A Real Bill Gates Rant

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Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday February 23, 2009 @02:08AM from the well-that's-not-so-bad dept.

lou ibmix XI submitted an email written by Bill Gates a few years ago and turned over to the feds as part of the government's antitrust case. Great quotes like 'Someone decided to trash the one part of Windows that was usable?' and 'The lack of attention to usability represented by these experiences blows my mind.' We like to think of him as an abstract, but I think this is interesting stuff. Also, this might seem familiar. Oops.

12 of 293 comments (clear)

Massive Dupe by Thelasko · 2009-02-23 02:10 · Score: 5, Informative

http://tech.slashdot.org/tech/08/06/26/026237.shtml

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1. Re:Massive Dupe by wisty · 2009-02-23 02:14 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  It's been 6 years, and he still can't install it? Maybe he should install Wubi, and try apt-get, that usually works.
2. Re:Massive Dupe by Sockatume · 2009-02-23 02:23 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  No, no, this is deliberate. After posting a story which wasn't really news for nerds, they decided to post a story which is for nerds, but isn't actually news. They're giving up errors for lent and are trying to get them all out of their system first.
  
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  No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
I don't get it by Spazztastic · 2009-02-23 02:13 · Score: 5, Insightful

I don't understand all the hate for Bill. Unless if this e-mail was nothing more than a publicity stunt to make him look less evil, it shows that he wasn't happy with the way things were going. He clearly saw the direction the ship was going and he couldn't turn it in time.
Despite what you say about Microsoft now, Ballmer will always be funny to read about and watch on youtube.

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Posts not to be taken literally. Almost everything is sarcasm.
1. Re:I don't get it by Locutus · 2009-02-23 02:56 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  Bill Gates is the one who, with Steve Balmer, created a Microsoft where it is more important to win by leveraging Windows than competing on quality. He's also overseen them target one software technology after another which were cross platform and therefore threats and had to be eliminated.
  What was once a tiny software company who made a Basic interpreter became a monster threatening anyone and everyone if they did not do things One Microsoft Way. This is Bill Gates' fault as much as it is Steve Balmer. Just look at the Bill and Malinda Gates Foundation for more proof. From what I've heard, if any school or library takes funds from them, they are not allowed to use open source software. They just constantly limit choice and that has been Microsoft's business method for over 20 years. IMO
  LoB
  
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  "Anyone who stands out in the middle of a road looks like roadkill to me." --Linus
2. Re:I don't get it by aero6dof · 2009-02-23 03:25 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  The vision at Microsoft has always been to try and reduce complexity.
  Surely you jest.
3. Re:I don't get it by theaceoffire · 2009-02-23 05:16 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  The vision at Microsoft has always been to try and reduce complexity.
  Surely you jest.
  I am quite serious, and stop calling me Shirley.
  
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  I steal signatures. This one used to be yours.
Since CEO performance is in the news... by Dolohov · 2009-02-23 02:14 · Score: 5, Insightful

"'This is a shocking e-mail. Shocking!' And I said, 'What do you think I do all day? Sending an e-mail like that, that is my job. That's what it's all about. We're here to make things better.""
Apparently he either really sucked at his job, or it was the job of the people who worked for him to completely ignore what he said.
Carter Pewterschmidt by Red4man · 2009-02-23 02:28 · Score: 5, Funny

"Hey Bill, can you help me program my Zune? Ha ha ha, I'm kiiding, I have an iPod like the rest of the planet."

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I know it's a dupe, but... by Valtor · 2009-02-23 02:42 · Score: 5, Interesting

I know it's a dupe, but I still love to see Gates say: "But that is just the start of the crap..."
It says it all right there. At least Microsoft knows about the problems with Windows. It is said that realizing there is an issue is the first step to resolving it :)

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"Sockets are the standard networking API, also useful for stopping your eyes from falling onto your cheeks" zeromq.org
Re:Abstract by eln · 2009-02-23 03:25 · Score: 5, Funny

You know, composed of a lot of straight lines and sharp angles, both eyes on the same side of his head, lots of colors everywhere, that sort of thing.
its easy by diegocgteleline.es · 2009-02-23 03:26 · Score: 5, Informative

In some of those published emails, you can see Bill Gates:
-Asking to add Windows-specific quirks to the ACPI "standard", just to make Linux more dificult. "It seems unfortunate if we do this work and get our partners to do the work and the result is that Linux works great without having to do the work [...] Maybe there is no way to avoid this problem but it does bother me. Maybe we could define the APIs so that they work well with NT and not the others even if they are open. Or maybe we could patent something related to this
-Asking their teams to add IE-specific crap in the HTML code generated by Office, just to make harder for other browsers to display things: One thing we have got to change in our strategy - allowing Office documents to be rendered well by others people browser is one of the most destructive things we could do to the company. We have to stop putting any effort into this and make sure that Office documents very well depends on PROPIETARY IE capabilities" (emphasis by gates, not mine)
-Lobbying Intel to get them to do all their design work in Windows desktops, not in Linux.
-A lot of other "fun" stuff.
And you wonder why people hates Gates? ;)