the mac vs. pc commercials (no one has ever brought up a windows commercial to my knowledge), or vista security vs. osx security, or just the fact that they really don’t have anything new under the hood. he has got to be seriously pissed off at the fact that no is really paying attention to the product itself. then again, his answers to even somewhat intelligent questions are no more than 1 foot deep (“we’ve got dvd burning & parental controls…”). he is turning into what his product is being reviewed as: mostly fluff on the outside (which not even everyone can appreciate or use due to high requirement specs) with “not-too-different-than-before” in the middle. some people really appreciate the changes they’ve made and yes, it’s probably the best windows system yet. but to outright lie about your competition while lying about your own product at the same time is a new low. did he think he wouldn’t called on it by the mac fervor?? i’d like for him to show me someone who has had their mac taken over from outside exploits.
i wish apple would do a straight forward, no sarcastic bullshit ad explaining exactly why osx is better than vista to bring the knockout punch that they so richly deserve.
The sad thing is, I tlaked to several friends who are not fanatical PC fanboys, just the average Joe… and they actually believe Bill Gates and all the other FUD out there. They still think Macs are toys, and that to do serious work you need Windows.
So Bill Gates of course sounds like he’s lost it to us Mac users, but to the average Joe out there, he makes perfect sense. Hitler used this tactic before to fool his countrymen. Say something forceful enough, often enough, no matter how untrue… becomes accepted as true.
So Bill Gates knows what he’s doing here, he’s playing to the 90% (okay, maybe 89%) ot there. Steve Jobs and Apple are great innovators, but Bill’s the great deceiver…. and he darn sure knows what he’s doing.
‘Doze-cult worshippers love to point out, as they do in the Newsweek/M$NBC link, that Apple “stole” the mouse from Xerox.
But in the 1980s, mice had been around for nearly 80 years at least.
I have an astronomy book published in 1906 (yes, 1906 — no typo) that describes a telescope’s mouse — and it is called a mouse — that fits in the palm of an astromomer’s hand, and with switches controls the direction in which a huge telescope points.
Xerox did not invent the mouse nor the term, any more than Henry Ford invented the automobile and the term.
Unbelievable. But the question is: How does Bill Gates get to lie through his teeth on national tv
without the slightest concern that he might be called on it? Where’s the rebuttal on national
television? Most of the people who watch these so-called “news” shows don’t read MDN or any
other less-biased source.
John Titor (time traveler) said in the future Microsoft would not exist. (He was supposed to be from 2036 and traveled back in time to get an IBM computer from 1975). Maybe time travel is possible:)
Realist:
“The Macintosh User Interface wasn’t designed all at once; it was actually the result of almost five years of experimentation and development at Apple, starting with graphics routines that Bill Atkinson began writing for Lisa in late 1978.”
First paragraph.
do you wanna retract your comment now?
Asshole
“who came up with [the] file, edit, view, help [menu bar]?”
> On the morning of the launch of the Vista operating system earlier this week…
> “If you’re interested, [Vista development chief] Jim Allchin will be glad to educate you…”
That’s craziness. Didn’t Gates know that Allchin quit on that same day? Maybe he didn’t. Perhaps Gates is the dictator hiding in his cozy bunker, while his lieutenants feed him the “good news” and leave out the bad news for fear of being “shot.”
ibookfast: You think we’re in an all-out war? Over computing software?
I have news for you: This is not all-out war. Apple and Microsoft are in a commercial competition. And you are a customer, not a soldier. That’s all. Nothing more.
You want a real war? Tune your television set to the news or go to bbc.com/news – there’s plenty of real people suffering real bodily injuries and dying, in Iraq and elsewhere in this world.
It’s amazing how easily you get worked up into a lather.
“This site is for the Mac Faithful, not fence sitters.”
I thought this site was for grownups who cared about Macs.
So if you are an adult, then start acting like one:
– Start making your points forcefully but respectfully.
– Criticize weak arguments with solid facts and compelling reasoning.
– Argue for your point of view. Don’t just blast the other guy’s position.
– Never make ad hominem attacks or argue by analogy. Both are signs that you’ve lost your mind or lost the argument.
Etc.
If you don’t, then think of the image you’re projecting to people who don’t know or care about Macs: crazed, foaming at the mouth, ready to lash out at any and all who cross your way.
I think Bill has seen the Vista Update Mac Ad. It’s just when he remembers it in his minds eye, he thinks he is looking in the mirror.
Anyone else wonder if Ballmer is back stage at these interviews “squirting” talking points to Bill’s Zune? I didn’t think so.
I actually believe that Gates hasn’t seen the commercials, because he seems to think that they portray PC *users* as dullards. But of course the guy doesn’t say “Hi, I’m a PC user”. He says “I’m a PC”. The commercial is about the “personalities” of the respective platforms. It says nothing at all, really, about users.
I suppose using the concept of the war is not very pc, considering people are actually dying from them, point well taken. Violent war sucks, and I don’t support them, as 99% of them are about money, including the current ones. I’ll qualify my statement and say that this is a commercial one, and it’s not like I made up the phrase “OS wars”. I think it’s time to people to lighten up… I’m just having fun watching this ‘competition’ unfold, especially as ‘my team’ is beginning to come back from behind. Don’t you appreciate a good come back from behind victory? I liked my previous post so much, I thought I’d share again in case you missed it, as well as answer your charge of my unadultlike behavior.
Bill is obviously sweating bullets, it’s down right ugly, yet humorous. The future is web based apps anyway, both Apple and MS are gonna be competing with Google and perhaps a company that (edited for clarity) doesn’t exist yet. Luckily Google and Apple are teaming up now. I’d love to see Apple take some of Bill’s sound bites (lies) and tear them to shreds with truth. When Leopard is released, along with new breathtaking hardware, Apple must drive home three main points… 1.) Price differences are negligible. 2.) Security is light years ahead on a Mac. 3.) The learning curve is much easier using OSX versus Vista.
John Gruber has something to say about Widgets being “ripped off” of Konfabulator, here: http://daringfireball.net/2004/06/dashboard_vs_konfabulator
Love the MDN ‘take-downs’, so infotaining and true.
mw:trying, BG is trying too hard, however desperation is always ugly.
… none other than MSFT?
Did anybody else get the feeling that while Gates claimed he hadn’t seen the “surgery” commercial, he seemed to intimately focus on the MOAB project?
To put it another way, does the MOAB project have more notoriety than Apple’s PC guy / Mac guy commercials?
#
What do you think about MOAB’s project own attempts to crash your browser on the sly? Someone should look into these matters. A few boys are going to be in some serious trouble pretty soon.
MDN word: top
“coming from the top”
@ Sly:”Maybe time travel is possible”In the future it will be
Bill IS in full spin mode. He’s even trying to piss off Windows users by falsely implying that the Mac ads are poking fun at PC users. They are poking fun at Windows based Personal Computers.
Eaaaannh! Sic those Mac people, guys, get em! They’re making fun of you! eeeeaanh!
One of these days this guy’s gonna peel the masking layer of skin off of his face and we’re gonna see who he really is…
Dang you Ryan! You beat me to it (Like we were both so quick to get in on this thread!)
You know Bill is almost right on the security thing. Apple has done very little to make UNIX more secure, it came that way with FreeBSD.
Steve Jobs’ reality distortion field affects others around him.
Bill Gates’ reality distortion field affects only himself.
How many more interviews until Bill jumps over the table and starts screaming, “We did it first! We did it first!” at the interviewer?
The over/under is 3. I’m taking the under.
This is possibly dangerous…
We can all agree that Bill at least seems upset with was is going on…and that can be very dangerous for us (Mac users)
Why?
Retaliation….we know that MS sometimes doesn’t fight fair…so they could make changes in their stuff to make things more difficult for a Mac like in SMB, Exchange Servers (Samba depends on MS not making much changes), withhold not only Mac office development (not that I care that much) but just making it harder for us to work along the many MS technologies out there…
So these Mac and PC ad, might have just made the wrong guy angry (I used to be concerned about upsetting future customers, not anymore)
…just a scary thought….
“… speaking of peripherals.”
he he
I’d give up my tiny kingdom to be a fly on the wall at a M$ meeting!!
As for Gates blatant lies, these interviewers need to call him on those lies. They need to do background work to have the facts to confront him with the truth and dates and names.
True Apple hasn’t completely invented the basic concept of many products they sell, but this how it goes anyway:
Typical tech scenario:
1. Concept is thought up and poorly produced.
2. Apple picks it up, takes it light years beyond what anyone dreamed it could do in this century.
3. Micro$oft takes Apple’s concept, dumbs it back down again and sells it to the clueless masses.
That’s the story of the iPod and now the phone (which M$ is now “threatening” to make a phone or “Zone” I should call it.