An emotional Bill Gates pays homage to Steve Jobs while recounting final meeting
As part of an interview with Charlie Rose that aired on CBS's "60 Minutes" on Sunday, a visibly shaken and humble Bill Gates detailed his final visit with Steve Jobs, in which the two discussed everything from family life to empowering the future of eduction through technology.
Gates' appearance on the television program was prompted by his charity work for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. But unaired footage from the interviews later posted online by CBS offers a rare glimpse into the final encounter between two fierce competitors, whose passion for technology and indifference for the status quo forever altered the landscape in which we operate.
Asked about that final meeting in Jobs' Palo Alto home in May of 2011, a teary-eyed Gates said the two discussed a wide variety of topics, from ?what we?d learned, families? anything.? The two practically "grew up together," Gates said, and despite their fierce competitive nature, shared respect for each others contributions.
"We were within a year of the same age, and we were kind of naively optimistic and built big companies," Gates said. "And every fantasy we had about creating products and learning new things-- we achieved all of it. And most of it as rivals. But we always retained a certain respect and communication, including even when he was sick."
Though Jobs' days were clearly numbered at the time of the meeting, Gates said the Apple co-founder was "not being melancholy, like ?Oh, I?ve been gypped.?? Instead, he talked of the future, and how the two of them, despite their vast accomplishments, had failed to materially improve education through technology.
Jobs also "knew about brand" and had an "intuitive sense for marketing, which was amazing," Gates said, while also crediting Jobs and Co. with "putting the pieces" together on tablets that Microsoft simply could not.
During the final meeting between the pair, Jobs marveled over blueprints for his custom, 260-foot aluminum yacht, Venus, which was under development at the time.
"He showed me the boat he was working on," said Gates, "and talked about how he's looking forward to being on it, even though we both knew there was a good chance that wouldn't happen."
Gates' appearance on the television program was prompted by his charity work for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. But unaired footage from the interviews later posted online by CBS offers a rare glimpse into the final encounter between two fierce competitors, whose passion for technology and indifference for the status quo forever altered the landscape in which we operate.
Asked about that final meeting in Jobs' Palo Alto home in May of 2011, a teary-eyed Gates said the two discussed a wide variety of topics, from ?what we?d learned, families? anything.? The two practically "grew up together," Gates said, and despite their fierce competitive nature, shared respect for each others contributions.
"We were within a year of the same age, and we were kind of naively optimistic and built big companies," Gates said. "And every fantasy we had about creating products and learning new things-- we achieved all of it. And most of it as rivals. But we always retained a certain respect and communication, including even when he was sick."
Though Jobs' days were clearly numbered at the time of the meeting, Gates said the Apple co-founder was "not being melancholy, like ?Oh, I?ve been gypped.?? Instead, he talked of the future, and how the two of them, despite their vast accomplishments, had failed to materially improve education through technology.
"He showed me the boat he was working on," said Gates, "and talked about how he's looking forward to being on it, even though we both knew there was a good chance that wouldn't happen."When asked what traits Jobs had that he admired, Gates said: : "His sense of design, that everything had to fit a certain aesthetic. The fact that he, with as little engineering background as he had, it shows that design can lead you in a good direction. And so phenomenal products came out of it."
Jobs also "knew about brand" and had an "intuitive sense for marketing, which was amazing," Gates said, while also crediting Jobs and Co. with "putting the pieces" together on tablets that Microsoft simply could not.
During the final meeting between the pair, Jobs marveled over blueprints for his custom, 260-foot aluminum yacht, Venus, which was under development at the time.
"He showed me the boat he was working on," said Gates, "and talked about how he's looking forward to being on it, even though we both knew there was a good chance that wouldn't happen."
Comments
Oh wow! Kind of tears.
What an amazing relationship!
I admire both of them for their respective humanity, and each for their respective genius and contributions to society.
I wonder if this, has anything to do with this...... NNNNNNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH.
It%u2019s a complex relationship the Steve had a hard time to articulate in public. It reminds me of this video compilation of Steve Jobs best quotes about Microsoft. It's rock and roll! : http://everystevejobsvideo.com/steve-jobs-bill-gates-and-microsoft-its-complicated/
Let's make a story out of nothing. It turns out Bill Gates is human; somewhat.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chandra69
Oh wow! Kind of tears.
LOL
Quote:
Originally Posted by DanaCameron
What an amazing relationship!
Hahaha!
On a lighter note, I think I found Waldo.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ireland
LOL
I just felt that way, brother!
Am I being too sensitive.
It seems so often that these kind of words of praise for someone you worked with or is a contemporary doesn't come until one of them passes. Such a shame they couldn't have shared more before Steve's passing. I am glad they got to talk before Steve passed though. Similar memories of two other geniuses who were at odds till right before one died (Lennon and McCartney) -- makes you wonder if possible collaborations would have reach the heights that people would have expected.
Nice to see a guy mellow and when he has his philanthropic hat on he can apparently do some good -- and it does matter now if he continues to copy other work (in this area) since in a lot of cases thats all that needs to be done to preserve a bunch of young lives. I hope he can do something good with his bucks (technology in education). I would think that one of the things that he could do is make universal Intenet access a reality for educators and students alike universal.
IMHO getting everyone connected and sharing just available resources would be an incredible goal to achieve. The trick is keeping the politics out of it and even the brands. I don't know how you get passed that but someone with Gate's kind of $$ should be able to work something out. Once that infrastructure is in place and people are allowed to use it it could truly be a big first step in moving to peace.
I did enjoy the excerpt. Quite nice.
Really wish Gates hadn't killed Steve. It was so mean of him!!
Kind of interesting, the part when Gates admits Microsoft was working on tablets for years but it was Apple who put the right pieces together and created a new paradigm. Juxtapose that against his recent comments about iPad users being "frustrated" and "needing" Windows tablets to do anything useful. To me it looks like cognitive dissonance on a grand scale.
I sometimes wonder about the possibilities if Jobs and Gates had collaborated. The design, aesthetic, and marketing genius fueled by the business and management genius. But then again the two approaches were so alien to each other it could never have worked, I suppose.
But I also think that CBS News is making too much of a big deal of Gates' "emotional moment", which was so brief that you had to stop the frame to see it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bwik
Really wish Gates hadn't killed Steve. It was so mean of him!!
Congratulations on your very good taste and emotional maturity.
The emotion chip was working that day.
The small minds here can say what they will, but Bill Gates 2 is simply one of the most visionary, passionate, thoughtful, articulate -- across any field or discipline -- leaders of our time. He is deeply well-read and knowledgable about global health and energy issues.
He will probably move the needle on those two mega-issues of our time more than anyone else -- including governments and multilateral organizations -- will.
More power to him.
You sound like they where involved in some sort of mortal combat! I hardly think that is the case and this clips rather enforce it. Apple and MicroSoft for the longest time where focused on two entirely different industries. In a nutshell MS was about business computing and Apple wasn't. In the end each business had to be driven in the direction to best serve their customers as they imagined their customers. It is only in the last couple of years that they have really had any commonality in their customer base.
I admire Apple and I admired Steve Jobs, but I have the same respect for Bill Gates than I have for Apple and had for Steve Jobs.
But it is funny to hear Bill Gates practically saying that he wants iPads and MacBooks in every school. Don't believe it? Listen for yourself at 8.10 minutes at:
http://www.ted.com/talks/bill_gates_teachers_need_real_feedback.html