On Dec 30, 2011, at 7:18 AM, Nick Andrews wrote: > Nothing to do with any OS or brand, just human nature. Polio, eh? > Must be an attempt to assuage part of his guilty conscience from all > the people he has screwed over. I had a friend named Gerald Abear who > worked with Gates in the early years and got royally hosed by him as > just one person out of many. I am quite sure he was a much better > programmer, etc. than Gates. But maybe not a great businessman. Like > Nikola Tesla, he was taken advantage of by the other guy...
Tesla bitched and moaned because he didn't get rich, not because he lost. Remember, it was Edison who wanted direct current, not alternating, but when he saw the handwriting on the wall, he switched over. Gates was the Borg of Silicon Valley; if he liked it, he assimilated it. And he was never a programmer. That was Bill Allen. Gates was always the marketing guy. And a good one. His advantage was he saw things other people missed. He took advantage. After he got hugely wealthy, other people complained. The guy who sold DOS to gates for $50,000 was really happy when he did so. Years later after he saw Microsoft make billions from DOS he bitched and moaned. Gates saw how to tie DOS into the "IBM Compatible" meme and work it, while the creator of DOS didn't. That's how it works. Now, did he get close to breaking the law. Absolutely in many cases, but the lawsuits and fines were the cost of doing business. Ethical? Hardly. But it didn't rise to the test of many crimes and so the Justice Department never prosecuted. In the end, he's a billionaire, but Microsoft is no longer the 900 lbs gorilla. There isn't one any more, but Apple gets close by being the wealthiest company on the planet. But don't look at Bill's charity work as assuage guilt; look at it for what it is, trying to save lives and keep kids from suffering. Best, R.E.F. ---- www.crydee.com Never attribute to malice what can satisfactorily be explained away by stupidity.
