“As a tribute to Steve Jobs, Microsoft will fly its flags at all its worldwide offices at half staff for two days, reports the blog site Microsoft news,” Julie Bort reports for NetworkWorld.
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates released a statement following Steve Jobs’ passing, Bort reports, “‘Steve and I first met nearly 30 years ago, and have been colleagues, competitors and friends over the course of more than half our lives… For those of us lucky enough to get to work with him, it’s been an insanely great honor. I will miss Steve immensely.'”
Full article with photo of here.
MacDailyNews Take: Miracle.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “krquet” for the heads up.]
Related article:
Microsoft holds iPhone funeral procession to celebrate upcoming Windows Phone 7 release (w/ video) – September 10, 2010
As it should be.
Of course it’s as it should be, the only good product idea microsoft ever had was to steal or copy what Jobs did.
I find this lowering the flags to be a wonderful and honest gesture honouring a great man, a fellow competitor and an inspiration to all within the special group of tech pioneers/giants (and beyond them as well of course); this genuine show of solidarity and honour should not be twisted into something else.
I feel that Microsoft did NOT have to do this; they could have just as easily been satisfied with their press releases like everyone else (did you know Mr. Dell has also posted a kind tribute?). Mr. Gates’s earlier comment on Mr. Jobs’s passing also seemed heartfelt and genuine to me, and I didn’t detect any silly qualifiers and/or “however” in his tribute.
I think they’ve shown class. After more than a decade of boycotting everything MS, I’m going to take Mr. Jobs’s 1997 advice (for Apple to win, MS doesn’t have to lose) to heart, and finally bury the past. (Forgive not forget though etc.)
Good show of class there, MS, cheers.
Well said.
It’s actually for the Zune.
Seriously MDN, did you have to put that sarcastic “Miracle” comment? I am really close to removing your site from my list. I think Apple makes great products and innovates way beyond any other consumer electronics company, but the hatred toward most things NOT Apple and especially toward Microsoft is ridiculous.
Take your head out of your Apple fan-boy arse and be more journalistic.
It’s amazing those MSFT fux didn’t hold a mock funeral.
When the classless show class, it is a miracle.
MDN’s Take is perfect, as usual.
MDN is blinded by hatred. You think Bill Gates is classless? I wonder who has given more of his own personal wealth to helping others (charity)? I love Apple and I think Steve was a great innovator and leader. I also love Apple products, but hating on Microsoft all the time doesn’t accomplish anything. They have made some good products too.
Again with the charity thing? Prove that Steve hasn’t given anything to charity and get back to us.
If there’s one thing that IS proven by this, is that very publicly (Gates) giving to charity somehow skews your image in the minds of people.
This should be a warning shot across the bow of all those who prefer to give in anonymity, that you best make your offerings public or you too shall be vilified in the public mind.
I think Steve Jobs has left it to his wife Laurene to do the charity work on his behalf, like Bill & MelindaGates. Steve was too busy making insanely great stuff for the world. Of course Gates has PLENTY of time on his hands for charity work not having to worry about the “next big thing” nor having the ability to do so anyway. Having trusty Ballmy in charge for all the “visionary stuff” must make him sleep well at nights (cut to Bill waking up screaming in a cold sweat…)
Charity accompanied with press releases = Classless.
Charity given anonymously and without fanfare = Class.
Bill is not “classless”, but he does lack taste!
As far as giving to charity, your humanity is not determined by “how much” you give. It really is about intent and what’s in your heart.
Steve started a charitable foundation early in the 80s, which he later closed after he left Apple. He didn’t have a wife to motivate him to start a foundation.
Is this classless?!…
Steve Jobs up on stage with Michael Dell’s face in a bullseye target and Steve saying, ‘We’re coming after you!’
Get real!
MS in essence said the same thing but with a product analogy, not the face of a person. To stipulate that MS mock iPhone funeral is anything more than a marketing ploy shows ones shallowness.
Usually it’s a waste of time to argue with trolls with selective knowledge, but since you asked for an answer, I’ll bite (briefly):
“Steve Jobs up on stage with Michael Dell’s face in a bullseye target and Steve saying, ‘We’re coming after you!’”
It was in response to Mr. Dell’s earlier pot shot (SIDAGTMBTTSH) against Apple. Steve was trying to rally his troops and the fiercely loyal but disheartened Mac users at the time.
It wasn’t about being classy nor was it classless/crass; it was just classic Jobs responding to a classless, vision-free fool of a CEO (don’t forget Netgear etc.).
@answermethis
It appears I have missed your point entirely, please do forgive me and kindly disregard my previous asinine response to yours. Sincere apologies.
Defenders of, and apologist for, Microsoft obviously have no interest in facts or journalism.
Microsoft apologists are quite free to stop reading the excellent posts and “takes” by the MDN staff, and to remove the MDN site from your “list”.
I reckon low self-esteem and a low sense of self-worth are behind your satisfaction with poorly copied (stolen) design and code, viruses, and your “almost good enough” life style.
I believe that everyone should have high self-esteem, and I hope that you get the therapy you need.
And I hope you get the history lesson you need. They both stole from others and each other. I make my living selling iOS applications AND .NET solutions. I appreciate both companies.
That’s a very classy move by Microsoft.
They know their due.
No Jobs, no microsoft.
I don’t think it is a ‘miracle’.
looking through ‘all things digital’, and some older interviews between them 2 , I think Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were much better friends and competitive colleagues than most people actually believe. No matter what fanboys (yeah, I’m one of them) and MDN may think.
Agreed.
The relationship they had really reminds me of 2 friends I grew up with who are brothers… at times at each others throats and competing and yet if one called the other both would set aside their differences to talk or help out.
For some reason I get that sense when I watch Gates and Jobs together.
One my favorite video clips is of Bill and Steve at AllThingsD when Bill says he’d pay a lot for Job’s taste. I really like it because he goes on to articulate the answer.
Both men are visionaries, just of a different caliber. Gates foreseeing that software could be a large enterprise in its own right and Steve having a vision of making computing easy for the masses.
Considering how much of a fan Gates was of the ‘tablet’ computing idea I bet he has an iPad too.
And no Microsoft – No Apple. You should check your history a little. Microsoft bailed Apple out in 1997. Thank Bill for having MDN around today.
Do you really think a symbolic purchase of $150 million non-voting shares “bailed out” Apple, which had over $2 billion in cash at the time?
The fact is that Jobs “bailed out” Microsoft by allowing them to pay an undisclosed figure to finally end all legal entanglements (due to Microsoft’s theft of Apple innovations) and enter into a broad cross-licensing agreement.
Yes, dunce, Microsoft’s $150 stock investment was only part of the result of a settlement. It was just an initial payment for other ‘substantial balancing payments’ that would be spread out over then next few years, then Apple CFO Fred Anderson said at the time.
You can now consider history to have been properly checked.
I think it’s been a give and take relationship between the two companies. It seems obvious where Microsoft took, but they also wrote Applesoft BASIC for the Apple II and some early software gave the Mac something worse buying it for (which is why they could get away with what they got away with).
Apparently you like to pick and chose details that support your story. Buying 3% of a company is not a bail out, son.
Better learn YOUR history, LJ!
Microsoft “invested” that $150 million in the late 90s because they had been caught stealing code from QuickTime for their video codecs. YES, BLATANTLY STEALING APPLE’S CODE! In order to hush up the entire affair and keep their asses out of court for a VERY LONG TIME, the wizards of Redmond decided to show their corporate “benevolence” and invest in AAPL. As soon as the scandal cooled and was no longer even on the back pages of the local newspapers, they cashed out their stock . . . and kissed about a zillion dollars in profit GOODBYE!
Geniuses, those brigands in Redmond.
Actually it was a symbolic bailout, as it maintained confidence in the Mac platform by guaranteeing Office for Mac for another five years. It also suited Gates to keep Apple alive as the DoJ was breathing down his neck.
Imagine how much that 3% would be worth today if MS had kept it!
Not surprised. Gates may have his faults but deep down I believe he has genuine compassion for a friend, Jobs.
What i’m still trying to wrap my mind around Is Michael Dell calling Jobs a friend.
Once again MSFT copies AAPL!
Hah, I chuckled a little at your hyperbole.
Speaking of copying Apple… what say you Steve Ballmer?
Rightfully so consider how much they owe to Steve’s vision.
They should place stickers declaring ‘inspired by Apple’ on all copies of Windows.
I believe Mr Gates is sincere in his sentiment. If any person outside of Apple, Pixar or Steve’s family could say he truly knew Steve, Bill Gates would be near or at the top of that list. I’m glad that Microsoft has shone class at a time of grief for so many people.
No, this just signifies Ballers current sexual stemina ;(
Don’t remember who said this…
“Donating to charity anonymously is like wetting your pants in a dark suit. You get a nice warm feeling but nobody notices.”
Well except that the initial (assumed) premise of that quote would be that the point of charity is to get noticed.
Which would say is utterly and completely flawed, to the point that the complete reverse is true.
Which I think clarifies pretty well the differences in charity work done by Gates and Jobs (as an example; compare and contrast the work done by project red (in africa) and the B&M Gates foundation)
Microsoft sticker:
Stolen from Apple Macintosh
If a crook steals billions and then given some scraps to charity, he is still a CROOK
I suggested this as a means of showing we are a sensitive caring company. We feel your grief at the lost of a great man.
He touched all of us.
Sometimes you get the feeling that no good deed goes unpunished. It is a gracious sign of respect to honor Steve’s passing. WWSJD – He would graciously acknowledge and recognize this as a shared moment of grief and thank them. After that he would punish them be out innovating, thinking and developing. Enough said
I hope this doesn’t mean we’re going to be forced to do that when Ballmer goes.
They need to lower them the rest of the way and hoist a white flag of surrender.
Unexpected, classy, and appreciated.
Steve Jobs is right there with Edison. Bill Gates is with robber barons.
What took them so long?
They should’ve been half-mast since Wednesday.
I don’t believe any of us have the right to judge the motives of Bill Gates, or to inject our own petty prejudices into the relationship between him and Steve Jobs.
Bill is really nice to do this. I don’t think anyone should make snide remarks over such a kind gesture.
Remember those two MS morons that laughed when SJ resigned? I hope they both keep their trap shut! Anyway, thats nice of BG to do that. He moves up one notch on my book. But thats it. 😉