Slashdot Mirror
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!
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
Interesting to see him using venetian blinds -- doesn't he like Windows?
He didn't get rich by writing a lot of cheques...
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
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.
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 probably why it is everyone else's default.
Nope, not anymore. Ingvar Kamprad used to be though, when the IT market flushed, making all BG's stock more or less worthless.
I have a really elegant proof for Fermat's last theorem. If this sig was only a bit longer...
Also, does he ever get viruses, the BSOD, spyware, spam, crashes, and driver conflits?
Or does he use a Mac?
When the posters fear their moderators, there is tyranny; when the moderators fears the posters, there is liberty.
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.
"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?
Swedish plasma phys. PhD student; MSc EE; knows maths, programming, electronics; finance interest; seeks opportunities
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.
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.
I think you might call it restraint.
Just because you can afford to buy it, does not mean you have to buy it.
Phil
http://www.forbes.com/lists/2006/03/07/06billionai res_worlds-richest-people_land.html
1 William Gates
2 Warren Buffett
3 Carlos Slim Helú
4 Ingvar Kamprad
5 Lakshmi Mittal
6 Paul Allen
7 Bernard Arnault
8 Prince Alwaleed
9 Kenneth Thomson
10 Li Ka-shing
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.
I'd like to say that I don't like MS nor bill gates, however looking at what bill gates actually does is an interesting thing. I mean here's the guy who is more or less in charge of the software running on about 85% of the world's computers. How do you sort through information, organize yourself and get things done? Bill Gates uses outlook, and unlike the REST of the world, he runs the company that actually makes the software.
Aside from his three screens, his office looks REALLY unimpressive.
But the overall tone of what he talks about is what I already came to understand when I went to a few MS tech seminars years back. MS does eat its own dogfood, and that is something to take notice of. The company also forces its employees to actually use its software properly, and it is also properly maintained, and deployed. So in essance it's similar to what you say - some IT guy will fix it.
I mean out of all the smaller businesses I deal with I can't see ANY of them actually doing anything with sharepoint aside from wasting money. And that's assuming that it was installed properly - which often it's not. It's nice that the company (and bill gates) that understands the software and what it was intended to do uses it properly, but how well it works for everyone else... hard to say.
http://img85.imageshack.us/my.php?image=billgates4 000cn.jpg
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.
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 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.
Maybe his office is so sparse because Steve Ballmer breaks all his furniture?
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
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!
Aside from his three screens, his office looks REALLY unimpressive.
From what I have heard/read about Bill Gates in the past, his office is about what I would expect. Gates doesn't seem to be the type of person who would have an "Emperor Palpatine" type office, at least for everyday use. He may have a show office for meeting "important people", but somehow I doubt he even has that. It doesn't suprise me that he uses a 3 screen set up -- I use two screens at work, and wouldn't want to go back to one.
Personal feeling about how big Microsoft is and how much of a monopoly it has aside, it seems that Bill Gates is the type of person who still has fun and likes to do and build new things, all while dominating in whatever it is he does. That said, I think Microsoft is a little (okay, a lot) too big and powerful, so that is why I use Open Source software as much as possible.
Beware of Sleestak
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
Maybe he just doesn't want to deal with the hassle of a new piece of equipment right now?
Hell, I know I've turned down upgrades in the past for that reason. It's nota matter of money or marketing, it's just convenience.
--saint