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How Bill Gates Works
ZZeta writes "What's a day like for the richest man on Earth? In this Fortune interview, Bill Gates explains what he does on his average workday. Most interesting? He is not into some of Outlook's features, such as to-do lists and email notification. Also, he works with three monitors and is looking forward to buying a digital whiteboard next year."
I was interested in how he gets his e-mail filtered. Hey Bill, if you read this, I'll totally put you on my e-mail whitelist!
Why should we listen to him - what has he ever achieved? (grumbling) OK, I suppose he has done fairly well for himself....
But I bet one thing though - when his hard drive fails, or some software goes wrong - he can get someone from IT to fix it straight away.
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Interesting.
I Guess,How stuff Works should include how such " stuff " works too .
Why does yahoo do this
"Also, he works with three monitors and is looking forward to buying a digital whiteboard next year." I can't fathom why the world's richest man would wait for any period of time before buying something, especially if it's something useful!
My sig is too lon
...err I mean Windows!
Hey Bill, change your desktop wallpaper, it is looking a bit dated. And wash your hair.
He says he only gets 100 emails a day, surely we can send him some more to billg@microsoft.com ?
And Bill, where is your XBOX 360??
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
It should have been titled "How I Work^H^H^H^HUse e-mail: Bill Gates".
Two things I learned from this.
1. Mr. Gates is getting old and sad (look at the picture).
2. He does not have much to say to us.
I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
... I read an article in which he was quoted saying that he had a small staff that personally goes through his email.
Alas, I am too lazy to link to such article.
"When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
Today, if there's something up there that's brilliant, I just get out my pen and my Tablet PC and recreate it.
Wow, like that's really changed? See something good and copy it!
Common sense is not so common
Evidently "How Bill Works" is some sort of code for "Hey, here's a commercial for Office, MS desktop search and tablet PC."
NOT!!!
Two thoughts about the article (maybe three or four).
First, Bill Gates wants a digital whiteboard but won't get one until later this year. You'd think that he'd be able to have one installed today, within the hour, as the richest man in the world.
Second, while I sometimes stare at my thoughts jotted down on my whiteboard, I too consider them brilliant. That's something that I have in common with Bill Gates.
Third, is the man wearing a rug? He needs to fire his barber.
Fourth, what is the deal with McCain? He looks like he's looking for the person who stole the remote control to his nursing home rec room TV.
Interesting to see him using venetian blinds -- doesn't he like Windows?
He didn't get rich by writing a lot of cheques...
I would hope pretty god damned exciting, Bill don't you let me down!
"gigabytes of information at my fingertips"
Im sure he meant porn, ahem media files.
I was expecting some sort of poorly commented code
Two things to notice:
1) His (windows) desktop uses the default XP background. Odd that the world's richest man doesn't change his background picture.
2) The (real) desktop looks as if it were made out of particle board.
Maybe Gates is more down to earth than we'd thought?
www.eissq.com/BandP.html Ball and Plate System. Amuse your friends. Crush your enemies.
I wonder what he uses...*cough*GDS*cough*
Government's idea of a balanced budget: take money from the right pocket to balance...oh who am I kidding?
Well I've now RTFA and it is, to put it mildly, "content-light". He sorts his email rather than using a to-do list, and he's saving up for a digital whiteboard. This merits an article? I've written more involved blog posts about train journeys to work (no, seriously). Such is the privilege of being the richest rogue^Wentrepreneur in the world.
His desk also looks a bit unreal though. A potted plant and three flatscreens is all that he amounts to. Are you sure that picture wasn't taken in Ikea?
the layman's guide to computer science
The article mostly focuses on how paperless Bill is. The side box says he uses a communicator for on-the-move reading and writing. And the article says he uses a TabletPC, as is shown in the picture. Can anyone recognize the actual product from the picture?
My Work Stuff...
I use a digital whiteboard at work. It's placed on top of a multi-thousand dollar plasma screen and and the whiteboard itself cost thousands also. I think the company that makes it is called Smarttech. It's a nice thing but there are many frustration/time consuming aspects of it. If I were a billionaire, I wouldn't want to waste my time fiddling with a whiteboard that--in the end--would give me a little better control over my demos and presentations.
What I'm trying to say is that I bet he was waiting for this technology to get to a point where maybe the two units came as one and were more sleekly integrated. The maintenance/recalibration of this thing is a pain and there are times when we have customers sitting in front of us and we're trying to present to them but we have to run through some diagnostics.
Not cool.
Now imagine those customers were interested in million dollar contracts with you.
My work here is dung.
The net will not be what we demand, but what we make it. Build it well.
I thought we already knew that.
I also recall reading an article a while ago on here (no, can't find it) that explained how Bill Gates has a staff of people sorting his (e)mail. Now it looks like that is no longer the case?
Maybe Bill Gates did cure spam but is not telling anyone else how to do it.
Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.
I think the guy from Ikea is now the richest man on earth - BG is #2. Can anyone confirm?
- The Kessel run is for nerf herders. I can circumnavigate the entire Central Finite Curve in a lot less than 12 parse
I read the article and what a big piece of fluffy advertising for all things Microsoft. Now you too can see all the things the worlds richest man uses to keep his day organized.
Nice how he spends so much time on SharePoint, oh and gets a plug in for his TabletPC.
I am no anti-microsoftie, but this was just a very well placed ad. Even so I learned three things from this article:
1. Even Bill Gates has to wait to purchase some technology (Whiteboard)
2. 3 monitors does sound really cool, and I wonder if I can use it on my laptop
3. Sharepoint has some features that we are not currently using that I should research (discussion board being just one)
This post brought to you by your friendly neighborhood MBA.
His office looks like mine when I take a picture of it. Beforehand, I'd have gone through and cleaned off the mess of paper, chip bags, and cans though. I'm sure he's got a whole team at Microsoft responsible for sanitizing his office prior to press visits.
The again, it sounds like all he does is chat on the phone and read/write emails. If that's all I had to do my desk would look like nobody worked there too.
"I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar."
-Hoban Washburn
Saving up for a digital whiteboard. Right.
This is Bill Gates we're talking about. Obviously you mean a digital whiteboard company.
...and he's saving up for a digital whiteboard.
Damn those things must be expensive!
This guy's the limit!
First of all, he looks like Woody Allen in that picture.
Second of all, it would be funny to see if the picture could be enhanced to see his outlook inbox to see the senders and subjects of the emails that he has there.
And probably why it is everyone else's default.
I must have missed the part where he spends an hour or so reading news on Slashdot.
If I had any graphical design skills, I would Photoshop or GIMP the picture of him at his desk to make it look like he is reading Slashdot.
"Seven years of college down the drain. Might as well join the f-ing Peace Corps." - John 'Bluto' Blutarsky
If I were Bill Gates I'd enter My Name into my Google News customization search string, just as I do for My Corporation.
I'm not Bill Gates, nor as famous, so I wouldn't get any hits.
"Provided by the management for your protection."
Well, there we have it ladies & gentlemen; a golden opportunity awaits!
I propose a challenge for you 1337 coders; the first person to hack Mr Gate's inbox gets 20 and all the h4x0r respect I can muster.
throw new NoSignatureException();
This was a quick and sort of interesting glimpse into how Bill Gates works but it felt like a pitch for Microsoft Share Point... I thought we were going to get a blow by blow account of Bill Gates from the time he gets out of bed until he goes to bed.
:-P
If I wanted a Share Point Ad, I'd return the calls from my M$ rep.
The Best Buy near me had about 100 premium versions sitting in a nice stack in the middle of the aisle the other day. Funny thing was that it was about 3PM Sunday, and it didn't look like a single one had been moved, unless they happened to sell exactly a layer or two from the 4x4 arrangement. I'm kind of doubting that, though, since nobody even seemed to notice them the entire time I was there.
This guy's the limit!
That comment is presented way out of context. He's clearly referring to his 'old fashioned' whiteboard and copying the information from it to his tablet manually.
"Also, he works with three monitors and is looking forward to buying a digital whiteboard next year" - why next year? is he saving up for it?
He watches our little tux from the siege towers while battles are being fought in different places in Middle-earth, including Gondor, Rohan and the Lonely Mountain.
so he reads email and surfs the web...sounds like my job but with a bigger monitor...and bigger paycheck
Plot to take over the world.
The guy is 100% manager these days. He has some filtering whitch decides whether his assistant will read it or him personally.
I think thats best for a guy like him. If hed get all emails that where send to him he would spend all time getting unimportant emails, now there is assistant who checks the filter which if there is some email he should get.
He has triple screens, but those screens aren't the 30" dells.
He has such huge amount of information to go through and manage that he needs to use some search application to keep it in order.
Emacs is good operating system, but it has one flaw: Its text editor could be better.
I guess the laptop/tablet on the photo at the bottom is the domain of Clippy.....
Browsers shouldn't have a back button!! It's all about going forward...
The whiteboards in some Microsoft offices have the ability to capture an image and send it up to the computer, almost like a huge Tablet PC. I don't have that right now, but probably I'll get a digital whiteboard in the next year.
Why does Bill Gates has to wait for his whiteboard? He does not only own the company, he is also the big boss *and* the richest man alive... Perhaps he's too lazy^D^D^D^D busy to pick up the phone and order one.
Or they were just display boxes.
Instead of hearing about all the wonderful "Microsoft Technologies" he uses like a desktop that spans three
screens I guess the really interesting thing to hear from him is how he gets himself focused and disciplined, what's
his mental trick here. I know how to work an email client like the next guy but I'm still a miserable, disorganized,
unfocussed son of a bitch. That "part" of your workday is what is really interesting, Bill.
thing was that it was about 3PM Sunday, and it didn't look like a single one had been moved
I think either people are waiting for the PS3, the price to drop because it is too expensive, or more and better games to start being released. Sometimes waiting a while for new technology to work the bugs out is the best thing anyway.
Makes me laugh to think back in December I saw XBOX 360s on Ebay going for $600 - $800 a piece.
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
Obviously you mean a digital whiteboard company. :-)
That's bacause no-one makes the exact style he wants. If he owned the company there would be no issue
On another note:
e-mail comes straight to me from anyone I've ever corresponded with, anyone from Microsoft, Intel, HP, and all the other partner companies, and anyone I know.
Time to see if I'm in a partnerish enough company . . . tempting, Really tempting.
-nB
whois gawk date unzip strip find touch finger mount join nice man top fsck grep eject more yes exit umount sleep dump
I feel sorry for him, given how using MS-Windows with multiple screen is a nightmare... :)
But, looking at the picture, he's only using a single screen anyway...
I have discovered a truly marvelous proof of killer sig, which this margin is too narrow to contain.
I think you might call it restraint.
Just because you can afford to buy it, does not mean you have to buy it.
Phil
Those flatscreens are NECs though, they are awesome for office and coding work. I turned down 2 IBM 21" over my existing 18" NECs at the office.
-nB
whois gawk date unzip strip find touch finger mount join nice man top fsck grep eject more yes exit umount sleep dump
First of all how can the be the richest man in the world's office? Bill Lumberg's office was nicer than that! Geez, cheap basic apartment blinds, a cheesy plant, particle board desk, etc. Maybe that's an attempt to endear him as an average joe.
Second of all I wonder how much real direction Bill offers Microsoft nowadays. Or he is more of a figurehead? I would think a company with 50,000 employees and lots of entrenched middle/senior level management would be relatively self sustaining. Perhaps Bill just gives generic wish list contributions, like "It sure would be swell if people could collaborate on a project through a hosted website." And the underlings put flesh and bone to the task.
Third of all if he eats his own cooking, doesn't he get occasionally frustrated with the stability and security shortcomings of Windows? Granted XP is a lot more stable than the Windows 9x/ME branch of their product line, but security is still a concern. Even with SP2 in place. Perhaps his Internet access is going through multiple software firewalls, firewall appliances, etc. so he doesn't get hit by malware.
Forth, this really isn't a day in the life of Bill Gates, and is (as the article is entitled) how he gets his work done. I want to see him on MTV Cribs or the equivalent. Showing off all of his electronic bling. That would be cooler than this self serving advertisement.
He gets others to work for him. That's why he's rich.
"We are all geniuses when we dream"
- E.M. Cioran
FTFA:
The whiteboards in some Microsoft offices have the ability to capture an image and send it up to the computer, almost like a huge Tablet PC. I don't have that right now, but probably I'll get a digital whiteboard in the next year.
He doesn't say anything about SAVING up to get one.
"The past is but the beginning of a beginning, and all that is and has been is but the twilight of the dawn."
I cannot figure the reason behind waiting a year before getting a digital whiteboard. Anybody got any good explantions?
Being able to buy anything and everything with no effort kind of takes the pleasure out of it. You always appreciate things more when they took a little effort. Maybe Bill imposes self-inflicted waits so he can enjoy his new toys that little bit more?
I want a list of atrocities done in your name - Recoil
1. He's more interested in the company and wants them to have all the cool gadgets before he gets one himself. Sorta that growth mentality where you want to further the company by making them happy instead of jealous. 2. Maybe he wants one of those whiteboards where he can use his hand motions to move stuff around on the screen and combine stuff and whatnot. I think we saw some articles on this tech before. 3. He's waiting for Windows Vista to arrive.
MSN Desktop Search
Wiki?
If it can go wrong it wnetscape: Segmentation Fault, Core dumped
Check out the last pic in TFA. Nice to know the richest man on earth has the office with the pole in it. Thought it was only me.
Of course. He uses the browser to search for good ideas on the net, and the email to communicate those great ideas to the rest of the company. What else should he need? :-)
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
if you do, then you should have sucker stamped permanently across yr forehead. This is an advert for SharePoint and the tablet pc. Period. In the pictures, BG even looks like the typically gormless boss forced to advertise their own products. That they have sunk this low...
Patriotism is a virtue of the vicious
Does he use Dance-Dance-Revolution to sort email or to just remove spam?
if you steal from one source, that is plagiarism, if you steal from many, well, that's just research.
Nope, they were the real thing. I picked one up to check it out. It was a pretty hefty box. After I got home, I checked eBay to see if a small profit could still be made. It seems that 360s are now going for about 400-450 + 30ish bucks shipping. Basically, if I were to buy one and eBay it, I'd break even with cost + tax + shipping. I might make 5-10 bucks. Certainly not worth the trouble.
This guy's the limit!
7am: Woke up. Looked in mirror and screamed in fear at the old bowl head looking back at me. Remembered its me, cursed time for withering my once handsome looks...
I noticed the snake plant in the background and can only wonder if the name appealed to him. On the other hand a snake plant is a hearty plant that requires little attention and is a wise decision for an office plant. "How many people here have telekinetic powers? Raise my hand."
I know Bill's secret username. I can't tell you exactly, because they'd find me, but its initials are "A.C."
J'aime mieux les méchants que les imbéciles, parce qu'ils se reposent. -- Alexandre Dumas
I find it interesting that the CEO realizes the need for multiple workspaces - and so he has three separate monitors.
However, noone at microsoft feels that consumers need to have virtual desktops.
It's 2006 and Windows still ships with the poorest of window managers, and no support for multiple virtual desktops.
Now that he has three awesome flatscreen monitors, he'll no doubt write a new edition of The Road Ahead claiming that a three monitor setup is the wave of the future and he knew it would be all along.
(The first edition of the book didn't mention that Internet, so when the Web got big, Gates put out a second edition claiming that it was the new big thing.)
... and he also left out the fact that he eats babies for breakfast.
Saw this on Slashdot a few days ago, and it was all over Memorandum and the important tech blogs.
Slackmaster K Proprietor, DamnedNice Blog
What, it wouldn't fit in this year's budget?
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
the middle one ?
Rich
Maybe he's working within Microsoft's yearly budget plan? If Bill sticks with the budget, then he's setting a good example of fiscal responsibility for his subordinates.
1) Get up. 2) Crush competition. 3) ?? 4) Profit!
Okay, I don't use Outlook (hate it), but, if he ignores it unless it's high priority, then there must be a way to flag something as high priority, and if it is flagged high prioirity, then shouldn't you be able to filter the "toast" so that you only see high priority "toast"? Either he's not very bright, lying, or his product needs and update, right?
Anyone have any idea what Steve Jobs' office / work environment's like? I imagine that'd be more interesting. Bill Gates' is extremely spartan.
And neither does your comment mention anything about saving up for a sense of humour, but it's obvious that you still haven't scraped together the cash yet. Or maybe they shipped it this morning but you'll have to wait overnight for it to come. We'll give you the benefit of the doubt.
the layman's guide to computer science
Maybe his office is so sparse because Steve Ballmer breaks all his furniture?
I think the office in the picture is the new office of Steevy B.
Their is no room to throw a chair around!!
As you can see I have the real office picture right here.
assert(expired(knowldege)); core dump
From TFA:
SharePoint puts me in touch with lots of people deep in the organization. It's like having a super-website that lets many people edit and discuss--far more than the standard practice of sending e-mails with enclosures. And it notifies you if anything comes up in an area you're interested in.
So... Microsoft invented web forums? and they chose to call it a 'super-website'. Someone should have told bill about phpbb.
Specialization is for insects. -Heinlein
Not into some of outlook's features... The following outlook features have little traction in hte marketplace... Also looking forward to buying a digital whiteboard... We hope to see customers get interested in digital whiteboards soon...
> I can't fathom why the world's richest man would wait for any period of time before buying something, especially if it's something useful!
Maybe because that's how he stayed rich in the first place: by not giving in to impulse buying.
There is a perfect "old school" variant of this, that a friend sometimes used in lectures at the university. He just brought a digital camera, and snapped a picture of the blackboard...
I have a really elegant proof for Fermat's last theorem. If this sig was only a bit longer...
Saving up for a digital whiteboard. Right.
Wealthy people tend to save money. This may be difficult for non-wealthy people to realize, but it's true. The average millionaire in the US drives a 10 year old car... didn't we just read about the Head of Ikea driving a 14 year old Volvo? If you want to be wealthy, you budget, plan and spend accordingly, you don't rush out and buy trinkets whenever a whim strikes you and you don't get a new car lease (fleece) every couple of years.
Article summary:
.... how apropos!
8:30 Arrive at Microsoft
8:32 Find penny in parking lot. Pick it up.
8:37 Open my office door. Add penny to the "Digital Whiteboard Fund" jar on my desk. I've got about $100 in there now, and am hoping to
have enough to get one by next year.
8:39 Look at my 3 monitor setup and chuckle about the rest of the world running Windows(TM) on their little 15" flat panel. Peasants.
9:15 Write up advert^H^H^H^H^Hrticle about my typical day, making sure to plug as many Microsoft(TM) products as possible.
9:30 Email advert^H^H^H^H^Hrticle (DAMMIT, did it again) to Fortune Magazine. Fortune *chuckle*
9:35 Profit!
Beauty is in the eye of the beerholder.
Self aggrandize much, Bill Gates? Holy shit! The article could have been summed up as, "Be organized, email is good, collaboration is good."
Reviews with a twist! http://www.sardonicbastard.com
If I was Bill, I would hire people to do EVERYTHING for me and I would be the fattest person on earth. :/
[%] Cingular Ringtones
Bill Gates: Yeah.
Bob Slydell: Great.
Bill Gates: Well, I generally come in at least fifteen minutes late, ah, I use the side door - that way Lumbergh can't see me, heh - after that I sorta space out for an hour.
Bob Porter: Da-uh? Space out?
Bill Gates: Yeah, I just stare at my desk, but it looks like I'm working. I do that for probably another hour after lunch too, I'd say in a given week I probably only do about fifteen minutes of real, actual, work.
Remember kids, with great power comes great opportunity to abuse that power
"Your secondary inbox received 11029 messages about reordering Viagra pills without having to go through a pesky doctor. Should I forward those to Melinda, or do you want to place your own order?"
When the title came up on my RSS feed, I thought for sure it was going to be some kind of troubleshooting guide. Oh dear, is my Apple showing?
I'm guessing there was a wave of newly rich Nigerians just before his email filtering team was put in place. Ballmer is probably still patiently waiting on his bequethals, lottery winnings and fees for helping rich politicians flee their countries-Can't pass these up because the return is much better than hustling software!
You are so fired!
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
I disagree...using two screens at the office here, and it's a godsend.
I can see that many of you are confused as to Bill's lack of a spanking new digital whiteboard - unfortunately due to an incident recently a Fucking Chair(TM) ended up through the whiteboard which is now Fucking Buried(TM) outside under the very apple tree that Newton was sitting under when he discovered that he'd done it before and was going to do it again.
Bill now has to wait until Steve finishes therapy.
Probably his desk at the private cafateria.
No really, he's just human like all of us. Just cause his rich timese a billion doesn't mean that his office is going to be filled with million little gadgets.
He's main goal is to take over the world not be on top of it.
1- Make sure no one is looking. 2- Boot "alternate OS" to desktop Linux. 3- Run Open Source apps such as Firefox, OO.org. 4- Take detailed notes on how to... ahem... "borrow" features from these apps. 5- Get Ballmer on the phone and order him to get cranking implementing these "innovative" features that he just came up with. 6- Reboot back into Windows XP. 7- Profit!!!
his days seem as boring as any typical office worker's day??
That brass nameplate on the top of the desk? It says 'Bill Gates' on the front.
But if you moved around to where he's sitting, it says, 'World's Richest Man'.
WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
I think you forgot every second from 0:00:00 to 23:59:59.
00:00:00 Profit !
00:00:01 PROFIT !
00:00:02 Pr0f17 !!!!
23:59:57 ProFIT !!
23:59:58 pRoFiT !!!!!
23:59:59 profit
I'd mod you up, but I'd rather post and say how correct you are.
No one gets rich or stays rich by just spending their money on their every whim.
Bungo!
dammit, no mod points and you're at +5 already. Thanks for the laff!
Ever wondered whats wrong with the world? http://www.ishmael.org/
I can't wait to see that photo featured on one of worth1000.com photoshop contests!
I'm running MS Windows at work across two screens right now, and it was painless to set up (not counting banging my head on the desk bracket when furkling with the monitor cable). Took me a bit of fiddling around to figure out where to put the tool bar and what to place where across the two-screen desktop, but that was not a Windows problem, but more a matter of trying things and moving them around until I found a good setup.
Now if I had three monitors, I could fire up Flight Sim and really cook! I wonder how to get IT to buy me a HOTAS for the PC? :)
Cthulhu Barata Nikto
Well, have you used an X desktop to compare with ?
:)
Usually when configured as a big desktop, X WM/DE aren't better (yet...), but when used as independent heads, you're getting two taskbars (for those DE using taskbars - I'm personally using WindowMaker at home that has no such thing)
I agree that two desktops are better than one, but the way MS-Windows handles them is a mess for me. I'm a big user of virtual desktops, each one having a dedicated task so I don't have overlapping / hidden windows. Well I'm quite annoyed with the way MS-Windows even a single screen, but starting an app in the left screen and seeing it appear on the right screen, minimizing a window on the right screen, and needing to get it back from the taskbar on the left screen puzzles me.
I guess in multiple heads configurations, Alt-Tab is almost mandatory if you don't want to move constantly your mouse from left to right.
Now, if you don't switch apps... you don't need much of a window manager
I have discovered a truly marvelous proof of killer sig, which this margin is too narrow to contain.
Any other chairs in his office. Either nobody goes there or Steve is a frequent visitor.
Friends don't let friends line-dance.
Wow, does that mean that I'm half way there to being a millionaire? I drive a 14 year old car...
I have had the honour to interview Steve Jobs on his dayly routine.
He's been kind enough to give me his regular to do list:
- go to work
- shout
- have lunch, fire caterer, unless there's pudding. I like pudding. Pudding is huge.
- shout some more
- say hi to Ives (don't shout, don't shout, isn't Ives fantastic?)
- shout to everybody else
- go home (don't shout at kids! Kids are great, don't you just love kids? Kids are the future, believe me)
I think, therefore I am...I think.
Rare geek expedition into the real world confirms: xbox is hueg lol
---don't make me break out my red pen.
Come on ..... he could buy every gadget in the world and still be filthy rich.
But money or gadgets isn't what makes you happy - seriously , not even LOTS of gadgets ;-)
Poor people love their stuff more because they had to plan and budget to get them, and because they only buy stuff they REALLY want or need.
Things you by on impulse often end up collecting dust , so he's problem is of course NOT to stay rich - but to avoid buying all kinds of crap he never uses.
the reason for posting this artice was not to let people know of important news, but to read all the gates-flaming that was bound to happen in the comments
being vague is almost as cool as doing that other thing...
What else did you think the third monitor was for?
What if the Hokey Pokey really is what it's all about?
Just because you can afford to buy it, does not mean you have to buy it.
Don't push your modest European morals on us Americans.
The way we do it, you have to buy it regardless if you can afford it.
If I was Bill Gates, my office would be free from all such obstacles. That doesn't necessarily mean it would be plush and swank, but you can be damn sure there would be no noisy CPU fans or flickering flourescent lights or any of a hundred other things that distract and annoy and grate that are found in a normal office environment.
A-Bomb
I suggest you read my other answer.
I do not complain about setting up a dual-head system setup, it's even easier than with X-Window.
I'm complaining about the way MS-Windows handles windows across multiple screens, the UI (like a taskbar only on one "main" screen") being inadapted.
Using you flight sim example, how can you start it on the secondary screen ?
I didn't found a way to start a full-screen directx app on it, it always take the primary screen, hiding that precious taskbar.
Usually, you can't move your mouse to another screen anyway with such apps but it isn't always the case (Sid Meier's Pirates and Civ IV for example allow to "escape" the game screen). But how to launch new apps from those empty screens ?
I have discovered a truly marvelous proof of killer sig, which this margin is too narrow to contain.
€
Funny, though...He didn't mention which browser he uses. Just "my browser". Maybe he's a closet Firefox user.
If he REALLY uses the full Outlook to get something done, why hasn't he gone downstairs and kicked some asses for making Outlook so effing complicated?
I just felt very very sad looking at his picture. I know he does mean things. But the picture evokes pity/sadness. I dunno why.
or maybe he is hacking together his own version of Photoshop..
Here you go, he's even a subscriber.
http://lugradio.snulvin.net/bill_gates_400.jpg
"oh biiillll, what color do you paint your nails? ooo can we have a sleepover? Buy me a pony, pleeeeez!""
we will end no whine before its time
This guy has three screens, and uses one for his list of emails, one for his open emails, and one for a browser. So, basically, what he does the whole day is browsing the net and reading/answering emails. And that he calls "productivity".
BTW, I measure richness in the amount of money you have to drop on the ground to make it worth it to pick it up. If it takes 2 seconds to see the money, then pick it up, take your yearly income, divide by 15768000 (number of 2 second intervals in a year). For me, that comes out to very little money. For Bill, if he makes 2% a year on his money, that comes out to about $63.42. That's how much money Bill has to drop on the ground to make it worth it to pick it up.
Oh, and they left out that Bill swims through a room of treasure like Scrooge McDuck, then lights cigars with $100 bills. That's the kind of stuff I want to read about rich people doing.
I found some interesting points in this. And whether or not you like MS and its business practices, they ARE quite emblematic of one dominant approach to business, these days. Therefore, worth acknowledging and being aware of.
* He uses three monitors to GET SCREEN REAL ESTATE. I recall a very interesting magazine article (which, not having a large document cache and integrated search on MY work PC, I can't quickly find right now) that summarized studies into why the "paperless" office continues to be so full of paper. And a main reason was: More information visible at once. Access to that information at the flick of the eyes -- essentially, as quickly as one changes thoughts.
* Electronic note taking and annotation. Another reason for paper's continued dominance: One can very quickly flag, highlight, annotate it. A moment's attention can be captured at very little effort, for future reference. It, or a trigger to it, can be "offloaded" so that the mind can stop worrying about remembering it and move on to other things. Being able to do this in an electronic medium seems central to effectively, mentally processing that medium.
* Collaborative workspaces. At my workplace, an awful lot of communication, including both business and technical information, takes place in email. Then, someone not in a particular email chain has a need for that same information. Well, it's locked up in the mailboxes of the correspondents. At a minimum, they have to take the effort to identify a person having that information, get their attention, and then obtain a copy. As often as not, instead portions or all of the information gets recreated/reassembled, representing a quite significant amount of duplicative effort and expense (in time, money, frustration, choose you measure).
* He makes heavy, integral use of tagging. Whether explicit tagging, such as of emails, or implicit (using search against a search term composed on the fly, targeting documents contents rather than metadata). The rest of the world is discovering tagging versus strict hierarchy. He's acknowledging its superior features.
* He allows email through from entire, "trusted" domains. People with a corporate Dell, HP, or the like email address apparently get passed through on this basis (surely, there must be some checks of the source domain, and the like, to catch spoofing, or else private connections between MS and those firms?). So, if you're at HP, maybe you can just send an email and it will pop up on Bill G.'s screen. But, you'd better have a good point; if you abuse it, you may be looking for another job. A significant portion of his email filtering, the article seems to imply, is based upon trusted relationships. Dare I cough up that chestnut, "web of trust"?
I was expecting something like:
6:00am - wake up, turn on computer. bluescreen. turn on tv, make coffee.
7:15am - arrive at work. turn on computer. bluescreen. turn on radio, go get coffee.
7:37am - call RBC and ask how SCO donations are working out.
8:15am - call SCO and ask how RBC donations are working out.
8:37am - crank call IBM again with refridgerator bit.
8:45am - scandisk done. log into Groklaw and troll the place.
9:01am - more coffee.
9:30am - martial arts training with Ballmer.
10:17am - breakfast. cold toast and mayonaise washed down with cold coffee.
11:00am - call Cheney back and ask about his pricing.
12:37pm - go over new Vista features - note to upgrade all corp workstations.
12:38pm - bluescreen, must be lunchtime.
2:00pm - Martinis with Ballmer ended up in bar fight. $10,000 bail
2:37pm - $35,000 to CNN to keep barfight out of press.
3:00pm - scandisk done. Update Daily Lawsuit Agenda.xls
3:02pm - bluescreen. trade computers with Ballmer.
3:20pm - more bluescreen. download adaware, 1340 infections found.
4:00pm - tomorrows another day.
Join the Slashcott! Feb 10 thru Feb 17!
I mean, the last photo in TFA shows Bill at a horribly sparse, poorly decorated office that would be fitting for an intern. When a fully straight, IT guy actually notices the deficiency in decorating *that* is saying something.
That plant behind him looks to still be in the plastic nursery pot it was bought in. This means one of two things: he just don't give a shit or he only uses the office to have a quick snapshot taken every other month.
For cripes sake, as the richest guy in the universe you'd think it would be a bit more sophisticated and put together than that.
http://teasphere.wordpress.com - A little spot of tea
This is Bill Gates, so they must mean "ALL WHITEBOARD COMPANIES, anybody thinking about getting in the business, and all of their suppliers"
Maybe not. :)
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
Good to know he doesn't mind wasting his valuable time to pick up a penny. I guess it was time off the clock since it was before he started the work day, so he wasn't making his $300/sec yet.
But wait. Does that mean he was two minutes late for work if he was still in the parking lot at 8:32?
Well, around 9 i get woken up by the staff, and am fed breakfast from a platinum platter.
Then i spend some money. Need to pay off some more members of congress.
Then some more money is spent, just because I am bored and i have more then you.
Then I am fed by the staff for lunch by the restruant i just purached for the hell of it.
Then i spend some money, buying tomorrows competition.
After my hard day at work, i fly home in my private jet, from my private airport.
Then I am fed by the new staff for dinner, ( no need to keep the breakfast crew around since people are all disposable ) as i retire to the home that none of you will ever be able to afford. Isn't it grand to be rich and better then the rest of you all? Go me!
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Since we already knew how Steve works. If Bill has three screens then I suppose Steve has three benches. Or made that four, he has to sit somewhere. Oh, that's right, Steve probably sits on the ground.
SharePoint puts me in touch with lots of people deep in the organization. It's like having a super-website that lets many people edit and discuss--far more than the standard practice of sending e-mails with enclosures. And it notifies you if anything comes up in an area you're interested in.
Soooo... Bill's discovered forums, eh?
That struck me as funny, I'm not sure why. But it is interesting to gain such an insight on one of the more spot-lighted people in our digital world. I'm guessing that if this article had appeared in the onion, it would have read something like this:
Well, the first thing I do when I un-jack from my Borg Support Chamber in the morning is... bah, nevermind, it's too easy and also cliche.
There is simply too much glass..
He says he only gets 100 emails a day, surely we can send him some more to billg@microsoft.com ?
Actually, he gets a few million emails a day.
The AACS key is NOT 0xF606EEFD628B1CA427BEA93A9CA9773F
This article is a big advertisement for Microsoft products! Windows, email software, groupware, table PCs:
"Outlook also has a little notification box that comes up..."
"I deal with this by using SharePoint, a tool that creates websites..."
"It also has a note-taking piece of software called OneNote..."
The writing style makes the article sound like a bedtime story for business people. I can hardly believe Gates got commissioned to write an essay for Fortune magazine; it seems more likely that Microsoft's marketing group put this together and approached the publisher.
1. Start small company
2. Create crappy OS
3. Build monopoly
4. Be Evil
5. PROFIT!!! (lots)
Sorry, couldn't help it...
Ultramon (Google for it) fixes Windows to do exactly that. Each screen gets its own taskbar; you can either mirror them (all tasks on all bars) or set them to only show that monitor's windows. It gives you slick keyboard shortcuts to move apps, maximize, minimize, etc.
The only thing it lacks is a start menu, quick launch, and tray icon areas on every bar. Those should be available in the next version, though. Small consolation for other great features.
Window's default behavior, and even the behavior of nVidia's multi-monitor tools just suck ass.
5. Come back later and mod down everyone who says anything contradicting my narrow-minded view of the world.
6. Cry because Bill Gates has made another million dollars whilst I'm sitting here bagging his products.
"When does Munich Station arrive at this train?" -- Albert Einstein
I think the idea was to display the flight sim on all three screens in a triplehead setup.
617B3B7F7E7C7D7F00EOF
Is it just me or does his chair seem way too low? Looks like he'd have to reach up to work on his keyboards.
Advice: on VPS providers
"So Bill Gates uses vi?"
And Linux too. After all, his PC only has 640K
Beauty is in the eye of the beerholder.
That article was a peice of shameless self promotion, with a few product plugs thrown in. I've read the article, I've NO IDEA what Big Bill does all day, but I can tell you that outlook has a popup when you get a new mail, he has a tablet PC, and is thinking about buying a digital whiteboard.
I don't give a fuck about his wonderful world of no paper, bad article.
You feel sleepy. Close your eyes. The opinions stated above are yours. You cannot imagine why you ever felt otherwise.
Did anyone else's Internet Explorer crash when trying to view the article? I'm asking the wrong crowd aren't I?
Abaddon: An Xbox 360 Indie game
I'm just imagining this. Bill Gates is in his office, next to a brand new designer desk, thinking: "What a nice new desk." Then Steve Ballmer comes in, screams and repeatedly smashes his fists into the table until it's completely destroyed. Then he moves on to vent his anger with someone else's furniture and Gates decides that he wants his office in another building.
Hilarious.
STEVE SMASH!!
USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
If the camera were to pan back from that photo I am sure you would see a hot tub and a French chef making crepes for his breakfast.
But really, I would guess Bill is never at his desk so he doesn't feel he needs a fancy office.
he's worth 90 billion dollars, he doesn't have to work. This article basically says that he checka-da-email all day. So basically Bill Gates' is the world's richest version of Strong Bad!
stuff |
Well, gee, Bill, isn't that a funny coincedence. Slashdot has well over 500,000 people, and I think most any of them would tell you "No, you're wrong" just about anytime y'want!
___ In the words of Gen. Douglas McArthur: "I'll be right back."
Does Bill use that desktop background because it's the Windows default, or is it the Windows default because Bill uses it?
----
Some people are good with words, others,
Anyone notice he mentions a lot of products when he talks about the task they perform (OneNote, etc), but leaves out what desktop search he's using? Does MS have a working desktop search yet? Or is he using google's and doesn't want to mention it? :)
Though there are some desktop management features I wish I could have, I must say my 3 monitor display was a no brainer to set up and works like it should.
8:30-8:30 - Boot up laptop
8:40-9:00 - Run manual virus scan
9:00-11:15 - Disinfect from viruses
11:15-12:00 - Go to MS Windows update and install daily MS-internal patches
12:00-12:45 - Squash game with Balmy!
12:45-1:30 - Eat lunch at MS Cafeteria
1:30-1:50 - Run spybot and adware detection scans
1:50-:2:45 - Attempt to uninstall malware..can't figure out why my PC is so slow
2:45-3:30 - Call MS Tech support to complain about slowness of his system.(in Redmond...you didn't think that he dealt with the support people in India, did you?).
3:30-7:00 - Based on advice from Tech Support, reinstalls OS and all applications.
7:00 - time to go home, what a day.
...the desktop search that comes with MSN toolbar
http://toolbar.msn.com/tour_suite/pc.aspx
Whatever you think about how Bill Gates screwed Netscape or Borland or anyone else who tried to compete with him, you must accept one thing: Before Bill, there were two kinds of people: The Geeks and the people who tell the Geeks what to do. Think about it. Thank you, Bill.
he would open up the NYSE stock listing, close his eyes, randomly pick a company and buy it only to shut it down. Awesome!
SharePoint commercial?
What is that software anyway. Sounds like *gag* Lotus Notes revisited.
(Ooh, I hope at one point the big corps could just let go off notes and get some less crappy solution. Or alternatively, Lotus to get a grip and develop Notes to this Millenium.)
Bot Assisted Blogging
I wonder how long he saved for the tablet PC.
And my eyes might be playing tricks on me -- but I think that is my upgrade fee for "Frontpage 95" -- he has framed in the middle top part of that picture.
(+1 Funny) only if I laugh out loud.
Sheesh use a Digital camera.
Makes every whiteboard a digital whiteboard.
I use mine to take notes from newspapers, books, whiteboards, chalkboards, even TV.
On the site, click to open the gallery, and you'll get a list of other people they interviewed, included Marissa Mayer of Google. That one was particularly interesting because she talks about how she likes to use Pine for work e-mail and Gmail for personal e-mail.
You forgot:
9:31 - 9:34 ???
It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
- E. Debs
This article has to be the most boring and pointless ever written by a brilliant ex-CEO. Ok, I get that he uses ALL M$'s software products during his working day, but why write a whole article about it...Ok, I get that he has enough clout to publish it in CNN...Ok, maybe it is boring, but from M$'s point for reference it may not so pointless...Free PR...Nah...Still boring and pointless...
Esta es una firma en Espanol.
I think he's clockwork. Somebody puts a big key in his back every morning and winds him up. That's how Bill Gates works.
In response to everyone's comments on Bill's office as seen in the photo(for which I too noticed right off the bat his cheap table etc. I have a nice desk in my cube at the Fed!) Anyway, anyone think that maybe this isn't Bill's office at all and was just set for them to take a photo real quick??? "Ok, we need three flat panels, a tablet pc, oh oh and he said he keeps is Outlook open on the left screen...."
I find that each email read diminishes my IQ by about one point, on average, for the remainder of that day. So if Bill Gates is reading 100 emails per day, then his effective IQ must be, well, about 70 or so. This explains a lot!
If you read the rest of the series, it does make you understand one thing about these people: however much they may talk about e-mail, brainstorming, and cell phones, they really rely on two things: low amounts of sleep and a damn good staff. The tech makes it easier, but it's still the manpower that keeps in rolling. Kind of interesting when consider that most of these companies are reducing their manpower.
Mod Points: Helping you keep your opinion to yourself.
It's easy being gates these days.
http://luminosity.livejournal.com http://www.zazzle.com/unixarcade*
Open email. If email screws up PC, then rebuild PC. Otherwise, if tit looks like a sales pitch for some nifty product like Viagra, forward email to purchasing department. Otherwise, send to BG.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
Whenever I hear an insight into the working life of someone like Bill Gates, I am keen to take notice, just to see if there are any nuggets in there that might indicate how they manage to perform at such high levels. After reading this report, I can't help coming away with the simple conclusion that this is the most banal list of behaviours I have ever heard for an allegedyly high-performance executive. In fact, it reads like little more than a laundry list of Microsoft technologies, allegedly espoused by Bill Gates, wrapped up as a diary entry, but really intended as a piece of marketing pap. What a load of tosh.
It is not gentlemanly to talk about what happened betwen 9:31 and 9:34.
The filesystem is the package manager
you should try a Mac OS X....it keeps the menu for each and every window on one screen. not too bad if you're working with one application designed for that use (photoshop, for example), but a nightmare if you're working with more (esp. if they're different sizes).
I used to use an SGI Onyx2 loaded with DG5-8s. Eight monitors on one display surface(aka pipe), (I forget how many display surfaces you could have - upto 12, I think).
I didn't have enough monitors/cables to attach to every output (they are still useful even when you can't see the output - they can be used to parallel process images destined for a different output, or for a different computer on the network using VizServer).
Now that is how to do multiple monitors properly!
The good old days...
Max.
You're out of date. You should say "Back to my Firefox and OpenOffice" when you're doing the "but-I'm-a-free-software-user-really" act after writing a post praising Microsoft.
The filesystem is the package manager
Saving up for a digital whiteboard company. Right.
:p
This is Bill Gates we're talking about. Obviously you mean the digital whiteboard industry.
I was using Solaris in xinerama mode on two screens a few years ago. It's better than just having two displays and fiddling with display environment variables all the time.
I still have to get up for work at 4:30 and im not done with my 12-pack yet.
Because he tortures them before breakfast , of course, - to work up an appetite. After breakfast he kicks puppies to keep up his physical condition.
How many beans make five, anyhow ?
FTFA: I'm very disciplined about ignoring that unless I see that it's a high-priority topic.
So people who never got a reply now know how to do it. Send it in high priority.
I know of one person who filters mail on LOW priority. Because nobody does that, mails that he send to himself would always be on top.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
Get those crack developers at M/S to develop a virtual reality office that appears huge but is really the size of a closet. Twice as many employees in 1/3 the space.