I’m a bit late on this, but whatever. He we go.
On the morning of Vista’s launch, Bill Gates sat down with Newsweek’s Steven Levy for an interview. This is an interesting piece on a few levels:
- Gates is in rare form. He’s either crazy, angry or both.
- He’s more or less full of shit on several points.
- He makes it painfully clear that he’s sick of hearing about Apple.
Let me analyze some of the more curious quotes for you, although by all means you should read the full article yourself.
Levy: Are you bugged by the Apple commercial where John Hodgman is the PC, and he has to undergo surgery to get Vista?
Gates: I’ve never seen it. I don’t think the over 90 percent of the [population] who use Windows PCs think of themselves as dullards, or the kind of klutzes that somebody is trying to say they are.
Horseshit. Gates has seen these commercials. In fact, Gates and his team follow Apple’s OS and technology very closely, as the Iowa antitrust lawsuit is teaching us. To not see the “Get a Mac” ads is to not watch any TV at all, and I don’t buy that a technophile like Gates isn’t staring at a 70-inch plasma at least some of the time.
Levy: How about the implication that you need surgery to upgrade?
Gates: Well, certainly we’ve done a better job letting you upgrade on the hardware than our competitors have done…And I don’t know why [Apple is] acting like it’s superior. I don’t even get it. What are they trying to say? Does honesty matter in these things, or if you’re really cool, that means you get to be a lying person whenever you feel like it? There’s not even the slightest shred of truth to it.
Aside from slipping into a minor tantrum, Gates is straight-away dead wrong: yes, you can upgrade a machine to get Vista, but how many are really going to do that? We’re not talking just a graphics card to use Vista, but more likely more RAM, a bigger HD, better CPU and a stronger GPU. That’s surgery, kids. So yes you can upgrade — if you feel like gutting your machine. At what point does it become more cost-effective to just buy a new machine? Hint: pretty early on.
The overall point remains this: if you want to use Vista, you’re going to need modern harware muscle. Contrary to what Apple does with OSX, Windows continues its legacy of getting heavier and slower on a given baseline of hardware, not faster. You want to gut a machine? Have at it. But for most, they’ll be looking at buying a new PC, and that’s exactly what the OEM boxmakers are counting on.
Levy: In many of the Vista reviews, even the positive ones, people note that some Vista features are already in the Mac operating system.
Gates: You can go through and look at who showed any of these things first, if you care about the facts. If you just want to say, “Steve Jobs invented the world, and then the rest of us came along,” that’s fine.
It’s rare to see Gates stoop to this level. That’s frustration talking.
From the same question by Levy:
Gates: Nowadays, security guys break the Mac every single day. Every single day, they come out with a total exploit, your machine can be taken over totally. I dare anybody to do that once a month on the Windows machine.
Anyone who knows anything about the security record of OSX has two responses for this: “Wrong” and “OK.” Not real smart for Gates to throw down the security gauntlet as it relates to Windows. More power to him if Vista holds up to the beating it will certainly take, but somehow I doubt it will.
Meanwhile, there are no dangerous exploits in the wild for OSX.
Levy: So can you give us an indication of what the next Windows will be like?
Gates: Well, it will be more user-centric.
Now there’s a novel concept.
Overall, an interesting interview of an industry superstar who, if you read between the lines even a little, is feeling all sorts of pressure. It’s one thing to have Apple taking a lot of mindshare away from Vista right now, but it’s quite another to have Vista, your Apple-killer, getting such lukewarm reviews now that it’s in the public’s hands. What will Gates do when OSX Leopard is fully revealed and takes the industry by storm, just like Tiger did? Then what?
I leave you with this, which summarizes Gates’ rant more or less perfectly (click the link to see a much better full-size version).
Technorati Tags: windows, vista, microsoft, bill-gates, apple, osx, leopard, mac
31 responses so far ↓
James Fryer // February 9, 2007 at 1:16 pm |
Jeff,
I think a lot of people are reporting that the upgrade pain is not real, that Vista is not (much) more of a hog then XP. Sure you might have to turn off Aero, but I would anyway, it looks more distracting then pretty. On the other hand, I remember when I upgraded my G4 to 10.3, it booted FASTER then with 10.2 (same hardware). I thought I was crazy, but it did.
As for his assertion, “…security guys break the Mac every single day.” if that is true Bill, show me. That’s it, just show me.
Thanks for the comic, that is the funniest I have seen recently, but you should link to the full size as the shrunken version is barely legible. Or shrink the image before you post it, resizing with HTML is never a good idea.
Ron // February 9, 2007 at 1:47 pm |
I loved Gates line: “Nowadays, security guys break the Mac every single day. Every single day, they come out with a total exploit, your machine can be taken over totally.”
Every day? Wow. Every day since when exactly? Every day since OS X came out? My my. That’s what… 5 x 365 or thereabouts, or 1,825 exploits. Please name them. If the answer is every day since New Year’s, then okay, show me 40 total exploits to totally take over Mac OS X. If it’s the weasley “Month of Apple Bugs” 30 days, then please name just thirty bugs to totally take over a Mac.
But if Gates is saying “every single day” and he doesn’t even mean a month… well then…
But he should have been invited to back up his “every single day” line instead of having that one skate past.
You and I know it’s b.s. but there are loads of people out there who DON’T know it’s b.s., and they figure that if he got away with saying it, it must be true. And that’s just not right.
shelbycockrell // February 9, 2007 at 4:47 pm |
I like Bill Gates and I think that was a pretty good interview but.. wasn’t he a little pissy?
daveedave // February 9, 2007 at 7:04 pm |
I think Vista really is the best Windows yet and that Bill should just be saying thanks to Apple for the inspirational GUI design concepts that Vista has assimilated and get moving past all this Mac vs Microsoft crap. Is vanilla better than chocolate, or what? I imagine Bill was maybe just a little tired that day. I bet he’s got a pretty grueling schedule …
Installing Vista Business on a 2 year old laptop was a snap. As the install ran it reminded me of how Mac OS installs, with a minimum of dialogs. That’s a good thing. It settled in nicely, needing no drivers, giving me a month to activate, and though my laptop couldn’t support Aero, the new UI is SO spiffy. I believe that Microsoft really has put forth the effort on the users’ behalf. Thanks Bill.
Apple’s tacit claim in the funny commercials (gotta love that John Hodgman- he’s a riot!) that the PC needs surgery to tolerate Vista is not true, and Gates has every right to be pissy about that. But he really can afford to just ignore that crap. I still like the commercials, because they also poke fun at the whole Mic. vs Mac distractive debate. On another level it’s almost comforting to see the world’s wealthiest man fraying at the edges a bit, just like we would, returning crap for crap, as StrongBad would say …
Jason. // February 9, 2007 at 9:38 pm |
You missed the first two points completely. (Note: this is written by a mac fan-boy, so you know you screwed it when I’m defending bill gates.)
You say “Horseshit. Gates has seen these commercials.[...] To not see the “Get a Mac” ads is to not watch any TV at all…”
But Gates says “I’ve never seen it.” referencing the ad in the question about “undergoing surgery to upgrade to Vista”. He didn’t say he didn’t see *any* Mac-PC commericals, just not *this one*.
You say “Gates is straight-away dead wrong: yes, you can upgrade a machine to get Vista, but how many are really going to do that? [...] So yes you can upgrade — if you feel like gutting your machine.”
But Gates says “Well, certainly we’ve done a better job letting you upgrade *on the hardware* than our competitors have done”. (Emphasis mine.) He’s suggesting that you can more easily upgrade to Vista *on the hardware you have* that their competitors. In other words, you can run Vista on what you have, you don’t need to upgrade.
(The fact that he convienently leaves out the “but you’ll lose most of what makes Vista *Vista*” is secondary.)
Jeff Ventura // February 9, 2007 at 10:48 pm |
Jason — OK, if you want to be pedantic, you can run Vista, hobbled in terms of GUI, on older hardware. But then you’re missing something OSX gives you by default, and let’s face it: Vista’s standard skin isn’t terribly pretty and it’s light years away from OSX’s Aqua.
Once you do this, you’re missing out on the modernity that Vista claims to bring to the OS table.
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daveedave // February 10, 2007 at 9:31 am |
Yes, Aero is light years away from Aqua, but Apple has always led the way with elegant design. It’s just comforting to see in Vista an attempt to emulate the simple beauty of the Mac OS! And intended or not, Vista is a very sincere attempt at this. Dare not one Microserf to ever think it, say it, or feel it, not even Vader himself (great cartoon BTW). But Vista and Tiger have too many similar design features to be coincidental. In the 5 years of development SOMEONE must have noticed, at SOME point … “Hey guys, look at these little flippy triangle thingies to open folders- cool! We gotta use those too. And that spinny beach ball! Let’s have a spinning thingy too, that hourglass just pisses users off!” …
IMHO: The Mac vs. Mic debate is just a distraction. It’s like asking which is better, Chevy or. Toyota, when we should be asking why our cars must suck gas, rust out, and befoul our air? As to what Mic vs. Mac debate is a distratction FROM, I don’t really know yet. Any ideas?
billcoley // February 10, 2007 at 12:04 pm |
YAAAWWWN !! Get a life guys! Jeez
the finance ninja // February 10, 2007 at 3:38 pm |
Dude. Your blog was really good. I liked the comic strip and commentary on questions. Very funny. I’ve invested in both companies.
drmike // February 10, 2007 at 3:45 pm |
It’s too bad the interviewer didn’t ask Gates about all of the open Security issues that Windows have and have had for years.
OS X Tiger took the industry by storm??? « Robitaille’s Blog // February 10, 2007 at 6:16 pm |
[...] 10th, 2007 I was reading this after afternoon this blog post titled “In Vista’s Big Moment, Bill Gates Loses His Mind” and the author had some very interesting point about an interview Bill Gates did recently in [...]
michaelsanford // February 10, 2007 at 9:03 pm |
I absolutely loved this post, and the comic at the end sinched it nicely. I must say, though, from the point of objectivity that you have presented many sides of the argument, and still, we come to this. Too bad for Vista !
PS Like the new theme.
Jeff Ventura // February 10, 2007 at 9:13 pm |
Sanford — like the theme? Better than the old? I’m torn.
pcrudy // February 10, 2007 at 10:12 pm |
bill gates is right. mac has less than 5 per cent of the market and will never achieve much more than that. furthermore, hundreds of millions of people will undergo the surgery and eventually update to vista, especially if you want to be productive in the global economy. if you want a mac, don’t waste your money – get a hold of an old pentium 3 and load ubuntu or similar distro of linux. as for security, macs (and linux) are far more vulnerable to attacks, only no one wants to waste their time attacking them since (a) if you are a thief you want to go after hundreds of millions of potential victims and (b) you won’t get noticed (i.e no one will bother to report it) if you break into a mac. i know several mac users and experts (who are well versed in windows as well) that can break into any mac any time they want.
Tim // February 10, 2007 at 10:34 pm |
P Crudy (not sure if that nickname was intentional or not), but items (B) and (C) are clearly not defensible.
(B) won’t get noticed? What planet are you on? After all the crap that Mac users have given PC users over the years about security vulnerabilities, Bill G would probably send you a check in the mail for rubbing the evidence in the face of Jobs. Won’t get noticed? Hardly.
(C) Care to share some evidence? The month of mac bugs hardly qualifies. I have a Mac. Can he break into mine? What does he need me to do… move it outside of my NAT-protected LAN? Download some stupid code? Fall for a phishing attack? Come on… share. – Tim
Jeff Ventura // February 10, 2007 at 10:48 pm |
pcrudy — I know a guy who’s made of cheese who can fly and shoot missiles from his fingers that turn into kittens in mid-air that find their target and pee all over it. They also hum the theme to American Idol.
Evidence? No, don’t have any of that, but trust me. Really.
How about you give me a slightest shred of data that shows how “mac users” and “experts” can break into a Mac any time they way. Go ahead. I’ll wait right here.
With loudmouthed jerks out there like me saying that Apple’s exploit record is flawless — and with Mac marketshare increasing and OSX getting all the raves these days — you’d think at least ONE of your “experts” would take a quick second out of his busy day to break into a Mac, yes?
Then why hasn’t it happened even once?
tunegardener // February 11, 2007 at 1:49 am |
The upgrade point is a significant one. Consider my situation: I have a 1999 G3 iMac running the very latest Tiger Server beautifully, albeit without core graphics due to its video card. It’s had Jaguar, Panther and Tiger installed and got a little faster each time. That’s an astounding fact. I wonder if Vista could run on a 1999 PC?
spvn // February 11, 2007 at 7:10 am |
haha. this is totally hilarious. especially the “They fine exploits for Mac OS X everyday!!!” part. Classic.
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subnetmask255x4 // February 11, 2007 at 12:33 pm |
I have had my own fun with this over at:
http://subnetmask255×4.wordpress.com/2007/02/11/what-bill-gates-was-really-saying-about-vista-and-apple/
Hope you enjoy.
subnetmask255x4 // February 11, 2007 at 3:38 pm |
Let me fix that link:
http://subnetmask255×4.wordpress.com/2007/02/11/what-bill-gates-was-really-saying-about-vista-and-apple/
Sorry about that.
subnetmask255x4 // February 11, 2007 at 3:43 pm |
Sorry about those links. (I hope that admin of this site deletes the duplicate posts).
Seems the comment thingy keeps changing the x to a different ASCII character for multiplication. Therefore, the links won’t work, and I can not think of a way to fix them. Just go to my page, then click posts to find it.
Sorry.
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Chris mankey // April 14, 2007 at 2:34 pm |
macs (and linux) are far more vulnerable to attacks, only no one wants to waste their time attacking them since (
Yeah, My linux box is SO insecure! It’s spewing tons of spam as we speak and is currently being use in denial of service attack! Yep! I’ll never down load z-ubuntu again! Whatever!
mikelypp // May 3, 2007 at 9:08 pm |
I am disturbed at the apparent misconception that a mac is insecure. I find it hard to believe that the British secret service would praise FreeBSD 5.x as being the most secure OS available, which happens to be the core OS that Darwin has evolved from. I am a FreeBSD user and administrator. Network/WWW sevices at work and personal file sharing at home with Apache and Samba. Watching the network traffic with a sniffer I see tons of idle chit-chat from all of the Windows machines and the rare blip from the UNIX machines. I would possibly see OS-X being vulnerable, as any OS is, but the 1st thing is finding a machine on the network. You can’t steal a car that you can’t find. MS-OSs just shout and announce and ack and stat all day long, it’s absurd to watch. Turn off file sharing and turn on the OS-X firewall (IPFW) and good luck finding it to break into it.
mikelypp // May 3, 2007 at 9:10 pm |
I have to add however, MS Server 2003 is a great OS.
bruce // July 17, 2007 at 8:18 pm |
Vista is the greatest version of System 7 Apple never made.
mikelypp // January 13, 2009 at 11:25 pm |
skip Vista altogether, just get an MSDN copy of Server 2008, remove all of the annoying “server type” behavior in GP snap-in and enjoy for a change.