WEBVTT - How Bill Gates and Steve Jobs Work, Part 2 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:02.960 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray. 0:00:03.200 --> 0:00:08.680 It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With 0:00:08.840 --> 0:00:13.320 tech stuff from how stuff works dot com. This podcast 0:00:13.400 --> 0:00:16.160 is brought to you by Audible dot com, the Internet's 0:00:16.200 --> 0:00:20.000 leading provider of spoken word entertainment. Get a free audio 0:00:20.040 --> 0:00:22.920 book download of your choice when you sign up today. 0:00:23.280 --> 0:00:32.680 Blog onto Audible podcast dot com slash stuff today for details. 0:00:32.680 --> 0:00:34.920 Hey there, everybody. My name is Chris Polett. I'm an 0:00:35.000 --> 0:00:38.240 editor here at how Stuff Works. Welcome to the podcast today. 0:00:38.240 --> 0:00:40.560 I have sitting next to me as he is usually 0:00:40.600 --> 0:00:45.159 sitting in his normal chair. Uh. Senior writer Jonathan Strickland, 0:00:45.200 --> 0:00:49.320 smooth polette. Thank you very much. Thanks for pointing that out. Well, 0:00:49.320 --> 0:00:52.879 I'm anyway. We uh, this is a little surprising to 0:00:52.960 --> 0:00:56.240 be talking to you about this particular podcast because it 0:00:56.360 --> 0:00:58.840 was actually once going to be part of another podcast 0:00:58.880 --> 0:01:02.000 and we found out it was that was the length 0:01:02.000 --> 0:01:04.200 of a normal podcast. Yeah, this was one of those 0:01:04.240 --> 0:01:06.960 times where we think, hey, we can talk about this 0:01:07.000 --> 0:01:09.240 for twenty minutes, and turns out we're right, we can 0:01:09.280 --> 0:01:12.440 talk about it for forty in fact, so we decided 0:01:12.560 --> 0:01:16.200 to um to cut short the last podcast now of course, 0:01:16.240 --> 0:01:17.920 if you listen to the last podcast, it was all 0:01:17.959 --> 0:01:21.520 about Steve Jobs, and uh, this podcast, we're gonna talk 0:01:21.560 --> 0:01:24.960 about kind of a counterpart in Steve Jobs, good old 0:01:25.040 --> 0:01:34.000 uh William H. Gates Billy Hank. Now, UM, the reason 0:01:34.040 --> 0:01:36.080 we picked these two guys for those of you who 0:01:36.080 --> 0:01:38.600 weren't listening for the last podcast, is because you know 0:01:38.640 --> 0:01:41.760 they were. They're both the same age. Uh, they started 0:01:41.800 --> 0:01:44.600 companies when they were twenty years old and back in 0:01:45.520 --> 0:01:47.960 there are a lot of parallels between these two giants 0:01:47.960 --> 0:01:50.960 in the tech industry. They're both college dropouts, Yeah exactly, 0:01:51.000 --> 0:01:53.040 which is one of those things that you I didn't 0:01:53.080 --> 0:01:56.600 even realize about both of them. Um, but yeah, I 0:01:56.640 --> 0:01:58.840 mean there's so many parallels between these guys, and yet 0:01:59.000 --> 0:02:02.320 they're so different. Right And uh, last time, we we 0:02:02.360 --> 0:02:05.080 got so wrapped up and talking about Steve Jobs and 0:02:05.120 --> 0:02:10.000 all his idiosyncrasies that we didn't have. So let's let's 0:02:10.160 --> 0:02:13.600 dive right in, shall we. So. Gates he grew up 0:02:13.639 --> 0:02:18.120 over in Seattle and UH and he was very interested 0:02:18.160 --> 0:02:22.119 in computers at an early age. UM. He actually went 0:02:22.240 --> 0:02:26.480 to uh to at an elementary school where he learned 0:02:26.520 --> 0:02:29.920 about software and programming. UM. When he was thirteen years old, 0:02:30.000 --> 0:02:32.480 and that was pretty much what sealed the deal. He 0:02:32.560 --> 0:02:35.280 decided that computers were really, really cool and he wanted 0:02:35.320 --> 0:02:38.080 to know all about them and uh and work with 0:02:38.160 --> 0:02:42.080 them and uh and boy did he. Yeah. As we 0:02:42.120 --> 0:02:45.560 mentioned in the last podcast, in the early seventies, people 0:02:45.560 --> 0:02:48.280 didn't have computers on their desktops. If you weren't around 0:02:48.680 --> 0:02:51.880 for that time period. Um, this, you know, this personal 0:02:51.880 --> 0:02:56.280 computer thing is actually really it's it's because of Bill 0:02:56.320 --> 0:02:59.000 Gates and Steve Jobs and a lot of other very 0:02:59.120 --> 0:03:01.600 very important people who worked with them. But I mean, 0:03:01.639 --> 0:03:03.880 these guys were at the forefront of this, and they 0:03:04.160 --> 0:03:07.400 people weren't interested in having a computer in their house. Well, 0:03:07.400 --> 0:03:10.000 it didn't even think it was possible, because back at 0:03:10.000 --> 0:03:13.000 that time you were mainly talking about big mainframe computers 0:03:13.000 --> 0:03:15.600 that would take up an entire floor of a building 0:03:15.720 --> 0:03:17.639 and not not something that you would be able to 0:03:17.680 --> 0:03:21.400 fit in your house, much less on a desk. Um. 0:03:21.440 --> 0:03:23.920 And it's really due to the work of people like 0:03:24.040 --> 0:03:27.360 Gates and Jobs that that changed. Now. Jobs, of course, 0:03:27.360 --> 0:03:32.560 he was really focusing on building the hardware, building an 0:03:32.600 --> 0:03:37.360 actual computer system from from the ground up. Uh, Whereas 0:03:37.360 --> 0:03:42.000 Gates was more interested in the software part of the equation. 0:03:42.600 --> 0:03:45.400 Less interested in building physical machines. He wanted to make 0:03:45.440 --> 0:03:48.200 the stuff that would run on the machines that other 0:03:48.200 --> 0:03:51.640 people were building. Yeah. As as a matter of fact, uh, 0:03:52.680 --> 0:03:55.360 you know, Gates was really into programming, and as a 0:03:55.400 --> 0:04:00.400 Harvard freshman in ninety three, he was already working on 0:04:00.480 --> 0:04:03.520 an operating system. He also met someone who would become 0:04:03.600 --> 0:04:07.320 very important in Microsoft's history as well. Oh yeah, who 0:04:07.360 --> 0:04:11.920 was That would be Steve Balmer. Oh yeah, he mentioned that, 0:04:11.960 --> 0:04:14.040 didn't He the guy who was always down the hall 0:04:14.080 --> 0:04:17.760 shouting developers, developers, developers. If you don't know what what 0:04:17.800 --> 0:04:20.560 Plett is referring to here, I suggest you go on YouTube. 0:04:21.080 --> 0:04:23.960 Type in Balmer that's b A L L M E 0:04:24.200 --> 0:04:28.679 R and developers, and you will be entertained for literally minutes. 0:04:30.839 --> 0:04:32.680 The next time you hear the word developers, you will 0:04:32.720 --> 0:04:35.719 not be able to not think it's actually kind of frightening. 0:04:36.120 --> 0:04:39.039 Steve Walmer is an intense guy, yes, and and again 0:04:39.080 --> 0:04:42.919 another important person in the development of the tech industry. 0:04:42.960 --> 0:04:45.159 But we were going to focus on Gates here. I'm 0:04:45.279 --> 0:04:48.119 totally off. Sorry, I mean sorry, I mean the jokes 0:04:48.279 --> 0:04:52.120 so so Gates, he's interested in computers. He's at Harvard. Uh, 0:04:52.600 --> 0:04:58.120 he's working on developing programming languages based off of basic UM. 0:04:58.200 --> 0:05:02.560 And Uh. Then junior year rolls around and he decides, UM, 0:05:02.640 --> 0:05:05.880 he'd rather focus on the computing aspect and less on 0:05:05.920 --> 0:05:09.840 his studies, so he drops out and uh that's when 0:05:09.839 --> 0:05:13.440 he hooks up with another giant in the tech industry 0:05:14.640 --> 0:05:20.240 and found a little company you probably heard of, fauled Microsoft. Yeah, 0:05:20.360 --> 0:05:25.080 that's all the way back to now. People when people 0:05:25.080 --> 0:05:28.680 think Microsoft, now, they they're probably mainly thinking of Windows. 0:05:29.320 --> 0:05:32.560 But this is this is decades before Windows becomes a 0:05:32.600 --> 0:05:36.799 player at all. UM. But they were interested in operating systems. 0:05:36.800 --> 0:05:38.800 It's just the operating systems they were looking at. We're 0:05:38.800 --> 0:05:43.799 all text based operating systems. Do exactly operating system now. 0:05:43.880 --> 0:05:48.120 If if you've never used DOS UM then and and 0:05:48.360 --> 0:05:51.479 if your knowledge of operating systems mainly comes from graphic 0:05:51.560 --> 0:05:56.279 based interfaces like Windows or the Mac operating system, UM 0:05:56.400 --> 0:06:00.480 DOS required you to learn certain commands that would use 0:06:00.520 --> 0:06:04.800 to navigate through and find files and execute files. And 0:06:04.960 --> 0:06:08.440 he said, hell it was. It was. It was kind 0:06:08.440 --> 0:06:11.800 of kind of a labyrinth that you had to go through. 0:06:11.839 --> 0:06:15.080 You had to really learn a lexicon if you will, 0:06:15.120 --> 0:06:18.760 of commands. But here's the flip side of it. It 0:06:18.839 --> 0:06:22.520 was lightning fast because you didn't have to worry about 0:06:22.600 --> 0:06:26.479 driving graphics or anything like that. The the the program, the 0:06:26.560 --> 0:06:29.880 operating system was just amazingly fast. Even if you were 0:06:29.960 --> 0:06:32.919 running an older machine, you weren't waiting around forever for 0:06:32.960 --> 0:06:36.200 something to execute. But this is where computers got their 0:06:36.200 --> 0:06:40.200 reputation for being difficult to use UM, which, again, if 0:06:40.200 --> 0:06:42.240 you're younger, you might not remember a time when that 0:06:42.320 --> 0:06:45.159 was a deal, but uh yeah, this was This was 0:06:45.200 --> 0:06:49.120 a problem that plagued early computer manufacturers like IBM when 0:06:49.160 --> 0:06:53.080 they entered the personal computer market was well, why would 0:06:53.120 --> 0:06:55.119 I want to do that? Computers are hard to use? Well, 0:06:55.160 --> 0:06:58.280 of course you had to learn all these dos commands, uh, 0:06:58.320 --> 0:07:03.520 and it just wasn't very into No. So that's we're 0:07:03.600 --> 0:07:06.320 jumping ahead quite a few years here, because it was 0:07:06.360 --> 0:07:11.040 several years to develop the graphics based UM interface, although 0:07:11.200 --> 0:07:14.320 other companies had taken a stab at it before Microsoft 0:07:14.360 --> 0:07:18.120 did UM. Xerox was one of them, and even Apple 0:07:18.200 --> 0:07:21.920 with the Macintosh operating system. UM had found ways of 0:07:22.000 --> 0:07:26.720 using a graphic based interface. But the thing about IBM 0:07:26.800 --> 0:07:32.400 based computers, which eventually morphed into PCs. UM. That's what 0:07:32.840 --> 0:07:36.160 enterprises had adopted. Those were the Those were the computers 0:07:36.160 --> 0:07:40.040 that businesses picked up because they were for some they 0:07:40.080 --> 0:07:42.560 were really seen as kind of utilitarian. They weren't the 0:07:42.680 --> 0:07:46.360 sexy computers of the Macintosh world, but they were known 0:07:46.400 --> 0:07:49.960 as workhorses. Horses, so you've got all these you know, 0:07:50.960 --> 0:07:54.640 you've got a huge customer base already built into this. 0:07:55.160 --> 0:07:59.040 And so when Microsoft Windows came out, everyone thought of 0:07:59.040 --> 0:08:02.640 it as revolutionary, even though technically it had been done before. 0:08:03.440 --> 0:08:06.320 And that's that's one thing to remember about Bill Gates 0:08:06.400 --> 0:08:10.480 is that while he was interested in programming up front, 0:08:10.800 --> 0:08:14.600 he's definitely a shrewd business person and he can recognize 0:08:14.640 --> 0:08:18.520 a market when he sees it um and Uh. Part 0:08:18.520 --> 0:08:21.160 of the reason that the funny thing is um and 0:08:21.200 --> 0:08:23.960 this is really from personal experience. Part of the reason 0:08:24.040 --> 0:08:27.480 that PCs were so popular with enterprises was because they 0:08:27.480 --> 0:08:29.840 were hard to use. They seemed like they were serious 0:08:29.880 --> 0:08:33.800 business machines. So you know, they were for creating spreadsheets 0:08:33.800 --> 0:08:36.560 and crunching numbers, and that's what you do with a business, 0:08:36.720 --> 0:08:39.480 is you know, because they didn't have Facebook yet, right, 0:08:40.559 --> 0:08:44.640 and and Gates was very shrewd at forming partnerships with 0:08:45.400 --> 0:08:50.800 UH computer manufacturers. He was able to get the Windows 0:08:50.840 --> 0:08:53.960 operating system off on computers assu as they were coming 0:08:54.000 --> 0:08:57.960 off of the lines, so the production lines. So suddenly, 0:08:58.080 --> 0:09:01.199 now you have an operating system that's on most of 0:09:01.200 --> 0:09:03.960 the computers that are out there. By default, most people 0:09:03.960 --> 0:09:06.720 are going to be familiar with that system over any 0:09:06.720 --> 0:09:10.680 other because that's the that's the default operating system. You know, 0:09:10.679 --> 0:09:12.360 you didn't have a whole lot of choices. It was 0:09:12.400 --> 0:09:14.959 either going to be a Macintosh or a PC that's 0:09:15.040 --> 0:09:19.760 running some sort of Microsoft operating system. That's right. Microsoft 0:09:19.840 --> 0:09:22.960 actually got into the DOSS business first. They had their 0:09:23.000 --> 0:09:26.600 own brand of of dos MS DOSS, which I believe 0:09:26.760 --> 0:09:30.440 was was purchased primarily but um I think I think 0:09:30.559 --> 0:09:32.800 Bill Gates actually did some work on that in the 0:09:32.880 --> 0:09:35.080 coding department because this was this was still in the 0:09:35.080 --> 0:09:39.000 early days and he wasn't all into the UH administration 0:09:39.080 --> 0:09:42.240 part of it yet. Um. But then they were also 0:09:42.679 --> 0:09:45.560 Microsoft was also in the business of writing applications for 0:09:45.600 --> 0:09:48.080 a host of different systems, like I don't know, this 0:09:48.120 --> 0:09:51.080 little thing called the Macintosh, and for a long time, 0:09:52.080 --> 0:09:54.760 the best business software for the mac was all the 0:09:54.800 --> 0:09:58.319 office suite. That's where it got its start. Um. So 0:09:58.360 --> 0:10:01.120 they you know, before it just I did to crush 0:10:01.160 --> 0:10:04.760 the living daylights out of Apple. Microsoft actually used Apple 0:10:04.920 --> 0:10:08.559 as a starting point. Uh. You know, they made a 0:10:08.600 --> 0:10:10.520 lot of money from the from the Apple computers. They 0:10:10.520 --> 0:10:14.400 actually did stuff for the Apple too as well. Right, so, um, 0:10:14.440 --> 0:10:17.960 you know we're we're talking IBM PCs. Uh you know, 0:10:18.040 --> 0:10:22.240 the operating system plus applications for the Mac and for 0:10:22.320 --> 0:10:25.679 other Apple computers. So he, you know, Bill pretty much 0:10:25.720 --> 0:10:28.320 had a grasp on everything he needed to to get 0:10:28.440 --> 0:10:30.480 a good foothold in the computer market. And when he 0:10:30.480 --> 0:10:34.800 started bundling things together Microsoft products together with the Windows system, 0:10:34.840 --> 0:10:36.720 it was pretty much game over at that point for 0:10:36.760 --> 0:10:41.720 a lot of different software companies because automatically you have 0:10:41.760 --> 0:10:44.240 a leg up. You don't suddenly the user when they 0:10:44.280 --> 0:10:47.000 buy the computer and bring it home, plug it in, 0:10:47.120 --> 0:10:50.400 turn it on. There's a whole suite of programs right 0:10:50.440 --> 0:10:52.880 there that they can use, and usually there was some 0:10:52.920 --> 0:10:55.240 sort of trial version and you could purchase a full 0:10:55.360 --> 0:10:58.040 version later. Um. But it meant that you didn't have 0:10:58.080 --> 0:11:00.559 to go out shopping for these program ms. You had 0:11:00.600 --> 0:11:04.119 your word processor there, and you had your spreadsheet application 0:11:04.200 --> 0:11:08.640 there and uh and actually Microsoft caught a lot of 0:11:08.640 --> 0:11:11.640 flak for that. There were a lot of antitrust lawsuits 0:11:11.720 --> 0:11:14.840 being thrown around UM, saying that it was not fair 0:11:15.280 --> 0:11:18.840 that Microsoft only had a strangle hold on the operating 0:11:18.840 --> 0:11:22.240 system market, but also the applications market. Well, if and 0:11:22.280 --> 0:11:24.440 if you don't believe us, there were there are things 0:11:24.480 --> 0:11:27.880 that were essentially speed bumps for Microsoft to get where 0:11:27.880 --> 0:11:31.640 it is today. And those things are called word Perfect 0:11:32.320 --> 0:11:41.080 and one two, three, Lotuses and uh, Netscape and these 0:11:41.120 --> 0:11:44.880 these companies. Again, if you're younger and are not familiar 0:11:44.960 --> 0:11:47.520 with these companies, they were huge in their individual markets. 0:11:47.559 --> 0:11:50.120 But as soon as Microsoft came out with a competitor 0:11:50.840 --> 0:11:54.480 UM and the more integrated the operating system became, and it, 0:11:55.200 --> 0:11:58.040 you know, had leverage over the other Our people who 0:11:58.080 --> 0:12:01.040 really didn't want to go looking for other stuff and 0:12:01.480 --> 0:12:04.319 face it work creatures of convenience. Yeah, and you think 0:12:04.320 --> 0:12:07.040 about it, the operating system. They could design the operations 0:12:07.200 --> 0:12:10.680 system to work so well with these applications and have 0:12:10.760 --> 0:12:13.960 these applications work so well with each other so well 0:12:14.000 --> 0:12:16.360 being a relative term, I mean, if you've used word 0:12:16.440 --> 0:12:18.680 and tried to import stuff from power Point or excel. 0:12:18.760 --> 0:12:24.320 You might disagree, but in general, working really well together. Uh, 0:12:24.559 --> 0:12:26.440 you can see where that would seem like a completely 0:12:26.520 --> 0:12:31.680 unfair advantage, because they can build everything so that their 0:12:31.720 --> 0:12:34.800 programs work flawlessly. And not only that, but there were 0:12:34.880 --> 0:12:38.880 allegations every now and then that Microsoft was going to 0:12:38.960 --> 0:12:43.440 great links to build in systems that would hamper other 0:12:43.559 --> 0:12:47.000 programs so they wouldn't run as well on Windows. Um, 0:12:47.480 --> 0:12:51.240 I've I've heard conspiracy theorists say that they that Microsoft 0:12:51.320 --> 0:12:55.760 actually built the I T industry on purpose. Um, you know, right, 0:12:55.880 --> 0:13:00.720 fostering Windows certification programs by having so much buggy software. Yeah, 0:13:00.720 --> 0:13:03.120 people who bought the first part part of Wisdom might 0:13:03.160 --> 0:13:06.440 agree with you. Yeah, okay, So moving on. So anyway, 0:13:06.440 --> 0:13:09.120 so Gates. Gates is in the lead here, and as 0:13:09.400 --> 0:13:12.240 Poulette pointed out, he was moving on into a more 0:13:12.280 --> 0:13:15.640 administrative role, although he was still the chief software architect 0:13:15.960 --> 0:13:19.040 for Microsoft for for many more years. But I'd like 0:13:19.080 --> 0:13:21.240 to point out to all those people who said that 0:13:21.880 --> 0:13:24.480 people shouldn't pick on Bill Gates because he wrote Windows. 0:13:24.880 --> 0:13:26.720 He didn't write Windows. No, he did not. He did 0:13:26.720 --> 0:13:28.760 not write Windows. He was very good at championing it. 0:13:29.280 --> 0:13:33.839 Oh sure, he's outstanding. It at basically everything he's done, 0:13:33.960 --> 0:13:37.160 he's you know, gone from the software programmer to you know, 0:13:37.200 --> 0:13:42.800 an administrator to a marketing genius. Except for Seinfeld's good buddy, 0:13:42.960 --> 0:13:45.760 I was gonna say, taking a shower in his shoes, 0:13:46.240 --> 0:13:48.800 trying to soften him up. They run tight, Yeah they do. 0:13:49.240 --> 0:13:53.040 The punky's the doors. Um, but yeah, I mean, it's 0:13:53.040 --> 0:13:57.240 it's obvious the the effect that he he and his company. Um. 0:13:57.280 --> 0:13:59.280 Of course, he wouldn't have been able to do this 0:13:59.320 --> 0:14:02.960 without thousands and thousands of extremely talented people, but he 0:14:03.000 --> 0:14:07.520 built that company with some pretty amazing mind. And here's 0:14:07.559 --> 0:14:10.160 an interesting point I wanted to bring up now. Of course, 0:14:10.200 --> 0:14:12.440 we talked about Jobs last week, and we're talking about 0:14:12.440 --> 0:14:14.560 Gates now. One of the things I wanted to point 0:14:14.559 --> 0:14:17.000 out as a difference between the two is that, in 0:14:17.000 --> 0:14:19.440 a way, you could say that Jobs created a company 0:14:19.480 --> 0:14:22.680 that almost revolves around him at this point, like if 0:14:22.760 --> 0:14:25.640 Jobs were to leave the company or something were to 0:14:25.680 --> 0:14:29.200 happen to him, you would see the shares drop pretty dramatically, 0:14:29.400 --> 0:14:33.800 most people think. Anyway. Gates, however, created a company and then, 0:14:35.120 --> 0:14:38.320 according to people within Microsoft, tried to build a company 0:14:38.360 --> 0:14:42.760 that could continue and be successful even without his direct influence. 0:14:43.400 --> 0:14:47.800 So in a way, Jobs created a cult and Gates 0:14:47.840 --> 0:14:51.600 created a company. Right, So that's kind of an interesting thing. 0:14:51.640 --> 0:14:55.160 And here's another thing that I should point out. He 0:14:55.320 --> 0:14:58.640 had a style that was very much like Jobs style 0:14:58.840 --> 0:15:03.400 in the sense that he had extremely high uh expectations 0:15:03.560 --> 0:15:06.920 for everyone who worked for him, and he was not 0:15:07.080 --> 0:15:09.680 shy about pointing it out when you failed to meet 0:15:09.720 --> 0:15:13.880 those expectations. And there are several reports that came out 0:15:13.920 --> 0:15:17.760 of Microsoft from former workers who said that Gates doesn't 0:15:17.800 --> 0:15:22.040 tend to dole out positive reinforcement that often, but he 0:15:22.080 --> 0:15:24.800 will be very quick to point out when he thinks 0:15:24.960 --> 0:15:29.120 you're not doing the right thing. Um. And someone else 0:15:29.120 --> 0:15:32.440 pointed out they said, if Gates argues with you, that's 0:15:32.440 --> 0:15:34.840 not a bad thing because it means that he cares. 0:15:35.200 --> 0:15:37.920 It's when Gates doesn't talk to you, it doesn't bring 0:15:37.960 --> 0:15:41.440 anything up that you need to start worrying. Right. So 0:15:41.560 --> 0:15:46.360 I'm like, well, wow, uh, scary guy. The word that 0:15:46.440 --> 0:15:51.600 most people use is intense. Yeah. Yeah. Nonetheless, Microsoft does 0:15:51.640 --> 0:15:54.600 have a reputation of taking pretty good care of its employees, 0:15:54.760 --> 0:15:57.440 and it's a you know, got a reputation for being 0:15:57.440 --> 0:16:00.240 a very good place to work place where people have 0:16:00.720 --> 0:16:04.760 been able to do um to try new projects and things. 0:16:04.840 --> 0:16:07.840 Not maybe on the same uh in the same way 0:16:07.840 --> 0:16:11.440 that Google has, but I think Microsoft is directly responsible 0:16:11.480 --> 0:16:16.680 for a lot of the office atmospheres like Google definitely, 0:16:16.720 --> 0:16:18.680 because people were willing to take a chance on the 0:16:18.760 --> 0:16:22.320 you know what happens if we nurture our employees. One 0:16:22.360 --> 0:16:24.800 of the things Gates discovered was that, I mean, he 0:16:24.840 --> 0:16:27.400 was thinking back to his college environment, and it was 0:16:27.440 --> 0:16:31.040 that if you have all the things that you enjoy 0:16:31.160 --> 0:16:33.400 when you're of you know, the early twenties or whatever 0:16:33.440 --> 0:16:36.840 around you at work, you're less likely to want to 0:16:36.880 --> 0:16:38.400 go home at the end of the day. You may 0:16:38.440 --> 0:16:40.440 just stick around and do a couple more hours of 0:16:40.480 --> 0:16:43.000 coding because you know, you've got some fun stuff around 0:16:43.000 --> 0:16:45.920 the office to keep you, you know, distracted and once 0:16:45.960 --> 0:16:48.360 in a while so you don't get totally burned out. So, 0:16:48.480 --> 0:16:50.840 you know, Microsoft, on the early days, I had like 0:16:50.840 --> 0:16:54.560 pinball machines and stuff in the office, and sure enough 0:16:54.640 --> 0:16:57.000 it worked. I mean, he had coders who would work 0:16:57.920 --> 0:17:01.760 insane number of hours each week and they didn't mind 0:17:01.840 --> 0:17:03.760 the fact that they weren't going home. Most of them 0:17:03.800 --> 0:17:06.520 didn't have really any families at this point, they were young, 0:17:06.560 --> 0:17:08.960 they were just out of college. So this is the 0:17:09.000 --> 0:17:11.920 same sort of atmosphere you see companies like Google kind 0:17:11.920 --> 0:17:14.399 of promoting today. And part of it is, yeah, you're 0:17:14.480 --> 0:17:17.040 nurturing your employees. But another part of it is, this 0:17:17.119 --> 0:17:19.040 is a good way for us to get the absolute 0:17:19.080 --> 0:17:21.879 most out of the people who worked for us with 0:17:22.000 --> 0:17:27.280 just some simple investments. Well that's true, and I I 0:17:27.720 --> 0:17:29.760 want to say to that for the longest time, I'll 0:17:29.760 --> 0:17:32.760 admit this, you know, especially as a Mac person. Um 0:17:32.800 --> 0:17:36.000 and someone who only has used Windows computers, or at 0:17:36.080 --> 0:17:39.639 least primarily has used Windows computers at work. So a 0:17:39.680 --> 0:17:43.000 member of the cult. Yeah, um. And I was a 0:17:43.040 --> 0:17:46.920 member of another cult before that called the Amigans. Um. 0:17:47.080 --> 0:17:50.199 But you know, I think a lot of people for 0:17:50.240 --> 0:17:52.600 a long time had this impression that that Bill Gates, 0:17:52.680 --> 0:17:55.240 especially with the company being as monolithic as it is 0:17:55.280 --> 0:17:58.560 in the industry. Um, the Bill Gates is this really tough? 0:17:58.960 --> 0:18:02.720 You know, very he stayed buttoned up kind of guy. 0:18:02.840 --> 0:18:05.240 And as it turns out, he's got a lot of 0:18:05.240 --> 0:18:08.439 other interests and a lot of u he cares for 0:18:08.480 --> 0:18:11.199 other people too. I didn't realize until I started doing 0:18:11.240 --> 0:18:14.320 the research on this that he founded Corbus, the stock 0:18:14.359 --> 0:18:17.679 photography company and still has a hand in it. So 0:18:17.680 --> 0:18:21.360 he's a you know, a photography enthusiast. Um. And of 0:18:21.400 --> 0:18:24.960 course he's a philanthropist too, on his scale that most 0:18:25.000 --> 0:18:29.640 philanthropists never even touched yet, it's beyond even the Ted 0:18:29.720 --> 0:18:33.360 Turner level. It's, uh, it's pretty impressive. Yeah, he founded 0:18:33.359 --> 0:18:36.880 the the well there's the Bill and co founded the 0:18:36.880 --> 0:18:39.959 Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Yes, Melinda French was an 0:18:39.960 --> 0:18:44.080 employee of Microsoft and they were married on January one 0:18:45.480 --> 0:18:49.199 and have three kids. Um, and that's that's something. You know, 0:18:49.280 --> 0:18:52.600 he's a family guy. But you know, Bill and Melinda 0:18:52.680 --> 0:18:56.760 together founded this foundation and and it's all about investing 0:18:57.000 --> 0:19:02.159 in uh ways to improve hell worldwide. So they're not 0:19:02.200 --> 0:19:05.400 focusing on just one community or anything like that. They 0:19:05.960 --> 0:19:11.120 have a genuine desire to promote health across the entire world. 0:19:11.160 --> 0:19:13.600 I mean that's a very noble pursuit. And and the 0:19:13.640 --> 0:19:16.560 fact that he's he's pouring billions of dollars into this, 0:19:16.600 --> 0:19:19.399 I mean, it's there was a one interview where he 0:19:19.720 --> 0:19:22.720 said he gave thirty six billion dollars to the foundation. 0:19:22.800 --> 0:19:26.880 That's I can't even imagine that much money. I can't 0:19:26.880 --> 0:19:30.640 imagine one billion, let alone thirty six. Yeah. Yeah, that's 0:19:30.640 --> 0:19:34.000 actually more money than the auto manufacturers we're asking for 0:19:34.240 --> 0:19:38.719 as a group, um from the government. UM. But they 0:19:38.760 --> 0:19:41.800 also are involved in educational pursuits as well. They have 0:19:41.880 --> 0:19:45.600 donated a lot of computers and software to schools that 0:19:45.680 --> 0:19:50.439 are underserved by computer technology. UM. And they are interested 0:19:50.480 --> 0:19:52.480 in solving actually the sort of a merger in between. 0:19:52.480 --> 0:19:55.480 They're interested in solving a lot of these problems, medical 0:19:55.480 --> 0:19:59.359 problems with technology, finding technological means to to solve some 0:19:59.400 --> 0:20:03.240 of these problems. So it's uh, pretty amazing some of 0:20:03.240 --> 0:20:05.359 the stuff he's done. And and you know, of course 0:20:05.400 --> 0:20:08.679 he's had to scale back on his work at Microsoft. Yeah. 0:20:08.800 --> 0:20:12.160 In fact, he's he's in two thousand and six. Uh 0:20:12.240 --> 0:20:15.720 he named Ray Ozzy as the new Chief Software Architect, 0:20:16.200 --> 0:20:18.800 which was kind of the beginning of his transitioning away 0:20:18.840 --> 0:20:23.119 from Microsoft in a in a lead role. UM. Steve Balmer, 0:20:23.160 --> 0:20:26.480 who we mentioned way early in the podcast, He's developers, 0:20:27.200 --> 0:20:32.520 he's the new CEO UM and Gates is still the chairman, sure, 0:20:33.160 --> 0:20:36.680 but he has, uh, he he's he's decided to scale 0:20:36.720 --> 0:20:38.960 down his work at Microsoft. He's probably only putting in 0:20:39.000 --> 0:20:41.600 maybe forty hour weeks now has to have like the 0:20:41.680 --> 0:20:43.920 ninety hour weeks he used to do. UM. So, yeah, 0:20:43.920 --> 0:20:47.080 it was June two thousand eight that he transitioned out 0:20:47.200 --> 0:20:50.040 of being the the head of the company at that 0:20:50.080 --> 0:20:52.879 point and to focus more upon the foundation and his 0:20:52.960 --> 0:20:59.120 other philanthropic pursuits. UM. I actually saw his final keynote 0:20:59.160 --> 0:21:02.920 address at ES last year and it was very entertaining. 0:21:02.960 --> 0:21:06.120 They had a full video about what gates Is last 0:21:06.200 --> 0:21:09.000 day would probably be like and what his retirement would 0:21:09.000 --> 0:21:11.359 be like, and it involved him calling up lots of 0:21:11.359 --> 0:21:14.000 celebrities and giving them advice that they did not want 0:21:14.040 --> 0:21:18.280 nor need. And Jerry Seinfeld was in it. There's the 0:21:18.280 --> 0:21:20.800 big surprise. So that's the other thing is that the 0:21:20.880 --> 0:21:23.520 Gates seems to have a real sense of humor about himself, 0:21:23.640 --> 0:21:27.879 especially now. I mean maybe if you maybe if you 0:21:27.920 --> 0:21:30.840 went back to the nineteen eighties Gates he would have 0:21:30.880 --> 0:21:35.440 been a little more focused and intense, But these days 0:21:35.440 --> 0:21:38.359 he's really willing to poke fun at himself in various ways, 0:21:38.440 --> 0:21:40.639 and which is very clear from that video and from 0:21:40.680 --> 0:21:43.800 the Jerry Seinfeld commercials where uh, it didn't seem to 0:21:43.800 --> 0:21:47.600 be promoting anything at all really because these odd commercials 0:21:47.600 --> 0:21:50.679 that didn't really go anywhere and they weren't promoting anything 0:21:50.680 --> 0:21:53.480 at the time. Let's kind of take the sting out 0:21:53.520 --> 0:21:58.080 of uh A an issue that people had with Windows Vista, 0:21:58.640 --> 0:22:01.320 which of course was one of the the latest versions 0:22:01.320 --> 0:22:03.800 of the Windows operating system. A lot of people considered 0:22:03.840 --> 0:22:07.919 it to be inferior because early on there were several 0:22:07.960 --> 0:22:12.000 issues with Windows Vista. People were having problems with it crashing, 0:22:12.600 --> 0:22:15.679 um it wasn't there were some security issues. It got 0:22:15.720 --> 0:22:17.840 a lot of bad press, and because of that, a 0:22:17.840 --> 0:22:19.879 lot of the enterprise systems, you know, a lot of 0:22:19.880 --> 0:22:24.320 the businesses decided to hold off on adopting Windows Vista, 0:22:24.680 --> 0:22:27.640 and they stuck around with like Windows XP or one 0:22:27.640 --> 0:22:30.720 of the other forms of Windows rather than upgrading to 0:22:30.760 --> 0:22:35.840 the latest version. And uh so that's kind of what's 0:22:35.840 --> 0:22:39.080 interesting now is that Windows seven is already coming out 0:22:39.160 --> 0:22:42.040 and like next year, I think it's supposed to be 0:22:42.119 --> 0:22:44.439 December two thousand nine, so maybe not two thousand ten 0:22:44.600 --> 0:22:47.680 just yet, but maybe this year by the time you're 0:22:47.680 --> 0:22:51.040 listening to this, right, well, and uh but yeah, so 0:22:52.040 --> 0:22:55.760 Windows seven coming out that that quickly because Vista hasn't 0:22:55.800 --> 0:22:57.399 been out that long I mean, usually you've got a 0:22:57.400 --> 0:23:00.520 few years between between versions we have, you know, Windows 0:23:00.560 --> 0:23:06.520 ninety five, Windows ninety eight. But apparently even even Bill 0:23:06.560 --> 0:23:10.760 Gates occasionally lets people know when he thinks his product, 0:23:10.840 --> 0:23:14.680 the products Microsoft releases are not up to snuff. He's 0:23:14.720 --> 0:23:19.679