Image: Reprinted with permission from Impatient Optimist by Lisa Rogak, Agate B2, September, 2012
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The Best Science Writing Online 2012
Showcasing more than fifty of the most provocative, original, and significant online essays from 2011, The Best Science Writing Online 2012 will change the way...
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Editor's note: The following excerpt is reprinted with permission from Impatient Optimist: Bill Gates in His Own Words, edited by Lisa Rogak and published September 2012 by Agate Publishing: B2 Books.
Love him or hate him, Bill Gates has been a venerable worldwide business icon for more than three decades, ever since the first mass-produced personal computer debuted in 1981. Alternately described as an ingenious visionary and a tyrannical, sometimes less-than-scrupulous businessman, he has been all but impossible to ignore. But despite one's opinion of Gates, even his most prominent naysayers have no choice but to admit the obvious: He helped to spearhead one of the greatest revolutions in modern history by turning the inaccessible computer technology of the 1970s into an invaluable and easy-to-use tool for the masses, while also providing jobs and wealth to many along the way.
Gates has consistently been ranked as one of the world 's wealthiest men—as well as one of the most controversial founders and CEOs in history—and businesspeople of all stripes have taken their cues from him, using his words and business strategies to help create and grow their own companies. And in contrast to his hard-nosed reputation, after he left running the day-to-day operations of Microsoft in 2008 to devote himself full-time to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, a kinder, gentler side began to emerge. As a result, people who are actively involved in their own philanthropic efforts, whether in a professional or part-time capacity, have begun to take a second look at the man.
Despite the fact that he's no longer at the helm of one of the world's most powerful companies, Gates has steadfastly remained in the news. His friendship and philanthropic partnerships with U2's Bono and investing titan Warren Buffett attract the attention of both the media and public, which only helps to gain more attention for his charitable acts, whether he is testifying with former President Bill Clinton about increasing federal aid to earthquake-ravaged cities and villages in Haiti, or making the rounds at the Sundance Film Festival to promote the topic of public education reform. And unlike Gates's days at Microsoft, where he was entrusted with protecting a bevy of corporate secrets, today his life is virtually an open book, featuring regular updates on Facebook and Twitter and blog posts at TheGatesNotes.com.
Bill Gates's second act is no less compelling than his first. Anyone interested in his personal life or looking for inspiration to drive forward his or her own business endeavors can find enlightenment through reading Gates's own words.
"If a kid if addicted to a personal computer, I think that's far better than watching TV, because at least his mind is making choices."
Programmers at Work, 1986
"Computers are great because when you're working with them you get immediate results that let you know if your program works. It's feedback you don't get from many other things."
The Road Ahead, 1995
"I've never done anything solo, except take tests."
Working Together, 2010
"I think short of the transporter, most things you see in science fiction are, in the next decade, the kinds of things you'll see. The virtual presence, the virtual worlds that both represent what's going on in the real world and represent whatever people are interested in. This movement in space as a way of interacting with the machine. I think the deep investments that have been made at the research level will pay off with these things in the next 10 years."
D5 Conference: All Things Digital, May 30, 2007
"If being a nerd means you're somebody who can enjoy exploring a computer for hours and hours late into the night, then the description fits me, and I don't think there's anything pejorative about it. But here's the real test: I've never used a pocket protector, so I can't really be a nerd, can I?"
The New York Times Syndicate and News Service, August 5, 1996
"I devote maybe ten percent to business thinking. Business isn't that complicated. I wouldn't want to put it on my business card. [I'm a] scientist. Unless I've been fooling myself. When I read about great scientists like, say, Crick and Watson and how they discovered DNA, I get a lot of pleasure. Stories of business success don't interest me in the same way. Say you added two years to my life and let me go to business school. I don't think I would have done a better job at Microsoft."
Playboy, July 1994
"Just in terms of allocation of time resources, religion is not very efficient. There's a lot more I could be doing on a Sunday morning."
Time, January 13, 1997
"There are one hundred universities making contributions to robotics. And each one is saying that the other is doing it all wrong."
The World Is Flat, 2005
"Humanity's greatest advances are not in its discoveries, but in how those discoveries are applied to reduce inequity. Whether through democracy, strong public education, quality health care, or broad economic opportunity, reducing inequity is the highest human achievement."
Commencement address, Harvard University, June 7, 2007
"Smartness is an ability to absorb new facts. To walk into a situation, have something explained to you, and immediately say, "Well, what about this?" To ask an insightful question. To absorb it in real time. A capacity to remember. To relate to domains that may not seem connected at first."
The Rich and How They Got That Way, 2001
"Everybody should watch chemistry lectures—they're far better than you think. Don Sadoway, MIT—best chemistry lessons everywhere. Unbelievable."
Seattle Post-Intelligencer, June 23, 2008
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27 Comments
Add Comment"... When I read about great scientists like, say, Crick and Watson and how they discovered DNA, I get a lot of pleasure ..."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI imagine that he does, in spite of the fact they didn't.
True, Crick and Watson did not discover it but they did define it more accurately than anyone else in the 84 years since discovery...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisInequity? Any broadening of economic opportunity Gates has had a hand in favored his own first. Not that I feel that is particularly wrong, but philanthropy is often defined by it's limitations. He encourages people who are of no threat to him, just behind those who enrich him specifically, the result is hardly without inherent bias.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAh, the ruthless and greedy robber baron as philanthropist - how inspiring...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAs Gates acknowledges,it is not how you make money but deciding what to do with your money makes you who you are.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhat a whitewash. To interview someone as slick as Gates, send an investigative reporter, not a boot-licking sycophant.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSo those responsible for the recent failures of financial institutions, Ponzi schemes, drug and arms smugglers and pimps, etc., can all be truly wonderful people?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAs a relatively young man(35), I worked for both Digital Research (CP/M) and Sirius/Victor (a Chuck Peddle post Commodore production).
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI met with Gates several times with Chuck. Chuck also really wanted to grow something into a "supersonic" Commodore PET, that prodict along with the 6502 uProcessor architecture being Chuck's major contributions to the 70's & 80's "Micro - revolution."
I had come to Chuck from Digital Research, Inc. (yes, I attended parts of the infamous IBM/DRI meeting over CP/M). In the beginning Gates was 100% behind DRI & Gary Kildal with CP/M as OS for IBM; but Gary did not think big companies like IBM, Wang, DEC, Xerox etc could build and market microcomputers. He leaned toward a long list of PC failures, and he treated IBM with less deference than they expected and probably in the end, deserved.
In conclusion, I wish all these West Coast Winners would choose between wearing ties or something less priestly or holy like then open collar shirts.
I always wondered if (more accurately, I suspect) the anti-virus companies are subsidiaries of Microsoft.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThen what is this mentality of American companies sending jobs offshore? You know, *if* these companies that do so want Americans to pay American prices for American products, they need to pay American workers ... American wages.
We live in a strange culture. First we raise individuals to exaggerated heights, and then we try to knock them off the throne. There is no doubt that Bill Gates has contributed much more to our society, and our world, than have most of the naysayers. Is he an absolute saint? Who is? But he and his wife are now engaged in huge public services, aiding the health and well being of peoples throughout the world. What's the fuss?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIs Wild Bill Gates related to J. Robert Oppenheimer?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMost of Mr. Gates' quotes are specific and/or anecdotal. It is difficult to see any of this as giving general guidance or insight to today's entrepreneurs. In fact, some of the quotes could be detrimental, like the Playboy comment about business school.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThere has to more to this...
Bill Gates gained his power by being an unscrupulous robber baron, who ran creative software producers out of business at every turn for decades by incorporating their products' features into their operating system software that monopolized the PC equipment marketplace. I suppose the general public has no awareness of the accumulated impact of Microsoft's business activities, not knowing what they've been missing - Windows is free, right?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI have to disagree with the myth that the world's first mass produced personal computer happened in 1981.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe Altair 8800 deserves this distinction, as it was mass produced and initially appeared in the January 1975 issue of Radio Electronics magazine.
Wikipedia has a reasonable article on this microcomputer:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altair_8800
The Altair 8800 was bssed on the Intel 8080 8-bit Accumulator/Data bus CPU, which was the predecessor to the 8088 a 16-bit accumulator/8-bit data bus CPU used in the IBM PC, mass produced in 1981.
From an engineering design perspective, the IBM PC was a souped up Altair 8800. IBM added a dedicated keyboard with a TTL level serial communications port. Everything else such as the concept of the motherboard with a plug-in graphics card was copied from other 8-bit PCs such as the Apple ][ (6502 8-bit CPU), the dedicated monitor was copied from the Tandy TRS-80 (Z80 8-bit CPU; essentially an 8080 core with simplified I/O interfacing and machine language instruction extensions), Exidy Sorcerer (Z80) or the Commodore PET (6502 CPU). The concept of color graphics was copied from the Apple ][ or the Compucolor II (Z80 based).
IBM's true achievement, was to adopt an open architecture standard, (selectively adopted by Apple in their former IIe model) encouraging third party hardware manufacturers to produce plug-in hardware for the IBM PC. Due to the established popularity of IBM with existing mainframe computer corporate customers, companies purchased IBM PCs to streamline their business operations.
Smaller companies that before could not afford IBM mainframes or Digital/DEC/Wang minicomputers, purchased IBM PCs, boasting they had an IBM computer to give their business a prestigious competitive edge.
The 8088 CPU was able to access a greater memory address range; 1 Megabyte as opposed to 64 kilobytes for 8-bit CPUs, and this allowed wider acceptance of PCs in the Scientific and Engineering communities, allowing them to recompile C or Fortran IV applications without having to rely on a time shared, restricted access mainframe computer, except for CPU intensive applications requiring 32-bit processing power.
I think it's interesting to note that Bill Gates wrote part of the machine language code for the first personal computer BASIC, to run on an Altair 8800 as a member of a computer hacker's club during the early to mid-1970's; back then the word 'hacker' had a noble connotation, until it was unfairly hijacked and corrupted by the mass media. The rest of the code was written by other club members, and Bill Gates either adapted or hired other people to adapt the BASIC code to run in 6502 based PCs, including the Apple ][. Mr Gates built Microsoft on this BASIC interpreter.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI wonder if the philanthropist in Mr Gates, has donated generous money to the other contributors, or their surviving families, of that original BASIC interpreter?
I also wonder if Mr Gates is donating money to former employees of Microsoft, or their surviving families that may be currently unemployed as a result of the Global Financial Crisis?
JT should businesses act like non-profit organizations? You do realize that a corporation’s responsibility is to maximize profits for its shareholders and not help fledgling companies gain a foothold in the marketplace? In fact, shareholders have a right to take action against CEOs operating against their interests. So you are accusing Gates of running a company, a successful one at that. That's a terrible sin - one on which our economy is based. Now, I realize hating Microsoft is fashionable, as fashionable as loving Apple, which has done the exact same things as Microsoft to become successful, but is that really how you define yourself, a voice in the choir? Why don’t you get off your soapbox and rejoin reality. Microsoft is successful because it gave the people what they want. And the world has greatly benefitted from Microsoft's success. Now Bill Gates is using that success to help others. Something he does not have to do. I can understand that you want to spin that into a bad thing. I guess you have done so much more to benefit humanity that you feel the need to call out the imperfections of others.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWe all stand on the shoulders of giants. How much of your paycheck goes to those who made your career possible? As an inventor I always get recommendations from people about new features to add to my products, along with the immediate demand that I pay them royalties for their idea. The one thing you learn when you start working on product development is that ideas are a dime a dozen. What matters is execution. That is where the work is and that is where the inventor earns his fortune. The people Gates worked with along the way had the same ability to bring their products to market as he did, but they lacked the execution or the forsight to arrange a favourable contract. Now you believe it's Gates' responsiblity to reward them for their lack of ingenuity. I guess there will always be people such as yourself who believe that those who accomplish nothing should be supported by those who have succeeded. Personally, I would rather reward those who can bring ideas to the marketplace rather than those who squander the gifts and resources available to them and do nothing with their lives.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"I guess you have done so much more to benefit humanity that you feel the need to call out the imperfections of others."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisLook into the mirror, Robert - it is you who almost exclusively comment on the comments of others! What do you express or contribute?
Because of the monopolistic actions of the industrial magnates of the early 1900s and their disastrous effects on the economic livelihood of the public, laws were passed against monopolistic actions. The difficult has been in enforcing them, especially as they pertain to rapidly developing technologies.
Your arguments against my and neilred's more considered comments are baseless and empty. Personally, shut up!
Once again you seem to feel you have exclusive right to make comments. It is fine for you to make inane comments about an article but an abomination to humanity if someone calls you out on it. The freedom of speech is guaranteed to all people, not just you. But I guess when you think you are the center of the universe you tend to forget that there are other people.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisCorporations are bound to operate within the law as it stands, not the law defined by an armchair socialist such as yourself. When Microsoft crossed the line it was charged, and paid for it. That's the end of it. Unless you have new specific legal charges against Microsoft, or you are a shareholder, your opinion about how it conducts its business operations is irrelevant - as most of your comments tend to be. Again, Microsoft is a business, not a daycare centre. Please show me how Microsoft’s behavior differs from other major corporations or stick a sock in it. You’re boring.
Speaking of looking into the mirror, perhaps you need to ask yourself why you feel the need to make self-righteous judgments’ about subjects and people you know nothing about. You are right, I do comment about other people's comments, mostly the idiotic ones. That is because I know my limitations! I know when I don’t know enough about a subject to comment but also know when someone like you is trying to blow smoke up everyone’s backside. You are a classic case of Dunning-Kruger with the added agenda of wanting to show how smart you are by telling all the experts how wrong they are. It mostly just backfires as you demonstrate your own ignorance. As the old expression goes, it is better to be thought of as a fool than to open your mouth and prove it.
Economic actors are the result of systems. Robber barons are the result of economic system called free market. However, some of those might later choose to be human beings by acting according to morals rather than economic motives.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMost new businesses fail. It's not surprising that it took a great deal of single-minded, cut-throat business practice to make Microsoft succeed. At one point, I imagine Bill Gates must have woken up and thought, "I/Microsoft don't need to be as savagely competetive as we were." A change in perspective. Ashoka looked at the bodies after bloody conquest, was dismayed rather than excited, and took up Buddhism. Few people have the experiences that Gates and Buffet have in achieving overwhelming success and at watching the effects that such success brought to a large number of people - good and bad. What differentiated Gates and Buffet from the people who caused the 2008 financial debacle and then took what they could as the economy was destroyed appears to be a genuine concern for others and a willingness to take action for others' well-being. To all those who bitterly criticize Bill Gates I would ask, "What have you done for humanity lately? Isn't it time you put your efforts where your mouth is?"
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOh, and Watson and Crick cracked the double-helix structure of DNA by stealing Rosalind Franklin's X-ray crystallography data and not giving appropriate credit. So that is perhaps a bad example of exciting science.
You may not have noticed, but many people and companies have benefited by the highly competitive market for hand held computer operating systems, from phones to tablets, etc. Windows was never the best PC operating system, but Microsoft leveraged their monopolistic control of the earlier IBM compatible DOS PC market to continue lock out new entries into the marketplace.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOnce fortunes have been made, ruthless business owners can take their ill gained profits and, rather than pay taxes on them they can make charitable donations to aggrandize their legacy while maintaining control over how their profits are used. Their motives are purely altruistic, I'm sure...
No, you're the only commentator with the exclusive right to attack other commentators - at least you seem to be the one commentator who most consistently does so. You're becoming symptomatic again...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBTW, I personally never even read your comments anymore.
Microsoft's winning ruthlessness directly caused many businesses to fail - long after they had become dominatingly successful. I can only imagine that Bill Gates woke up one morning and thought, 'In this market, I can't become any more famous or wealthy as the head of Microsoft - I wonder what my PR and tax accountants advise?' He might even have consulted with his new wife...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFinding that he could now only compete with the legacies of the likes Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller...
A little diligent research will go a long ways.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIn his video taped deposition before Justice attorneys, Gates was asked; "Why, when you could have sold Windows 98 for $45 and made a profit, did you decide to sell it for $89?" To which he responded; "Because I could."
He had NO foundation until *after* he was a convicted monopolist. Guilty of abusing his market dominant powers against smaller competitors. When called on this obvious PR move, he combined the Bill and Malinda Gates Foundation with one found years earlier by his father. The lie is now the Bill and Malinda Gates Foundation lists the earlier date as their own!
He's also smart enough to give any of *his* money away. Yes, he has given billion$. But, notice his fortune never goes down? It's easy to give the interest away.
Bill Gates is one of the most phoney, hypocritical schemers in our history.
Microsoft is dangerous. Born in skulduggery and bred in evil. Currently being led by a sweating, screaming, dancing Monkey Boy without any trace of a soul.
Have I made my point?
There is more in the Bible about money, than there is about Heaven. Moses' law, Solomon's Proverbs, Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, and St. Paul's applications of all of them are perfectly consistant with the truth that a man's relationship to money is the thermometer of his spiritual life/morality/destiny. "Thou shall not steal" "Let him that stole, steal no more, but work with his hands and give to the poor" "The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil" "If a man doesn't work, neither should he eat" If the federal government had not rejected the Judeo Christian heritage and ethic, there might be hope...........
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisthe single word definition for "love of money" is "greed."
Here is the Bible verse:
1 Timothy 6:10
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.