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May 30, 2007

steve_jobs

It’s the Steve and Bill Power Hour

Posted May. 30, ’07, 9:41 PM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Apple » Steve Jobs

Bill and SteveThere was no appearance of Noah Wyle, or Anthony Michael Hall. No John Hodgman or Justin Long. Nobody uttered the words “I’m a Mac” or “I’m a PC.” Punches were not thrown, nor fireballs, nor ninja shurikens. By all accounts, the historic discussion with Bill Gates and Steve Jobs was not merely peaceful, it was downright friendly. If you’re looking for the full scoop, check Jason Snell’s live coverage at Macworld. If you’re looking for snarky, secondhand commentary, well, good—we presume that’s why you’re here.

After opening with a heartwarming montage of videos from 1984, 1991, and 1997 (the historic Big Brother appearance at Macworld), Gates and Jobs entered from opposite ends of the hall, like two Roman gladiators sizing each other up—the whole Earth laid before them as a battleground. As the two circled warily, things first started going terribly awry. Distracted by comfy chairs, the two titans were caught off guard and antagonistic thoughts shortly vanished into creaky reminiscences about days gone by: when men were men and computers were geeky. One almost expected Bill to whip out a piece of long-stemmed grass to chew on, while Steve tied a bandana over his head and swatted at imaginary flying bugs.

Then the lovefest began in earnest.

Bill complimented Steve on Apple’s resurgence:

“In a certain sense we build the products we want to use ourselves. He’s really pursued that with an incredible taste and elegance and had a huge impact on the industry. Apple literally was failing when Steve went back and reinfused innovation and risk-taking that have been phenomenal. So the industry has benefitted immensely from his work. I’d say he’s contributed as much as anyone,” said Gates.
Jobs responded with a quick hug on Gates’s networking prowess:
Jobs called Gates and himself “incredibly lucky” to attract great partners and great people to work with. He agreed with Mossberg’s assessment that in a sense, he and Gates are standing in for all the people at both their companies.
Ooh. Devastating.

The two went on to discuss the PC and Mac ads (“PC Guy is what makes it all work,” says Jobs, though Gates opined of PC, “His mother loves him.”) That wasn’t the only point the pair disagreed on. Jobs reused a quote he’d cited in his Macworld keynote this year: “people who love software want to do their own hardware,” to which Gates replied testily, “I can resist that.” He said love software, Mr. Gates—not love money. Snap!

But any dissent was short-lived, as the two agreed that the future of the industry would be focused on “Post-PC” devices like the iPod. The entire affair was summed up rather well by Jobs himself, who when asked about the biggest misunderstanding about their relationship, replied, “We’ve kept our marriage secret for over a decade now.”

Gates took the opportunity to storm offstage in a huff, though, as he was still miked, the audience was treated to a comment about someone sleeping on the couch tonight. Okay, no. But it would have been hilarious.

Instead the two fielded some questions, including what they could have learned from each other. While Steve wished that Apple had been better at partnering with other companies earlier on, Gates wished for Jobs’s iconic taste in people and products. Both then waited expectantly for a genie to appear and grant them those wishes.

All in all, it wasn’t the Rally in the Valley that we’d hoped for; these two frenemies have clearly long realized that both of their kung fu is strong, and how precisely to deal with that. While we miss the chance for the no holds barred cage match to the death, we’re happy to see the two meet and speak politely. It was our second most hoped for outcome.

But would Steve Jobs exploding Bill Gates’s head really have been too much to ask?


1 Comments

skint said:

The body language says it all. They both have their legs crossed away from one another (women cross their legs towards you if they want to have sexwith you), so I can kind of conclude that they:

a) don't want to have sex
b) I don't know where this is going...

May 31, 2007 4:11 AM

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