“Melinda Gates, the wife of Microsoft founder Bill Gates, has said her children are banned from owning Apple products,” The Telegraph reports.
“Mrs Gates, a philanthropist and world health campaigner, guest edited the Today programme on Radio 4 this morning,” The Telegraph reports. “Asked whether her two daughters and son had asked for an iPod, she replied ‘of course they ask. But they get Windows technology,’ she added. ‘The wealth from our family came from Microsoft so why would we invest in a competitor?'”
The Telegraph reports, “‘Every now and then I look at my friends and say ‘Ooh, I wouldn’t mind having that iPhone” she told Vogue magazine.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Obviously, one can have all of the ill-gotten gains in the world, give away lots of it in a vain attempt to secure a ticket to heaven while being praised for it by some, and still be a vindictive, pig-headed, sore loser.
Joe Six-Pack has an iPhone, his wife has an iPad mini, his kids have iPod touches, and this Christmas he bought a 27-inch iMac running OS X Mountain Lion for the family. But, Bill Gates, one of the world’s richest men, is not only forced by his own ego to use some piece of crap Windows Mobile phone, a discontinued Zune, third-rate music services, and an OS that’s clearly an upside-down, backwards, failed attempt at an Apple Mac knock off, but to also doom his wife and children to the same frustrating fate. Clearly Melinda envies her friends who allow themselves to use superior iPhones.
Gates can afford to have the finest homes and the best cars, but in his very own field, technology, he must settle for second and third-rate hardware and software. Karma is one sweet bitch!
Bill Gates is stuck using a Windows Phone, a freaking Surface tablet, and attempting to squirt his wife and kids with his defunct Zune. There is a God.
Related articles:
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer admits to brainwashing his kids not to use Apple iPods – March 28, 2006
Why Bill Gates won’t be buying an Apple iPhone – February 5, 2007
Apple’s iPhone business alone generates more revenue than all Microsoft – January 25, 2012
Old news. I guess there’s no fiscal baseball bat news today.
DJP ,
It may be old news but it sure is good to look back at the last year and find some humor. And MDN is right here. All the money in the world and they are worried about support a competitor… LOL just LOL
And I wonder what music player they use. There are very few windows players out there, maybe a windows cell phone with windows music….. JAT.
Just a Thought (JAT)
en ps happy new year to all
I thought that William Gates’ children are adults already. How can anyone ban them from having iPhone?
Exactly the kids grow up, move out and can do whatever the heck they want eventually. I would love for Bill’s kids to load up on Apple stuff then and turn their backs being far wiser not to go anywhere near their Dads craptastic legacy. Eeeyew. (Of course they may have to hide their Apple stash when Mom and Dad come to visit just to maintain their ranking on inheritances and loyal appearances.)
Really. I mean other than fanboys who the hell cares?
BG: Hi honey, for Christmas we’re going to have some squirt action with our new toys!
“The wealth of our family came from Microsoft…”
The kids should argue that no, the wealth of our family actually came from Apple.
+1 million
Brilliant.
Actually, not just the inspiration and technology came from Apple. Some of Gates’ wealth came from Microsoft selling software for Apple products. So why shouldn’t he buy some Apple kit? Or, coming from another direction, none of Gates’ wealth came from Lexus. Yet he feels free to buy a Lexus.
Gates’ oldest should be around 16 – old enough to buy an iPod touch with walking around money and just hide it from the folks. (It’s what kids do.)
Well, history is altered in the Hell that is the Bate’s, correction, Gate’s family. Not only are they suffering from the Stockholm Syndrome, they have no knowledge of historical events. Had it not been for Steve and the Macintosh, Bill Gate’s would be a janitor now.
1984: The Orwellian experience is lived daily at their house.
http://crazyapplerumors.com/2009/03/19/jozs-children-have-no-zunes/
I hate Microsoft products as much as anyone alive, but questioning his motives in giving away tens of billions of dollars for the betterment of mankind is just embarrassing. Boo, MDN.
Actually he gave 10s of Billions to his foundation, employes his family within the foundation. As far as giving the money away the foundation is pretty stingy. Even after he gave it away he can’t bring himself to give it away. As far as as her logic goes, Microsoft make a ton of money from selling Apple versions of it’s office software so she could get them Apple products and not be dissing the company her husband built. At least she could get them iPods as Microsoft no longer has a competing product.
Good if the money is being disbursed promptly. Hopefully they disburse all the tax saving within a year.
They get to avoid paying 36 percent in taxes, then the law allows them to disburse 5 percent per year from their foundation. Since , the foundation plays the markets, they potentially can earn more than 5 percent on the money
Why do you think Buffet stipulated that the two billion he put into Gates foundation needs to be disbursed within two years? He is no fool to allow his money robe used playing the markets.
The law should require that they disburse the money within a shorter period. Five percent is ridiculous. The 36 percent in taxes will go a long way to pay for much needed services, instead the foundations can game the system.
Good if the money is being disbursed promptly. Hopefully they disburse all the tax saving within a year.
They get to avoid paying 36 percent in taxes, then the law allows them to disburse 5 percent per year from their foundation. Since , the foundation plays the markets, they potentially can earn more than 5 percent on the money
Why do you think Buffet stipulated that the two billion he put into Gates foundation needs to be disbursed within two years? He is no fool to allow his money robe used playing the markets.
The law should require that they disburse the money within a shorter period. Five percent is ridiculous. The 36 percent in taxes will go a long way to pay for much needed services, instead the foundations can game the system.
Except that was money stolen from business’s and consumers by charging excessively high fees and doing that for years. Of course they finally got caught strong arming PC manufacturers and creating a fearsome oppressive monopoly. Worse, they were doing great evil and like Google failed to see or pretended to act as though they were doing nothing wrong. The majority of the money Gates is using and dispensing largesse with is not his to truly give. Also he has essentially abandoned his company once he got his financial fill. Leaving Ballmer in charge was always a losing proposition and I’m sure he knew it but doesn’t care. I have been to the Microsoft campus several times and it would be a travesty for the Pacific Northwest economy if their facilities in Redmond became a huge ghost town. But at this point it’s probably inevitable.
Dan you clearly don’t understand how fraudulent the “charity foundations” actually are, or how useless they are for the poor and needy.
The Gates foundation is one of the worst.
I don’t pretend to know much about the efficiency of charitable organizations but as I stated in the post, to say that the man was motivated by vanity is just plain embarrassing.
Child Abuse!
My first reaction, too.
But, Gates is very smart. He knows his kids, like everyone else’s, will go through a period of rebellion. How will they assert their independence? By using Apple products. He assures his kids get the very best, through their own choices. Much more effective than is he had forced them to use Apple.
His only risk is they could choose Android, since they have no inherent exposure to good technical decision making.
Geez, this is a very old recycled story from The Telegraph. As I’ve said before when this story has run…it’s OK Melinda, in my household there will never be any Microsoft (or Samsung either for that matter) products ever purchased or allowed. So we’re even I’d say.
Too personal
Bill Gates’ kids must be walking targets for kidnappers.
Wake up and get them all the Apple gear they want. A good disguise is the best way to blend in.
I am bemused by the boxed in thought process: “The wealth from our family came from Microsoft so why would we invest in a competitor?”
There is no realization that Apple and Microsoft cooperate as well. A personal computer with an Intel chip running Microsoft Windows could be a Dell, HP just as it could be a Mac.
It’s not clear from the article but considering the pioneering work that Bill has done with viruses makes me wonder just what kind of HIV research they are supporting.
It’s the same reason you won’t see the CEOs of some car companies driving a competitor’s car. It’s just bad business.
“’tis an ill cook that cannot lick his own fingers.”
-Romeo & Juliet, Act IV Scene 2
The Gates’ decision to disallow their children to use products considerably lessens their chances of being robbed on the streets of NYC.
Yes, but thanks to their wonderful contributions and influence to HIV research their children won’t have to worry about contracting HIV or getting pregnant during their annal vaccination… as long as they are wearing the microsoft condom… with the latest patch.
‘ANNAL’ vaccination?
Ouch!
Oh, that’s a typo… should have been annual… butt now that you bring it up….LOL.
Sometimes typos are just meant to be!
Heck, for all we know, the Gates may require their children get anal vaccinations.
Well I’m sure that research one day will prove a correlation between the HIV virus and anal vaccinations. Just leave it to Melinda and Bill to get to the bottom of things.
Love your sense of humor!
Here’s a thought–
Create something they actually want!
Perhaps we should get the Child Protective Services involved. This kind of unwarranted cruelty must be stopped!
Riding a bicycle and carrying an iPod vs driving a Bugatti Veyron and carrying a Zune.
Sorry, but I’ll take the Veyron and Zune any day of the week.
Good thing that Gates didn’t invent the outhouse.
I actually appreciated her honesty.
Until your family actually builds and huge company (rather via “ill-gotten” tech or otherwise) you can’t really judge their perhaps silly allegiances. She could have dodged the questioned entirely or given a more BS response. For that, she gained a bit of respect from me.
In my country, we don’t admire amount of donated money, but rather on motives, source of assets, the clauses, and the recipients.
Also as far as I know, what the Gates Foundation donated in my country was somehow tied up as activities of a local subsidiary of M$ in my country as well, and that might be tax-deductible for the subsidiary in my country. So I have some doubt if its international motives was purely philanthropic.
“The wealth from our family came from Microsoft so why would we invest in a competitor?”
Oh, Bill! Always the comedian! Hilariously intimating that somehow Microsoft could possibly ever compete with Apple!
Bill Gates, you zany nut!
Oh! My sides!
Seriously, aren’t Bill Gates’s kids old enough to choose for themselves by now? Seems like I’ve been reading about weird technological restrictions he places on his “kids” for 20 years now.
I think that maybe some people are missing the point. In sales it’s called “eating your own dog food.” You don’t drive a BMW if you want to be the top Mercedes sales rep. It’s about using the things that put a roof over your head. Ok, I get it. Could you see SJ allowing his kids to own a Zune? Or even an X-Box?
RE MDN Take: “a freaking Surface tablet”
That was funny. Thank you for the laughs! Poor kids.
Re: MDN take, you have set another benchmark high on this occasion. Your comment brings joy to the heart so early in 2013. Thank You! +1 and then some.
The filth on this site is overwhelming.
“…attempting to squirt his wife and kids…..”? Oh please, don’t ruin the year. It just started and I don’t need an image like that burnt into my mind!
This is exactly what i am talking about when i defend Steve Wozniak when he gets unfairly abused by some members here. Woz does not subscribe to one platform like Bill Gates does, he plays with everything out there and then tell his opinion which upsets many people. Unlike Bill Gates, Woz contributed genuine cutting edge achievements with his apple one and 2, and he did not do it for the money. Woz’s designs were genuine and original, no copies like microsoft. Bill Gates needs to loosen up, i understand he might personally not want apple products but he should not tell his wife and children not to have one.