Is it just me, or does it really seem like the money/resources BillG is donating now is kind of like, oh, blood money?
Mind you, I don't begrudge people of this world being helped, and I don't begrudge resources being made available to facilitate that end. However, I have no love for Bill, for what he's done, where he's gotten to, and ESPECIALLY how he's gotten there.
I think people are losing sight of the wisdom embodied in the notion that the ends do not justify the means.
I was irritated both by the interviewers (maybe Mossberg and whats-her-name can write articles, but they should NEVER be allowed to interview people -- especially together) and I was also irritated by the behavior of both Jobs and Gates. It was kind of irritating watching the two dancing around each other, trying not to step on any eggshells (sorry to mix metaphors), and generally acting like they were stroking each others' ... (well, I'll leave that bit for the rest of you to fill in).
There's two things I agree with Steve on. The first is that, by 1997, Apple was neither in a position to succeed by defeating Microsoft, nor were they in a position to cause Microsoft to fail.
The second thing was actually two separate bits that kind of went by almost under the radar. The first is that he said Japanese CE companies (read: Sony) can't do software worth a s___, and basically are lousy innovators. The second part is that you have to look forward, and not backward, and that's why amongst other things he got rid of the old Apple archives and gave them to Stanford U. Sony would do well to heed this advice and act similarly if they want to remain relevant in the marketplace.
Also, I don't know if anyone else here caught the subtext in the question raised by that Sony Pictures Entertainment dude's question to Steve that, in essence, "too much choice and options are a bad thing."
Everyone here seems to want to focus on Microsoft being the Evil Empire, and I'm not arguing that's a well-deserved title, but you folks are failing to pay any attention to Sony, which is an even larger evil empire. What was attempted to be legitimized here was that choice is bad, and that the public needs to be kept away from alternatives, and that they need to be spoon-fed (presumably by Sony and/or companies like Sony) what is good for them.
This is soooooooo typical of Sony's mentality and core to their being and straight out of their playbook that it isn't funny. And maybe some of you folks here will read what I've just written and laugh and dismiss it, but I'm telling you we all need to start paying real close attention to what Sony is really doing, especially in the entertainment world.
But the fact that someone at Sony actually had the cojones to try (and fail) to get Steve and Bill to say that choice and alternatives are a bad thing should be setting off red flags everywhere in the community.
Props to Steve and Bill for NOT going along with Sony on that one.
