Why is Bill Gates the head of Microsoft? Can he write code, can he read a newspaper?

I guess it's time for him to get a Nobel Prize.

Just a rant, not science.

Take care. ----------------------

He stepped down awhile ago, hes still on the board but Steve Balmer I believe is now in charge.

Um, he started the company. He invented most of the technology that started Microsoft.

Gates modified code he purchased (from IBM I think) to make MS-DOS (Dirty Operating System).

From there he had enough cash to employ coders so he could concentrate on running M$.

That isn't accurate......After some checking

en.wikipedia.org...

reply to post by OccamAssassin

Windows

Windows 95/98, (n): 32 bit extension and a graphical shell for a 16 bit patch to an 8 bit operating system originally coded for a 4 bit microprossessor, written by a 2 bit company that can't stand 1 bit of competition.

Source

Yes apparently he's actually a fairly decent coder and had alot of coding jobs early in his life. He wrote most of the runtime for Altair BASIC. The entire interpreter fits into 4K which takes some skill.

For the most part though his success more comes down to being ruthless and in the right place at the right time. "Buy and integrate" or "Buy and extinguish" has pretty much been the Microsoft motto since day dot. They buy good technologies, re-badge them and sell them off, or they buy then "accidentally mis-manage them on purpose" to kill off potential competition.

Outside of Microsoft he's actually done alot to try make the world a better place (most obvious example being the Bill/Melinda Gates Foundation). When you're as rich as he is I guess throwing a few million at charities is like giving away pocket change.

reply to post by wonhunlo


BTW, IMO this is the worst rant I've every read, you owe me 30sec of my life back, and after reading your violation of T&C rules, I think you may not be able to read anything.

Your thread reminds me of "I saw bigfoot!!"

POST: He was in my backyard, any thoughts members??

Good luck in wasting of space where others try to fill will denying ignorance and give good info

Microsoft is something that changed the world radically.
I mean, I remember when I was 7yrs old, 486SX 33mhz PC running MS-Dos..
Man it was fun, its the only reason I can type 120wpm.
Then came 3.1, 95, 98...

Think of the world in 1992, think of the daily lives of people in the office, multimedia, movies, jobs.. Computers were around for a while but Microsoft revolutionized them and made today's world the technologically advanced era.

So he stepped on some toes, what rich CEO hasnt..

I never saw bill gates wearing million dollar bling or driving stupidly fast cars to parties and doing blow..

sounds to me like your just jealous .. I know I am!

It's funny... When I was a kid, 12-13 years old, and I had a PC (after years of having a range of computers from the Sharp MZ-700, C64, C128, Tandy (various)) it was me and my mate who were consider nerds.. Geeks... I'd get hassled by my relatives who'd try to call and find the phone tied up for hours and hours on end as I logged onto BBS's and posted on SIG's and retrieved mail and posts from fidonet...

And yet, if you think about it... the most ruthless business people come from that very same type of background... the entire deal with Steve Wozniak, apple, billy boy and M$, etc, cut throat business from making your own PC out of leds and peizos with switches, to stealing code and distributing it (Wozniak was big on pirating at the time)..

Now look at the likes of Zuckerberg (He's a real swine if you ask me, but now a very rich one)... Google... They're all ruthless. It's all about profit, innovation is just a side effect of making it.

Nerds... Haha... it's not funny when you're the one who ends up dead from alcoholism in a hotel, unknown, unremembered except by hookers, and yet were once the creator of software that is taken fro granted now.

en.wikipedia.org... -- rip pkzip lol

Bill Gates is a cutthroat lying, thieving manipulator. He used Steve Jobs, he used IBM and he basically 'stole' the DOS code, he stole the idea for a graphical user interface...

Pirates of Silicon Valley is a great place to start understanding what Bill Gates is. The entry in Wiki states:

the personalities were very accurately portrayed.

Businessweek Magazine did a piece on Gary Kildall when his book was published.

"We're trying to set the record straight. Gates didn't invent the PC operating system, and any history that says he did is wrong."

The truth is very ugly. Old Bill is one of the most dishonest people in the world and deserves nothing.

reply to post by AK907ICECOLD

BTW, IMO this is the worst rant I've every read, you owe me 30sec of my life back, and after reading your violation of T&C rules, I think you may not be able to read anything.

Mate, if you took 30 sec, to read three lines, then there must be something wrong.

vvv

Way back in the beginning, Billy boy used to actually answer the phone and take orders. Try that now.

I never considered Gates as a computer genius. I doubt anyone knowledgable in the field does. However, he is considered a marketing genius. That is why MS was so successful. He was able to market his O/S better than Apple.

Originally posted by LordGoofus
Yes apparently he's actually a fairly decent coder and had alot of coding jobs early in his life. He wrote most of the runtime for Altair BASIC. The entire interpreter fits into 4K which takes some skill.

For the most part though his success more comes down to being ruthless and in the right place at the right time. "Buy and integrate" or "Buy and extinguish" has pretty much been the Microsoft motto since day dot. They buy good technologies, re-badge them and sell them off, or they buy then "accidentally mis-manage them on purpose" to kill off potential competition.

Outside of Microsoft he's actually done alot to try make the world a better place (most obvious example being the Bill/Melinda Gates Foundation). When you're as rich as he is I guess throwing a few million at charities is like giving away pocket change.

I do not disslike him as much as I did before. Whatever he has done competition wise Microsoft producs works quite well most of the time but I would say Microsoft is a group effort and it do not matter how much money he gets. He will not be able to bring it with him when he dies. And face it the competition would probably not do anything good with the money. At least Bill uses his money for good also.

Originally posted by OccamAssassin
Gates modified code he purchased (from IBM I think) to make MS-DOS (Dirty Operating System).

From there he had enough cash to employ coders so he could concentrate on running M$.

That isn't accurate......After some checking

en.wikipedia.org...

edit on 23/4/2012 by OccamAssassin because: (no reason given)

I always believed he didn't write any code.... that he was just in the right place at the right time and knew the right people and introduced IBM to DOS then collaborated so that DOS was (exclusively) included on all IBM systems...... windows would come much later...

I could be wrong, let me go read that link...

I'm pretty close

Bill Gates is a cut throat marketing genius. Even if he did miss the growth of the internet.

He made most of his money from licensing.

His vision was a personal computer in every home.

He also - most likely is a mild Aspergers - which helps him focus on a single goal.

He's also very intelligent.

Originally posted by LordGoofus
Outside of Microsoft he's actually done alot to try make the world a better place (most obvious example being the Bill/Melinda Gates Foundation). When you're as rich as he is I guess throwing a few million at charities is like giving away pocket change.

It's not just "a few million" Gates is giving away most of his fortune. In 2010 the foundation has 36 billion in assets. This is about half his worth of $60 billion, and he keeps giving money to the foundation every year. Gates is the second most generous philanthropist in America and plans to give away 95% of his fortune.

Edit to add: Yes, Gates is an expert programmer, known for legendary overnight programminmg stints. Microsoft's acquisition of Seattle-DOS was the basis for MS-DOS. This deal was negotiated by Paul Allen, not Bill Gates.