“Gates was merely the best businessman ever born. He was ruthless. But capitalism is ruthless. It is a system. And it is that system – not his operating systems – that made Gates so damned big. Gates was not an inventor and innovator and I’ll argue that – his prognosticating books aside – he was no visionary. He was an exploiter. His first product was another version of the Basic programming language. His master stroke was taking the essence of a now-forgotten operating system called CP/M and turning it into MS-DOS, the neurology of the personal-computer revolution. He took the tool that truly created the technology age, VisiCalc – the spreadsheet that let business people ask ‘what if?’, which is what put computers on every office desk in the world – and turned it into Excel, part of his Office suite that also included Word, which itself was really just an adaptation of WordStar. He took the art of the Apple Lisa and Mac and turned it into the clumsy painting-on-velvet, Windows. Gates took others’ innovations and turned them into products and profits. Every great invention needs a business genius to bring it to market. For software, that was Gates,” Jeff Jarvis writes for The Guardian.
“My teenage son and webmaster, Jake, a computer genius (if you’ll allow me a link of paternal pride) since the age of 3, has admired and even idolized Gates for giving him the tools he loved, tools that empowered and taught him and helped shape his way of thinking,” Jarvis writes.
MacDailyNews Note: Perusing Jarvis’ link to his son’s webpage, MacDailyNews reader “Dan” noticed that Jake dumped Gates’ Windows in July 2005 for the superior operating system: As of July 2005, I have discovered that I am a Mac addict at heart and have been from the moment I set my hands on my shiny, new eMac. Since then, I am always looking for new tricks to improve the already great OS X with everything from freeware to commonly-known keyboard shortcuts. – http://jakejarvis.com/
“But then came the internet, the great invention that by its very open essence defies productization,” Jarvis writes. “In spite of government fears in the U.S. and the EU – and try as he might – Gates couldn’t take it over and exploit it. This was not his only failure. Gates tried to become a media mogul – in a local listings service, in a news magazine, in a TV network, and in a web portal – but that eluded him. In an era when everyone can now master media, Gates could not. So perhaps this is indeed the end of the Gates era. And if anyone is smart and ruthless enough to know that, it’s probably Gates.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Tsk, tsk, nary a mention of illegal acts. Yes, capitalism is ruthless, but there actually are rules. Gates and his company broke them. Repeatedly. Gates should never be lauded as “the best businessman ever born.” That simply is not true. And should Gates really be praised for sprinkling his ill-gotten gains upon charities worldwide? Isn’t that merely his penance to be executed without praise? Where was the charity for Netscape and their employees? Or for Gary Kildall? Or for innumerable others?
We can all now look at Gates and ask, “What did he really give the world?” Bill Gates gave the world an upside-down and backwards bad simulation of the Apple Mac and a bloated, insecure Office suite. He sold it to so many because so many early on were ignorant of what a personal computer was for and they lacked the ability to imagine what it could be. They bought what their equally-ignorant friends, family, and co-workers bought. It’s that simple.
What we really want to know is: will we ever be able to measure the extent by which Bill Gates retarded the world’s progress? Any Mac user who’s seen their Windows brethren struggle so mightily trying (and often failing in frustration) to do something that is easily accomplished on a Mac understands what we mean. So, what do you think, how many years worth of progress did Bill Gates cost the world? 10 years? 20?
[UPDATE: 2:55pm EDT: Added Jake Jarvis switcher info.]
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Related articles:
Will Bill Gates really be able to stay away from Microsoft? – June 15, 2006
Bill Gates to transition out of a day-to-day role in Microsoft – June 15, 2006
“I love Bill – but hate MS. I hate Steve – but love Apple.”
iDon’t, you are one twisted puppy.
Jamie: “Steve Jobs donates his money in a very private way and completely avoids tooting his own horn, as is his right.”
Then how would you know if he donates any money?
Twinkie: Answers: Yes.
You act like Windows has no software. There is more software for Windows than Macs and it can do everything and more than Mac software.
Bill is a genius.
Using his monopoly illegally and stealing from other companies is only part of the story
He lives and works in the most litigious country on Earth. His company has been putting out substandard software products for over 2 decades. Neither he nor his company, Microsoft, have ever been faced with a class action suit based on their shoddy merchandise. Billions of dollars worth of lost productivity due to his products’ failures and yet no lawsuits.
You gotta buy some major American political clout for that kind of protection.
Way to go Billy. What a consummate businessman. He certainly has American Capitalism down pat, doesn’t he?
Of course, every master of the stage knows when it’s time to exit stage-left….
Ah… but not right out of the box, included. And certainly not as elegant and easy to use.
George Soro donates a lot of money to charity too but look at what he did to many Asian countries back in 1997-1998 and caused the Asian financial crisis. Many families were reined and many college educated people had to beg out on the street in Thailand!!! It took almost a decade for those countries to recover from hardship. George Soro is evil and so is Bill. For those who praise Bill Gates’ charity work but don’t know sh@t about Bill Gates’ past and M$ history, how he bullied and destroyed competitors illegally, you should hit yourself in the head and try to learn more facts!!!!
Facts:
1) We know that Bill Gates and the Gates Foundation has donated more to charity than anyone in history. This is a public fact. You may not like his computer business practices but he is a humanitarian.
2) Jobs, on the other hand may ‘privately’ donate to charities, or he may not. We don’t know much or little he chooses to give; there is no public record. Anyone who says he gives alot is just speculating and trying to play PR person for him.
Let’s try to be mature and insightful enough to differentiate between Gates’ business and philanthropy lives.
To Windows on a Mac
Name applications on Windows that do all the stuff that iLife does.
iWeb – Make simple webpages without having to know HTML coding
iPhoto – make quick and easily adjustments to photos such as adding effects and taking out red-eye
iMovie – EASILY make and edit videos and slideshows (Windows Movie Maker is not comparable to iMovie)
iDVD – easily make dvd with themes and burn them
Garageband – Make your own songs with loops or your own recorded music
Big Al made a great point. Consider the irony – Microsoft causes billions of dollars of loss to industry around the world, but no one sues them. An iPod gets scratched because someone was careless with it and Apple gets lawsuits up the wazoo.
Windows On A Mac: you’re just arguing for the sake of arguing. Everyone knows Windows is a huge mess and that it’s much more difficult than it needs to be. End of story.
What do those applications have to do with Bill Gates a business man?
I echo Realist – let’s try to be mature and insightful enough to differentiate between Gates’ business and non-sequitors.
Twinkie,
iWeb – FrontPage? iWeb pages aren’t that much to look at, frankly.
iPhoto – Adobe Photoshop Elements, or any other dozens of freeware/shareware
iMovie – Adobe Premiere Elements (not that hard, I was able to do it without looking at a manual)
iDVD – Roxio
Garageband – I’ll give you that, although I’m sure there’s shareware/freeware out there
Windows on a Mac’s point stands. You’re unfairly comparing Windows to iLife, when it should be Windows to OSX. Can OSX, and OSX ALONE, do what iLife does? I didn’t think so.
R’s point is more valid, that iLife is more elegant and easier to use. But that doesn’t mean that there isn’t any equivalent software on Windows.
MDN – One small point. Gary Kildall TURNED DOWN the offer from IBM (He was arrogant from what I have read, and felt DRI was going to take CP/M and make it the standard on their own). Gates took the opportunity afterwords. If not for Gary turning down IBM, there may have never been a Microsoft as we know it today. THAT WAS THE PIVITAL MOMENT.
On a side note: I NEVER missed an episode of Computer Chronicles with Stewart Cheifet and Gary, and I forget the other guys name (he wasn’t always on)
Realist, Twinkie non-defense :“Let’s try to be mature and insightful enough to differentiate between Gates’ business and philanthropy lives.” What is so “be mature and insightful” about you when you guys are not even looking at the whole picture? Your kids could be an angle in front of you but that could be drinking alcohol and smoking drugs when they hang around their peers. So let’s not mix up you kids’ family live and their rotten lives outside your home hah? Like I said, George Soros and Bill Gates donate but they are evil when you look at the whole picture so be ‘mature and insightful’ about it.
*sigh*
Take what you said and with it around……. Can you take just Windows and do just about anything wiht it? The OS is nothing wihtout any appliacations. Every window in Windows is launched in a Internet Explorer window. Every window is OS X is opened in a Finder Window. An OS is nothing without other software. You can’t do much with just an OS
Bill is trying to to change his legacy. I think it’s a good move. Anyone remember what Alfred Nobel invented that gave him his fortune? It is possible to change your life’s legacy. Here’s hoping.
Twinkie,
…but.that’s.the.point! Your original question was “name me an application in Windows that does this!”, implying that there’s nothing in Windows which can do what iLife does. A bunch of people here proved you wrong, and now you’re moving the goalposts…and yes, you can do just about anything in Windows, OSX, Linux or any other OS. Someone out there is smart enough to code it for you. It’s all about those people, NOT JUST MS, NOT JUST APPLE, who have a passion for developing software for their platform of choice.
Ah, screw it. There’s no point arguing with you. I bow down to your superior knowledge. And Bill Gates is evil, Steve Jobs qualifies as a saint, Windows sucks, etc, etc, etc.
Realist is right, I have no love for MS, but
Gate’s acts of philanthropy are admirable. I
just want MS to give up some market share, or at
least they could earn the market share that they
now enjoy (through means other than bullying).
You think writing an e-mail, surfing the internet, using Word, editing a photo in Photoshop is different in Windows than in OSX?
Hell yes it’s different. what’s the air like on your planet? I download email attachments and surf the web without fear of certain infection as I would with Windows, and Photoshop for Windows is a nightmare to use after using Mac versions. Why torture yourself when you don’t have to?
Windows if for people with low self-esteem, who don’t feel they deserve better, and misery loves company.
And lets not forget he copied the GUI from mac prototypes.
Doesn’t anyone ever ask the question…why did donating the money take this long to d?. He has been filthy rich for a long time but his philanthropy is really a recent thing.
Its all just legacy. Does he care…that is debatable. The money he gives barely puts a dent in his wallet particularly when he gets back a chunk of it in tax deductions. At that level of richness, this stuff is meaningless to him…as someone said, its his wife not him. Don’t get me wrong….I am glad the cash is flowing to areas where it can actually benefit people.
At the end of the day, all he wants is people to think kind of him…uber rich people apparently think they can buy this. The sad part is that they probably can…..
I won’t!
To “*sigh*” and/or “Windows on a Mac:”
Related articles:
Enough about Windows on Mac: most users choose Macs because of Mac OS X and iLife – April 21, 2006
Thurrott: ‘Nothing on Windows approaches the quality of Apple’s iLife ‘06’ – January 31, 2006
Attempting and failing to duplicate Apple Mac’s iLife ‘05 functionality on Windows – August 05, 2005
Sorry Windows users – to get iLife you’ll have to get a Mac – February 09, 2004
AP: Apple’s iLife ‘04 ‘could even persuade some longtime Windows users to relent and buy a Mac’ – February 05, 2004
Paul Thurrott reviews Apple iLife ‘04; calls for ‘iLife for Windowss – February 04, 2004
Baltimore Sun: iLife devoid of ‘hassles and conflicts common to the PC world’ – February 13, 2003
“You think writing an e-mail, surfing the internet, using Word, editing a photo in Photoshop is different in Windows than in OSX?”
YES, on a Mac you do it without swamping the net with millions of spam messages and thousands of viruses, while your PEECEE is controlled by criminal gangs without u knowing it —– YOU IGNORANT IDIOT!
Bill Gats has destroyed the internet, costing users BILLIONS of dollars in damages every year, with the help of all you STUPID MINNIONS!
I HATE his OS but love the fact that he is so generous to kids.
Got to give him “props” for that. I think the press toots his horn for him as well they should. Hopefully other companies pitch in as a result.
neomonkey: “I download email attachments and surf the web without fear of certain infection as I would with Windows, and Photoshop for Windows is a nightmare to use after using Mac versions.
Hey, Me,too. What world do you guys live in? I´ve got Windows on my Mac never had a virus or anything doing any of the things you say. Just FUD from you, neomonkey.
Photoshop in Windows works the same way – I have it on both OSs. Never have a problem with any version.
————————-
neomonkey “Windows if for people with low self-esteem, who don’t feel they deserve better, and misery loves company.”
neomonkey – What total, utter, juvenile, arrogant B.S. Aren´t you the dweeb that said in another post you just use your mac for writing email and surfing for porn?