Slashdot Mirror
Bill Gates Opens Up About Steve Jobs
Nerval's Lobster writes "Former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates displayed a bit of emotion when talking to CBS's 60 Minutes about Steve Jobs. The interview didn't focus entirely on the relationship between the two men, with most of its running time devoted instead to Gates's charitable efforts. But when the conversation shifted to their last meeting before Jobs's death from cancer in 2011, Gates—normally so cerebral—seemed a bit sad. 'When he was sick I got to go down and spend time with him,' Gates said, describing their meeting as 'forward looking.' Jobs spent a portion of their time together showing off designs for his yacht, which he would never see completed—something that Gates defended when the interviewer seemed a little bit incredulous. 'Thinking about your potential mortality isn't very constructive,' he said. Gates also praised Steve Jobs's marketing and design skills: 'He understood, he had an intuitive sense for marketing that was amazing.' In contrast to his subtle—and not so subtle—digs at the iPad over the years, Gates conceded that Apple had 'put the pieces together in a way that succeeded' with regard to tablets. Gates's magnanimity toward his former rival and Apple is a reflection, perhaps, of his current position in life: it's been nearly five years since his last full-time day at Microsoft, and all of his efforts seem focused on his philanthropic endeavors. He simply has no reason to rip a rival limb from limb in the same way he did as Microsoft CEO."
I suspect Gates is being magnanimous here. It seems quite likely that Gates was trying to talk with Jobs about the Gates Foundation and to seek his support in his waning days. The fact that Jobs (who had a notoriously anti-charity reputation) only wanted to talk about his damned yacht is telling. If that is true, then Gates is being quite generous to only mention the detail about his yacht, and not the part about Jobs rebuffing his charitable request.
The cow says "Moo." The dog says "Woof." The Timothy says "Thanks, valued customer. We appreciate your input."
If you look at what Bill Gates has been doing with his time and money since he quit Microsoft, it's hard to make the case that he is lacking compassion and humanity.
Really? How about this: http://jennydaviesdevelopment.wordpress.com/2012/10/25/gates-foundation-doing-good-or-causing-harm/
"The Gates Foundation has invested more than $400 million in oil firms in the Niger Delta which are responsible for pollution that many blame for respiratory problems among the local population The Foundation also has investments in sixty-nine of the worst polluting companies in the United States and Canada "
When you have billions of dollars of your own money invested in Big Pharma, you sure do. You know Bill Gates doesn't keep all his money in Microsoft stock? He (and his heirs) are massive beneficiaries of profits for pharmaceutical companies and private education investments. "Big Charity" to coerce national level decision making is just another profitable business/investment decision.