Search Results for: "bill gates"

Celebrities
May 13, 2013
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Bill Gates Interview Steve Jobs

Bill Gates recounts final visit with Steve Jobs in emotional interview [video]

By on May 13, 2013 at 9:20 AM.

Bill Gates recounts final visit with Steve Jobs in emotional interview [video]

Bill Gates and late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs are among a small group of people who helped shape the technology industry over the past 40 years and in a new interview conducted by 60 Minutes’ Charlie Rose, the former reflects on his final visit with the latter. Gates recently sat down with 60 Minutes to discuss his work at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and although it didn’t air in CBS’ broadcast, the conversation veered off topic for a few moments as the Microsoft co-founder got emotional while recounting his last visit with friend and rival Steve Jobs in May 2011. No spoilers here — the unaired footage from the Gates interview follows below. More →

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Tablets
May 6, 2013
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Bill Gates iPad Criticism

Bill Gates: Apple’s ‘frustrating’ iPad should be more like Microsoft’s Surface

By on May 6, 2013 at 11:25 AM.

Bill Gates: Apple’s ‘frustrating’ iPad should be more like Microsoft’s Surface

The iPad may have the highest customer satisfaction ratings of any tablet in the world, but Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates thinks that many of its users are “frustrated” because it doesn’t come with a physical keyboard and it lacks access to Microsoft Office. Business Insider reports that Gates, while being interviewed on CNBC on Monday, said that a lot of iPad users “are frustrated, they can’t type, they can’t create documents, they don’t have Office there.” As an alternative, Gates plugged Microsoft’s own Surface tablet that features the “portability of the tablet but the richness of the PC” and that not coincidentally has a physical keyboard accessory and access to Office. Of course, given how weak the Surface’s early sales have been compared to the iPad, it’s tough to argue that any frustration with Apple’s tablet is prompting consumers to flee to Windows-based tablets.

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mobile
February 18, 2013
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Bill Gates Microsoft Criticism

Bill Gates ‘not satisfied’ with Microsoft’s innovation, cites smartphone strategy ‘mistake’

By on February 18, 2013 at 2:02 PM.

Bill Gates ‘not satisfied’ with Microsoft’s innovation, cites smartphone strategy ‘mistake’

For the first time in recent memory, Microsoft (MSFT) chairman Bill Gates has started making noises that he’s not pleased about how the company is going about its business. In an interview with CBS This Morning co-host Charlie Rose, Gates said that despite all the progress Microsoft has made breaking into the mobile world over the past year with Windows 8 and the Surface, that the pace of his company’s innovation wasn’t fast enough and that he and current CEO Steve Ballmer were “not satisfied” with how quickly the company was getting out ahead of trends. More →

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Business
November 13, 2012
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Rumor
Bill Gates Supported Ballmer

Bill Gates reportedly backed Ballmer’s decision to let Windows president Sinofsky walk

By on November 13, 2012 at 11:57 AM.

Bill Gates reportedly backed Ballmer’s decision to let Windows president Sinofsky walk

The palace intrigue at Microsoft (MSFT) just keeps getting more interesting. AllThingsD reports that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer received the backing of Microsoft cofounder and chairman Bill Gates in his decision to let former Windows president Steven Sinofsky leave the company. The reason that Gates and Ballmer were reportedly willing to let Sinofsky walk sounds very similar to the reasons why Apple (AAPL) allegedly pushed out iOS chief Scott Forstall: That is, he was supposedly a hindrance to cooperation within the company. As AllThingsD tells it, Ballmer and Gates want “to better allow various units work together more closely going forward.” And an unnamed Microsoft executive told the publication that Sinofsky wasn’t fitting in with Microsoft’s need for “creating strong areas of integration among all our products.”

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Business
October 25, 2012
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Bill Gates Interview Windows

Bill Gates: Windows and Windows Phone will be combined into one platform

By on October 25, 2012 at 3:17 PM.

Bill Gates: Windows and Windows Phone will be combined into one platform

In a recent interview posted by Microsoft (MSFT), company co-founder Bill Gates had much praise to offer Microsoft’s upcoming Surface tablet. Gates called the new slate an ”unbelievably great product” and said it is far more than just a tablet. In a less widely reported portion of the interview, however, the former Microsoft boss had an insight to offer that sheds further light on Microsoft’s future plans. More →

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Tablets
October 22, 2012
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Bill Gates Interview Windows

Bill Gates explains why the Surface is ‘unbelievably great’ [video]

By on October 22, 2012 at 2:17 PM.

Bill Gates explains why the Surface is ‘unbelievably great’ [video]

It’s not exactly surprising, but Microsoft (MSFT) chairman Bill Gates is a big fan of his company’s first tablet. During an in-house interview posted on Monday, Gates said that the Surface is an “unbelievably great product” that delivers “an even better tablet… that also has what you’d expect in a PC.” Gates said that he just got his first Surface RT device recently and praised the device for “the richness of the swiping” that “takes the touch interface to a whole new level.” Gates also said that he loves showing the Surface off to people, especially the click-in keyboard that folds into the tablet and makes it more of a highly-portable computer than a plain old tablet. A full video of Gates’s interview is posted below. More →

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Tablets
July 3, 2012
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Bill Gates to PC makers: Don’t be mad about Surface

By on July 3, 2012 at 2:00 PM.

Bill Gates to PC makers: Don’t be mad about Surface

Microsoft Surface Bill Gates Interview

Microsoft may be going it alone in making its first tablet but company chairman and founder Bill Gates says that Windows PC original equipment manufacturers shouldn’t feel spurned. As Julie Bort of Business Insider notes, Gates was interviewed by PBS’s Charlie Rose on Monday night and was asked about the advantages of a software company building its own devices versus relying on third-party OEMs. Gates said that one approach doesn’t necessarily preclude the other. More →

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Business
June 8, 2012
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Gladwell: In 50 years, Steve Jobs will be forgotten and Bill Gates will be honored [video]

By on June 8, 2012 at 2:00 PM.

Gladwell: In 50 years, Steve Jobs will be forgotten and Bill Gates will be honored [video]

Steve Jobs Forgotten Bill Gates Honored

In the year 2062, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs will be a distant memory and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates will be celebrated across the world, according to “Outliers” author Malcolm Gladwell. In a recent appearance at the Toronto Public Library’s Appel Salon, Gladwell discussed the work of both men in the context of time. ”I firmly believe that 50 years from now, [Bill Gates] will be remembered for his charitable work. No one will even remember what Microsoft is,” the author said. He continued, “And of the great entrepreneurs of this era, people will have forgotten Steve Jobs. Who’s Steve Jobs again? There will be statues of Gates across the third world.” 2062 is a long way off and while Gladwell’s predictions could certainly pan out, it’s also possible that John Gruber Jr.’s claim chowder file just got its first entry. A video of his interview follows below, with the aforementioned part beginning shortly after the 9-minute mark. More →

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Business
March 2, 2012
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Steve Jobs used patents to pressure Bill Gates into 1997 investment in Apple

By on March 2, 2012 at 12:30 PM.

Steve Jobs used patents to pressure Bill Gates into 1997 investment in Apple

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs was no stranger to legal battles involving the patent system. Apple is currently waging war on a number of Android vendors and the company’s former CEO vowed to crush Google’s mobile platform before his untimely passing last year. ”I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple’s $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong,” Jobs said, according to Walter Isaacson’s biography of the Apple boss. “I’m going to destroy Android, because it’s a stolen product. I’m willing to go thermonuclear war on this.” But more than a decade before the iPhone even existed, Apple was locked in patent battles with Microsoft that would end up saving the company from the brink of bankruptcy. Read on for more. More →

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Gaming
February 9, 2012
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World’s first PC game, co-written by Bill Gates, now available for the iPhone

By on February 9, 2012 at 7:40 PM.

World’s first PC game, co-written by Bill Gates, now available for the iPhone

Owners of Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch can now enjoy a remake of the first-ever PC game, co-written by Bill Gates himself, which came pre-installed on several IBM computers in 1981. First released late last month, XVision’s DONKEY.BAS is a terrific recreation of the PC game by the same name. Players control a race car as it advances up the screen. Donkeys repeatedly come into view, and the simple goal is to switch lanes before colliding with any curious creatures. “We did this game as a tribute to the original,” XVision founder Johnny Ixe told BGR, noting that the firm added a number of new features to the game in order to distinguish it from the original. The spirit of the game remains, however, and gamers looking for a bit of nostalgia would be hard-pressed to find a better blast from the past. DONKEY.BAS is available now in the App Store for $0.99. More →

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Business
November 22, 2011
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Bill Gates testifies in Novell’s $1 billion antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft

By on November 22, 2011 at 9:15 AM.

Bill Gates testifies in Novell’s $1 billion antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft

Former CEO and current chairman of Microsoft, Bill Gates, recently testified in an antitrust suit brought against the company by Novell in 2004. According to the Associated Press, Novell is arguing that Microsoft originally said it would sell Novell’s WordPerfect software as a feature of Windows 95, but then turned around and launched the operating system without WordPerfect built-in. As a result, Novell had to sell the word processor alone, taking a $1.2 billion loss on the deal. Reportedly, Microsoft’s Windows 95 software engineers warned Gates that WordPerfect would crash the OS and that Novell could not provide software that was better than Microsoft’s own Word application in time. As we all know, Word took off and WordPerfect slowly disappeared. “We worked super hard. It was the most challenging, trying project we had ever done,” Gates said, speaking of Windows 95 and his goal to be the first to put a PC on every desk in every home. “It was a ground-breaking piece of work, and it was very well received when we got it done.” The Redmond-based company has asked U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz to toss the suit but, despite Novell’s “thin” claims, Motz said he will leave the verdict up to a jury. More →

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Celebrities
March 8, 2011
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Bill Gates no longer world’s richest man

By on March 8, 2011 at 3:26 PM.

Bill Gates no longer world’s richest man

When Forbes publishes its 2011 list of billionaires on Wednesday, William Henry Gates III will not be at the top. This is by design, however — the world’s richest man title may have been lost after, but a far more important title remains: the world’s top philanthropist. Gates is not new to this title according to the Global Philanthropy Group, and it finally cost him his spot as the world’s wealthiest man last year. Gates has reportedly given away a third of his wealth at this point, and the majority of this astonishing sum has gone to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. When Forbes’ list is published on Wednesday, Carlos Slim will sit at the top again with approximately $60 billion, up from his 2010 sum of $53.5 billion. Gates will occupy the No.2 spot with $49 billion followed by Warren Buffet, another renowned philanthropist, who is now worth roughly $47 billion. According to David Lincoln, director of global valuations at wealth research firm Wealth-X, Gates would currently be worth $88 billion had he not given away any money. More →

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Business
April 23, 2013
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Is Samsung slipping away? Google and Microsoft both head to South Korea to strengthen ties

Is Samsung slipping away? Google and Microsoft each head to South Korea to strengthen ties

By on April 23, 2013 at 2:25 PM.

Is Samsung slipping away? Google and Microsoft each head to South Korea to strengthen ties

Samsung is a seasoned veteran in the consumer electronics industry, but the company’s growth over the past couple of years came out of nowhere. The South Korean company joined a sizable group of Android partners when the platform began rolling out and just as Taiwan-based HTC was emerging as the clear leader, Samsung stepped up its efforts and pummeled rivals as it grew to become the world’s top smartphone vendor. Now that Samsung sits in the throne, however, the company is seemingly beginning to take measures to lessen its reliance on partners. For one thing, Samsung is using its own components in greater numbers and moving away from various suppliers — when it can. More importantly to software giants Google and Microsoft, Samsung appears to be getting more serious about building its own platforms. More →

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