r/interesting • u/tyrion2024 • 19d ago

MISC. After Steve Jobs learned about Windows (which used a mouse & a GUI), he accused Bill Gates of stealing Apple's idea. Gates replied "Well Steve...I think it's more like we both had this rich neighbor named Xerox & I broke into his house to steal the TV set & found out that you had already stolen it."

https://www.the-independent.com/life-style/bill-gates-steve-jobs-friends-feud-a7627431.html
27.1k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

552 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

44

u/Tupcek 19d ago

first, Bill Gates mom held a very good position in IBM, so she could easily arrange a meeting for his son. It is also almost certain Bill knew how the company thinks and thus could target their needs easily.
second, IBM didn’t really care, as they thought money is in hardware, not software. So if they could lower upfront costs, that’s big win. They also thought hardware would sell, so they can ship future models with whatever software will be cheapest at the time. Little did they knew how IBM clones will make hardware commodity, while software will be key differentiator and since they willingly gave up control of software, they opened gates for everybody else

16

u/Professional_Age8671 18d ago

His mom didn't work for IBM. She was a baller who was on an executive board with the CEO of IBM. She and her husband were business TITANS in Seattle. They are way more impressive than Bill.

16

u/rob132 18d ago

Yep. You can think Bill Gates dad for having a Starbucks on every corner.

​"After hearing the facts and verifying that Schultz was being dealt with dishonorably, the 6-foot-7 Gates Sr. walked Schultz across the street directly into the rival investor’s office.

Gates confronted the investor face-to-face, telling him that stealing the young entrepreneur's dream was unethical, unacceptable, and would not stand in the Seattle business community.

​Gates’ stature and reputational leverage forced the investor to immediately back down and withdraw the competing bid. "

17

u/BitingSatyr 18d ago

>She and her husband were business TITANS in Seattle. They are way more impressive than Bill.

No, actually, being the founder of one of the world’s most valuable companies and for many years the world’s richest man is more impressive than that. What the fuck is wrong with Redditors, they have this compulsive need to diminish and downplay any possible accomplishment of people they don’t like, even when it’s obviously ridiculous and stupid.

10

u/Professional_Age8671 17d ago

The guy was amazing. He worked endlessly for 20 years. He made the right choice much of the time and he bet big. A lot of people have done that. He started with tens of millions and rode a wave that hundreds of entrepreneurs helped generate. He just happened to be the big winner. His mom, on the other hand, had to ride against a wave of patriarchy to end up on the same board as the CEO of IBM. She is more impressive. His dad was responsible for Schultz getting Starbucks but wouldn't let anyone report on it until after his death. He is more impressive.

3

u/way2lazy2care 14d ago

It was a charity board for the United Way. She's super impressive, but a woman being on the executive board of a charity wasn't some totally foreign thing. Similarly a local power lawyer helping a local business investor buy another local mid sized business is not the impressive part of the Starbucks story. That's not even the most impressive thing Gates sr did. That's the most him-just-doing-his-job thing that he did. Like you should talk to a couple local corporate lawyers if you want to be impressed.

They're both cool impressive people, but they aren't even in the same league.

1

u/Royal_Success3131 18d ago

I think bill was obviously incredible. And with no peer as far as how succesful he is. But being "impressive" to me relates more to how hard they had to work and theyre specific business acumen and the challenges they faces.

I dont know anything about bill's parents so this is out of my element, but maybe thats more what they meant? Bill had his enormous success due to a lot of right place right time and more than a little shadyness. Perhaps they were more straightforward business magnates?

2

u/Witchgrass 18d ago

Bill Gates mom

his son

?