News, info, and opinion by Mac users, for Mac users.

February 2, 2007

rivals

Bill Gates knocks Apple, makes no sense whatsoever

Posted Feb. 2, ’07, 8:05 AM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Apple » Rivals

Bill Gates, at restOh, Billy boy. With all of your philanthropy, I thought you’d outgrown the whole petty business thing. I’d developed an almost grudging respect for you—then you and go and throw that all away. It’s sad is what it is.

In an interview with Newsweek’s Steven Levy, Bill was asked about Vista and Microsoft, and their relationship with OS X and Apple. He had several choice things to say. I think.

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. So, yes, it took us longer, and they had what we were doing, user interface-wise. Let’s be realistic, who came up with [the] file, edit, view, help [menu bar]? Do you want to go back to the original Mac and think about where those interface concepts came from?
I would guess that the reference to people hacking the Mac “every single day” is a reference to the Month of Apple Bugs project—and that’s pretty generous, considering the end result. But as for anybody doing that to Windows once a month, well, Bill’s right: hacking Windows is like Lays potato chips—you can’t do it just once. I don’t really understand what Bill’s trying to say about the interface concepts. That Apple predates Microsoft with those ideas is not even an argument—it’s a matter of the linearity of the space-time continuum.

Gates also shared some thoughts on the Get a Mac campaign:

Are you bugged by the Apple commercial where John Hodgman is the PC, and he has to undergo surgery to get Vista?
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…certainly we’ve done a better job letting you upgrade on the hardware than our competitors have done. You can choose to buy a new machine, or you can choose to do an upgrade. 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.
I agree that the commercial is hyperbolic, but really, not even the slightest shred of truth? What next, Bill? Are you going to tell us there’s little confusion in picking the right version of Vista?

Tags: , , , , ,


Post a comment

(If you haven't logged in with TypeKey, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting. For quicker posting, set up a TypeKey account.)

 


Warning: include(/web/macuser/includes/hbx_page_code_standard.txt) [function.include]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /export/MW-WEBLOGS/macuser/rivals/bill_gates_knocks_apple_makes.php on line 179

Warning: include() [function.include]: Failed opening '/web/macuser/includes/hbx_page_code_standard.txt' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/local/lib/php') in /export/MW-WEBLOGS/macuser/rivals/bill_gates_knocks_apple_makes.php on line 179


IDG IDG NETWORK:   CIO   Computerworld   CSO   GamePro   GamerHelp   IDG Connect   Infoworld  
   JavaWorld   LinuxWorld   Macworld   Network World   PC World   PC World Canada   Playlist   Techworld