Bill Gates responds to snipes from Steve Jobs biography

October 31, 2011 By Jeffrey Van Camp

During an interview with ABC news, Bill Gates responded to posthumous snipes from Steve Jobs in his recent biography.

Steve Jobs made quite a few pot shots at Microsoft and Bill Gates in his posthumously published biography by Walter Isaacson. And in the book, Bill Gates makes a few shots back, but we in the media are never happy without a fight. While interviewing Gates on ABC News this Sunday, Christiane Amanpour prodded him with Jobs’s criticisms. Gates responded very graciously.

Here’s the quote from Steve Jobs:

“Bill is basically unimaginative and has never invented anything, which is why I think he’s more comfortable now in philanthropy than technology. He just shamelessly ripped off other people’s ideas.”

And here’s Bill’s response:

“When you think about why is the world better today, the Internet, the personal computer, the phone, the way you can deal with information is just so phenomenal…Over the course of the 30 years we worked together, he said a lot of very nice things about me and he said a lot of tough things. I mean, he faced, several times at Apple, the fact that their products were so premium priced that they literally might not stay in the marketplace. So the fact that we were succeeding with high volume products, including a range of prices, because of the way we worked with multiple companies, it’s tough. So the fact that at various times, he felt beleaguered, he felt like he was the good guy and we were the bad guys, you know, very understandable. I respect Steve. We got to work together. We spurred each other on, even as competitors. None of that bothers me at all.”

Gates handled the question with a good amount of diplomacy, which he has consistently done in recent weeks, and years. It’s difficult to say if he’s actually bothered by the snipes or not. The full interview is below. It also touches on issues like taxing the rich and providing aid to poor countries.

Showing 19 comments

miketars at 6:43pm 13th December 2011 Apple did not rip off Xerox. They went in the front door with permission. Xerox had no idea what they had. The Ca. Xerox team that developed the mouse and the other things Apple used knew how valuable it was, but they could not convince Xerox of that. Not Apple's fault. I am not saying Apple's ethics were perfect. Gates on the other hand is different. If IBm wasn't deathly afraid of owing the operating system for their PC, because of the Justice Dept's. 30 years antitrust investigating no one would have ever heard of Bill Gates.
Michael Thomas Stram at 4:59pm 29th November 2011 Apple ripped off Xerox. Then pretty much toled xErox were going to put you under if you come out with the product you created...And then whammo...out comes mac os.Apple have been much more aggressive in patent whoring than Microsoft. How many ideas from IBM and others did they steal and re-patent for the iPhone? Way too many.
David Acosta Juan at 8:04pm 21st November 2011 All the Microsoft's hit products were (are) rip-offs: MS-DOS, Windows, Word, Steve Jobs didn't lied. Microsoft achieved success thanks to lobbying, political alliances and an army of lawyers. Bill Gates may seem a gracious guy today with all his charity work and billionaire donations (good stuff, good for him), but that doesn't change all the damage he and his company did to the real innovators.
qadeerz at 6:36pm 7th November 2011 corporate life demands the leaders to come out with statements targeted to degrade the competitors this has been happening and will continue to happen but personal dragging is well below the business norms and cannot be accepted even when it is done by the gurus like steve jobs-late. even if bill gates did what has been mentioned by the steve jobs the point remains it will take a lot of guts to get it done what bill gates has achieved
thomaspkelley at 8:45pm 4th November 2011 Why would Bill Gates care what Steve Jobs says? Gates wins, he's still alive.
Benito Gallegos at 1:57pm 1st November 2011 I also applaud Mr. Gates for the aplomb with which he handled Mr. Jobs final comments. We and really the whole world live in a better reality as a result of the technology created by these 2 companies. I hope that Mr. Jobs found peace in his final moments and that he died knowing how very much he had accomplished. Mr. Gates enjoys the wonderful luxury of more time and I look forward to seeing yet how much he changes the world.
Suhas Vaze at 9:28am 1st November 2011 Its very easy for Bill Gates to sound decent after stealing so much from Steve. Bill is good at politics. Steve was truly a passionate and honest innovator.
1. Jeffrey Van Camp at 9:58am 1st November 2011 I think they've both done plenty of stealing and innovating. I do admire Steve Jobs for just saying what he really believes in his last days (and before, for that matter). However, I also admire Bill Gates for consistently removing himself from the tech turmoil. He's stayed above the fray and focused on what he cares about, which is humanitarian stuff.
Mike Marra at 7:13pm 31st October 2011 That was a rude comment by Steve Jobs. sigh...
prats_usa at 11:35am 31st October 2011 Negativity is a sign of weakness, what Steve Jobs did. He may be a genius, but i don't respect that man as much as I respect Bill Gates today. Bill Gates was a gentleman, even if he had differences with Jobs he never let out in public degrading his image. Jobs, here should be called straightforward because he blamed and showed jealousy on his part considering himself to be superior. Bill Gates, respect.
1. daisilini at 8:06pm 22nd November 2011 I understand both side of thier perpectives. Ok Bill gate from a loving family who raised and support him in any position VS Steve Jobs was adopted. If you really look into his biological father who lives in Las Vergas and his real mother lives some places. He hardly talked about it. I'm almost sure that Steve Jobs felt that he was abandaned some how. He probably confused enough.....his adopted parents less educated than Bill gate parents. There were a lot of things had to do with him while he growth up. Compared to Bill Gate. It's just my opinion.
  1. prats_usa at 12:42pm 23rd November 2011 i rescept your opinion but in America every other child has a foster parent or a guardian. It is nothing new, and he was adopted does not mean he was not loved! and maturity can be seen by the behavior
Asim at 10:01am 31st October 2011 Bill Gates handles these things so well...I never cease to be surprised.
1. Ian Bell at 11:08am 31st October 2011 I agree. He responded with class. Something Steve Jobs seems to lack in so many ways.
  1. icetrout at 12:12pm 31st October 2011 Your right Gates is such a classy fraud.More like snake in the grass :9
    Ian Bell at 1:59pm 31st October 2011 At least on TV he appears classy. More than I can say for Jobs!
    
    dahndi at 12:09pm 13th November 2011 You're right, not your right. Genius!
2. michiguy at 1:10pm 1st November 2011 Gates's response was a thinly veiled insult to Jobs, nothing more. He essentially said that Jobs lashed out because he felt paranoid. That's not a kind comment about a respected colleague. If he wanted to be respectful, he would have conceded that Jobs had a point (which he did), even though he could have phrased it more diplomatically. But what Gates really should have said -- diplomatically or not -- was that he won't be drawn into a conversation where his only choices are to either admit mediocrity or disparage a widely-respected dead colleague.
  1. Alex Law at 9:08pm 3rd November 2011 What do you say about someone who published a libel in his own biography against other even before he die?