Tribute to Bill Gates

[cl8ton]

Sorry to see you go, I have shadowed your tenures since the TRS-80 Model 100 (Early 80’s) OS that you co-authored, the last coding project you performed.
Though I have not matched your wealth, Microsoft has afforded me a very comfortable lifestyle for > 20 years!

I remember the Altair moments in “Popular Electronics” and the on going “Forrest Mims” columns!
This all turned me from an “Agronomy” major to a “Comp Sci” major in just a few months early in my education!

I even published articles in the “Microsoft Systems Journal” now the “MSDN” in the past.

Good luck and for posterity I post this picture.

No...the dude in the middle did not turn into a female!

[Joeaksa]

Ahh, is there something that we do not know about Billy?

[Jims5543]

I thought I heard on the radio he is retiring?

I might be wrong. *edit* I guess he announced his plans last week.

http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/002278.html

[MRM]

Is that Bill himself, front and left?

[ckissick]

I hope he's financially secure for such an early retirement.

BTW, that "dude" in the middle, are you telling me that "dude" in the orange sweater in the early pic is a girl? Her name is Pat, right?

[alf]

Bill is an incredible guy, he spent the first half of his life building one of the largest private fortunes in history and plans to spend the next half giving it away for the good of others.

[RWebb]

Originally Posted by MRM

Is that Bill himself, front and left?

yup - 1st pic looks to be right after Tiny BASIC days.

Nobody mentioned yet that in his early 20's he walked into the IBM Temple of Doom, was surrounded by 20 of their lawyers, and then walked out with the crown jewels (rights to the OS, which he purchased from SCS).

IBM "got" the chance to compete with the Attack of the Clones...

Lenovo now owns what was left of IBMs PC business as of 1-2 years ago.

[Seric]

I wouldn't have a job right now if it wasn't for him, so yea, right on Bill. Thanks dude! Enough can't be said about his philanthropy.

Pirates of Silicon Valley and The Triumph of the Nerds are great movies on the ascension of the computer industry.

[MRM]

Who are the rest in the before and after pictures?

[Seric]

Originally Posted by MRM

Who are the rest in the before and after pictures?

Paul Allen is on the far right, the others I have no clue about.

[Hawktel]

Bills done a lot for the computer game.

Last I heard he was trying to figure out how to clean up some of the issues of hunger and poverty.

I think it is a easy fix. TV and birth control should take care of the issue.

[svandamme]

Bill's works created a whole new job market,
a job market that has served me quite well

and though i think the MS Servers are generally just stuffed boxes with ripped off technology and broken standards...
the MS desktops did what no other platform did in terms of making things accessible.

Anybody read his book from quite some time ago "i envision a computer in every house"
well, it's not far from that... and he had quite the hand in that, no matter what anybody says


BIG up to him

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Bill has a mixed legacy. On the one hand he revolutionized the work environment, made document retrieval and archiving much easier and simpler, built a huge company and made himself a household name (and a large fortune). His philanthropic works are to be commended.

My biggest gripe is that the rise of the personal computer (one can argue whether this would have been inevitable, with or without Bill Gates & Microsoft) has made the landscape of the work world flat, sterile and boring. The rise of the personal computer gave rise to Cubicle Nation. Somewhere along the line we've been fooled into thinking that virtually any job - from lawyers to engineers to accountants to HR people to managers to designers to whatever - can all do their jobs from identical 4'x6' cubicles with partial-height, cloth covered gray walls & a PC.

While some jobs are better suited for this than others and most do see some benefits from computerization, it has made the world a helluva lot less colorful and more boring that it was years ago. A doctor's office used to look like a doctor's office. A design studio used to look like a design studio. An accounting firm used to look like an accounting firm, etc. Now if you blindfolded someone and walked them into most offices and then took the blindfold off and asked them to identify what kind of work went on there, they probably couldn't in most cases, since everything is so homogenized and identical and soulless. I really think that over-emphasis on computerization has a lot to do with this.

In my own profession (architectural design) I see what I consider WAY too much emphasis on computers and AutoCAD proficiency in particular. There are some benefits, but nobody ever talks about how the software gets in the way by over-complicating things, how "up-and-coming" people cannot spatially visualize things, can't draw by hand, can't sketch ideas, etc. I thank goodness I got through my schooling before it went 100% computerized and was forced to draw by hand, to use a drafting board, to sketch, to render and to draw BY HAND. Sometimes, it's the best tool for the job. Sometimes (like for doing hardline construction documents) AutoCAD is the best tool for the job. But it's only one tool. Not the ONLY tool, as we've unfortunately been led to believe. I'm sure other professions have the same sorts of issues. . .

Bill certainly changed the world. Hopefully for the better more than for worse, but time will be the judge of that. . .

[sammyg2]

He is incredibly successful and wealthy, so he must be evil.

[Seric]

Originally Posted by cl8ton

First pic:

Microsoft's founding employees gathered in 1978 to take a portrait before the company moved to Washington. Front row (left to right): Bill Gates, Andrea Lewis, Marla Wood, and Paul Allen. Middle row: Bob O'Rear, Bob Greenberg, Marc McDonald, and Gordon Letwin. Back row: Steve Wood, Bob Wallace, and Jim Lane. Not pictured is Miriam Lubow.

Second Pic:

Microsoft's original employees got together to reshoot the famous photo in April. Front row (left to right): Bill Gates, Andrea Lewis, Miriam Lubow, Marla Wood, and Paul Allen. Back row: Bob O'Rear, Steve Wood, Bob Greenberg, Marc McDonald, Gordon Letwin, and Jim Lane. Not pictured is Bob Wallace, who has passed away.

[stealthn]

Ah Bill, the man we in IT all love to hate....

True he made Billions pumping out half baked knock offs of other (better) operating systems, true he put lipstick on the DOS pig for years, true the gates foundation donation donates $1,000,000.00 per week, true he didn't marry a hottie even though he is the richest man in the world, true he and Donald Trump used the same barber for years.....but his alternative (Steve) is an ass clown...

Ah Bill.....you are what all geeks aspire to....except for the hottie

[Seric]

Originally Posted by stealthn

Ah Bill, the man we in IT all love to hate....

True he made Billions pumping out half baked knock offs of other (better) operating systems, true he put lipstick on the DOS pig for years, true the gates foundation donation donates $1,000,000.00 per week, true he didn't marry a hottie even though he is the richest man in the world, true he and Donald Trump used the same barber for years.....but his alternative (Steve) is an ass clown...

Ah Bill.....you are what all geeks aspire to....except for the hottie

And once got arrested for speeding in a 911 and owns a 959. He also helped 959s get legalized for import to the U.S.

[Joeaksa]

I have flown his wife's brother. Biggest jerk I have ever flown. Even his wife hates him and follows behind him and apologises for his mouth and attitude. He is the person behind the investment of Billy's money.

Hope that Billy is nicer.

[varmint]

yes, the charity is nice. but if he really wants to make the world a better place he'd fix his operating system.

[Seric]

Originally Posted by varmint

yes, the charity is nice. but if he really wants to make the world a better place he'd fix his operating system.

Don't you know that a long-time MS Mantra has been "It doesn't work until Service Pack 4"?