“The world of politics is home to some of the most fascinating people of the last quarter-century, according to a Top 25 list compiled by CNN and editors at Time magazine,’ CNN.com reports.
“President Bush, ranked No. 4 on the list, entered the White House for the first of his two-term tenure in the wake of the bitterly contested 2000 election. Shortly thereafter, he led the nation through the September 11 attacks and subsequent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq… Ranking No. 2 on the list is the man who led the Roman Catholic Church for 26 years. The most traveled and most visible pontiff in centuries, Pope John Paul II wielded influence around the world during his papacy before dying in April 2005… Three of the Top 25 also are known for their business sense: Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates (No. 11), Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs (No. 16) [just beating out Newt Gingrich at No. 17 and besting No. 19 Mother Teresa] and Wal-Mart tycoon Sam Walton (No. 14), who died in 1992,” CNN.com reports. “Stay tuned as the No. 1 fascinating person from the last quarter-century is revealed in the days to come while CNN continues to celebrate its 25th anniversary.”
Full article with #2-#25 here.
MacDailyNews Take: Bill Gates is more “fascinating” than Steve Jobs? Steve Jobs is a living, breathing soap opera character with his very own reality distortion field. Come on! Perhaps Gates scores higher for his incredible luck and willingness to employ ruthless, ethically-questionable business practices and his lifelong quest to copy others’ original ideas? But, “fascinating” is just not a word that makes Steve Jobs-wannabe Bill Gates spring immediately to mind. “Most obnoxious,” “most mediocre,” “most bowl-like haircut,” sure — No. 1 with a bullet in each category for ol’ Gatesy. But, “fascinating?” Sorry, no way, we’re not buying it. Maybe No. 62,943 or something, not No. 11. What do you think?
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Microsoft’s Bill Gates might be Bono’s friend but owning an Apple U2 iPod is out of the question – April 25, 2005
Bill Gates: Microsoft’s ‘responsible for the creation of the PC industry’ – February 18, 2005
Experts say Bill Gates’ doodles show he’s ‘stressed and tense, not a natural leader’ (with image) – January 31, 2005
Windows blue screen of death crashes Gates’ Keynote at CES – January 06, 2005
Even Bill Gates can’t avoid Windows malware; Mac users surf the Web freely – October 03, 2004
Bill Gates’ sarcasm regarding Apple iPod: ‘Oh, wow, I don’t think we can do that’ – September 07, 2004
Bill Gates on Apple’s ‘Keynote’ app: ‘I doubt what they’ve done is as rich as PowerPoint’ – January 09, 2003
Steve Jobs autograph on eBay worth over forty times more than Bill Gates signature – January 03, 2003
Gates honored with 8 foot tall condom – November 14, 2002
I beat Steve Jobs AND Mother Theresa.
That’s what I’d say about a guy that instills mass mental illness by having people defend bad software.
According to the Oxford Dictionary widget in Dashboard, fascinating is defined as “extremely interesting”. Why is Gates even on that list? I don’t know anyone who has ever been fascinated by him, not even my wintel worshipping friends. Is it any wonder that when he was introduced at WinHEC, people barely even clapped. It sounded like a golf tournament. When Steve Jobs is introduced to make a speech, people go nuts. Everyone on that list should be ahead of him.
I’m also predicting right now – Bono will be #1.
The way he sits in his chair, rocking back and forth with his hands together, fingertips touching. Coupled with his clothing “sense” and personal hygene… it’s no wonder Bill is more fascinating than Steve.
It is probably also b/c people wonder how a mediocre series of products can defeat Darwinism and become a virtual monopoly.
I find that fascinating too.
The list should be retitled the “Top 25: Fascinating people to the USA”
I guess CNN must have missed the CES video clips where Gates wielded a TV remote control with such fascinating impotence.
HEY — How come I’m not on the list!??
Where’s Britney?
MDN – you can’t say ‘luck’ for Bill Gates.
He is a very smart man, who knew how to market his product to the masses. That’s not luck. That’s smart.
Don’t get me wrong, I love my Mac, but I have to correct you here. You may not like it, but you have to agree to that facts.
Obviously number one is….
Ronald Reagan!
This is a no brainer!!
I’m impressed that Steve is on this list but I’m not surprised that Gates is ahead of him. For better or worse Windows rules the PC world.
This Top 25 (or any number) lists are just plain stupid.
We are stuck in the perspective of our time, we don’t have the distance to see who were the people who really mattered and changed the world.
Especially stupid is that this list is US-centric to the extreme. Newt Gingrich? More important than Stephen Hawking? Diana is more important than Salman Rushdie or Günter Grass?
How idiotic is this?
Stop it!
Totally unrelated, but does anyone know why the Apple Store UK is being updated? Something new in the pipline being released today?
Number One is Michael Moore right?
*ducks
I say spiderman.
Balls…
Did anyone catch Elijah Wood’s portrayal of Bill Gates in Sin City? It was almost as good as the Rusty’s portrayal of Bill in the TNT presentation of Pirates of Silicon Valley…
Bill Gates one of the most fascinating people ? Give me a break!!
If Bush, Khomeini and Saddam can be consider fascinating why not Bill?! But where r Michael jackson and Madonna? these two r the most fascinating people in entertainment industry and the list really missed them.