Bill Gates Says His Preference for Android Over iPhone is Due to Pre-Installed Software

[1258186]

That’s nowhere near the same assertion. They were bleeding money, yes, but Microsoft did not singlehandedly fix that.

If anything, MS’s commitment to releasing IE and Office mattered far more.

I don’t disagree with but it was Steve Jobs himself who said the money from Microsoft bought them time and cash flow. Had the colour iMac launch in 1998 been a failure then Apple would probably have gone bust anyway. I agree that guaranteeing Office and IE on the Mac helped because it allowed Apple to continue selling into the enterprise market.

If you lose your job and I pay your rent for a few months that stops you being evicted but it doesn’t necessarily solve the problem. It does however give you time to fix the problem by finding a new job.

 

[swm]

… well before you were born. one more point, Jobs was a boomer.

and so am i with my 47 years. i respect Gates for his achievements, but that argument on preibstalled software is pretty thin. he’d be the last person i’d assume to hang on to the basic (not intended) set of applications.

on the other hand fellow (real) boomers get alogh with the iphone far easier, than with the pretty much convoluted vendor specced android versions.

 

[chucker23n1]

I don’t disagree with but it was Steve Jobs himself who said the money from Microsoft bought them time and cash flow.

Except he did not say that.

Had the colour iMac launch in 1998 been a failure then Apple would probably have gone bust anyway.

That’s possible, yes. It’s kind of irrelevant to the question of whether $150M less was going to bankrupt Apple.

 

[Stella]

*YAWN* The co-founder of Apple's once biggest competition craps on Apple's iPhone.

Given that Microsoft lost the portable music, AND phone market to Apple (and others), I don't know why someone would be surprised that he wouldn't be a fan of the iPhone. I'd actually be surprised if he DID support them. It would take a 'bigger man' than him to embrace his once competitor.

This is kindergarten behaviour.

I would like to think that Bill Gates has probably been around long enough that he wouldn't get into such pettiness as you've described, and doesn't actually care anymore of Miicrosoft vs Apple. He quit his position at Microsoft to concentrate on his philanthropic work: there are things more important.

 

[Digital Dude]

Just found an old can of gasoline in the garage.🔥
I predict Microsoft will re-enter the phone market, and they will work with Google to blend Andriod into Windows. Oh wait, they already started.

Since some folks have skin that is about as thick as rice paper, yes, this is a joke —sorta.

 

[chabig]

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Apple_Inc.#Microsoft_deal

"The day before the announcement Apple had a market cap of $2.46 billion,[145] and had ended its previous quarter with quarterly revenues of US$1.7 billion and cash reserves of US$1.2 billion,[146] making the US$150 million amount of the investment largely symbolic."

 

[ErikGrim]

CNBC "Apple was in very serious trouble," said Jobs.

Apple needed the cash to stay afloat and launch new products such as the original colour iMac.

They were bleeding money, absolutely. They still even at that point had decades worth of cash reserves to float on.

 

[MHenr]

Nothing like an article with some Bill Gates in it to stir up decades of Apple vs. Windows discussions...

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

This is kindergarten behaviour.

I would like to think that Bill Gates has probably been around long enough that he wouldn't get into such pettiness as you've described, and doesn't actually care anymore of Miicrosoft vs Apple. He quit his position at Microsoft to concentrate on his philanthropic work: there are things more important.

I agree. He could have stayed out of this. Playing the 'company guy' harshens his image, to me at least. It was a 'kindergarten move'. What's next, him touting the Surface over all other tablets? Is Microsoft in such bad shape they need him to hawk their junk, and the droid phone system? I'd want to steer clear of droid devices now.

I wonder how his kiss of the droid ecosystem will play in the 'alternate universe' in this country. Could it be the 'kiss of death'? Stay tuned?

 

[cola79]

The only thing better about Android is that it is much better accessible for those with bad eyesight. You can make fonts bigger without losing the overall experience. When you do this in iOS, the usability gets broken, because the UI is too much about design and not that scalable like Android.

Specially in Safari it is really bad if you don't like nano fonts.

 

[1258186]

Except he did not say that.


That’s possible, yes. It’s kind of irrelevant to the question of whether $150M less was going to bankrupt Apple.

By the end of July 1997, Apple had less than 90 days of cash reserves left in the bank, and the company was worth less than $3 billion.

 

[1258186]

They were bleeding money, absolutely. They still even at that point had decades worth of cash reserves to float on.

By the end of July 1997, Apple had less than 90 days of cash reserves left in the bank, and the company was worth less than $3 billion.

 

[pdoherty]

The only thing better about Android is that it is much better accessible for those with bad eyesight. You can make fonts bigger without losing the overall experience. When you do this in iOS, the usability gets broken, because the UI is too much about design and not that scalable like Android.

Specially in Safari it is really bad if you don't like nano fonts.

The only aspect of android I liked better was the ability to edit/add/delete words from the autocorrect text input. Apple’s solution to this (text replacement) sucks and doesn’t even work. I literally put every version of “AND, And, etc” in, all correcting to “and” and it still doesn’t work and puts ”And” in all time when swyping, and I simply gave up.

 

[Stella]

I agree. He could have stayed out of this. Playing the 'company guy' harshens his image, to me at least. It was a 'kindergarten move'. What's next, him touting the Surface over all other tablets? Is Microsoft in such bad shape they need him to hawk their junk, and the droid phone system? I'd want to steer clear of droid devices now.

I wonder how his kiss of the droid ecosystem will play in the 'alternate universe' in this country. Could it be the 'kiss of death'? Stay tuned?

Twisting my words to suit your own agenda

I cannot believe people like yourself are getting all upset about what device someone chooses to use. Is your quote below reflection of yourself, how you would react?

*YAWN* The co-founder of Apple's once biggest competition craps on Apple's iPhone.

Given that Microsoft lost the portable music, AND phone market to Apple (and others), I don't know why someone would be surprised that he wouldn't be a fan of the iPhone. I'd actually be surprised if he DID support them. It would take a 'bigger man' than him to embrace his once competitor.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

Twisting my words to suit your own agenda

I cannot believe people like yourself are getting all upset about what device someone chooses to use. Is your quote below reflection of yourself, how you would react?

Oh good grief.

I don't care what phone people use. I had a Windows Phone, and it sucked hard on a dead animal. It was years ago, but I was so pissed that it was such a POS! I have a friend that told me his problems with a droid phone, and I commiserating with my story of the Windows Phone. Never had those problems with the iPhone.

However: I was dripping green envy over the quality of the pictures people were taking at a concert I went to. They were clear, and properly lit. Mine, on my iPhone (might have been an 8 at the time) literally were unrecognizable. Horrific pictures. Their were clear even when zoomed! I was so envious. I even asked one of the people if they would email me the pictures. They never did. Yeah, the iPhone camera SUCKED! And to a large degree, it STILL DOES. I have videos with my 10s Max, that you can hear someone fart 30 yards away, but the video is really horrible.

But whatever.

Bill must be so envious of the crappy cameras that he's trying to push people onto droid phones, or something...

 

[Rob_2811]

Four days on I am still absolutely livid that Bill Gates said he only uses iPhones sometimes

 

[jamesrick80]

In this age, I have to use both but if I had to choose only one Android would do it all well enough so Bill Gates is sort of right.

 

[eflx]

What's all the Bill Gates hate? He was one of the people who made modern home computing possible and there would be no iPhone without PocketPC (and Palm Pilot). Plus, the dude gave away billions of dollars of his fortune, when most CEOs are trying to still amass more.

While I may prefer MacOS and iOS, trashing Gates is just dumb.

We're talking about who he is as a person, not the product he originally ripped off from a developer he threw under the bus and stole from. Yeah, Windows turned out to make a huge difference in the world. It could likely have been someone else, if Bill didn't swipe the original code and concepts.

Bill Gates has killed 10's of thousands of people in other parts of the world. He's actively kicked out of several communities & countries around the world for his vaccine experiments and he's now in the process of destroying agriculture in India. He loves messing with those 3rd world countries populations.

Time to read up on who Gates really is.

 

[BenTrovato]

We're talking about who he is as a person, not the product he originally ripped off from a developer he threw under the bus and stole from. Yeah, Windows turned out to make a huge difference in the world. It could likely have been someone else, if Bill didn't swipe the original code and concepts.

Bill Gates has killed 10's of thousands of people in other parts of the world. He's actively kicked out of several communities & countries around the world for his vaccine experiments and he's now in the process of destroying agriculture in India. He loves messing with those 3rd world countries populations.

Time to read up on who Gates really is.

It feels like a time machine. Everyone used to hate Gates for the longest time. Watching him in those anti-trust trials just made everyone cringe. We all knew he was slimy, we all knew what kind of person he was, and we liked that Steve Jobs was the other guy trying to take on Microsoft. Now all of a sudden Bill is the savior of the planet and his "philanthropic" efforts are to be admired? Seriously, how did everyone forget?

 

[chucker23n1]

It feels like a time machine. Everyone used to hate Gates for the longest time. Watching him in those anti-trust trials just made everyone cringe. We all knew he was slimy, we all knew what kind of person he was, and we liked that Steve Jobs was the other guy trying to take on Microsoft. Now all of a sudden Bill is the savior of the planet and his "philanthropic" efforts are to be admired? Seriously, how did everyone forget?

I mean, he is philanthropic.

Now, that doesn’t negate:

• his actions in the 80s and 90s
• that those actions are why he’s able to spend all this money on causes in the first place
• that he’s actually been profiting of those causes
• that, rather than having a few people in the world who can spend ungodly amounts of money at a whim, and pray that some of that spend benefits others, surely there are more equitable approaches

Right now, he’s what we’ve got.

 

[LordVic]

doesn't even make sense.

• Set Bing as default search engine? - no problem
• Make Outlook default e-mail app? - no problem
• Make mobile edge (is that a thing?) default browser? - no problem
• Integrate one drive? - no problem

I would say the Office Apps are also far better optimised and integrated on iOS than Android.

Clearly he is just too lazy or hasn't used an iPhone much

Gates is still right though regarding limitations in place on iOS that just get in the way of things. And while what you've pointed at is often true, it is not always true.

I've flipped flopped between devices a lot. I am currently an iPhone 12 user. My previous phone was a Pixel 4a and an S10 Before that I had an iPhone SE. I generally am platform agnostic.


I can tell you with 100% fact that there are limits in Apple, and limits to configuration options in iOS that are incredibly frustrating. So much so that I still carry my Pixel 4A with me (tethered to my iPhone for data permanently)

While you can make bing your default search, and you can make outlook your default mail app, they're not great experiences on the iPhone. I constantly run into bad experiences on iOS versions of these apps that do not occur in Android side of things. Now I get this is not Apple's fault as it's a Microsoft app, but it doesn't change that it's true.

Here's an example: I had to send an email last week with about 16 photos. On the iOS version of Outlook, tapping a photo automatically reflows and scrolls your view to the top of the email chain itself. That is unusable. This does nto occur on the android version of the app.

For default edge? Another limitation on iOS is that you cannot change the webkit rendering engine for another one of your choice. Browser apps still must use them even if their UI is changed. This is an issue for some sites and compatibility.

There are other little things here and there that drive me absolutely nuts with iOS from a professional point of view and legitimate cause me issues (hence carrying around my 2nd phone). Notifications on Apple is pathetic and about 10 years out of date on how they're handled and the interactivity options. I have the need from time to time to temporarily mute one or two apps, not my whole phone. iOS does not provide a reasonable method to do this. With either permanent mute, or all notifications.

Integrating with my desktop at least lets me transfer some files like pictures now without an iTunes install. But that's it. you still need a 3rd party tool like iTunes (not sure if it's still called that, I refuse to install it) to do backups or data transfers via cable from your phone to a computer.

This forum has a kneejerk reaction that anyone saying anything critical of an apple product is immediately "Lazy" or "an idiot" when in reality, iOS does have limitations on it that aren't great user experiences still. its amazingly better than it was 10 years ago, but Apple seems to pick certain things to stick hard to, and refuse to accept there maybe better methods of doing those things. when you run into these little nuances, they can be extremely frustrating to work around.

The iPhone 12 is one of the best phones to be made. it's the best iPhone ever and has finally the check boxes at least on hardware to be competitive. I love my mini. I also know that unless iOS fixes a bunch of little ****** decisions and lay-overs from it's "locked down" days, once the 2 years is up, Apple is still going to have a hard time convincing me to stay on an iOS device. Which is a shame, because the hardware is absolutely gorgeous right now.

 

[LordVic]

It feels like a time machine. Everyone used to hate Gates for the longest time. Watching him in those anti-trust trials just made everyone cringe. We all knew he was slimy, we all knew what kind of person he was, and we liked that Steve Jobs was the other guy trying to take on Microsoft. Now all of a sudden Bill is the savior of the planet and his "philanthropic" efforts are to be admired? Seriously, how did everyone forget?

People change.

Bill Gates had a "woke" moment where he realized he was a piece of **** human being and has spent billions trying to make the world a better place. He has given away more than half his net worth to charitable organizations. He has led and spearheaded numerous innovation campaigns that have direct real world improvements to people's life.

Yes, We shouldn't forget how Bill Gates abused Windows to setup monopolistic environment. But he has spent years since Microsoft trying to undo some of the harm he caused.

it's a significantly different take than someone who refuses to acknowledge their mistakes, doubles down on being an ass and then wondering why people hate them.

 

[LordVic]

Not defending Steve Ballmer, but he didn’t know what he was talking about, ran his loud mouth as usual and I bet you he would admit that behind closed doors that he underestimated the iPhone, because I don’t think anybody really knew what to expect at that point. I don’t think there’s any shame in Ballmer using an iPhone in today’s smart phone era, especially with security being crucial, where android has had far more breaches.

Balmer was an accountant style manager. he didn't know anything about the tech. He didn't know or care to follow it. it was purely about profit margins, revenues and steering business lines towards lock down.

Microsoft was still insanely profitable under his leadership despite his technical and product direction failings.

 

[eflx]

He's not done a single thing to "undo some of the harm he caused". He's actively profited and become even more rich with his latest endeavors. The guy owns massive swaths of land, and has invested in an ungodly amount of businesses right down to CN Rail (Canadian Rail company).

The "charities" he donates to, give him tax breaks, and in turn line his pockets through other channels. The guy doesn't donate out of the "goodness of his heart" ... just follow the money, it's easy. He's no different now than he was back then.