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D5 Gates Jobs Interview

This has been out since May, but I would like to direct your attention to it. I thought it was a great interview. Heck, anytime you get Bill Gates and Steve Jobs TOGETHER on a stage, it's going to be a great interview.

http://d5.allthingsd.com/20070530/d5-gates-jobs-interview/

I really liked listening to how these two men interact and answer questions; it's apparent that they are very different in their philosophies, and perhaps aesthetics, but they do share some common ground. From listening to them, one can gauge each individual's strengths and weaknesses, and it's interesting to see how their character has directly impacted their companies, Microsoft and Apple. One thing is apparent though, and that is they both have a deep respect for each other despite the differences.

I can also see how Bill Gate's has in many ways, been the more successful businessman because of who he is. Microsoft is without doubt the bigger company. Gates has a strong personality like Job's, but he's not as picky about the style. His choice to allow the software on whatever platform was crucial, whereas Jobs inability, early on, to work well with others was fatal. This allowed Microsoft to grow rapidly with the cheap PC, and on the other hand, Apple's fortunes dwindled. Nonetheless, I think Jobs attention to aesthetics has paid off, at least in the iMac (which I'm typing this post with) and iPod. But I don't agree that the future is mostly in the post-pc items. Sure there will be plenty of opportunities to make a lot of money with portable hand-held devices, and Apple will be there to do so (I'd buy most of their products cause they are just so cool) but I agree with Gates that given their small screen size, it's no substitute for a desktop, or some kind of home computer, with a large screen. Given Gates understanding of how things will evolve, I definitely expect to still see Microsoft's dominance of the industry for some time.

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